Reference Board vs ArtDeck

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.

ArtDeck is a reference board for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Collect images, videos, links, and notes, then arrange and zoom them on an infinite canvas. Make a moodboard or open the built-in tools when you want to analyze value, color, composition, or motion. You can also keep references next to Procreate on iPad or your creative apps on Mac. iCloud sync is optional. CAPTURE NOW, USE IT ANYWHERE See a texture, a color combination, or a striking composition while you're out? Take a photo right inside ArtDeck and drop it on a board. Because your boards sync, it's there on your Mac and iPad, ready next to your design, 3D, or drawing tools. COLLECT FROM ANYWHERE • Shoot photos and video on iPhone and iPad; on Mac, take the photo with the webcam or your iPhone • Import from Photos or Files • Scan a document on iPhone or iPad, or use Continuity Camera on Mac • Save any link as a card, or paste a link to an image, video, or PDF to import it • Drag and drop, paste, or use the Share menu from any other app • Opens all common image formats, plus WebP, AVIF, JXL, HDR, EXR, and SVG. Video, GIFs, and PDFs up to 300 pages • HDR images and video at full brightness on capable screens, for the whole app or per board STUDY WHAT YOU COLLECT Study any image or video frame through the ToolBox's five lenses, without touching the original: • Values: grayscale, a value ladder, and Notan to read your darks and lights • Color: pull a palette from any image, or see its temperature and saturation zones • Composition: overlay grids, test new framings, or check the symmetry • Read: simplify to the big shapes, find where detail piles up, follow the edge hierarchy • Measure: drop plumb lines, read an angle off a snapping guide, and compare two lengths The Analysis panel shows value range, a histogram, hue, saturation, and color distribution. Export a study, or keep a copy on your board. Step through GIFs and video frame by frame, with onion skin and a GIF filmstrip ANNOTATE AND DRAW • Mark up an image, or draw directly: pen, highlighter, and shapes • Draw a stroke, then hold at the end to straighten it ARRANGE IT YOUR WAY • An infinite canvas to drag, scale, rotate, and zoom • Snap to objects and grid; align, distribute, and tidy up • Group and nest, reorder, lock, with undo and redo YOUR BOARDS, EVERYWHERE • The same boards on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, synced through your iCloud • Works fully offline: sync catches up when you're back online • Choose which boards sync • Split View and Stage Manager on iPad • Keep your window on top of the others on Mac YOUR GALLERY • Carousel and grid views of every board • Labels and multi-label filtering • Favorite, archive, rename, or duplicate any board MAKE IT YOURS • Dark, light, and high-contrast themes • Set one theme for the whole app, or one per board • An editor to fine-tune the colors and create your own themes • Import and export themes by file or link ACCESSIBILITY • VoiceOver support across the app, including items on the canvas • Respects Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion • A theme editor that checks color contrast and flags colors that are hard to tell apart EXPORT AND HAND OFF • Export a whole board or just a selection • PNG, JPEG, HEIC, or PDF, up to 8K, with a transparent background where the format allows • Save a whole board as one .artdeck file to back up or hand off TRY IT FREE, KEEP IT FOR LIFE Start with a free, individual 7-Day Trial. It does not renew. Lifetime Access is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription. No separate ArtDeck account is required. Keep what catches your eye.