Retro Art Studio vs DotIt!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Retro Art Studio
Unleash your creativity with three classic-inspired art tools. Design pixel art, create vibrant peg-style designs, or sketch with playful dial controls. This app offers a simple, satisfying, and mess-free way to make art for all ages.
- Pixel art creation
- Peg-style artwork
- Dial doodle sketching
- Intuitive grid interface
- Distraction-free design
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Super Retro Art Studio Create. Play. Relax. Super Retro Art Studio brings together three classic-inspired creative tools in one simple, satisfying app. Whether you want to unwind, experiment, or just make something fun, it’s all here—no pressure, no mess. Three Ways to Create Pixel Painter Design colorful pixel art with an intuitive grid. Tap, fill, and bring your ideas to life : one square at a time. LED Lights Create vibrant peg-style artwork inspired by classic light boards. Bright, bold, and instantly rewarding. Dial-A-Doodle Twist your way to playful sketches with classic dial controls. No undo-just pure creative flow. Features • Simple, satisfying creative tools • Draw, fill, erase, and experiment freely • Clean, distraction-free design • Designed for all ages Make something from yesterday today.
DotIt!
Unleash your creativity by easily adding photos as backgrounds and then drawing or writing on them. Save and share your unique creations with friends. Simple touch controls make it accessible for all.
- Add photos as backgrounds
- Easy touch controls
- Save creations
- Share creations
- Creative expression
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DotIt! is a playful, easy-to-use canvas for making dot art on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Just touch the screen and start placing dots. Pick a color, choose a size, and watch your creation come together. Add a photo as a background to trace, decorate, or just have fun with. Designed with kids in mind: • No accounts, no ads, no tracking • Simple touch controls anyone can pick up • Save your artwork to the photo library and share it with family Features: • Multiple dot sizes and rotation • Photo backgrounds — turn any picture into a canvas • Save and share to Photos, Messages, and more • Apple Watch companion app to sketch on the go • Native Apple TV support — paint on the big screen with the Siri Remote
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: DotIt! at 100% against Retro Art Studio's 34%. DotIt! also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). Retro Art Studio's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 13 months). On price and device support 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. Retro Art Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. DotIt! asks for nothing beyond the download.
Retro Art Studio holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DotIt! has 57 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 34% of Retro Art Studio's written reviews are positive against 100% of DotIt!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Retro Art Studio ships an update every 4 months, DotIt! every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Retro Art Studio | DotIt! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3 ratings) — better | 4.4 (57 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 34.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 57 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 13 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 148 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Six Foot Three Foot | Thom Ritterfeld |
Customer experience
Retro Art Studio
DotIt!
Bugs and requests
Retro Art Studio
Reported bugs
16 issues- Constantly crashes
- Crashed on save, lost drawing
- Won't load
- Not opening on iPad 2
- Can't open the stupid thing
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- Won't even open
- Doesn't open on iPods
- Kept on crashing
- Wont even open on my iPhone 5
- Couldn't even open it! Crash Crash Crash!
- App acts like I have an iPhone 5
- Buttons on the bottom are too small
- Error saving photo
- App closes out when trying to open pixel painter
- Facebook button does not work
- Save an image is a screenshot of the whole screen
Requested features
15 requests- More art settings
- Update to fix crashing
- More colors
- Zoom functionality
- Color Spectrum Pad
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- Dropper Tool
- Templates
- Online community for sharing creations/forum
- Fix buttons on bottom being too small
- Fix saving issues
- Add more things to do
- More brushes
- Fix app acting like it's on iPhone 5 when it's not
- Fix update issues
- Add more colors
DotIt!
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Retro Art Studio
- Remove Ads$2.99
DotIt!
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Retro Art Studio free?
Is DotIt! free?
Which has better reviews, Retro Art Studio or DotIt!?
Do Retro Art Studio or DotIt! have ads?
Which is updated more often, Retro Art Studio or DotIt!?
Other comparisons
