Comparison

Thisissand vs 8bit Painter

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

8bit Painter

Create fun and easy pixel art with intuitive controls. Perfect for beginners, this app lets you design SNS icons, game assets, or craft patterns. Import photos to pixelize them and export your creations as transparent PNGs.

Highlights
  • Beginner-friendly interface
  • Essential pixel drawing tools
  • Photo to pixel art conversion
  • Customizable color palettes
  • Transparent PNG export
  • Multiple canvas sizes
Read full description

Over 6 million downloads! An easy-to-use app for creating pixel art and 8-bit style artwork. 8bit Painter is a simple pixel art drawing app that beginners can start enjoying right away. With intuitive controls, you can easily create pixel art for social media icons, game skins, illustrations, patterns, and more. It is also great for making designs for Perler beads, cross-stitch, knitting, and other handmade projects. Key Features - Simple controls that are easy for anyone to use - Clear, focused tools for creating pixel art - Perfect for beginners - Great for making social media icons and game skins - Import photos and convert them into pixel art - Choose colors intuitively with a color wheel, sliders, and palettes - Export transparent images in PNG format - Export and import your artwork data Canvas Sizes 16x16 / 24x24 / 32x32 / 48x48 / 64x64 / 96x96 / 128x128 / 160x160 / 192x192 Choose the right canvas size for your project, from small social media icons to detailed pixel art and craft patterns. Image Import Import your favorite photos and automatically convert them into pixel art. It is also useful for creating social media icons, game skins, and pixel art assets. Color Selection Choose a base color with the color wheel, then fine-tune it with sliders or HEX input. You can also pick colors quickly from preset palettes, or save frequently used colors to your custom color palette for reuse. Artwork Data Management Export artwork data saved in your Gallery from the Settings screen, and import it again when needed. This is helpful for keeping your pixel art safe, preparing for a device change, or reinstalling the app. Artwork Storage - The initial artwork storage limit is 30 artworks - Expand the limit up to 600 artworks by watching rewarded video ads or purchasing the Remove Ads add-on Image Export - Choose from 3 export sizes - Supports transparent PNG images - Useful for social media posts, game skins, and exporting assets Remove Ads Add-On - Hides all ads - Expands the artwork storage limit to 600 artworks - Can be restored after reinstalling the app - One-time purchase How to Expand Your Storage Limit - Each rewarded video ad you watch increases your artwork storage limit by 5 artworks, up to 600 - Purchasing the Remove Ads add-on expands your artwork storage limit to 600 artworks Recommended For - Anyone who wants to start creating pixel art - People who want to make their own social media icons - Anyone who wants to create game skins easily - People making designs for Perler beads or cross-stitch - People designing knitting patterns or handmade projects - Anyone who wants to turn photos into pixel art - People looking for a simple pixel art editor - Anyone who wants to manage their artwork data and keep using the app over time Enjoy creating pixel art and 8-bit style artwork with 8bit Painter!

Screenshots

Thisissand4 screens
8bit Painter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Thisissand at none against 8bit Painter's shown. Thisissand also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 17.6). 8bit Painter's advantage is ratings volume (6.5K vs 1.5K). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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 8bit Painter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 8bit Painter. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.5K and 6.5K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Thisissand's written reviews are positive against 85% of 8bit Painter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thisissand ships an update every 2 months, 8bit Painter every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Thisissand versus 8bit Painter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThisissand8bit Painter
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.5K ratings)4.6 (6.5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews85.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.5K6.5K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB29 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperBeige ElephantTakayuki Miyagawa

Customer experience

Thisissand

All ratings1,523 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral3.9%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews413 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral7.3%
Negative9.4%

8bit Painter

All ratings6,545 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral4.0%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews334 reviews
Positive85.0%
Neutral6.6%
Negative8.4%

User reviews

Thisissand

From 1.5K 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

8bit Painter

From 6.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🥰 Fun and addictive
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Great for pixel art
  • 💡 Helpful for crafting projects
  • 🤩 Awesome app overall

Room to improve

  • 🤬 Annoying ads
  • 🔒 Limited canvas sizes
  • 🎨 Lack of color customization
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches

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

8bit Painter

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Distortion when importing images
  • Inability to delete saved artworks

Requested features

5 requests
  • Custom canvas sizes
  • More color options and palettes
  • Ability to delete or rearrange colors
  • Layers and animation support
  • Copy/paste and selection tools

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
1 purchases

8bit Painter

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$5.99

Questions

Is Thisissand free?
Thisissand is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is 8bit Painter free?
8bit Painter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thisissand or 8bit Painter?
8bit Painter is rated higher. Thisissand averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while 8bit Painter averages 4.6 from 6.5K ratings.
Do Thisissand or 8bit Painter have ads?
8bit Painter shows ads; Thisissand does not.
Which is updated more often, Thisissand or 8bit Painter?
Thisissand ships an update every 2 months, and 8bit Painter every 5 weeks. Most recently, Thisissand was updated on October 16, 2026 and 8bit Painter on October 19, 2026.

Other comparisons