Comparison

Inkling vs Press Paper

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

Head to head
About

Inkling

This app simulates the unique aesthetic of Risograph printing, allowing users to create images with overprint effects, halftone dots, and intentional misregistration. It offers extensive control over ink colors, screen angles, and paper types to achieve authentic print results.

Highlights
  • Simulates Risograph printing
  • Halftone screening and overprinting
  • Adjustable ink colors and density
  • Control over screen angle and ruling
  • Customizable paper and sheet options
  • High-resolution export for printing
  • Separation PDF export
Features
Read full description

Inkling is a small press that lives on your phone. Pick a photo and it comes back as a numbered print: the fluorescent inks of a Risograph, the graphic bite of a duotone, the coarse dots of newsprint, the heavy flood of a screen print. ■ LAYOUT Put a few photos, a few words and a doodle on one sheet and print them in one run: they share the same inks and dots, so the sheet comes out as one piece. · One to four photos: drag, scale and rotate; frame each as a rectangle, rounded corners, a capsule or a circle · Crop to a set ratio (1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 3:1…) to print just part of a picture · Four type styles; a pen in three weights, solid, dashed or dotted · Words and lines can use the accent ink or one of the photo's inks, printing on the same plate · Four templates (Two capsules, One day, Photo strip, Postcard) or freeform · Change paper, inks or process; layouts stay in the Press Room to edit later ■ WHY IT LOOKS PRINTED Two spot inks cannot reproduce what your camera saw, so Inkling stops trying. Rather than force a photograph into two colours, it works out how much of each ink to lay down and where. Highlights are left as bare paper. The lighter ink carries the midtones, the darker one sinks the shadows, and hue only nudges the split — enough that a brick wall leans pink and dusk holds blue. Giving up colour accuracy is what buys the style. Ink load then has to become something a press can actually put on paper: dots. Each plate gets a grid of them, tilted to a screen angle you choose, and every dot grows with the ink sitting under it. Bring two plates' grids too close in angle and they beat against each other into moiré. Inkling hands you the angle and the ruling and lets you decide whether that is a problem or the point. Every ink means another pass over the same sheet. One plate settles onto bare paper, the next presses over it, and because they are all see-through, anywhere two of them cover the same spot reads darker. The first plate lands true; the ones behind it sit a few pixels off, each along the heading of its own grid, the way rollers lose their grip over a long run. Here that slip is a slider, and most people push it up rather than down. ■ SMART RECIPES Pick a photo and it's already a print. Inkling reads the dominant colour and pairs the inks itself: orange for a sunset, pink for a pink wall, blue holds the night. The default is the one you'll want to share — and everything stays adjustable. ■ WHAT YOU CAN TUNE · 1–4 plates, each with its own ink · 12 official Riso spot inks · Screen angle 0–90°, set by turning a protractor · Screen ruling 10–90 lpi, set by dragging a ruler · Ink density 10–100%, set by filling an ink well · Plate shift, ink spread, paper tooth · Paper: warm white, natural, pure white, kraft · Sheet: ratio, margin, corner — with clean, stamp-perforated, deckle or punched edges ■ THE PRESS RUN Pressing PRINT doesn't just hand you a result. The first plate lands, a beat passes, the second presses down, the overlap darkens, it settles. Every run is a numbered print in a limited edition. ■ THE PRESS ROOM Every print you pull hangs on a wall — numbered, with its inks, paper and settings frozen in the file. ■ IMPOSITION Gang a few prints on one sheet: a dozen fixed grids, or a freeform collage — drag, pinch, rotate, reorder the stack. ■ RECIPE CARDS Turn a print's inks and screens into a card with a QR code. A friend scans it and prints their own photo with your recipe. ■ EXPORT · PNG for sharing · High-resolution PNG at full size, for printing · Separation PDF, one page per plate, with register marks and ink values — ready for a print shop · Animation, the second the last plate settles ■ ABOUT YOUR PHOTOS Everything happens on your device. Inkling has no network access, no account, no analytics, and collects no data at all. Turn off the network and nothing changes. ■ ABOUT THE PRICE Inkling Full is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Buy it once and it stays yours.

About

Press Paper

Features
Read full description

Turn photographs into tactile halftone and risograph-inspired prints with Press Paper. Choose a photo or use the live camera, then build the image like a real press: separate it into ink plates, choose dot, line, grain, or hatch screens, and tune paper, registration, frame, and texture. Finished looks make it easy to jump into process colour, newsprint, and expressive duotones. Save finished prints to Photos or share them directly. Press Pass is a one-time purchase that unlocks the full ink library, a third plate, ink sampling from your photo, print-resolution export, and three-second looping video export. Your photos are processed entirely on your device. Press Paper has no account, advertising, or cross-app tracking. Privacy Policy: https://walnut-burst-160.notion.site/Press-Paper-Privacy-Policy-3a83971e7add80d989dbd6f1f46b5e42 Terms of Use: https://walnut-burst-160.notion.site/Press-Paper-Terms-of-Use-3a83971e7add80f99ee1d5acd0e9f405 Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Inkling4 screens
Press Paper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Inkling at none against Press Paper's 1. Inkling also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). On price, 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. Press Paper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Inkling asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Inkling ships an update every 3 days, Press Paper weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Inkling versus Press Paper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInklingPress Paper
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer亚 张Jerry Munyoka Nkongolo

In-app purchases

None

Inkling

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Press Paper

One-time1
  • Press Pass$3.99

Questions

Is Inkling free?
Inkling is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Press Paper free?
Press Paper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Inkling or Press Paper have ads?
Neither Inkling nor Press Paper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Inkling or Press Paper?
Inkling ships an update every 3 days, and Press Paper weekly. Most recently, Inkling was updated on October 9, 2026 and Press Paper on September 30, 2026.

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