TraceOverlay vs Tracer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TraceOverlay
Transform your device into a portable tracing lightbox. Overlay reference images onto your live camera view for drawing, painting, and lettering. Features precision tools and image adjustment for a clearer guide.
- AR tracing with live camera view
- Move, scale, and rotate references
- Adjust image and camera opacity
- Alignment grid for proportions
- Edge detection and image enhancement
- Optional one-time unlock for personal imports
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Trace images onto paper with the camera you already carry. TraceOverlay places a reference over your live camera view, turning your iPhone or iPad into a practical tracing lightbox for drawing, painting, lettering, murals, and art study. TRY THE INCLUDED DEMO TraceOverlay includes a Mona Lisa tracing demo so you can use the live camera and every precision tool without an account or purchase. TRACE WITH PRECISION • Move, scale, and rotate the reference over your drawing surface • Adjust image and camera opacity independently • Lock the layout to prevent accidental movement • Use the alignment grid to check proportions • Mirror a reference when needed • Hide the controls for a clean tracing view FIND THE LINES THAT MATTER Use edge detection, grayscale, contrast, brightness, saturation, and invert controls to create a clearer guide. UPGRADE FOR YOUR OWN REFERENCES The optional one-time Unlock upgrade adds personal photo import and a private on-device reference shelf. It is not a subscription and does not renew. The App Store shows the localized price before purchase. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Camera frames and selected reference images are processed on your device and are not uploaded to TraceOverlay. No TraceOverlay account is required. MADE FOR CREATIVE WORK TraceOverlay is designed for artists, illustrators, lettering practitioners, muralists, art students, and hobbyists who want a portable tracing aid without extra projection hardware. Open the included demo, frame your paper, and start tracing.
Tracer
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Tracer turns your iPhone into a tracing tool. Pick any image, anchor it onto a real surface in augmented reality, and trace over it by hand — on paper, on canvas, or on a wall. No projector. No light box. No printing and taping. Your first 5 images are free. After that, Tracer unlocks with a Tracer Yearly subscription — $9.99/year, auto-renewing, cancel anytime in Settings. HOW IT WORKS Point your iPhone at the surface you want to draw on. Pick a reference image from your photos. Tap the surface to anchor it in place. The image stays locked to that exact spot in the real world while you draw. DIAL IN THE OPACITY Slide from barely-there to fully opaque. Keep it faint to check your proportions, or bring it up to follow every line. You see exactly what you're tracing, and exactly what you've already drawn. POSITION IT EXACTLY Pinch to scale, twist to rotate, drag to move. Once it's where you want it, lock it — your hand can rest on the phone without knocking the reference out of alignment. BUILT FOR LONG SESSIONS The screen stays awake while you trace, so it won't sleep mid-drawing. Close the app and come back later: Tracer remembers your reference, its position and your opacity setting, and puts everything back where you left it. Working in low light? There's a built-in flashlight. MADE FOR • Illustrators working from reference • Tattoo artists placing a stencil • Muralists scaling a design up to a wall • Lettering and calligraphy • Anyone learning to draw PRIVACY Tracer has no servers, no analytics, no accounts and no ads. The camera feed is processed on your device and never recorded. Your reference image never leaves your iPhone. Tracer doesn't even ask for photo library permission — it uses Apple's system picker, which hands over only the single image you choose. Requires an ARKit-capable iPhone running iOS 16 or later. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://tracer-privacy.vercel.app
Screenshots
Verdict
TraceOverlay and Tracer 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
Both are free to download. TraceOverlay sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Tracer sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | TraceOverlay | Tracer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ThoughtBubble Development, LLC | Facundo De Lima |
In-app purchases
TraceOverlay
- Unlock$6.99
Tracer
- Tracer Yearly$9.991 Year









