Lux Draw vs Star Doodle AR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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) •
Star Doodle AR
Create magical, sparkling drawings in 3D space or on surfaces with a variety of animated effects and unique pens. Save your creations as videos or photos to share with others. Unlock additional features through in-app purchases or by watching ads.
- Draw in midair or on surfaces
- 12 kinds of animations
- 16 unique drawing pens
- Save creations as video or photo
- Share with friends
- Unlockable features
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Draw magical, sparkling doodles in midair or on walls! Your drawings will appear and disappear with 12 kinds of animations. Use 16 different pens—stars, flames, hearts, gems, cherry blossoms, clovers, electricity, bubbles, smoke, “blood text,” and more—to create fantastical artworks. Save your creations as videos or photos and share them with friends. How to Use: 1. Draw on the Screen: Touch the screen to start drawing. Use the buttons below to customize your artwork. - Paint Icon: Change the color. - Star Icon: Adjust the size of the stars. - Box Icon / Plane Icon: Switch between drawing in the air or on surfaces. - Undo Icon: Undo the last action. - Erase Icon: Clear all drawings. - Dot Icon: Switch to "Viewing Mode". 2. Animate and Record Your Drawings: After you finish drawing, animate it or record a video! Switch to viewing mode with the dot icon on the right. - Play Icon: Animate your drawing. You can also record the animation. - Sun Icon: Adjust the brightness. - Video Icon: Record a video. Tap again to stop recording. - Photo Icon: Take a photo. - Tools Icon: Access settings or purchase additional features. - Dot Icon: Switch back to "Drawing Mode". Unlock Extra Features: Yellow Lock Buttons: Unlock by watching ads. Blue Lock Buttons: Available for purchase. Paid Options: Access additional features by purchasing options through the cart icon in the tools menu. Paid features include: 1. Unlock all locked features. 2. Remove all ads. 3. Enable the option to hide the logo at the top right of the screen. About the use of created images/videos: Images and videos created with this app may be freely used for both personal and commercial purposes, including creative works, social media posting, video streaming, printed materials, and more. - If your content includes materials that may infringe third-party rights (e.g., other people or copyrighted characters appearing in the background), please obtain permission from the rights holder before use. - If possible, I would greatly appreciate it if you could mention or introduce that this app was used in your work, stream, description, etc. Download now and let your creativity sparkle!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Lux Draw at 82% against Star Doodle AR's 33%. Lux Draw also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.0) and ads (none vs shown). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Lux Draw sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Star Doodle AR sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lux Draw holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lux Draw has 939 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Lux Draw's written reviews are positive against 33% of Star Doodle AR's.
Lux Draw ships an update every 2 months, Star Doodle AR every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lux Draw | Star Doodle AR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (939 ratings) — better | 4.0 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.5% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 939 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 5 months |
| 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 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 249 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Norbyte | Tadanori Okada |
Customer experience
Lux Draw
Star Doodle AR
Bugs and requests
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
Star Doodle AR
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Lux Draw
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Pro Upgrade$5.00
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- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Star Doodle AR
- Unlock buttons & Remove Ads$4.99
Questions
Is Lux Draw free?
Is Star Doodle AR free?
Which has better reviews, Lux Draw or Star Doodle AR?
Do Lux Draw or Star Doodle AR have ads?
Which is updated more often, Lux Draw or Star Doodle AR?
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