ArtDoor vs Hear Art
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ArtDoor
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No art history degree required. Just one short note on what to look for in each painting. You don't need to know anything to enjoy what's in front of you. ■ One painting a day A masterpiece arrives each morning. Listen to its short story and the day feels a little richer. Art continues on the days you don't visit a museum. ■ 2,500 paintings, explained simply From the Renaissance to Impressionism, from ukiyo-e to modern Japanese painting. Every work comes with a plain-English summary and three things worth looking at. No jargon. ■ Listen, don't read Painters' lives and artistic movements, as a podcast. 174 episodes across 28 series, in English and Japanese. An art history chart, technique guides, and how to look at a painting. ■ Point your camera Inside a museum, aim your camera at a painting and its commentary appears. No heavy audio guide handset, no queue. ■ Visiting Japan? A directory of 297 museums across Japan, with a map, opening information and check-ins. Find exhibitions near where you are staying. (Exhibition titles are listed in Japanese.) ■ Keep what you saw Favourite works, artists you follow, paintings you met through scanning. Your record builds quietly on your profile page. ― ArtDoor Premium ― Searching exhibitions, museum information and keeping records are free, forever. For those who want to go deeper, Premium (JPY 500/month, JPY 3,000/year with a 7-day free trial): ・Unlimited artwork scans (10 per month on the free plan) ・Every episode in Listen (first episode of each series on the free plan) ・Unlimited photo backup (10 photos on the free plan) ・Reminders the day before a visit ・Museum check-in and passport If you cancel, the photos and records you already saved stay with you. Find it, go, look, record, learn. One quiet app for your time with art. 【About subscriptions】 ・Payment is charged to your Apple ID account and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. ・Cancel anytime from Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions on your device. ・No charge if you cancel during the free trial. Terms of Use: https://keita712.github.io/artdoor-privacy/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://keita712.github.io/artdoor-privacy/privacy.html
Hear Art
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Every masterpiece has a story. Hear Art tells it. Pick a painting and press "Watch the story": a short cinematic film opens with the world it was painted in, the life of the painter, and the history that followed — then moves in close and shows you exactly where to look, detail by detail, as a narrator reads the canvas aloud. It is the feeling of a great museum guide leaning in to say, "now look here." WHAT YOU GET • 119 masterpieces from six centuries and 12 countries — Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Hokusai's Great Wave, Van Gogh's Starry Night, Goya, Klimt, Monet and many more • A cinematic film for every painting — the backstory, the painter, the history, and a guided close reading of the details • Narrated in eight languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese • Museum guides for the Louvre and the Prado — a 3D floor map with walking routes that takes you straight to the painting, and the museums' most famous works pinned on every floor with the key details to look for • Browse by painter, by museum, by movement or by country • Landscape and portrait films, made for iPhone and iPad • A calm editorial design — no clutter, no ads, no tracking FREE TO START, YOURS TO KEEP Ten paintings are free to explore. Unlock the entire collection — and every painting added in the future — with a single one-time purchase. No subscription, ever. Every artwork is in the public domain, sourced from museum open-access collections. Hear Art is for anyone who has stood in front of a painting and wished someone would tell them where to look.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: ArtDoor at 15.0 against Hear Art's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. ArtDoor sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Hear Art sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ArtDoor ships an update every 6 days, Hear Art every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ArtDoor | Hear Art |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 97 MB | 111 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Keita Tamura | Alberto Gonzalo Rodriguez Salgado |
In-app purchases
ArtDoor
- ArtDoor Premium (Monthly)$2.991 Month
- ArtDoor Premium (Yearly)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Hear Art
- Hear Art Unlimited$4.99









