SketchApp vs Charcoal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SketchApp
Capture your thoughts and drawings with a digital sketchbook. Customize brushes, colors, and opacity to create unique artwork. Easily share your creations across social media and save them directly to your device.
- Digital sketching and note-taking
- Customizable brush size, opacity, and color
- 6 standard color pencils
- Social media sharing
- Save drawings to camera roll
- Special pen support for enhanced drawing
Read full descriptionHide full description
Sketch your ideas with SketchApp, take notes with your fingers and save or share them with the world by the aid of social networks!! FEATURES: *6 standard color pencils *Brush size, opacity and color customization *Share your sketches on Facebook, Twitter, Mail, iPhoto and all those apps that handle images! *Save your drawings and notes to iPhone/iPod's Camera Roll *If you'll use a special pen for Apple's devices you'll have more fun making awesome drawings or doodle sketches!!
Charcoal
This app offers a simple yet powerful sketching experience with rich tools and beautiful color palettes. Easily create and export your artwork for use in other graphics programs. It supports modern iOS features like multiple windows and dark mode for enhanced productivity.
- Simple sketching interface
- Rich drawing tools
- Beautiful color palettes
- Export sketches
- Multiple window support
- Dark mode
Read full descriptionHide full description
• Charcoal is incredibly easy to use: Just create or open a sketch and start sketching. There are no layers or confusing settings. Instead, Charcoal features rich tools and beautiful color palettes. • Charcoal allows you to export a sketch to use it in your favorite graphics program. • Charcoal supports modern iOS and iPadOS features like multiple windows and dark mode: use it at night or open multiple sketches, even side by side.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Charcoal at 77% against SketchApp's 20%. Charcoal also leads on ratings volume (144 vs 4). SketchApp's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 15.0). 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.
SketchApp holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Charcoal has 144 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 20% of SketchApp's written reviews are positive against 77% of Charcoal's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
SketchApp ships an update every 4 months, Charcoal every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SketchApp | Charcoal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.5 (144 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | 76.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 144 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Extroverted Developer, LLC | Lars Augustin |
Customer experience
SketchApp
Charcoal
Bugs and requests
SketchApp
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Charcoal
Reported bugs
3 issues- Saved sketches lose quality
- Palette colors change unexpectedly
- Freezing when opening color palette
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to change brush/pen size
- Layers and blending tools
- Color wheel and custom color selection
- Import/export options
In-app purchases
SketchApp
No in-app purchases
Charcoal
No in-app purchases
