Comparison

Resprite vs PicoChat for iMessage

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Resprite

This professional pixel art editor offers desktop-class features optimized for touch and pen input. Create pixel illustrations, animations, and game assets with an extensive toolset, advanced layers, and a high-performance renderer, all on your mobile device.

Highlights
  • High-performance drawing engine
  • Innovative palette and coloring tools
  • Advanced layers and timeline system
  • Optimized gesture and pen controls
  • Flexible interface layout
  • Import/export GIF, spritesheet, and PSD files
Features
Read full description

Resprite is a professional pixel art editor. Desktop-class features combined with touch/pen optimizations let you create efficiently anywhere. Resprite brings together a complete pixel toolset, an innovative coloring system, advanced layers and timelines, and a Metal-powered high-performance renderer so you can easily make pixel illustrations, spritesheets, GIF animations, and game art assets. Wherever you are—at home, camping, on the beach, or waiting at the gate—you can start creating. Resprite is your mobile pixel art studio. Resprite includes: - High-performance drawing engine - Innovative and efficient palette and coloring tools - Complete dithering pattern support - Flexible interface layout, always one tap away - Optimized gesture and pen controls for precision Flexible interface layout: - Arrange floating panels freely - All panels can be minimized - Shorten the distance between pen and target to boost efficiency - Cohesive pixel-styled UI All-in-one toolset: - Brushes, innovative coloring tools, three selection tools, eyedropper, paint bucket, three shape tools, plus rich sub-options - Pixel Perfect, Alpha Lock, dithering textures, and other advanced features - Place the toolbar anywhere for instant access - Copy, paste (including across files), flip horizontally/vertically, rotate, scale - Zoom and transform both canvas and image - Quick outline, HSV tuning, brightness/contrast adjustment, blur filter - Insert multi-line or vertical text, with custom fonts Convenient reference images: - Load multiple reference images - References can be zoomed and minimized - Place them anywhere Innovative palette: - Free placement layout - Linked workflow with coloring tools - Interpolate to create intermediate colors - Palette import and export - Automatically sample palettes from the canvas Import and sharing: - Import/export GIF, spritesheet, and Resprite packages - Export with scale, frame margin, spritesheet layout options, and more - Export per animation clip or by row - Import/export palettes (GPL, RPL formats) - Export PSD files - Import/export APNG animations - Export timelapse recordings of your drawing Layer and timeline system: - Comprehensive features for flexible layer-based creation - Copy, merge, flatten, rasterize, and other advanced operations - Onion Skin support - Set multiple animation clips and select them individually - Reliable performance—smooth even with hundreds of frames - Color tags, multi-level grouping, and opacity control Fast gesture operations: - Supports low-tilt and heavy-press stylus gestures - Two-finger/three-finger tap for undo/redo - Customizable pen Double-Tap actions - One-finger gestures to switch frames, play, and toggle onion skin - Long-press gesture - Flexibly map gestures to actions Pixel art in the demos comes from these artists: 史大巴、斯尔娜娜、扑倒奥利奥、吱小墨、妘归、KATLEE十三、石睐暮 PREMIUM: Your Resprite PREMIUM unlocks: - Remove export limits - Color adjustments - Stroke - Symmetry tool - Text tool All app features are available, and Premium is shared between iPad and iPhone. Customer support: Docs: https://resprite.fengeon.com/ Email: support@fengeon.com Optional in-app purchases: Charges are deducted from your iTunes account. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the current period ends. After purchase, you can manage auto-renewal anytime in your Apple ID account settings. Terms and conditions: Your use of this app is governed by the Terms at https://resprite.fengeon.com/terms and the Privacy Policy at https://resprite.fengeon.com/privacy, including future versions.

About

PicoChat for iMessage

Relive the nostalgia of early 2000s handheld messaging with this retro drawing app for iMessage. Create tiny pixel art, use unique emoji, and share your creations with friends, even if they don't have the app installed. Features include undo, saving favorites, and customization options.

Highlights
  • Create tiny drawings in iMessage
  • Dozens of pixel emoji
  • Undo mistakes
  • Save favorite drawings
  • Customize name and color
Read full description

Remember sitting on the bus and messaging your friends via your favorite two-screened handheld? Relive those memories with PicoChat, a tiny retro drawing app for iMessage! Featuring all the nostalgic features you remember and a few extras including the ability to undo, save favorites, and more! This open-source iMessage app is perfect for sending drawings to your friends who can see you art even if they don't have the app installed. With PicoChat, you can: • Create tiny drawings right in iMessage • Use dozens of pixel emoji • Undo mistakes with the click of a button • Save favorites to come back to later • Customize your name and color scheme And much more, download PicoChat today and try it out for yourself! Note: The terms Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and PictoChat are registered trademarks of Nintendo Co., Ltd. This app is in no way affiliated with Nintendo.

Screenshots

Resprite4 screens
PicoChat for iMessage3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PicoChat for iMessage at none against Resprite's 5. PicoChat for iMessage also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 5 weeks). Resprite's advantage is ratings volume (1.5K vs 98). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Resprite sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. PicoChat for iMessage asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Resprite holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Resprite has 1.5K ratings behind it against 98, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 80% and 79% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Resprite ships an update every 5 weeks, PicoChat for iMessage daily. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Resprite versus PicoChat for iMessage: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRespritePicoChat for iMessage
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.5K ratings) — better4.5 (98 ratings)
Positive reviews79.6% of reviews — better79.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better98
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFengeonIdrees Hassan

Customer experience

Resprite

All ratings1,441 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral2.4%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews285 reviews
Positive79.6%
Neutral7.0%
Negative13.3%

PicoChat for iMessage

All ratings89 ratings
Positive91.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.0%
Written reviews53 reviews
Positive79.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.8%

User reviews

Resprite

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
  • 🚀 Smooth and responsive
  • 💡 Customizable interface
  • 👍 Familiar Aseprite-like experience
  • 🚀 Powerful features for pixel art

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔒 Exporting limited on free version
  • 💰 Subscription model can be expensive
  • 🔍 Unintuitive UI navigation at times

PicoChat for iMessage

From 98 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Perfection
  • 👍 Super Cute!!
  • 👍 Oh my lord
  • 👍 YES!
  • 👍 So much fun!

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Needs multiple size formats
  • 🐛 No icon app cannot be found
  • 🐛 A few bugs!
  • 🐛 almost perfect
  • 🐛 Why is there no icon for it on the homescreen or any way to delete? 🧐

Bugs and requests

Resprite

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Tools disappearing from the UI
  • Importing Aseprite files not working properly
  • Export function counting against trial limit even when cancelled

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add keyframe animation support
  • Implement tile set creation tools
  • Allow importing/exporting more file formats
  • Improve undo/redo functionality
  • Add cursor/crosshair display option
Show 1 more
  • Increase free export limit

PicoChat for iMessage

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Settings don't save
  • Cursor turns into scribbles when writing too fast
  • Rainbow pen lags the app and force closes messages
  • Doesn't accommodate all screen sizes

Requested features

4 requests
  • Bigger keyboard size
  • Dark Mode support
  • Scaling fix for iPad
  • Ability to transform photos into drawings

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Resprite

Subscriptions2
  • 1 Month$1.991 Month
  • 12 Months$14.991 Year
One-time3
  • A Coffee$0.99
  • Lifetime$19.99
  • Lifetime Standard$29.99
None

PicoChat for iMessage

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Resprite free?
Resprite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PicoChat for iMessage free?
PicoChat for iMessage is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Resprite or PicoChat for iMessage?
Resprite is rated higher. Resprite averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while PicoChat for iMessage averages 4.5 from 98 ratings.
Do Resprite or PicoChat for iMessage have ads?
Neither Resprite nor PicoChat for iMessage shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Resprite or PicoChat for iMessage?
Resprite ships an update every 5 weeks, and PicoChat for iMessage daily. Most recently, Resprite was updated on October 30, 2026 and PicoChat for iMessage on October 22, 2026.

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