Comparison

ArtDeck vs tone

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

Head to head
About

ArtDeck

Organize visual inspiration and study images with this app. Create moodboards by collecting images, videos, links, and notes, then analyze their composition, color, and values. Seamlessly sync your boards across all your Apple devices for easy access.

Highlights
  • Collect images, videos, and links
  • Create moodboards and reference boards
  • Analyze image values, color, and composition
  • Sync boards across Apple devices
  • Offline access to boards
  • Annotate and draw on images
  • Organize with infinite canvas
Features
Read full description

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.

About

tone

Transform your photos into unique stencil-style prints with adjustable colors, halftones, and frames. Explore automatic ink selections or fine-tune every detail for a custom poster or zine look. Save your creations for sharing or printing.

Highlights
  • Convert photos to 1-3 color overprint style
  • Halftone dots and grain screening methods
  • Automatic ink selection
  • Adjustable dot, angle, and density
  • Editable margins, frames, and corners
  • Paper stock and grain options
  • Save custom presets
Features
Read full description

tone is a photo app that gives your pictures the character of stencil printing. Pick a photo, and fine halftone dots and overlapping inks turn it into something like a two-color poster or zine page. Layer photos together in one printed composition. Drawings and text can also be added as material for the overprint. In Simple mode, tap the random buttons to explore combinations of colors, halftones, and frames. A guided tour walks you from loading an image to exporting it. Inks that fit your photo can be chosen automatically. Export right away, or fine-tune dot frequency, screen angle, density, and print behavior for each color. Move, scale, and rotate photos directly on the preview. Crop each image and edit its corners and margins on the canvas. Add rounded corners, hand-cut edges, and paper grain to finish it like a poster or card. Save finished artwork to your photo library. For physical production, export print-ready artwork or a separate file for each ink with finished dimensions, bleed, Standard / Japanese crop marks, true-size imposition, and PNG / JPEG / PDF output. tone supports iPad in portrait, landscape, and Split View. On a wide screen, keep the preview and controls side by side and adjust their widths for your workspace. Your latest artwork and editing settings are saved on device and restored automatically the next time you launch tone. Features: - Give photos the character of stencil printing - Layer multiple photos in one overprinted composition - Simple, Customize, and Advanced modes - Two screening methods: halftone dots and grain - Automatic ink selection that fits your photo - Per-color dot, angle, density, and print controls - Five paper stocks, including white, natural, gray, and kraft - Direct move, scale, rotate, crop, corner, and margin editing - Built-in presets and whole-composition custom presets - Step-by-step views of separation, screening, and overprint - Print-ready and per-ink separation export - Bleed, crop marks, and true-size imposition - iPhone and iPad, portrait, landscape, and Split View - Automatic editing-session save and restore - Available in Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese (Simplified, Traditional, Hong Kong) 7 extra inks, custom preset saving, and 2x/3x high-resolution artwork export are unlocked with the one-time purchase “Ink Set 02”.

Screenshots

ArtDeck4 screens
tone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: tone at 5.0 against ArtDeck's 4.2. tone also leads on ratings volume (24 vs 6). ArtDeck's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (100% vs 88%). On price, 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

Both are free to download. tone sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ArtDeck asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

tone holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 24 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of ArtDeck's written reviews are positive against 88% of tone's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ArtDeck ships an update weekly, tone every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ArtDeck versus tone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArtDecktone
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (6 ratings)5.0 (24 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better87.5% of reviews
Number of ratings624 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlexandre AlvesShikaka, Inc.

Customer experience

ArtDeck

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

tone

All ratings20 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral6.3%
Negative6.3%

In-app purchases

None

ArtDeck

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

tone

One-time1
  • Ink Set 02$2.99

Questions

Is ArtDeck free?
ArtDeck is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is tone free?
tone is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ArtDeck or tone?
tone is rated higher. ArtDeck averages 4.2 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while tone averages 5.0 from 24 ratings.
Do ArtDeck or tone have ads?
Neither ArtDeck nor tone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ArtDeck or tone?
ArtDeck ships an update weekly, and tone every 10 days. Most recently, ArtDeck was updated on October 24, 2026 and tone on October 24, 2026.

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