Comparison

ImgRef vs Pocket Easel

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

Head to head
About

ImgRef

This app is a professional reference and inspiration tool for creatives. It combines mood boards, image management, color picking, and free-form collaging across devices. Streamline your workflow with features like unlimited canvases, batch processing, and image editing.

Highlights
  • Unlimited Canvas
  • Multi-Select Batch Processing
  • Professional Workflow with Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Image Editing Tools
  • Dynamic Eyedropper Color Picker
  • Video Processing for Storyboards
  • Magnetic Guides for Layouts
Features
Read full description

「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 Eyedropper: 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 & Backup: Clipboard, photos, folders, drag & drop, export, full backup. 11. Web Drag & Drop: Drag images from Pinterest / ArtStation / Midjourney / Pixiv / Instagram and more. 12. Multiple Modes: View, lock, and edit modes keep browsing and editing separate. 13. Brush Tools: Annotate and highlight key areas for more intuitive communication. 14. File Management: Grid/list views with multiple sorting options. 15. Canvas Zoom: Smooth zoom and pan for comfortable detail viewing. Enhanced Features: 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 17. Image OCR: One tap reads the text in an image and creates text beside it, so titles, copy, and labels can be lifted without retyping. 18. Classify/Find by Color: Basic, nearby, and fine families. Group canvas images by color family, or find from an image’s color family, for clearer palette comparison. 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

About

Pocket Easel

This app facilitates quick color studies for painting from life, offering a unique palette system that allows color mixing without leaving the canvas. It helps artists maintain color harmony by limiting palettes and provides tools to analyze values and import master palettes.

Highlights
  • Intuitive color mixing gesture
  • Gamut masks for palette harmony
  • Painterly brush textures
  • Value check with grayscale conversion
  • Import master palettes
  • Save and duplicate color studies
  • Export studies with color analysis
Read full description

Pocket Easel is a color-study app for painting from life, wherever you are. It works like a painter's palette: a gamut mask decides which colors are on your palette, and a simple gesture lets you mix as you paint — a little warmer, a little cooler, lighter, darker — without ever leaving the picture. The mask is what's on your palette. The gesture is how you mix. Pick Color Without Leaving the Painting Most apps make you stop, open a color panel and drag sliders to an exact value, then find your place again. In Pocket Easel you push the current color from the corner of the canvas, relative to where it is, the way you'd work a touch more paint into a mix. No numbers to hit, so adjusting often costs nothing. Gamut Masks Before you start, choose a mask shape on the color wheel — a preset, or your own triangle or quad. It limits your palette to colors that belong together, so the whole study stays in harmony. Mixing never steps outside it. Painterly Brushes Round and flat brushes, lines and shapes, all with a subtle painterly texture that varies the color as real paint does. Smudge blends the paint already on the canvas. See Your Values Value Check shows your study in grayscale. While you adjust brightness, a ten-step value scale appears beside the wheel. Master's Palette Import a painting you admire and see where its colors sit on the wheel — then fit a mask to its gamut. Color Studies Every study is saved as you go. Name them, duplicate one to try an idea, and pick up any of them later. Share Your Process Export your study with a frame that shows the gamut wheel and the colors you used, or a time-lapse that shows each stroke and where its color came from on the wheel. Made for Phone and iPad Turn your phone sideways to paint with both hands. Left-Handed mode, Dark mode, and the same tools on iPad. Pocket Easel is built for quick color studies, not detailed illustration — the constraint is the point. All painting tools and image export are free. Pocket Easel Pro, a one-time purchase, lets you turn off the frame, remove the watermark or use your own name, and export time-lapse videos.

Screenshots

ImgRef4 screens
Pocket Easel3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pocket Easel at 100% against ImgRef's 79%. Pocket Easel also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.7). ImgRef's advantage is ratings volume (127 vs 10) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 days). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. ImgRef sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Pocket Easel 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

Pocket Easel holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ImgRef has 127 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of ImgRef's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pocket Easel's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ImgRef ships an update every 2 days, Pocket Easel every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
ImgRef versus Pocket Easel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterImgRefPocket Easel
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (127 ratings)4.9 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews79.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings127 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer文荣 李彬 王

Customer experience

ImgRef

All ratings127 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral0.8%
Negative7.9%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive79.2%
Neutral4.2%
Negative16.7%

Pocket Easel

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and 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

Pocket Easel

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

ImgRef

Subscriptions2
  • pro_monthly$0.991 Month
  • ImgRef Annual Subscription$5.991 Year
1 purchases

Pocket Easel

One-time1
  • Pocket Easel Pro$5.99

Questions

Is ImgRef free?
ImgRef is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pocket Easel free?
Pocket Easel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ImgRef or Pocket Easel?
Pocket Easel is rated higher. ImgRef averages 4.7 out of 5 from 127 ratings, while Pocket Easel averages 4.9 from 10 ratings.
Do ImgRef or Pocket Easel have ads?
Neither ImgRef nor Pocket Easel shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ImgRef or Pocket Easel?
ImgRef ships an update every 2 days, and Pocket Easel every 4 days. Most recently, ImgRef was updated on November 8, 2026 and Pocket Easel on November 10, 2026.

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