Comparison

Lux Draw vs Magic Circle Maker

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

Magic Circle Maker

Easily design intricate patterns like mandalas and kaleidoscopes. Save your creations as PNGs for use as wallpapers or to decorate characters. Share your unique designs with others.

Highlights
  • Create mandala and kaleidoscope patterns
  • Customize part size
  • Paint with favorite colors
  • Save illustrations as PNG
  • Share created designs
Features
Read full description

Would you like to design your own patterns that would appear in a fantasy world? By using this app, you can easily create beautiful patterns like mandalas and kaleidoscopes. The illustrations you create can be used as wallpaper, etc. The size of each part can be freely selected. Let's paint it in your favorite color Illustrations can be saved in background PNG format. You can also use the original sword you created to decorate the character you created. Once you have created a wonderful magic square, share it with everyone! If you have any parts you would like added, please let us know! #Saved image information is saved on your device and cannot be recovered if you delete the app.

Screenshots

Lux Draw4 screens
Magic Circle Maker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Lux Draw at 4.7 against Magic Circle Maker's 1.0. Lux Draw also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (939 vs 1). Magic Circle Maker's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6). On price and update cadence 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. Magic Circle Maker asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lux Draw holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lux Draw has 939 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lux Draw ships an update every 2 months, Magic Circle Maker every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Lux Draw versus Magic Circle Maker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLux DrawMagic Circle Maker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (939 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings939 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB51 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperNorbyteMIDLANDSTORY inc.

Customer experience

Lux Draw

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

Magic Circle Maker

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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

Magic Circle Maker

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
None

Magic Circle Maker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lux Draw free?
Lux Draw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Magic Circle Maker free?
Magic Circle Maker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lux Draw or Magic Circle Maker?
Lux Draw is rated higher. Lux Draw averages 4.7 out of 5 from 939 ratings, while Magic Circle Maker averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Lux Draw or Magic Circle Maker have ads?
Magic Circle Maker shows ads; Lux Draw does not.
Which is updated more often, Lux Draw or Magic Circle Maker?
Lux Draw ships an update every 2 months, and Magic Circle Maker every 4 months. Most recently, Lux Draw was updated on October 15, 2026 and Magic Circle Maker on October 6, 2026.

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