Comparison

Glow Doodle vs Glow Drawings

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

Head to head
About

Glow Doodle

Create vibrant, glowing drawings with a unique neon effect. This app is praised by educators and parents for its art, educational, and fine motor skill development benefits. It offers a simple yet engaging interface with carefully curated colors and a magical "glow" button.

Highlights
  • Razor sharp light glow effect
  • Harmonious doodle colors
  • Auto-hiding toolbar
  • Erase previous stroke
  • Save drawings to photo albums
  • Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

A Top 5 Best Selling App^ - The original Glow Doodle. Glow Doodle is thankfully the choice of many teachers worldwide who embrace educational technology to their classroom for art, math, language lessons and fine motor skill activities^^. Glow Doodle has all it takes to make a doodling app a Top 5 App among hundred thousands of Apps: - Originality: Glow Doodle was the first to bring razor sharp neon effect from the hands of professional designers to the fingertips of everyone of every age. It lit up iPhone users' Christmas & winter nights with a magical mood like never before when Glow Doodle was introduced in winter 2009 - Quality-over-quantity & painstaking effort behind the simple to use App: While we could have allowed users to pick millions of random colors & line thickness, instead, we spent tedious effort to fine tune a few in order to maintain a harmonious & less confusing user experience for all ages. - Support from quality users: It was the overwhelming support from our users propelled Glow Doodle to TOP 5 Best Selling Paid App in the US and UK App Stores. We are grateful to our quality users including teachers, elementary teachers around the world who brought Glow Doodle to their classrooms with a creative mind & respect for originality, an invaluable message to our creative children. - Special Needs Friendly: Parents & professionals including pediatric OTs taking care of kids with special needs such as autism have also found Glow Doodle useful. In addition to the simple user interface, Glow Doodle takes the approach of "magic" button which provides cause & effect experience to enhance visual sensory & fine motor skills developments. The moment when you press the "GLOW" button, you will be amazed how a seemingly ordinary drawing turns into truly stunning Glow Doodle effect. It's a unique original experience that sets Glow Doodle apart from others who follow suit. Now updated with Nordic Ice Blue color (available via IAP) and option to draw with Apple Pencil only so that you can unleash your glowing creativity to the next level. KEY FEATURES: * Razor sharp Light Glow Effect * Harmonious Doodle Colors: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Pink, White, Magenta * Auto-hiding toolbar (auto-hide while drawing) * Erase the previous stroke (by pressing the counter-clockwise arrow button) * Motivational Glowy Rocket may suddenly turn up * Save drawing to Photo Albums to share EDUCATION FRIENDLY SETTING: * Option to hide In-App Purchase button via Settings app APPLE PENCIL FRIENDLY SETTING: * Option to allow drawing with Apple Pencil only via Settings app NORDIC ICE BLUE EDITION (Available via In-App Purchase): * Unlocks Nordic Ice Blue color * Unlocks Rocket Sure Launch - Instead of appearing once in a while, motivational Glowy Rocket launches every time you light up your drawing * Hides IAP button ADVANCED DRAWING TIPS: You can make part of your drawing "glow" (e.g. the flame of a rocket) while other part of the drawing doesn't "glow" (e.g. the rocket body). For example, (1) draw the flame of the rocket first; (2) then press the "GLOW" button to make it glow; (3) continue to draw the rocket body without pressing the "GLOW" button. REMARKS: ^US & UK App Store; Jan 2010; Overall Paid Chart & Entertainment Paid Chart SHARE & FOLLOW: Follow us or Share with us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/GlowDoodle Pinterest http://pinterest.com/oodot/ Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CrossDisciplineTechnologyLimited Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdtapps/ ^^Sharing by teachers & schools: http://www.pinterest.com/oodot/glow-doodle-in-classroom-learning/

About

Glow Drawings

Easily create vibrant drawings by tapping colors and painting with your finger. Save your artistic creations directly to your device's photo library for sharing or safekeeping.

Highlights
  • Finger painting
  • Color selection
  • Save drawings
  • Intuitive interface
  • Digital art creation
Features
Read full description

Create beautiful drawings with this app! Just tap a color and paint with your finger. You can save the drawing into your photo library.

Screenshots

Glow Doodle4 screens
Glow Drawings4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Glow Drawings at Free against Glow Doodle's $0.99. Glow Drawings also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.9) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). Glow Doodle's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 11 months). On device support and iOS requirement 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

Glow Drawings is free to download; Glow Doodle costs $0.99 up front. Glow Doodle sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Glow Drawings asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Glow Drawings holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Glow Drawings has 124 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Glow Doodle's written reviews are positive against 78% of Glow Drawings's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Glow Doodle ships an update every 3 months, Glow Drawings every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Glow Doodle versus Glow Drawings: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGlow DoodleGlow Drawings
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating2.9 (10 ratings)4.4 (124 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.4% of reviews77.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10124 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB6 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperY LauFBF Sistemas LTDA

Customer experience

Glow Doodle

All ratings10 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews172 reviews
Positive67.4%
Neutral19.2%
Negative13.4%

Glow Drawings

All ratings124 ratings
Positive84.7%
Neutral4.8%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative22.2%

Bugs and requests

Glow Doodle

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes on launch
  • Saved images lose glow effect
  • Drawing toolbar interferes with usage

Requested features

4 requests
  • More color options
  • Ability to draw on photos from library
  • Brush size and eraser tool
  • Ability to save glowing images accurately

Glow Drawings

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Glow Doodle

One-time1
  • Nordic Ice Blue Edition$0.99
None

Glow Drawings

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Glow Doodle free?
Glow Doodle costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Glow Drawings free?
Glow Drawings is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Glow Doodle or Glow Drawings?
Glow Drawings is rated higher. Glow Doodle averages 2.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Glow Drawings averages 4.4 from 124 ratings.
Do Glow Doodle or Glow Drawings have ads?
Glow Drawings shows ads; Glow Doodle does not.
Which is updated more often, Glow Doodle or Glow Drawings?
Glow Doodle ships an update every 3 months, and Glow Drawings every 11 months. Most recently, Glow Doodle was updated on October 29, 2026 and Glow Drawings on October 23, 2026.

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