HEAVYPAINT vs malmal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HEAVYPAINT
This app offers a raw digital painting experience with unique tools for creating textured art and quick studies. It's designed for artists who embrace digital chaos and seek a streamlined, mobile art studio.
- Unique digital brushes
- Color Jitter for texture
- Fast color blocking tools
- Line Blend for gradients
- Liquify tool
- Minimalist interface
- Gallery for creations
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Raw digital painting with unique brushes & color chaos. The painter's painting app that celebrates digital chaos. HEAVYPAINT is unapologetically digital and a bit unhinged. It’s a celebration of digital impressionism. Whether you're sketching on the train, painting outdoors, or creating quick color studies, this is your pocket art studio. Unique Digital Tools Color Jitter: Unleash beautiful digital chaos and texture Fan Fill and Lasso Fill for fast color blockins, textured foliage, notan, organic shapes. Rake tool for softening up edges in a graphic way Line Blend for instant gradients Liquify to adjust proportions and shapes Built for Speed & Mobility Perfect pochade box replacement for pleinair painting. Great for quick paintings on public transit, many will finger paint on their phones. Streamlined interface.Focus on pure color and shape without digital clutter. Streamlined Experience Minimalist interface puts painting first Customizable tools that adapt to your style Strong shape design tools for bold, crisp artwork Gallery to review and organize your creations + Plein air painters who want to ditch heavy supplies + Quick color studies and concept sketches + Figure painting and gesture drawing + Artists wanting to rediscover digital painting joy + Anyone seeking a uniquely digital aesthetic HEAVYPAINT balances professional capabilities with unhinged creativity. Embrace procedural randomness / crunchiness / glitchiness that digital enables. Touch grass. Ideal for pleinair painting and quick studies This app is subject to Apple's standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
malmal
Collaborate on digital art with friends and a global community. Explore endless canvases, customize brushes, and share your creations in a vibrant gallery. Connect with fellow artists and find inspiration in this interactive drawing platform.
- Collaborative drawing
- Endless digital canvases
- Customizable brushes
- In-app chat
- Public and private drawing boards
- Artwork gallery
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Since 2018 in your browser, now as a fully fledged app: malmal 2.0 is out now! Features include: - Drawing with friends and strangers - Endless digital canvases - Private and public drawing boards with freely selectable background colors - Multiple customisable brushes - In-app chat - A gallery for all the great artworks Join our global community of passionate artists of all skill levels and backgrounds! Malmal is a place where you can find new friends and get inspired. We look forward to having you here! Screenshots are featuring art by miwoo and SpaceCadet. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: malmal at 100% against HEAVYPAINT's 58%. malmal also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 weeks). HEAVYPAINT's advantage is ratings volume (66 vs 14) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. HEAVYPAINT sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and malmal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
malmal holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 14 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of HEAVYPAINT's written reviews are positive against 100% of malmal's.
HEAVYPAINT ships an update every 5 weeks, malmal every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.
| Parameter | HEAVYPAINT | malmal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (66 ratings) | 4.6 (14 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 66 — better | 14 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 70 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | HEAVYPOLY, Inc. | LUCAS MERLIN MEURER |
Customer experience
HEAVYPAINT
malmal
Bugs and requests
HEAVYPAINT
Reported bugs
3 issues- Gallery crashes
- Artwork files not saving properly
- Eyedropper tool not working as expected
Requested features
3 requests- Improved layer management
- More customization options
- Better color controls and eyedropper tool
malmal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
HEAVYPAINT
- Gallery Sync Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Gallery Sync Yearly$19.991 Year
- Unlock Full Version$9.99
malmal
- Monthly$5.991 Month
- Yearly$49.991 Year
