Comparison

Pixel Edit Lite vs HEAVYPAINT

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Edit Lite

Create detailed pixel art on a 16x16 canvas with a minimalist interface. This tool focuses on a clean design to help you craft beautiful retro sprites and artwork.

Highlights
  • 16x16 canvas
  • Minimalist interface
  • Retro sprite creation
  • Pixel art design
  • Clean editor
Features
Read full description

The pocket sprite editor for PICO-8. Copy a sprite on your Mac, edit it on your iPhone, paste it straight back. Pixel Edit Lite is a small, touch-first pixel art and sprite editor for iPhone. Draw with your finger, work offline, and create retro sprites whenever inspiration strikes. Work on a single sprite or build out a full sprite sheet — navigate between sprites, duplicate them, and copy and paste between sprites. Choose 8×8, 16×16, 32×32, or 64×64 canvases for sprites, game art, icons, and other pixel art projects. Built with PICO-8 and TIC-80 style sprite workflows in mind, with real PICO-8 clipboard format support: copy a sprite in PICO-8 on your Mac, paste it here, edit, and paste it back. Features • Clean, minimal interface • Always-on sprite sheet with navigation, duplication, and copy/paste • 8×8, 16×16, 32×32, and 64×64 canvases • Precision pixel drawing with pencil, eraser, and fill • Shape tools: line, rectangle, and circle, outlined or filled • Undo and redo • PICO-8 and TIC-80 color palettes • Grid-based editing • Rotate, flip, and shift tools • Fast, responsive touch controls • Automatic local saving • Recent Projects — reopen past sheets in one tap • Import and export through Files, including iCloud Drive • Share via the native Share Sheet — AirDrop, Messages, save to Photos, and more • Real PICO-8 sprite clipboard format support • Works offline Pixel Edit Lite is intentionally simple. No complicated desktop-style workflow — just a small pixel editor you can keep with you when you're away from your computer.

About

HEAVYPAINT

This app offers a raw digital painting experience with unique tools for creating textured art and quick studies. It's designed for artists who embrace digital chaos and seek a streamlined, mobile art studio.

Highlights
  • Unique digital brushes
  • Color Jitter for texture
  • Fast color blocking tools
  • Line Blend for gradients
  • Liquify tool
  • Minimalist interface
  • Gallery for creations
Features
Read full description

Raw digital painting with unique brushes & color chaos. The painter's painting app that celebrates digital chaos. HEAVYPAINT is unapologetically digital and a bit unhinged. It’s a celebration of digital impressionism. Whether you're sketching on the train, painting outdoors, or creating quick color studies, this is your pocket art studio. Unique Digital Tools Color Jitter: Unleash beautiful digital chaos and texture Fan Fill and Lasso Fill for fast color blockins, textured foliage, notan, organic shapes. Rake tool for softening up edges in a graphic way Line Blend for instant gradients
Liquify to adjust proportions and shapes Built for Speed & Mobility Perfect pochade box replacement for pleinair painting. Great for quick paintings on public transit, many will finger paint on their phones. Streamlined interface.Focus on pure color and shape without digital clutter. Streamlined Experience Minimalist interface puts painting first Customizable tools that adapt to your style Strong shape design tools for bold, crisp artwork Gallery to review and organize your creations + Plein air painters who want to ditch heavy supplies + Quick color studies and concept sketches + Figure painting and gesture drawing + Artists wanting to rediscover digital painting joy + Anyone seeking a uniquely digital aesthetic HEAVYPAINT balances professional capabilities with unhinged creativity. Embrace procedural randomness / crunchiness / glitchiness that digital enables. Touch grass. Ideal for pleinair painting and quick studies This app is subject to Apple's standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Pixel Edit Lite4 screens
HEAVYPAINT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: HEAVYPAINT at Free against Pixel Edit Lite's $2.99. HEAVYPAINT also leads on ratings volume (66 vs 6) and device support (3 vs 1). Pixel Edit Lite's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and review sentiment (100% vs 58%). On 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

HEAVYPAINT is free to download; Pixel Edit Lite costs $2.99 up front. HEAVYPAINT sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Pixel Edit Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixel Edit Lite holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HEAVYPAINT has 66 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Pixel Edit Lite's written reviews are positive against 58% of HEAVYPAINT's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Edit Lite ships an update every 5 days, HEAVYPAINT every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
Pixel Edit Lite versus HEAVYPAINT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Edit LiteHEAVYPAINT
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better4.0 (66 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better57.7% of reviews
Number of ratings666 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApurva MehtaHEAVYPOLY, Inc.

Customer experience

Pixel Edit Lite

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

HEAVYPAINT

All ratings66 ratings
Positive68.2%
Neutral13.6%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews78 reviews
Positive57.7%
Neutral15.4%
Negative26.9%

Bugs and requests

Pixel Edit Lite

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

HEAVYPAINT

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Gallery crashes
  • Artwork files not saving properly
  • Eyedropper tool not working as expected

Requested features

3 requests
  • Improved layer management
  • More customization options
  • Better color controls and eyedropper tool

In-app purchases

None

Pixel Edit Lite

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

HEAVYPAINT

Subscriptions2
  • Gallery Sync Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Gallery Sync Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlock Full Version$9.99

Questions

Is Pixel Edit Lite free?
Pixel Edit Lite costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is HEAVYPAINT free?
HEAVYPAINT is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Edit Lite or HEAVYPAINT?
Pixel Edit Lite is rated higher. Pixel Edit Lite averages 5.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while HEAVYPAINT averages 4.0 from 66 ratings.
Do Pixel Edit Lite or HEAVYPAINT have ads?
Neither Pixel Edit Lite nor HEAVYPAINT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Edit Lite or HEAVYPAINT?
Pixel Edit Lite ships an update every 5 days, and HEAVYPAINT every 5 weeks. Most recently, Pixel Edit Lite was updated on October 27, 2026 and HEAVYPAINT on October 30, 2026.

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