Drawing Box Ltd vs Brushes Redux
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drawing Box Ltd
This mobile studio offers a wide range of tools for sketching and painting, from pencils and brushes to creative pen effects and stickers. Users can enjoy features like symmetrical drawing, unlimited undo, and video replays of their creations. It's ideal for quick sketches, artistic studies, and sharing finished artwork.
- Multiple pencil modes and art brushes
- Creative pen effects and stickers
- Symmetrical drawing and painting
- Video replay of artwork
- Unlimited undo/redo functionality
- Pictures for coloring and leisure
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Enjoy the LIGHT VERSION of one of the most awarded painting app on the market. You will be surprised by the incredible number of features provided by this app. Bring along this small mobile studio with you, make life sketching, studying forms, shapes, architecture, human figures. This is an excellent tool for a quick sketch, even drawn with small modeling effects with the smooth art brushes. Publish your works directly on Twitter, Facebook or Sina Weibo. Send them to the photo library or to your friends by mail. Main features: - 3 pencil modes - 3 art brushes - 2 paint rollers - 3 eraser sizes - 78 premixed and ready to use colors. - 10 incredible creative pen effects. - 187 stickers in 3 sizes - Video replay of your paintings - Symmetrical drawing and painting. - Unlimited undo, redo, clear drawing page - Pictures for coloring and leisure activities - Drawing lessons (in-app purchase) - You can choose a color for the canvas background from the 78 premixed colors. How it works: just push the color tube to the top and release it.
Brushes Redux
This app offers a powerful and responsive painting experience on iOS devices. Create large, detailed artwork with a versatile brush engine, layer management, and import/export options. Relive your creative process with step-by-step playback.
- OpenGL-based painting engine
- Record and replay paintings
- Up to 10 layers
- Import/export JPEG, PNG, PSD
- Simulated pressure
- Unlimited undo/redo
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Brushes Redux is a painting app designed exclusively for iOS. Rewritten from the ground up, Brushes Redux is universal — the same version runs on both your iPhone and your iPad. Move paintings between your devices and keep working wherever you go. An accelerated OpenGL-based painting engine makes painting smooth and responsive — even with huge brush sizes. Brushes also records every step in your painting. Show off your creative process by replaying your paintings directly on your device. General Features: – Create paintings with dimensions up to 4096x4096 – Full support for all Retina devices – Background autosave – Unlimited undo and redo – Simple and approachable interface Painting: – Full screen painting – Record and replay paintings – Ultrafast OpenGL-based painting engine – Huge brush sizes up to 512x512 pixels – Simulated pressure – 64-bit painting on the latest hardware – 14 parameterized brush shapes – Adjustable brush settings (spacing, jitter, scatter, etc.) – Adjustable color opacity – Invert color and desaturate – Flip and arbitrarily transform layers – Adjustable color balance (iPad only) – Adjustable hue, saturation and brightness (iPad only) Layers: – Create up to 10 layers – Lock and hide layers – Lock layer transparency – Adjust layer opacity – Duplicate, rearrange, and merge layers – Change blending modes: normal, multiply, screen, exclude Import and Export: – Integrated with Dropbox – Import native Brushes 3 files, JPEG, and PNG files – Export as native Brushes 3 files, JPEG, PNG, and Photoshop files (with layers) – Place images from your photo album into paintings – Copy paintings to the pasteboard Gestures: – Zoom with two finger pinch – Zoom in with two finger double tap – Zoom to fit with two finger double tap – Toggle interface visibility with a single tap (this can be changed to a two finger tap in the app settings) – Tap and hold to access eyedropper tool Screenshot credit: "Portrait of Ally" by John Bavaro (http://johnbavaro.com)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Drawing Box Ltd at 4.6 against Brushes Redux's 3.6. Drawing Box Ltd also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 63%) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 9 months). Brushes Redux's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (297 vs 9). On price 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
Both are free to download. Drawing Box Ltd sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Brushes Redux asks for nothing beyond the download.
Drawing Box Ltd holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Brushes Redux has 297 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Drawing Box Ltd's written reviews are positive against 63% of Brushes Redux's.
Drawing Box Ltd ships an update every 3 months, Brushes Redux every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drawing Box Ltd | Brushes Redux |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (9 ratings) — better | 3.6 (297 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 94.2% of reviews — better | 62.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 297 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 117 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Etienne Nguyen Tan Hon | Christoffer Hoel |
Customer experience
Drawing Box Ltd
Brushes Redux
User reviews
Drawing Box Ltd
From 9 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Lots of drawing tools and features
- 💡 Helpful for kids and adults
- 🎨 Wide range of colors and brushes
- 👍 Intuitive interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and glitches
- 🐛 Blending issues with colors
- 🔒 Limited save/export options in free version
- 💡 Could use more advanced tools (e.g. smudge, bucket fill)
Brushes Redux
From 297 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Great for drawing and painting
- 💯 No ads or in-app purchases
- ⭐ Excellent for beginners
- 🎨 Customizable brushes
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🔍 Limited selection of tools (no blending, fill, etc.)
- 🔍 Pixelated output when zoomed in
- 🔍 Inconsistent color output
- 🔍 Difficulty using with Apple Pencil
Bugs and requests
Drawing Box Ltd
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when importing images
- Drawings sometimes rotate the wrong way
- Occasional freezing when saving drawings
Requested features
4 requests- Add a bucket fill tool
- Improve color blending capabilities
- Increase save/export options in free version
- Implement a smudge tool
Brushes Redux
Reported bugs
4 issues- Drawings disappearing or unable to open
- Color picker issues causing unintended color changes
- Dropbox integration problems
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
6 requests- Add blending tool
- Increase layer limit
- Implement video export
- Add text tool
- Improve Apple Pencil support
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- Add color stabilizer
In-app purchases
Drawing Box Ltd
- Pencil Sketching Lessons$0.99
- Buy Drawing Box Full version$2.99
Brushes Redux
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Drawing Box Ltd free?
Is Brushes Redux free?
Which has better reviews, Drawing Box Ltd or Brushes Redux?
Do Drawing Box Ltd or Brushes Redux have ads?
Which is updated more often, Drawing Box Ltd or Brushes Redux?
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