Comparison

Poetics vs Sketch 3D

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

Head to head
About

Poetics

Create and explore unique visual poetry with mutable text, chance operations, and gestural controls. This app allows for nonlinear compositions, custom filters, and physics-based interactions, supporting multiple languages and voice input.

Highlights
  • Mutable text
  • Chance operations
  • Gestural semiotics
  • Physics-based interactions
  • Custom photo filters
  • Voice input
  • Multiple languages
Features
Read full description

Poetics is a visual poetry app focused on developing concepts of semiotic poetry and decentralized art. The app is an ongoing project by Seth Indigo Carnes, an artist based in New York City. Poetics is used in over 150 countries, across languages and cultures. Art features: • mutable text • chance operations • ephemeral missives • gestural semiotics • nonlinear flux • meta tangents • intermedia cutups • multimodal love App features: • works on all iOS devices • portrait and landscape compositions • curated set of font choices • always editable, saved work • custom photo filters • minimal text styling and color • physics-based interactions • nuanced gestural control • zoom in and out for detailed work • edit mode for advanced work • write in multiple languages • speak your words into app Music in App Store preview courtesy of Patrick Golden and Jim Clouse of Parkwest Records. Feedback or thoughts? hello@poetics.app Metta

About

Sketch 3D

Create and animate 3D models with intuitive touch controls. Import various file formats, apply video textures, and capture animations. Share your creations with a community of designers.

Highlights
  • Design 3D models with touch
  • Apply video as model texture
  • Create 3D model animations
  • Import various 3D file formats
  • Capture movie from 3D scenes
  • Use True Depth Camera for face models
  • Share designs with community
Features
Read full description

Sketch 3D is a tool for designing 3D models from your fingertips. You could download models from others, and could also share your great designs with other users by saving models in Public space. New Feature: Integrated MaterialX library into the app.   Mesh object can be applied with materialx documents. When Saving and Loading with material, the document relative path is stored as a diffuse map entry, similar to the way of handling movie textures. Other features like material adjustment and graph editing are not supported yet. User could download free material documents from public websites and import those zip files with this app, using ShareTo or AirDrop. Feature: Use True Depth Camera to capture face model. Feature: Support using video as model texture. You could use video clips from Photo Album, or from Internet URL (YouTube URL not supported), and then apply it onto a model as texture map. Feature: Capture movie from the 3D scene. Note! If your device could not capture movie, then, could try out a smaller output resolution (by tapping the control pane). However, arbitrary output size may stop capturing prematurely. Feature: Design 3D model animation with skeleton structure. You could design a skeleton structure by placing bones in hierarchical relation. Attach model to the skeleton, and then moving the bones to define different poses. Each pose represented as a keyframe in the timeline view. And animation sequence is produced by playing interpolation between the keyframes. Features: - Import 3D content directly from browser or email, either in .zip, .rar, .7z. - Support formats: Collada DAE, OBJ, 3DS, STL(for 3D printing), and others. - Import/export to iCloud drive, via iTune File Sharing, or to Public area via Apple CloudKit Service. - Supports AirDrop. - Support Quad faces. - Smooth surfaces using Subdivision. - Mirroring editing. - 2-fingers vertex movement, 3 or 4-fingers planar shape creation. - Versatile multi-touches drag-through-space gestures to support editing and changing viewing angle at the same time. - Flexible face strip drawing. - Stitching boundary faces. Stitch triangle soap into connected faces. Stitch over edge or vertex to form a larger face. - Stitching Triangles to Quads. - Loop Cut faces. - Bevel edges. - Extrude faces or edges. - Revolve (Spin). - Vertex Smoothing. - Vertex Slide along edges. - Crease Editing after mesh subdivision. - Split mesh from, or Join mesh to the editing one. - Support hierarchical mesh node structure. - Direct vertex color editing when texture map is not used. - Edit texture map UV coordinates, include atlas generation. - 3D Text generation. - Scene interaction with your created shape. - Design Animation with skeleton structure. - Capture movie from the 3D scene. - Support using video as model texture map.

Screenshots

Poetics4 screens
Sketch 3D4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sketch 3D at Free against Poetics's $2.99. Sketch 3D also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 10 months) and ratings volume (443 vs 68). Poetics's advantage is rating (4.2 vs 2.9) and review sentiment (75% vs 48%). On ads, 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

Sketch 3D is free to download; Poetics costs $2.99 up front. Poetics sells 12 one-off in-app purchases and Sketch 3D sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Poetics holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sketch 3D has 443 ratings behind it against 68, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Poetics's written reviews are positive against 48% of Sketch 3D's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Poetics ships an update every 10 months, Sketch 3D every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Poetics versus Sketch 3D: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPoeticsSketch 3D
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (68 ratings) — better2.9 (443 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better47.9% of reviews
Number of ratings68443 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#80 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB187 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSoulincode Inc.Victor Ng

Customer experience

Poetics

All ratings68 ratings
Positive82.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative14.7%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral4.3%
Negative20.7%

Sketch 3D

All ratings443 ratings
Positive41.1%
Neutral12.2%
Negative46.7%
Written reviews236 reviews
Positive47.9%
Neutral16.1%
Negative36.0%

User reviews

Poetics

From 68 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Creative expression outlet
  • 🖼️ Elegant and unique design
  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 💡 Innovative concept
  • ✨ Great for visual poetry

Room to improve

  • 💸 Expensive in-app purchases
  • 💰 Don't waste money
  • 👎 Poor quality
  • 🐛 Text functionality messy
  • 😩 Hard to position text

Sketch 3D

From 443 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Powerful 3D modeling and animation capabilities
  • 🚀 Impressive features for a free app
  • 👍 Potential to be a leading 3D modeling tool on iPad

Room to improve

  • 🤯 Extremely confusing and difficult to use interface
  • 🤔 Lack of tutorials and instructions
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 👎 Steep learning curve for beginners

Bugs and requests

Poetics

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App crashes constantly
  • Freezes up with replace option
  • Saving in messenger is broken
  • Crashes when tapping text button
  • Crashes before sending postcard
Show 6 more
  • Crashes on specific photos
  • App doesn't open
  • Crashes losing all edits
  • Only crashes when sending postcard
  • Reduces photo resolution
  • Text blurry when using software background images

Requested features

23 requests
  • More fonts
  • Ability to type longer phrases
  • Add return key
  • Broader selection of type faces
  • Automatic text wrapping
Show 18 more
  • Resizing text to fit window
  • More features
  • Different font or text styles
  • Control aspect ratio
  • Control image size
  • iPad version
  • Square image support
  • More text box length and size options
  • Tint white backgrounds behind words
  • More fonts or layouts
  • Suggested text for when word-poor
  • Ability to string poems together in stanzas for email
  • Change font types
  • Use text without the 'label'
  • Rotate picture ability
  • Text takes on filter appearance
  • Make app compatible with iPads
  • Add more editing features

Sketch 3D

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when trying to load or save projects
  • Texture and color issues when importing models
  • Unresponsive controls and buttons

Requested features

4 requests
  • In-app tutorials and video guides
  • Improved user interface and controls
  • Support for importing custom 3D models
  • Ability to save and load projects reliably

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Poetics

One-time12
  • Whitman$0.99
  • Cage$0.99
  • Mallarmé$0.99
Show 9 more
  • Basquiat$0.99
  • Duchamp$0.99
  • Baskerville$0.99
  • Didot$0.99
  • Gill Sans$0.99
  • Avenir$0.99
  • Cochin$0.99
  • Filter Pack$5.99
  • Font Pack$5.99
2 purchases

Sketch 3D

One-time2
  • Unlimited Keyframe Editing$1.99
  • Unlimited Video Capturing$1.99

Questions

Is Poetics free?
Poetics costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Sketch 3D free?
Sketch 3D is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Poetics or Sketch 3D?
Poetics is rated higher. Poetics averages 4.2 out of 5 from 68 ratings, while Sketch 3D averages 2.9 from 443 ratings.
Do Poetics or Sketch 3D have ads?
Neither Poetics nor Sketch 3D shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Poetics or Sketch 3D?
Poetics ships an update every 10 months, and Sketch 3D every 3 months. Most recently, Poetics was updated on October 19, 2026 and Sketch 3D on October 23, 2026.

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