Comparison

HEAVYPAINT vs Reference Board

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Unique digital brushes
  • Color Jitter for texture
  • Fast color blocking tools
  • Line Blend for gradients
  • Liquify tool
  • Minimalist interface
  • Gallery for creations
Features
Read full description

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/

About

Reference Board

This app offers an infinite canvas for visually organizing thoughts and inspiration. Users can drop in various media types, arrange them freely, and zoom in or out to explore connections. Instant search functionality helps locate specific items across all boards.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas
  • Visual idea organization
  • Supports images, videos, quotes
  • Freeform arrangement
  • Instant search
  • Zoom in/out functionality
Features
Read full description

Reference Board is a private visual workspace for collecting inspiration, developing ideas, and keeping creative research close at hand on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. BUILD VISUAL BOARDS • Collect images, videos, links, text, colors, and PDFs in one place. • Arrange references freely on an infinite canvas or switch to an organized grid. • Move, resize, group, stack, crop, flip, and annotate without changing your original media. • Use the loupe to inspect fine details in images and videos. FIND WHAT YOU NEED • Search across boards and references. • Use on-device analysis, OCR, colors, metadata, and visual similarity to rediscover material quickly. • Keep notes and details attached to the work they describe. SYNC, COLLABORATE, AND SHARE • Keep your library in sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad with iCloud. • Invite others to collaborate on shared boards. • Publish a separate public, view-only webpage when you want to present your work more widely. • Update or unpublish a published board whenever you like. WORK YOUR WAY • Import from Photos, Files, Safari, drag and drop, or the Share Sheet. • Export boards as images, PDFs, or Reference Board archives. • Use widgets, Shortcuts, the screen saver, and optional MCP automation to connect Reference Board to your workflow. ONE PURCHASE. NO SUBSCRIPTION. New customers receive Reference Pro with their App Store purchase, including unlimited private boards and items, Publish to Web, AI metadata and visual discovery, new collaborations, PDF export, and MCP automation. People who acquired Reference while it was free keep their existing Free plan with one private board and up to 20 items. They can unlock lifetime Reference Pro with a one-time in-app purchase. Reaching a Free limit never deletes or hides existing work. Original paid-app customers and people who already purchased lifetime Reference Pro keep permanent Pro access automatically.

Screenshots

HEAVYPAINT4 screens
Reference Board4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: HEAVYPAINT at Free against Reference Board's $5.99. HEAVYPAINT also leads on ratings volume (66 vs 6) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). Reference Board's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). On ads and device support 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

HEAVYPAINT is free to download; Reference Board costs $5.99 up front. HEAVYPAINT sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Reference Board asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Reference Board holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HEAVYPAINT has 66 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of HEAVYPAINT's written reviews are positive against 70% of Reference Board's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HEAVYPAINT ships an update every 5 weeks, Reference Board every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
HEAVYPAINT versus Reference Board: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHEAVYPAINTReference Board
PriceFree — better$5.99
Rating4.0 (66 ratings)4.7 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.4% of reviews70.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings66 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#53 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHEAVYPOLY, Inc.Jordan Ruchtie

Customer experience

HEAVYPAINT

All ratings66 ratings
Positive68.2%
Neutral13.6%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive58.4%
Neutral15.6%
Negative26.0%

Reference Board

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%

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

Reference Board

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

HEAVYPAINT

Subscriptions2
  • Gallery Sync Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Gallery Sync Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlock Full Version$9.99
None

Reference Board

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HEAVYPAINT free?
HEAVYPAINT is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Reference Board free?
Reference Board costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HEAVYPAINT or Reference Board?
Reference Board is rated higher. HEAVYPAINT averages 4.0 out of 5 from 66 ratings, while Reference Board averages 4.7 from 6 ratings.
Do HEAVYPAINT or Reference Board have ads?
Neither HEAVYPAINT nor Reference Board shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HEAVYPAINT or Reference Board?
HEAVYPAINT ships an update every 5 weeks, and Reference Board every 4 days. Most recently, HEAVYPAINT was updated on October 22, 2026 and Reference Board on October 22, 2026.

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