Comparison

SnapDot vs PIXEL86

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

Head to head
About

SnapDot

Transform your photos into unique stipple drawings with intuitive editing tools. Control dot density, contrast, and brightness to create professional-looking art for sharing or printing. Supports color, greyscale, and black-and-white outputs.

Highlights
  • Create stipple drawings from photos
  • Control dot density, contrast, and brightness
  • Color, greyscale, and black-and-white modes
  • Optional canvas background
  • Advanced PDF exporting
  • Social media integration
Features
Read full description

Automatically create one-of-kind professional stipple drawings! Create customized professional stipple drawings from photos with easy editing tools on the iPhone and iPad. The dots respond instantly to your artistic expression. The most compelling and innovative drawing app on the App Store. CHECK OUT SNAPDOT ON PINTEREST: http://pinterest.com/jccollier/snapdot-drawings/ SnapDot gives your iPhone and iPad the ability to draw professionally with stipples: dots! SnapDot applies your creativity to your favorite photos with intuitive controls. Each setting—whether it’s the number of dots, contrast, or brightness—turns your photo into a unique work of art to share with friends or to frame and hang on your wall. FEATURES: + Fine-level control over contrast, brightness, and number of dots. + Individual modes for color, greyscale and true black-and-white drawings. + Optional canvas background and advanced exporting to PDF. + Helpful on-screen reminders of buttons and icons. + Improved integration with Facebook and all your other apps. SUPPORTS: All iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 8.0+, including iOS 9. Have an issue? We can't respond to App Store reviews, so email us at support@dotwerx.com.

About

PIXEL86

Transform photos and videos with vintage pixel art aesthetics. Apply true black-and-white dithering, custom color palettes, and unique dithering styles to create retro media. Supports video editing and sharing your creations.

Highlights
  • True B/W dithering
  • Video editing support
  • Customizable color palettes
  • Three dithering styles (Natural, Pattern, Flat)
  • Vintage-inspired aesthetics
  • Social media sharing
Read full description

PIXEL86 — Retro Dithering for Photos & Videos Make your media look like it came from a cooler, glitchier timeline. Bring back the charm of vintage tech with PIXEL86, the ultimate tool to transform your photos and videos into pixel-perfect black-and-white or limited-palette art. Inspired by early computer graphics, old-school printers, and classic GIFs — this is retro done right. True B/W Dithering No grays. Just black or white pixels smartly arranged to simulate shadows and depth — exactly how early screens did it. Now Supports Video Editing Apply your favorite dithering style to video clips. Make every frame look like a piece of pixel-art history. Color Palettes, Reimagined Choose from curated vintage-inspired palettes Hit random for a fresh surprise every time Or build your own custom palette for a personalized look Three Dithering Styles Natural — Smooth, classic error diffusion. Clean and expressive. Pattern — Retro dot-matrix vibes. Adjustable matrix for custom textures. Flat — Not technically dithering, but perfect for dramatic, posterized effects in both stills and motion. Share Your Style Use #pixel86 on social and tag @pixel86app on Instagram — we love featuring the coolest creations from the community.

Screenshots

SnapDot1 screens
PIXEL864 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SnapDot at none against PIXEL86's 2. SnapDot also leads on ads (none vs shown) and device support (3 vs 1). PIXEL86's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 82%). On price, rating and ratings volume 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. PIXEL86 sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. SnapDot asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for SnapDot against 4.7 for PIXEL86. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 39 and 40 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of SnapDot's written reviews are positive against 100% of PIXEL86's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SnapDot ships an update every 2 months, PIXEL86 every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
SnapDot versus PIXEL86: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSnapDotPIXEL86
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (39 ratings)4.7 (40 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3940 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS8.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDotwerxPeter Tretyakov

Customer experience

SnapDot

All ratings39 ratings
Positive87.2%
Neutral7.7%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive82.3%
Neutral8.1%
Negative9.7%

PIXEL86

All ratings31 ratings
Positive90.3%
Neutral3.2%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

SnapDot

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Crashes when opened
  • Crashes upon opening after iOS 6 update
  • Sliders no longer visible
  • App will not delete
  • Background frame/paper button doesn't toggle background
Show 5 more
  • Image resizing/resolution reduction
  • Self-hiding adjustment popovers
  • Manual adjustment brushes confusing
  • Does not install on iPad (for one user)
  • Saving to camera roll not full size

Requested features

8 requests
  • More dots
  • Ability to crop image
  • More updates
  • Port to macOS
  • Add squares & geometric shapes
Show 3 more
  • Reset feature
  • Stop auto-hiding adjustment popovers
  • Full size saving to camera roll

PIXEL86

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SnapDot

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

PIXEL86

One-time2
  • License Discount$9.99
  • Perpetual License$19.99

Questions

Is SnapDot free?
SnapDot is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PIXEL86 free?
PIXEL86 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SnapDot or PIXEL86?
PIXEL86 is rated higher. SnapDot averages 4.6 out of 5 from 39 ratings, while PIXEL86 averages 4.7 from 40 ratings.
Do SnapDot or PIXEL86 have ads?
PIXEL86 shows ads; SnapDot does not.
Which is updated more often, SnapDot or PIXEL86?
SnapDot ships an update every 2 months, and PIXEL86 every 5 days. Most recently, SnapDot was updated on October 14, 2026 and PIXEL86 on September 30, 2026.

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