Comparison

Thisissand vs Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator

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

Head to head
About

Thisissand

Create and share mesmerizing sand art with this therapeutic app. Watch vibrant sand layers form, relax to soothing sounds, and explore a variety of color tools to design unique sand pictures. Join a community of artists and showcase your creations.

Highlights
  • Sand art creation
  • Relaxing soundscapes
  • Color Palette tool
  • Color Shifter tool
  • Color Picker from camera
  • Photo Sand feature
  • Save custom colors
Features
Read full description

Thisissand is an app for making and sharing pictures out of sand. Watch and listen to the sand piling into beautiful layers of sand on the bottom of your screen and get relaxed during the slow and therapeutic process. Once finished, share your creation and become a part of the community! • Free to download and free to play • Does not display ads • Offers you to sign-up, but does not require you to • Offers you to purchase a Toolkit of special features, but does not require you to - - - - - - - - - - Thisissand was created in 2008 as a website. It was a school project of a few art students, and to a surprise for the creators it attracted lots of visitors for years to come. In 2012 Thisissand was developed into an app and is still run by an original founder. Thisissand offers different kinds of tools for choosing the sand color. Originally and still at the moment on Thisissand website, only the essential Color Palette tool is available. For the app, we have developed a few special kinds of tools which we offer in the Toolkit in-app purchase. Just like on the website, the special tools are not at all necessary to enjoy the app, but they're pretty cool and we're happy and thankful for your support if you're willing to try them out! COLOR PALETTE: Use Color Palette to choose specific colors from a vast swatch of colors. You may choose a solid color, or multiple colors to variate between. Use the intensity slider to adjust how fast the colors change. You may also use the randomize button to get surprising color combos. COLOR SHIFTER: Color Shifter continuously changes the sand color subtly or dramatically depending on the intensity slider adjustment. Color Shifter often produces rainbow like hues. To set the initial Color Shifter color, choose a color with Color Palette and then select the Color Shifter tool. COLOR PICKER: With Color Picker, you may pick the sand color from around you using your device camera. It takes a little practice to point your camera and draw at the same time, but in return you get truly unique colors. Try adjusting the color change intensity low in the beginning to keep things under control! PHOTO SAND: Want to try making a sand version of one of your photos? Photo Sand picks the sand color directly from the photo you've chosen from your camera roll. Try it out and learn the tricks to make abstract and/or photorealistic representations! MY COLORS: Save your favorite colors in My Colors and access them quickly by long pressing the color button on the sand canvas. Try saving colors from around with Color Picker! - - - - - - - - - - We highly value your feedback and questions. Ideas and feature requests for example are warmly welcome, even though with our scarce resources we're unfortunately not able to fulfil them very quickly. So please do send us email if you're having trouble with the app or if you have anything else to share with us, thank you! :) support@thisissand.com - - - - - - - - - - Follow us twitter.com/thisissandapp instagram.com/thisissandapp facebook.com/thisissand

About

Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator

Unleash your creativity by designing custom emojis, stickers, and avatars. Choose from thousands of components, including eyes, mouths, hands, and accessories, to craft unique characters. Add text, filters, and effects to personalize your creations.

Highlights
  • Design custom emojis and avatars
  • Thousands of components (eyes, mouths, hands)
  • Add accessories and props
  • Apply filters and effects
  • One-tap background eraser
  • Custom text and fonts
Features
Read full description

Emoji Maker helps you create original emojis, avatars, stickers, and reactions from photos, AI ideas, or a blank canvas. Build a face from emoji parts, customize expressions, add text, erase backgrounds, use stickers and graphics, then save your design for messages, social posts, profile images, and group chats. MAKE CUSTOM EMOJIS - Start from a blank canvas, photo, or AI idea - Choose eyes, mouths, noses, hands, bodies, props, and backgrounds - Add text, fonts, speech bubbles, stickers, graphics, filters, and effects - Remove backgrounds and clean up photos for sticker-style designs - Save and share finished emojis, avatars, and reaction images BUILT FOR PERSONAL EXPRESSION Design a funny face, selfie reaction, chat sticker, profile avatar, meme-style emoji, party invite graphic, or inside-joke image. Emoji Maker gives you simple creative tools for fast edits and more detailed designs. UPGRADE TO PRO Optional Pro unlocks premium content and tools, removes ads, and adds more creative options for emoji, avatar, and sticker design. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.pizap.com/privacypolicy#terms Privacy Policy: https://www.pizap.com/privacypolicy

Screenshots

Thisissand4 screens
Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator4 screens

Verdict

The call

Thisissand and Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 83% of Thisissand's written reviews are positive against 69% of Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator's. Thisissand also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 16.0). Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator's advantage is ratings volume (14K vs 1.6K) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Thisissand sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 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 — 4.5 for Thisissand against 4.6 for Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator has 14K ratings behind it against 1.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Thisissand's written reviews are positive against 69% of Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thisissand ships an update every 2 months, Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Thisissand versus Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThisissandEmoji Maker, Avatar Creator
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.6K ratings)4.6 (14K ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.1% of reviews — better69.4% of reviews
Number of ratings1.6K14K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB214 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperBeige ElephantDigital Palette LLC

Customer experience

Thisissand

All ratings1,523 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral3.9%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews414 reviews
Positive83.1%
Neutral7.2%
Negative9.7%

Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator

All ratings14,410 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral6.0%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews918 reviews
Positive69.4%
Neutral15.5%
Negative15.1%

User reviews

Thisissand

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Relaxing and calming experience
  • 🎨 Allows for creative expression
  • 🔒 No ads or distractions
  • 🤩 Satisfying sand effects
  • 🤗 Supportive and friendly community

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and bugs
  • 🔍 Difficult to find/access previous creations
  • 🖌️ Limited color customization options

Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator

From 14K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fun and creative
  • 👍 Allows customization of emojis
  • 🎨 Good for expressing emotions

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🔒 Limited free options
  • 📤 Difficulty sharing custom emojis

Bugs and requests

Thisissand

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Screen going black after selecting photo sand
  • Inability to post/share creations at times
  • Inconsistent performance and loading issues
  • Camera/microphone activation without user consent

Requested features

5 requests
  • Undo/erase functionality
  • Ability to follow and comment on other users' creations
  • More free color and sand options
  • Improved search and organization of user content
  • Save/resume unfinished creations

Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App crashes when trying to save emojis
  • Issues with logging in and accessing account

Requested features

3 requests
  • More free options and accessories
  • Ability to use custom emojis in messaging apps
  • Improved stability and fewer crashes

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Thisissand

One-time7
  • Color Palette$0.99
  • HD Sand$0.99
  • My Colors Expansion$0.99
Show 4 more
  • Color Picker$0.99
  • Color Shifter$0.99
  • Toolkit (reduced price)$0.99
  • Toolkit$1.99
4 purchases

Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator

Subscriptions4
  • Emoji Maker PRO Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Ai Pro Monthly7 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Emoji Maker PRO Annual7 Days trial$59.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Ai Pro Annual7 Days trial$149.991 Year

Questions

Is Thisissand free?
Thisissand is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator free?
Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thisissand or Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator?
Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator is rated higher. Thisissand averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator averages 4.6 from 14K ratings.
Do Thisissand or Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator have ads?
Neither Thisissand nor Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thisissand or Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator?
Thisissand ships an update every 2 months, and Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator monthly. Most recently, Thisissand was updated on November 10, 2026 and Emoji Maker, Avatar Creator on November 12, 2026.

Other comparisons