Palette Spin vs Charcoal Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Palette Spin
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Palette Spin is a simple wallpaper maker for turning colors, photos, and text into custom iPhone wallpapers. Start with a palette, spin through color patterns, and preview how your wallpaper looks on an iPhone-style screen. You can add a photo, adjust blend effects, place text, tune colors, and save the result to Photos. Palette Spin is designed for quick visual experiments: ・Spin palettes and color patterns ・Create colorful gradient wallpapers ・Add photos as a background layer ・Adjust blend mode, opacity, scale, and position ・Add text with custom font, color, outline, shadow, and rotation ・Preview portrait and landscape wallpaper layouts ・Save full wallpapers or split designs into tiles Whether you want a bright lock screen, a soft gradient background, or a personal wallpaper with text and photos, Palette Spin helps you make it quickly.
Charcoal Studio
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Charcoal Studio brings the feel of a real charcoal sketchbook to iPhone and iPad. Pick up a stick, lay down rich, grainy tone, then blend it into smooth gradients or lift it back out, the way you would on paper. A FULL CHARCOAL KIT • Charcoal Pencil: fine lines and crisp detail • Vine Charcoal: soft, light marks for loose sketching • Compressed Charcoal: dense, velvety blacks • Charcoal Block: broad strokes for shading large areas • White Charcoal: highlights on toned and dark paper • Charcoal Powder: soft washes of tone • Lasso: select, move and resize your strokes BLEND AND LIFT LIKE THE REAL THING • Blending Stump: push charcoal into the paper’s grain, soften hard edges and build smooth tonal transitions. It moves only charcoal, never the paper, so your darks stay rich. • Kneaded Eraser: dab or drag to lift charcoal gently and add highlights. It follows the tooth of the paper, so lightened areas keep their natural texture. • Eraser: clean removal whenever you need it. MADE FOR APPLE PENCIL • Pressure and tilt shape every mark • Strokes are smoothed so blending and erasing follow your hand without jagged corners • Double-tap or squeeze Apple Pencil to switch tools or show tool settings • Draw with your finger too, or turn finger drawing off for Pencil-only work PAPER WITH TOOTH • Five papers: white, cream, toned gray, slate and black • A real paper grain shows through every stroke • Choose your canvas: portrait, landscape, square, or any custom size from 256 to 4096 pixels AN EXPERIENCE THAT FEELS ANALOG • Hear the scratch of charcoal when you hatch, while ordinary lines stay quiet • Pinch to zoom and pan around your page • Ruler for straight edges • Charcoal-tone palette, plus your own saved colours • Size, opacity and strength controls for every tool YOUR SKETCHBOOK • Every sketch saves automatically • Unlimited sketches in your gallery • Undo and redo as many steps as you need • Export at full resolution and share anywhere Everything stays on your device: no account and no sign-up. Focus on your drawing. Leave the dust on the paper. Privacy policy: https://digitalhole.github.io/LilArtist.html Standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Charcoal Studio at Free against Palette Spin's $1.89. Palette Spin's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (daily vs every 3 days). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Charcoal Studio is free to download; Palette Spin costs $1.89 up front. Charcoal Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Palette Spin asks for nothing beyond the download.
Palette Spin ships an update daily, Charcoal Studio every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Palette Spin | Charcoal Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.89 | Free — better |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Makoto Fukuoka | Digital Hole Pvt. Ltd. |
In-app purchases
Palette Spin
No in-app purchases
Charcoal Studio
- Unlock All Features$4.99





