Hive vs ImgRef
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hive
This app helps designers, creators, and innovators organize and manage all their creative assets in one place. It offers smart photo organization, an integrated video player, and multiple ways to save inspirations, streamlining your creative process. Effortlessly sort, categorize, and find your ideas with advanced filtering and search capabilities.
- Organize creative assets
- Smart photo organizer
- Integrated video player
- Multiple save methods
- Web capture
- Multi-level folder system
- Advanced search and filter
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Hive is a private visual reference library for designers, illustrators, photographers, and creative teams. Save references the moment you find them—Share Sheet, clipboard, Safari, and links—then keep images, video, and files in one library you actually control. No feed. No tracking theater. Just a calm place to store and reopen what you need. Organize for real work • Folders, tags, filters, and search built for reference retrieval • Smart Folders to surface the set you need for a project • Mixed media in one place: images, video, links, and files Built for mobile creative workflows • Fast capture on iPhone and iPad • Browse and reuse references on the go • Works with an Eagle-compatible library workflow on mobile Privacy by default • Your library stays yours Hive is for people who already collect inspiration in Pinterest, moodboards, or Eagle on the desktop—and need a private, organized library on iOS. Download Hive and turn scattered references into a library you can find again. Privacy Policy: https://hive.ink/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
ImgRef
This app is an all-in-one creative tool for mood boards, reference images, and collaging. It offers smart asset management, precise color picking, and free-form layout capabilities across multiple devices. Designed for various creative professionals, it streamlines workflows with advanced editing and import/export features.
- Unlimited canvas with smart caching
- Multi-select batch processing
- Professional workflow with keyboard shortcuts
- Image editing and adjustments
- Dynamic color picker
- Cross-platform support (iOS/macOS)
- Video frame extraction
- GIF decomposition
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「App Store Editor's Choice」 「98% 5-Star Ratings」 「Cross-Platform for iPhone/iPad/MacOS」 Redefine your creative workflow - an all-in-one tool combining mood boards, reference images, smart asset management, precise color picking, and free-form collaging across devices. Designed for UI/brand/illustration/photography/architecture/video storyboard and other creative scenarios, this is your professional reference image and inspiration board on iPhone / iPad / macOS. Core Features: 1. Unlimited Canvas: Smart caching and image management for large long-term libraries and smooth browsing. 2. Multi-Select Batch Processing: Select multiple images for adaptive scaling, smart layout, uniform size, copy, and alignment. 3. Professional Workflow: Full keyboard shortcuts (Mac / iPad keyboard) for faster frequent actions. 4. Image Editing: Rotate, crop, desaturate, flip, adjust opacity, layers, scale, and more. 5. Dynamic Color Picker: Pick any canvas color in real time and get common color codes. 6. Video Processing: MP4 playback and 4K still extraction for faster storyboards, covers, and video references. 7. Stylized Text: Built-in fonts and styles make notes, titles, and labels clearer on the canvas. 8. Magnetic Guides: Alignment hints and smart snapping for precise layouts. 9. GIF Decomposition: Break animations into frames for clearer detail references. 10. Import Methods: Clipboard, photo library, folders, camera, drag & drop (iPad / Mac). 11. Export Methods: Scene export and image group export for sharing and delivery. 12. Web Drag & Drop: Drag images from Pinterest / ArtStation / Midjourney / Pixiv / Instagram and more. 13. Multiple Modes: View, lock, and edit modes keep browsing and editing separate. 14. Brush Tools: Annotate and highlight key areas for more intuitive communication. 15. File Management: Grid/list views with multiple sorting options. 16. Canvas Zoom: Smooth zoom and pan for comfortable detail viewing. 17. Multi-Select Quick Alignment: Quick alignment/distribution after multi-select. 18. Backup & Import: Full backup and package import for migration and recovery. Pro Enhancements: 1. Image/GIF/Video Notes: Add notes to capture ideas and key points. 2. Preview Mode: Switch to a clean preview for focused viewing and presentations. 3. Advanced Crop: Fit different aspect ratios and compositions faster for cleaner output. 4. Image Blur: Blur images for privacy protection and richer visual layering. 5. High-Resolution Scene Export (PNG): Export full scenes as HD PNG for sharing and delivery. 6. File Favorites: Save frequent files for quick access to key references. 7. Category Tags: Tag files by use, project, or status for faster filtering. 8. Dotted Background: Toggle a dotted background for clearer edge contrast. 9. Canvas Grayscale: Focus on tone and composition with grayscale view. 10. Image Color Analysis: Extract dominant colors to understand palette relationships. 11. Layer Panel: Preview names, reorder, and quick select for efficient layer management. 12. Scheduled Playback: Timed switching, playback controls, and countdown. 13. Layer Search: Filter by type and keyword to quickly locate target content among many layers. 14. Brush Presets: Switch stroke width, color, and opacity for annotation, highlighting, and sketching. 15. Canvas RGB Single-Channel Preview: View R/G/B channels separately to analyze color distribution, tone, and detail. 16. Link Cards: Turn webpages into cover cards pinned on the canvas; one tap to open You can subscribe to ImgRef Pro. Charged to your iTunes account on confirmation. Auto-renews unless canceled 24+ hours before period end. Manage in iTunes Store. Privacy Policy: https://xunhuaref.cn/index.php/privacypolicy/ Terms of Use: https://xunhuaref.cn/index.php/privacypolicy/eula-en/ Download now and experience the smoothest creative tool in the Apple ecosystem! Thank you for reading. Contact us: Email: imgref@163.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: ImgRef at free against Hive's free with in-app purchases. ImgRef also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and ratings volume (126 vs 36). Hive's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.7). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Hive sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and ImgRef sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Hive holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 36 and 126 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 78% and 77% positive.
Hive ships an update every 3 days, ImgRef every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hive | ImgRef |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (36 ratings) — better | 4.7 (126 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews — better | 77.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 36 | 126 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 6 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 94 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 易泓 刘 | 文荣 李 |
Customer experience
Hive
ImgRef
Bugs and requests
Hive
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
ImgRef
Reported bugs
1 issue- Trouble importing images from other apps
Requested features
3 requests- Add cropping functionality
- Implement doodle/text feature for notes
- Add GIF frame reading function
In-app purchases
Hive
- Monthly$3.991 Month
- Annually$19.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime$34.99
ImgRef
- pro_monthly$0.991 Month
- ImgRef Annual Subscription$5.991 Year









