Comparison

Paper vs Widgetsmith

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

Head to head
About

Paper

This app offers an immersive sketching experience with intuitive tools and gesture-based controls. Easily create collages, paintings, and drawings without distracting menus. Organize your creations into journals and sync them across devices.

Highlights
  • Intuitive sketching tools
  • Gesture-based controls
  • Photo collage creation
  • Layer-free editing
  • Journal organization
  • Cross-device syncing
Features
Read full description

Over 30 million people set their ideas free with Paper®, the award-winning immersive sketching app. SKETCH WITH CONFIDENCE Paper’s perfectly-tuned tools make it easy to sketch, collage, paint, draw—wherever your thoughts take you. Wave goodbye to distracting menus and let natural gestures guide you, keeping you in your creative flow. GET CREATIVE (WITHOUT THE MESS) Add multiple photos to a single page and cut, stick, move, and fix without the fuss of complex layers. From mood boards to storyboards, pull in inspiration from anywhere and get your ideas moving. YOUR IDEAS, YOUR WAY Wherever and however you get your ideas, it’s never been easier to put them on Paper. Organize pages into beautiful journals and sync them across your devices, ready to pick up where you left off. CREATE LIKE A PRO Take creativity to the next level and subscribe to Paper Pro for more tools, features, and journals. Subscription is optional and you can cancel anytime. To upgrade, simply visit the Paper Pro section in your Settings menu. * Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account once you confirm the purchase. * Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of your subscription period. To opt out, you must turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. * Manage changes to your subscription in the iTunes Account Settings. * Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited when you purchase a Paper Pro subscription. Love Paper? Leave us a review! Thanks to your comments, reviews, and tweets we can continue to evolve Paper with you in mind. Questions? Shoot us an email at support@wetransfer.com. Terms of Service: https://paper.bywetransfer.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://paper.bywetransfer.com/privacy Patents: https://paper.bywetransfer.com/legal/patents

About

Widgetsmith

Personalize your device with highly customizable widgets for your home and lock screens. Showcase photos, track events, display weather, and launch apps directly from your widgets. Includes a wallpaper library and tools for theming.

Highlights
  • Customizable widgets
  • Home and lock screen personalization
  • Photo display
  • Event countdowns
  • Weather forecasts
  • App launching widgets
  • Theming tools
Features
Read full description

Widgetsmith lets you personalize your device like never before with a wide range of highly customizable widgets. It allows you to design your home screen to remind you of the people, places, and words that mean the most to you. Widgetsmith showcases your photos, counts down to upcoming events, provides quick access to your favorite music, allows you to check the weather at a glance, and more. You can build widgets with Actions to launch apps, run Shortcuts, send a text, and more, from your home screen or Control Center. Widgetsmith includes a library of iPhone wallpapers and a tool to theme your widgets to perfectly complement these wallpapers or any of your own. Each widget can be adjusted precisely to fit your desired appearance and function, using various colors, fonts, borders, and themes. With Widgetsmith, you can create your perfect home screen aesthetic and easily change it over time. WIDGETS: You can create almost anything with Widgetsmith, using the wide range of widget types offered in the app! Here are some favorites: Photos: Highlight your favorite images across your home screens with a range of filters and borders Photo Galleries: View photos in an album or customized collection Customizable Date & Time Clocks Activity Tracking & Step Counting Countdown Timers Solar & Lunar Trackers Weather Conditions & Forecasts Time Zone Tracker Widgetsmith lets you customize not only your home screen but also your lock screen! You can view inspirational song lyrics, a photo of a loved one, weather information, and more without unlocking your device. WALLPAPERS: Widgetsmith includes a collection of phone wallpapers from various artists. These can be downloaded directly from the app and used to create custom widget themes to quickly and easily theme your entire home screen in a pleasing color palette. FLEXIBILITY: If you want different widgets at different times of day, Widgetsmith has you covered! For example, a widget could show the weather in the morning, your calendar during your work day, and then switch to your Activity ring progress as you wrap up your day. This lets you take full advantage of each slot on your home screen. IN-APP TOOLS: Wisgetsmith is also home to a wide range of valuable tools, including: A weather app with air quality, pollen, and tide information A full-featured time zone converter Charts to review activity and workout data NOTES: Widgetsmith is designed to optionally integrate with Apple Health to display your steps and activity. Permission for Widgetsmith to access this data is controlled through the Apple Health app. Widgetsmith can also integrate with your photos, Apple Music library, calendars, reminders, and more. Access to this information is handled using the standard iOS/iPadOS/watchOS privacy prompts, which are shown only in Widgetsmith. Widgetsmith includes an optional premium subscription. This is offered on a monthly or annual basis. If you choose to purchase a subscription, your payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24 hours before the end of the current period. After purchase, you can turn off auto-renewal at any time by going to your Account Settings in the App Store. Access to tide and weather data is only available to Widgetsmith Premium subscribers. LEARN MORE: Privacy Policy: https://widgetsmith.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://widgetsmith.app/terms

Screenshots

Paper4 screens
Widgetsmith4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Paper at none against Widgetsmith's shown. Paper also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Widgetsmith's advantage is review sentiment (73% vs 44%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Paper sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Widgetsmith sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Paper against 4.6 for Widgetsmith. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Widgetsmith has 778K ratings behind it against 73K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Paper's written reviews are positive against 73% of Widgetsmith's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paper ships an update every 2 months, Widgetsmith every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Paper versus Widgetsmith: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperWidgetsmith
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (73K ratings)4.6 (778K ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.7% of reviews72.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings73K778K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#41 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size168 MB183 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEvernote CorporationCross Forward Consulting, LLC

Customer experience

Paper

All ratings72,370 ratings
Positive89.2%
Neutral4.7%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews1,025 reviews
Positive43.7%
Neutral11.1%
Negative45.2%

Widgetsmith

All ratings772,982 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral3.6%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews1,990 reviews
Positive72.6%
Neutral8.4%
Negative19.0%

User reviews

Paper

From 73K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fantastic drawing experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly
  • 💡 Unique journal-like format
  • 🎨 Great for sketching and doodling
  • 📚 Useful for note-taking and organization

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Subscription model for basic features
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches after updates
  • 📥 Limited image import/export options
  • 🎨 Lack of advanced drawing tools
  • 🔀 Frustrating navigation changes

Widgetsmith

From 778K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Customizable widgets
  • 💡 Allows for aesthetic home screen design
  • 🤩 Great for organizing and personalizing
  • 🥰 Helpful for improving phone appearance

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Widgets turning grey or not working
  • 🤔 Inability to remove 'Widgetsmith' label
  • 🤨 Limited customization options for free users
  • 😕 Inconsistent widget behavior

Bugs and requests

Paper

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Pages disappearing or getting corrupted
  • Unreliable cloud sync and data loss
  • Erratic scrolling and navigation issues
  • Inconsistent behavior of drawing tools
  • Compatibility problems with Apple Pencil

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add text editing and formatting options
  • Improve palm rejection and precision
  • Implement layers and advanced compositing
  • Allow more customization of journal pages
  • Bring back popular features from older versions
Show 1 more
  • Provide a one-time purchase option

Widgetsmith

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Widgets randomly turning grey or blank
  • Calendar and time widgets not updating correctly
  • App crashing or not opening
  • Issues with photo widgets not displaying images

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to choose specific photos for widgets
  • Option to adjust photo rotation interval
  • Custom color selection tool
  • Customizable widget labels
  • Transparent widget backgrounds

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Paper

Subscriptions10
  • Paper Pro$4.997 Days
  • Paper Pro7 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Paper Pro$7.996 Months
Show 7 more
  • Paper Pro$9.997 Days
  • Paper Pro7 Days trial$9.997 Days
  • Paper Pro$11.991 Year
  • Paper Pro$69.991 Year
  • Paper Pro7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Paper Pro$99.991 Year
  • Paper Pro7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time3
  • Paper Credit$1.99
  • Paper Credit Bundle$7.99
  • Paper Credit Bundle$12.99
4 purchases

Widgetsmith

Subscriptions4
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Paper free?
Paper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Widgetsmith free?
Widgetsmith is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Paper or Widgetsmith?
Widgetsmith is rated higher. Paper averages 4.6 out of 5 from 73K ratings, while Widgetsmith averages 4.6 from 778K ratings.
Do Paper or Widgetsmith have ads?
Widgetsmith shows ads; Paper does not.
Which is updated more often, Paper or Widgetsmith?
Paper ships an update every 2 months, and Widgetsmith every 2 weeks. Most recently, Paper was updated on October 29, 2026 and Widgetsmith on October 29, 2026.

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