Drawing Pad vs Lux Draw
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drawing Pad
Unleash your creativity with a mobile art studio for all ages. This app offers a wide array of realistic art tools, from crayons and markers to paint brushes and colored pencils. Easily import photos as backgrounds or stickers, blend colors, and share your masterpieces.
- Photo-realistic art tools
- Crayons, markers, paint brushes, colored pencils
- Stickers and roller pens
- Photo background import
- Color blending tool
- Export and sharing options
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Get the app that was mentioned on TV ABC 7 CHICAGO as a top school app! Watch http://abc7chicago.com/education/back-to-school-tech-shopping-tips/952242/ short link: abc7.ws/1h5RDj9 Previously iPad App of the Week in 12 countries! (http://drawingpadapp.com/apple-features-drawing-pad-as-ipad-app-of-the-week) Drawing Pad is a mobile art studio for all ages! Create your own art using photo-realistic crayons, markers, paint brushes, colored pencils, stickers, roller pens and more! ■ ACCOLADES Winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award (bit.ly/parents-choice) Featured on nytimes.com (bit.ly/nytimes-drawingpad) Featured on usatoday.com (usat.ly/2x5xrKx) Featured on the iLounge 2011 Buyer's Guide 100 Essential Apps of 2010! Featured by iLounge as First runner up to kids' iPad App of the Year! Featured on Gizmodo's 2010 Gift Guide (bit.ly/gizmodo-drawingpad) Featured in November 2010 MacWorld Magazine in the UK 4 out of 5 stars Awarded Editor's Choice Award from Children's Technology Review ■ IN BOOKS Featured in the book “iPad Apps for Kids for Dummies” - by Jinny Gudmundsen Featured in the O’Reilly book “Best iPad Apps” - by Peter Meyers ■ IN MUSEUMS As seen in the Star Studio Exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art! (bit.ly/ima-museum) ■ QUOTES "Drawing Pad is a fantastic drawing app!" 9to5mac.com “Wonderful chalk tools! You can almost taste the dust!” Mickey Paraskevas, Illustrator and Creator of the Maggie and the Ferocious Beast TV show. "Drawing Pad is a fun and easy to use iPad art app for kids and adults alike. It has very visual menus giving you instant access to a broad range of useful art tools. There are amazing features for kids including downloadable colouring books and additional advanced features for more ambitious artists." Kyle Lambert - Artist - www.kylelambert.com ■ HOW TO USE DRAWING PAD Watch the video inside the App! (or drawingpadapp.com/tutorial) Tap a tool, choose a color, and start drawing. It’s really that simple. Your artwork is automatically saved in the Drawing Pad album. For brush options like size and spacing, tap the brush thumbnail at the bottom of the drawer. Import photo backgrounds by first tapping the stationary icon in the drawer, then the filmstrip. Import photo stickers by first tapping the sticker icon, then the stack of photos. Use one finger to move your photo and two fingers to rotate and resize. Blender tool allows you to soften and blend colors! ■ SHARING OPTIONS Export to the Device Camera Roll, print via AirPrint, share via Email, and other favorite apps like Instagram & Facebook. Even assign your artwork to a contact in your address book! ■ ALL THESE TOOLS ARE INCLUDED! Crayons Markers Paint Brushes Colored Pencils Sketch Pencils Roller Stamp Pens Erasures Stickers Construction Paper Blenders Text Sticker Tool Photo Background Import Photo Stickers Gradient Brushes & Crayons Advanced Brush Control Color wheel and Gradient Panel Pinch Zoom Autosave Two Coloring Books ■ EXTRA FUN Download extra coloring books via in app purchase! Restore prior "Coloring Book in app purchases" by tapping the "Redeem prior purchase" button on the Coloring Book store details page. See drawingpadapp.com/restore ■ DEMONSTRATION Video at http://drawingpadapp.com ■ CONTACT Email us at "support" -at- "drawingpadapp.com" BUY NOW! Don't have an iPad yet? Don't let it stop you! Great price today! Buy now and tell your friends. CREDITS: "Birds," "Panda Bear," and "Turtle" by Igor Cheban instagram.com/icheban "Dinosaur," and "Kitten" by Kyle Lambert www.kylelambert.com
Lux Draw
Create unique art with light-inspired tools and gritty textures. Draw from scratch or enhance photos with glow pens and special effects. Offers advanced features like HDR brushes and Apple Pencil support for a professional artistic experience.
- Live-calculated HDR brushes
- Glow Pen, Hot Pen, Light Spheres
- Gritty paper/canvas textures
- Smear tool for flame art
- Apple Pencil support
- Multiple layers
- Photo tracing mode (Pro)
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Draw with light-inspired tools, for a unique art style! Create a drawing from scratch, or add effects to your photos. Let your creativity run wild! • LIVE-CALCULATED HDR BRUSHES • The app features live-calculated brushes and strokes, that together with HDR values make it feel like drawing with light! Drawing tools include Glow Pen, Hot Pen, Light Spheres, and more. Tip: Use the Smear tool on a photo or drawing to achieve immensely cool flame art (seriously, try it!). • GRITTY PAPER/CANVAS TEXTURES • Having a paper/canvas texture interacting in real-time with the drawing tools will give your artwork a satisfying, gritty look. You can remove or change the default-generated texture to something else. • UNIVERSAL PURCHASE • If you choose to buy the Pro upgrade, this one-time in-app purchase will unlock all Pro features in the app on all available platforms (iPad-iPhone-Mac)! • METAL • The engine is based on Metal, with 128-bit color and floating-point arithmetic. • SWIFT • The app was developed entirely using Swift (earlier versions used C++). • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • CHANGE SIZE/FORCE/COLOR WHILE DRAWING • • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN DRAWING • SEAMLESS PATTERN EDITING MODE • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Lux Draw at Free against Drawing Pad's $5.99. Lux Draw also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (939 vs 123). Drawing Pad's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months) and chart position (#122 vs unranked). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Lux Draw is free to download; Drawing Pad costs $5.99 up front. Drawing Pad sells 11 one-off in-app purchases and Lux Draw sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lux Draw holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lux Draw has 939 ratings behind it against 123, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of Drawing Pad's written reviews are positive against 82% of Lux Draw's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Drawing Pad ships an update monthly, Lux Draw every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drawing Pad | Lux Draw |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.2 (123 ratings) | 4.7 (939 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 82.7% of reviews — better | 81.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 123 | 939 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #122 — better | — |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 223 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Murtha Design LLC | Norbyte |
Customer experience
Drawing Pad
Lux Draw
User reviews
Drawing Pad
From 123 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Great for kids
- 👍 Versatile and fun
- 🎨 Encourages creativity
- 🎨 Lots of drawing tools
- 🎨 Excellent color selection
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and deletes work
- 🐛 Undo button issues
- 🖌️ Limited brush/pencil options
- 🖌️ Blending tool issues
- 🖼️ No full screen on iPad
Lux Draw
From 939 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent entertainment value
- 👍 Creative drawing tools
- 👍 No ads, totally free
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Variety of brushes and colors
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional glitches and freezing issues
- 🐛 Compatibility issues with certain devices/platforms
- 🔧 Limited functionality compared to other drawing apps
- 🔧 Lack of advanced features like fill tool, shapes, and text
- 🔧 Difficulty using with mouse/trackpad on laptops
Bugs and requests
Drawing Pad
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes and deletes drawings
- Undo button erases too much work
- Drawings disappear from album
- Sticker placement issues
- Incompatible with newer iPads
Requested features
10 requests- Add layers feature
- Implement zoom/pan functionality
- Add text tool
- Provide more advanced drawing tools
- Include more adult-oriented coloring books
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Improve sticker/stamp UI
- Add sound effects
- Implement auto-save feature
- Add ability to mix/create custom colors
- Provide more brushes/pencils (e.g. HB-9B pencils)
Lux Draw
Reported bugs
3 issues- Freezing and unresponsiveness when switching tools
- Leaving unwanted color dots when erasing
- Compatibility issues with certain devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add fill tool, shapes, and text capabilities
- Improve compatibility with tablets and styluses
- Provide more customization options for brushes and colors
- Implement undo/redo functionality
- Add ability to export/share drawings easily
In-app purchases
Drawing Pad
- Occupations Coloring BookFree
- More Fun Coloring BookFree
- Fairy Tale Coloring BookFree
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Sea Life Coloring BookFree
- Winter Holiday Coloring BookFree
- Farm Coloring BookFree
- Dinosaur Coloring BookFree
- Robots Coloring BookFree
- Space Coloring BookFree
- Halloween Coloring BookFree
- Adult Coloring Book 1Free
Lux Draw
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Pro Upgrade$5.00
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Questions
Is Drawing Pad free?
Is Lux Draw free?
Which has better reviews, Drawing Pad or Lux Draw?
Do Drawing Pad or Lux Draw have ads?
Which is updated more often, Drawing Pad or Lux Draw?
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