Comparison

Simple Sketchbook vs Flip Animation

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

Head to head
About

Simple Sketchbook

A digital sketchbook for iPad and iPhone that offers a clean, fast drawing experience without distractions. Create multiple sketchbooks with various paper styles, utilize layers, and import reference images. Export your work as high-resolution PNGs, PDFs, or timelapse videos.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free drawing interface
  • Multiple sketchbooks with custom paper styles
  • Multi-layer support with opacity and blend modes
  • Import reference images
  • Export pages as PNG or PDF
  • Generate timelapse videos of drawings
  • Face ID/Touch ID sketchbook lock
Features
Read full description

App Description Simple Sketchbook is a distraction-free sketchbook for iPad, designed around the Apple Pencil but will also work with your finger. No subscription. No social features. Just a clean, fast place to draw. Create as many sketchbooks as you like, each with its own paper style — blank, lined, grid, dotted, or a range of specialty templates. Every sketchbook fills your screen edge to edge, and the canvas stays fixed in space when you rotate your iPad, so your drawing never moves out from under your hand. There is no zoom by design on iPad (iPhone users can double-tap to zoom), just a regular sketchbook page in digital space. Layers, done simply Each page supports multiple layers with individual opacity, blend mode, and visibility controls. Bring in photos from your library or drag and drop images directly onto the canvas to use as reference or compose with your work. Reposition, scale, and rotate images freely before committing them to the page. Export your work Export any page as a high-resolution PNG — with or without the background — or export an entire sketchbook as a PDF. Generate a timelapse video of your drawing process, perfect for sharing how a piece came together. Your sketchbooks, backed up Back up any sketchbook to a single file and restore it on any of your iPads. Backups scale automatically to fit the screen, so moving from an iPad mini to an iPad Pro keeps everything looking right. Lock individual sketchbooks with Face ID or Touch ID. Simple Sketchbook is a distraction-free drawing notebook for iPad and iPhone, built for the feel of putting pencil to paper, with just enough digital magic to make every page more useful than a physical one. Draw naturally A slim, always-out-of-the-way tool strip puts your pen, sizes, opacity and colours one tap away, no picker popovers, no hunting through menus. Double-tap or squeeze your Apple Pencil to switch tools instantly, or rest two fingers on the page to pull up the full tool grid without ever putting your pencil down. Layer it up Sketch, ink, and shade on separate layers. Drop in a photo and arrange it (move, scale, rotate) right on the canvas. Add a storyboard frame template for comic panels and animatics. Blend, reorder, and merge layers exactly like a design tool, but built for a sketchbook workflow. Paper that feels right Choose plain, lined, grid, dotted, or textured paper for every notebook, whatever the page is for, to structured notes. Watch your drawing come to life Every stroke is quietly recorded as you draw. Export a timelapse video of any page, or a whole run of pages, and watch a sketch build itself from first line to finished piece. Say what you're thinking Record a voice reflection on any page, your process, your intent, what you'd change next time, and Simple Sketchbook transcribes it on-device, completely privately. Reflections play back alongside your timelapse, or export as Markdown for a portfolio or journal. Yours, and only yours Lock any notebook with Face ID or Touch ID. Back up and restore your entire sketchbook library whenever you like. Nothing leaves your device unless you choose to share it. Whether you're a student building a visual journal, an artist studying your own process, or just someone who likes to draw — Simple Sketchbook gets out of your way and lets the page do the work.

About

Flip Animation

Create frame-by-frame 2D animations with professional drawing and animation tools. Features include multiple layers, audio syncing, and various export options like GIF and MP4. Learn animation techniques with built-in tutorials.

Highlights
  • Frame-by-frame animation
  • Multiple drawing brushes
  • Onion skinning
  • Audio track import and sync
  • GIF and MP4 export
  • Built-in animation tutorials
  • Symmetry drawing mode
Features
Read full description

Turn your ideas, and even your own videos, into 2D animation! FlipAnimation is a complete frame by frame animation studio on your phone and tablet: draw cartoons like a flipbook, trace over video with Rotoscope, put background images behind your frames, learn from 115+ step by step lessons and export as GIF or HD video. ROTOSCOPE: DRAW OVER YOUR VIDEOS • Import any video from your gallery and trace it frame by frame • The easiest way to learn real motion: walk cycles, dance moves, sports, pets, faces • Trim the clip, place it on your canvas exactly how you want, adjust guide opacity • Everything is processed privately on your device, and you decide if the video appears in your export FRAME BACKGROUNDS • Put a background picture behind any frame, or behind all frames at once • Move, resize and rotate the image freely, then lock it in place • Draw your characters over photo scenes, storyboards and comic panels LEARN ANIMATION: 115+ GUIDED LESSONS • Step by step tutorials from bouncing ball to full mini scenes • The 12 principles of animation, walk cycles, effects, characters and more • Trace the guide strokes and watch your drawing come alive • Your lesson progress is saved so you can continue or reset anytime PROFESSIONAL DRAWING TOOLS • Pencil, ink pen, marker, crayon, fill and a precise eraser • Pressure sensitive strokes with smooth curves • Shapes, symmetry drawing, grid overlay and color eyedropper • Text tool, custom brush presets and a full color palette ANIMATE FRAME BY FRAME • Unlimited frames with per frame timing control • Onion skinning shows previous frames as ghost overlays • Auto In-Betweens generate the frames between your keyframes for you • Copy, duplicate and reorder frames; loop, ping-pong and one-shot playback LAYERS, TRANSFORM & AUDIO • Multiple layers per frame with lock and visibility controls • Free transform: scale, rotate, flip and move your selection • Import music or voice over, see the waveform on the timeline, export video with sound EXPORT & SHARE • GIF for social media, HD MP4 video with audio • Printable sheets to cut your own physical flipbook, ZIP with all frames as PNG • Share straight to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and WhatsApp MADE FOR CREATORS OF EVERY LEVEL • Beginners: guided lessons and a friendly, clean interface • Artists and animators: pro tools, layers, rotoscoping and precise timing • Kids and families: draw, doodle and bring silly characters to life • Optimized layouts for both phone and tablet, dark theme for long sessions WHAT WILL YOU MAKE? • Animated memes, stickers and reaction GIFs for your chats • Rotoscope studies of dancers, athletes and animals from your own clips • Storyboards and animatics for films, games and school projects • Game sprites, walk cycles and pixel style motion tests • Birthday cards, logo animations, doodles on photos and mini music videos WHY ANIMATORS LOVE FLIPANIMATION • A real animation studio, not a toy: onion skin, timing, layers, audio sync • Auto In-Betweens save hours of drawing on every scene • Works fully offline: animate anywhere, no account needed • Fast and lightweight, with autosave protecting every stroke • Available in 20 languages PREMIUM (OPTIONAL) Unlock unlimited projects, every lesson, Auto In-Betweens, all brushes and watermark free HD export with a weekly plan or a single lifetime purchase. A generous free version lets you draw, animate and export from day one. Whether you are making your first flipbook doodle, teaching yourself the 12 principles, or rotoscoping reference footage like a pro animator, FlipAnimation turns every idea into motion. Sketch it. Animate it. Share it. Download FlipAnimation and make your first animation in minutes! Privacy Policy: https://flipanimation.app/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Simple Sketchbook2 screens
Flip Animation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Flip Animation at Free against Simple Sketchbook's $1.99. Flip Animation also leads on ratings volume (30 vs 3) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). Simple Sketchbook's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 83%). On rating, update cadence, 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

Flip Animation is free to download; Simple Sketchbook costs $1.99 up front. Flip Animation sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Simple Sketchbook asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Flip Animation holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Flip Animation has 30 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Simple Sketchbook's written reviews are positive against 83% of Flip Animation's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simple Sketchbook ships an update every 9 days, Flip Animation weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Simple Sketchbook versus Flip Animation: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimple SketchbookFlip Animation
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (3 ratings)4.5 (30 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better82.8% of reviews
Number of ratings330 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#74 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB90 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuncan PollockZENBYTE DIJITAL TEKNOLOJILER LIMITED SIRKETI

Customer experience

Simple Sketchbook

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Flip Animation

All ratings30 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive82.8%
Neutral6.9%
Negative10.3%

In-app purchases

None

Simple Sketchbook

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Flip Animation

Subscriptions1
  • Premium Weekly$2.997 Days
One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime$12.99

Questions

Is Simple Sketchbook free?
Simple Sketchbook costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Flip Animation free?
Flip Animation is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Simple Sketchbook or Flip Animation?
Flip Animation is rated higher. Simple Sketchbook averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Flip Animation averages 4.5 from 30 ratings.
Do Simple Sketchbook or Flip Animation have ads?
Neither Simple Sketchbook nor Flip Animation shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simple Sketchbook or Flip Animation?
Simple Sketchbook ships an update every 9 days, and Flip Animation weekly. Most recently, Simple Sketchbook was updated on October 25, 2026 and Flip Animation on October 28, 2026.

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