Dotdotbird vs Sashiko
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Dotdotbird
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Dotdotbird is a pixel art maker for creating a bird of your own. Choose a bird, add accessories, adjust the colors, and refine individual pixels. Then place it on your Home Screen as a widget or save it for icons and sharing. Start from a ready-made bird such as a cockatiel, budgie, parrot, macaw, cockatoo, or owl. Then add hats, glasses, scarves, and other accessories to give the bird its own style. You can change the bird colors, accessory colors, and background, or touch up single pixels when you want more control. Bring a creation to your Home Screen as a Birds Only or Bird + Clock widget. Small and Medium sizes are supported, and a Medium Birds Only widget can show up to three birds together. Choose 12- or 24-hour time, four clock styles, adaptive colors, and background options. Save multiple widget setups to give different birds and looks their own place. What you can do: - Choose a bird and start editing quickly - Add hats, glasses, neckwear, and other accessories - Change palettes, bird colors, accessory colors, and backgrounds - Save your own colors and reuse them across designs - Draw and erase on a 24x24 pixel canvas - Save designs to Creations and edit them again later - Export PNG images to Photos or share them with other apps - Choose 24x24, 22x22, or 20x20 export areas and scale them up cleanly - Add Birds Only or Bird + Clock widgets to your Home Screen - Use Small and Medium widgets, with up to three birds together on Medium - Customize 12- or 24-hour time, four clock styles, adaptive colors, and backgrounds - Save multiple widget setups for different birds and looks Dotdotbird is designed around choosing and refining instead of drawing everything from scratch. It works well for profile images, chat icons, small stickers, and tiny bird characters. Additional accessories are available as optional paid packs. The free birds, free accessories, and editing tools can still be used to create and export designs.
Sashiko
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Turn a photo or idea into a project you can stitch. Sashiko brings embroidery patterns, knitting charts, fabric and thread choices, animated needle guides and printable designs together on your iPhone. FROM PHOTO TO PATTERN Import a photo or illustration, choose the subject and review the result. Create a running-stitch outline, colour-fill embroidery design or knitting chart. Refine the design, match threads or yarns and preview the stitches. On supported devices, you can prepare artwork in Image Playground before converting it. DESIGN YOUR OWN Create grid patterns, edit stitch routes and adjust dimensions, spacing and colours. Paint and refine knitting charts, set the gauge and repeats, and carry your edits through to previews, guides and exports. CHOOSE YOUR MATERIALS Browse branded fabric, embroidery thread and yarn collections by colour family, shade code and material details. Record your own supplies with a name and colour, then add fibre, measurements and notes. Choose materials for a swatch and carry them into a new pattern. Keep those selections in saved designs and exported material lists. FIND A PATTERN TO START Explore 20 free sashiko patterns. An optional one-time Sashiko pattern book purchase unlocks 50 more, including nine original geometric designs. Browse before buying and use the bundled patterns offline. Selected patterns include background stories and source links. FOLLOW THE NEEDLE Watch animated stitch routes, compare the front and back, and mark your progress. Try the first three stitch lessons free. The optional Complete stitch course provides step-by-step films with playback speed and subtitle controls. Downloaded films can be watched offline. PRINT AND SHARE Export actual-size transfer charts for A4 or US Letter, needle steps and pattern specifications. Share knitting charts, material lists, previews and editable designs. Print at 100% and check the scale before transferring to fabric. Export PES files for compatible Brother embroidery machines, check the selected hoop size and include a thread list. Convert knitting swatches to cross-stitch embroidery using your gauge and repeat settings. KEEP YOUR PLACE Save projects, reference photos, notes and stitching progress on your device. Keep reusable designs in My patterns. Saved patterns, attached reference images and favourites sync through your private iCloud account when available. No app account is required. Core design and export tools work offline. Image Playground requires a supported device. Video downloads and iCloud syncing require an internet connection. The Sashiko pattern book, each themed book and the full stitch course are separate in-app purchases. Available in English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Thai. THEMED EMBROIDERY BOOKS Choose Flowers, Plants, Animals & Insects, Food, Objects or Decorative Motifs: six books with 73 different patterns. Each book is a separate one-time purchase and includes previews, transfer diagrams and written stitch references. Browse, buy and read purchased books in Shop, including offline access after installation. FREE CREATION PLANS Explore four free wave studies under Advanced, with finished references, stitched swatches, guides and printable transfers. Find the free Cat Christmas Tree starter kit in My patterns, with a palette, practice sampler and editable design. The wave studies are suggested plans and have not been physically stitch-tested. YOUR PERSONAL LIBRARY Save 10 personal patterns and 20 swatches free. Separate one-time purchases unlock unlimited saved patterns or unlimited saved swatches. You can always open, edit and export existing saved work.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sashiko at daily against Dotdotbird's every 2 months. Sashiko also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Dotdotbird sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Sashiko sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Dotdotbird ships an update every 2 months, Sashiko daily. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dotdotbird | Sashiko |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Daily โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 289 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | birnimal APP | A.D LONG & J ZHU |
In-app purchases
Dotdotbird
- Music Accessory Pack$0.99
- Party Accessory Pack$0.99
Sashiko
- Unlimited personal patterns$2.99
- Unlimited saved swatches$2.99
- Flowers pattern book$5.00
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- Sashiko pattern book$5.00
- Plants pattern book$5.00
- Food pattern book$5.00
- Objects pattern book$5.00
- Animals & insects pattern book$5.00
- Decorative motifs pattern book$5.00
- Complete stitch course$10.00









