KaleidoPaint vs Brushes Redux
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
KaleidoPaint
Create intricate, repeating designs by mirroring your brushstrokes in real-time. Offers extensive editing tools for precise control over every element of your artwork. Export your creations as tileable images or standard graphics.
- Real-time mirrored brushstrokes
- 17 symmetry patterns
- Vector graphics editing
- Curve smoothing and area fill
- Undo/Redo functionality
- Export tileable rectangles
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As you draw, KaleidoPaint mirrors your brushstrokes to create a beautiful infinitely repeating design. Image Gallery: http://www.geometrygames.org/KaleidoPaint/Gallery Features: - vector graphics - 17 symmetry patterns - scroll, rotate, zoom - curve smoothing - area fill - Edit Mode: reshape and recolor any dot, line or area - unlimited Undo/Redo - export your favorite paintings - export tileable rectangles Screenshots by Amber van Hoek.
Brushes Redux
This app offers a powerful and responsive painting experience on iOS devices. Create large, detailed artwork with a versatile brush engine, layer management, and import/export options. Relive your creative process with step-by-step playback.
- OpenGL-based painting engine
- Record and replay paintings
- Up to 10 layers
- Import/export JPEG, PNG, PSD
- Simulated pressure
- Unlimited undo/redo
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Brushes Redux is a painting app designed exclusively for iOS. Rewritten from the ground up, Brushes Redux is universal — the same version runs on both your iPhone and your iPad. Move paintings between your devices and keep working wherever you go. An accelerated OpenGL-based painting engine makes painting smooth and responsive — even with huge brush sizes. Brushes also records every step in your painting. Show off your creative process by replaying your paintings directly on your device. General Features: – Create paintings with dimensions up to 4096x4096 – Full support for all Retina devices – Background autosave – Unlimited undo and redo – Simple and approachable interface Painting: – Full screen painting – Record and replay paintings – Ultrafast OpenGL-based painting engine – Huge brush sizes up to 512x512 pixels – Simulated pressure – 64-bit painting on the latest hardware – 14 parameterized brush shapes – Adjustable brush settings (spacing, jitter, scatter, etc.) – Adjustable color opacity – Invert color and desaturate – Flip and arbitrarily transform layers – Adjustable color balance (iPad only) – Adjustable hue, saturation and brightness (iPad only) Layers: – Create up to 10 layers – Lock and hide layers – Lock layer transparency – Adjust layer opacity – Duplicate, rearrange, and merge layers – Change blending modes: normal, multiply, screen, exclude Import and Export: – Integrated with Dropbox – Import native Brushes 3 files, JPEG, and PNG files – Export as native Brushes 3 files, JPEG, PNG, and Photoshop files (with layers) – Place images from your photo album into paintings – Copy paintings to the pasteboard Gestures: – Zoom with two finger pinch – Zoom in with two finger double tap – Zoom to fit with two finger double tap – Toggle interface visibility with a single tap (this can be changed to a two finger tap in the app settings) – Tap and hold to access eyedropper tool Screenshot credit: "Portrait of Ally" by John Bavaro (http://johnbavaro.com)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: KaleidoPaint at 4.6 against Brushes Redux's 3.6. KaleidoPaint also leads on review sentiment (81% vs 63%). Brushes Redux's advantage is ratings volume (303 vs 77) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 17.1). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
KaleidoPaint holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 77 and 303 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of KaleidoPaint's written reviews are positive against 63% of Brushes Redux's.
KaleidoPaint ships an update every 5 months, Brushes Redux every 9 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | KaleidoPaint | Brushes Redux |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (77 ratings) — better | 3.6 (303 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.9% of reviews — better | 62.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 77 | 303 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.1 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jeff Weeks | Christoffer Hoel |
Customer experience
KaleidoPaint
Brushes Redux
User reviews
KaleidoPaint
From 77 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Intuitive and easy to use
- 🎨 Great for creating patterns and designs
- 💎 Free and ad-free
- 💡 Vector-based editing
- 🔄 Allows for easy line adjustment (Bezier curves)
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes or doesn't open
- 🐛 Opens files app instead of the app itself
- 🐛 Blank page with no controls
- 🐛 Recent changes made the app confusing and less user-friendly
- 🐛 Old drawings ruined by updates
Brushes Redux
From 303 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Great for drawing and painting
- 💯 No ads or in-app purchases
- ⭐ Excellent for beginners
- 🎨 Customizable brushes
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🔍 Limited selection of tools (no blending, fill, etc.)
- 🔍 Pixelated output when zoomed in
- 🔍 Inconsistent color output
- 🔍 Difficulty using with Apple Pencil
Bugs and requests
KaleidoPaint
Reported bugs
10 issues- App opens files app and no files are selectable
- App opens an empty page without any controls
- App immediately opens files without allowing creation
- App doesn't work, opens files app and doesn't allow creation
- Old drawings ruined by updates
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Fill color not changing with line color
- Color and background tabs no longer work
- Sharing button not working
- Tileable rectangle export not working
- Saving as JPG only
Requested features
28 requests- Ability to break a line from a selected point
- Eraser tool
- Export as SVG option
- More features like different brushes, blending colors, more symmetrical choices, and better stroke control
- Ability to export in a square format
Show 23 moreShow fewer
- Transparent background option
- Export function for tilable squares
- Layers
- RGB color value sliders
- Opacity, blending modes
- Selection tool
- Ability to switch mirroring on and off
- Ability to export layers to Photoshop
- More control over drawing strokes
- Adjustable stroke smoothing
- More precise color selection (e.g., RGB or HLS)
- Ability to change grid line color
- Designs that save evenly in any size for multiple tiling
- Export and import patterns within the app
- Basic block repeat option
- Zoom in color selector
- More patterns to choose from and purchase
- Ability to set custom image size
- Export .png files with a transparent background
- More symmetry options
- Line and shape tools
- Apple Pencil support
- Option to minimize tool windows
Brushes Redux
Reported bugs
4 issues- Drawings disappearing or unable to open
- Color picker issues causing unintended color changes
- Dropbox integration problems
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
6 requests- Add blending tool
- Increase layer limit
- Implement video export
- Add text tool
- Improve Apple Pencil support
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Add color stabilizer
In-app purchases
KaleidoPaint
No in-app purchases
Brushes Redux
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is KaleidoPaint free?
Is Brushes Redux free?
Which has better reviews, KaleidoPaint or Brushes Redux?
Do KaleidoPaint or Brushes Redux have ads?
Which is updated more often, KaleidoPaint or Brushes Redux?
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