Comparison

Lux Draw vs Star Doodle AR

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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)
Features
Read full description

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) •

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

Lux Draw4 screens
Star Doodle AR1 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Lux Draw versus Star Doodle AR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLux DrawStar Doodle AR
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (939 ratings) — better4.0 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings939 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB249 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNorbyteTadanori Okada

Customer experience

Lux Draw

All ratings939 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral4.7%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral10.9%
Negative7.6%

Star Doodle AR

All ratings12 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

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

6 purchases

Lux Draw

One-time6
  • Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
  • Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
  • Pro Upgrade$5.00
Show 3 more
  • Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
  • Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
  • Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
1 purchases

Star Doodle AR

One-time1
  • Unlock buttons & Remove Ads$4.99

Questions

Is Lux Draw free?
Lux Draw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Star Doodle AR free?
Star Doodle AR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lux Draw or Star Doodle AR?
Lux Draw is rated higher. Lux Draw averages 4.7 out of 5 from 939 ratings, while Star Doodle AR averages 4.0 from 12 ratings.
Do Lux Draw or Star Doodle AR have ads?
Star Doodle AR shows ads; Lux Draw does not.
Which is updated more often, Lux Draw or Star Doodle AR?
Lux Draw ships an update every 2 months, and Star Doodle AR every 5 months. Most recently, Lux Draw was updated on October 15, 2026 and Star Doodle AR on October 5, 2026.

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