iPastels vs Paint X
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iPastels
This app offers a realistic digital painting experience with lifelike pastel simulation and interactive textures. It allows for precise color blending and adjustable stroke sizes, catering to both beginners and experienced artists. Explore your creativity without the cost of traditional art supplies.
- Lifelike pastel simulation
- Realistic paper/canvas textures
- Precise color blending
- Fingertip stroke size adjustment
- Left-handed toolbar option
- Live parameter changes
- Multiple layers
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A painting app for all artists, whether you’re experienced or just starting out. Perfect for creating beautiful works of art or a quick sketch whenever and wherever you have a burst of inspiration. You can also try out ideas and compositions before starting on a new painting in real life, or practise and refine your skills, all without the added cost of art supplies. • LIFELIKE PASTEL SIMULATION • The app features live-calculated brushes and strokes, making a realistic pastel simulation possible. Painting tools include soft pastels, oil pastels, pastel pencils, smudge tool, and more. • REALISTIC PAPER/CANVAS TEXTURES • When creating a new picture, a unique, non-repeating paper texture is generated that will interact in real-time with the live-calculated strokes you paint. You can change the default-generated texture to, for example, canvas, which goes great with oil pastels! • PRECISE COLOR BLENDING • When painting, especially with soft pastels, use Smudge or the Cotton Swab to blend and smoothen the colors right on the paper, as you would in real life. With oil pastels, in addition to smudging, the blending is often done by the pastel sticks themselves (for best results, reduce the force or use a similar or lighter color). If you use an Apple Pencil, it will feel incredibly realistic if you use the stylus to draw and use your finger to Smudge (assigned as a 2nd tool)! • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • When you paint, the app measures how much of your finger is touching the screen and changes the stroke size accordingly. Apply just the corner of your fingertip for a thin line, or the whole fingerprint area for a broad stroke. A 2nd tool assigned to your finger will still use this feature, so don’t ignore it just because you have an Apple Pencil! • LEFT-HANDED? • Just swipe the toolbar over to the other side! • PARAMETERS CAN BE CHANGED LIVE • Use any buttons or controls to change/adjust color, size, force, simultaneously while painting. • 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++). • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN PAINTING • SEAMLESS PATTERN EDITING MODE • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •
Paint X
Unleash your creativity with this intuitive drawing application. It offers a variety of brushes, color-picking tools, and helpful features for sketching, coloring, and graffiti. Perfect for both beginners and aspiring artists to create vibrant artwork.
- Image color picking
- Multiple brush options
- Free color filling
- Line copying and painting
- Rich material templates
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Paint X is an easy to get fun and rich hand drawn drawing software. In addition to drawing, it can also be used for coloring, sketching, and graffiti. A colorful brush, fun and practical. -Supports image color picking, allowing you to find the color you want in just one second; -Multiple brushes available for more convenient and convenient use; -Support free color filling, color selection, and easier color filling and painting; -Line copying and painting, even beginners can quickly get started; -Rich material templates, the next master painter is you! This subscription will be automatically renewed through your iTunes account, and the renewal fee will be deducted from your package within 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. You can manage or cancel the automatic renewal at the account settings. Cancellation of the automatic renewal must be at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. If your trial has not ended, the remaining days will automatically expire after you start the subscription. To open the subscription, you need to agree to the following terms Terms of Service: http://xiaoye.kindofpure.cn/xiaoya/zh_terms.html Privacy Terms: http://xiaoye.kindofpure.cn/xiaoya/zh_doc.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: iPastels at none against Paint X's shown. iPastels also leads on ratings volume (2.2K vs 364) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). Paint X's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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. iPastels sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Paint X sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
iPastels holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iPastels has 2.2K ratings behind it against 364, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 81% of iPastels's written reviews are positive against 87% of Paint X's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
iPastels ships an update every 6 weeks, Paint X every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iPastels | Paint X |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.2K ratings) — better | 4.5 (364 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.0% of reviews | 86.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K — better | 364 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Norbyte | 朝霞 彭 |
Customer experience
iPastels
Paint X
User reviews
iPastels
From 2.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Realistic pastel simulation
- 💡 Useful for beginners and professionals
- 🌈 Wide range of colors and shades
- 🔍 Good blending and smudging tools
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or glitches
- 🔒 Limited free features, need to pay for more
- 🔍 Lack of zoom or detailed control
- 🎨 Difficulty finding/reusing specific colors
- 🔀 Confusing layer management
Paint X
From 364 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Cute and fun app
- 💡 Suitable for all age groups
- 🎨 Good for drawing and coloring
- 🙂 Relaxing and calming experience
Room to improve
- 🐛 Some issues with sensitivity and responsiveness
- 🔒 Limited free content, most features are VIP-locked
- 🔨 Inability to undo or delete drawings
Bugs and requests
iPastels
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when importing images
- Layers sometimes disappear or get lost
- Undo button deletes entire drawing sections
Requested features
6 requests- Add color picker tool
- Improve layer management and visibility
- Implement pressure-sensitive brush support
- Provide more paper/canvas texture options
- Allow saving and recalling custom palettes
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- Add undo/redo functionality for individual strokes
Paint X
Reported bugs
2 issues- Freezing or crashing on some devices
- Compatibility issues on older tablets
Requested features
3 requests- More free content and drawing options
- Improved drawing tools and responsiveness
- Undo/delete functionality for drawings
In-app purchases
iPastels
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
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- Pro Upgrade$7.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Paint X
- 月度订阅3 Days trial$2.991 Month
- 会员版本$3.99









