Comparison

Color Trends vs Art Reference Board

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

Head to head
About

Color Trends

Features
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Color Trends is a modern color palette generator built for designers, creatives, and color enthusiasts. Explore curated 2025–2026 trend palettes or generate your own using color theory — then extract a palette from any photo. TREND PALETTES Browse handcrafted palettes inspired by the season's most influential design movements: • Photography — Golden Hour, Film Noir, Coastal, Misty Morning • Architecture — Concrete, Brutalist, Bauhaus, Glass & Steel • Interior Design — Mocha Mousse, Japandi, Sage Living, Velvet Plum • Painting — expressive, tonal, and painterly color combinations • Creative — bold, playful, and unexpected palettes GENERATE Tap once to get a fresh palette built on color theory. Schemes include analogous, complementary, triadic, split-complementary, monochromatic, warm earthy, cool muted, pastel dream, and modern neutral — all anchored to trending 2025–2026 hues. PICK FROM A PHOTO Extract a palette from any image in your photo library or snap a new one with your camera. Turn real-world color inspiration into a usable palette instantly. SAVE & ORGANIZE Swipe a palette to save it to your library. Access all saved palettes in Your Color Trends whenever you need them. COPY COLOR CODES Tap any swatch to copy its HEX or RGB value to the clipboard. Switch between formats in Settings. CUSTOMIZE • 3–7 colors per palette • HEX or RGB code display • Light, dark, or system theme • Toggle color code labels on or off No account. No ads. No tracking. Works fully offline.

About

Art Reference Board

Create and study visual references on an infinite canvas. Gather images, videos, and PDFs, then analyze color, value, and motion. Organize projects with pages, layers, and notes, and access references while working in other creative apps.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas for image, video, and PDF collection
  • Color palette generation from dominant colors
  • Value studies with posterization
  • Animation and video frame-by-frame inspection
  • Timed reference studies with interval controls
  • Annotation and sketching with Apple Pencil
  • Always-on-top reference window
Features
Read full description

Your references should stay as close as your next brushstroke. Mica is an art reference board built for illustrators, painters, animators, concept artists, character designers, tattoo artists, art students, and anyone who thinks visually. Gather images, photos, GIFs, WebP animations, video, and PDFs on an infinite canvas. Then study color, value, shape, pose, and motion without breaking your creative flow. BUILD THE BOARD YOUR ART NEEDS • Import from Photos, Files, folders, camera, document scanner, or clipboard • Drag and drop on iPad and Mac • Save references from other apps with the system share sheet • Send new ideas to Capture Inbox and organize them later • Reuse original images from your asset library across multiple boards STUDY—DON’T JUST COLLECT • Generate six- or twelve-color palettes from the dominant colors in your references • Combine grayscale with two-, three-, four-, or six-level posterization for value studies • Crop, flip, rotate, resize, and adjust opacity • Play GIF and WebP animation, inspect timelines, and step frame by frame • Step precisely through video and save useful frames to your canvas • Run timed reference studies with interval and shuffle controls • Annotate, highlight, measure, and sketch with Apple Pencil KEEP REFERENCES BESIDE YOUR WORK • Work beside your drawing or painting app on iPad • Float a reference with Picture in Picture on iPhone and iPad • Keep an always-on-top reference window on Mac • Enter focus or presentation mode when you want the interface to disappear ORGANIZE SERIOUS CREATIVE PROJECTS • Build boards with pages and layers • Arrange references in rows, columns, or a masonry-style grid • Group, lock, hide, duplicate, snap, and reorder canvas items • Add folders, tags, notes, sticky notes, styled text, and saved canvas regions • Search reusable assets by name or tag, filter by dominant color, and find boards with Spotlight • Keep favorites, recent work, reusable assets, and captured ideas within reach PRIVATE, PORTABLE, AND YOURS • Work offline by default • Protect private boards and folders with a passcode or supported biometrics • Restore an earlier local board version without overwriting your current work • Export pages as PNG or PDF, share selected references, or export original files • Move a complete project with Mica’s portable .refboard archive Collect what inspires you. Study what matters. Keep creating. Start free with one board, one page and up to 12 items. Advanced features require Mica Pro. Available purchases and any eligible trial are shown in the app. Privacy Policy: https://rezonating.app/privacy.html?id=mica Terms of Service: https://rezonating.app/terms.html?id=mica

Screenshots

Color Trends3 screens
Art Reference Board4 screens

Verdict

The call

Color Trends and Art Reference Board are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Color Trends sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Art Reference Board sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Color Trends versus Art Reference Board: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterColor TrendsArt Reference Board
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequency—Every 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTOMASZ FILIP NOWAKRezonating Apps, LLC

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Color Trends

One-time3
  • Small Coffee$0.99
  • Medium Coffee$2.99
  • Large Coffee$4.99
2 purchases

Art Reference Board

Subscriptions1
  • Mica Pro - Monthly3 Days trial$1.991 Month
One-time1
  • Mica Pro - Lifetime$5.99

Questions

Is Color Trends free?
Color Trends is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Art Reference Board free?
Art Reference Board is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Color Trends or Art Reference Board have ads?
Neither Color Trends nor Art Reference Board shows ads.

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