Comparison

Proref vs BeamSpace

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

Head to head
About

Proref

Features
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Proref is where your references live while you draw โ€” and where the finished piece goes afterwards. GATHER YOUR REFERENCES Drop everything you're looking at onto one huge canvas and arrange it into a board. Import from Photos, your camera, Files, a web link, the share sheet, or by dragging straight in from Safari. Zoom from 2% to 25,600%, so the board grows with the project. WORK BESIDE THEM Proref is built for Split View: your references on one side, your drawing app on the other. Sketch and annotate over them with Apple Pencil, with pressure. Tune brightness, contrast and saturation, or crop non-destructively โ€” the original is always recoverable. A minimap shows where you are, and saved views jump you back to any spot in one tap. KEEP THE PIECE, AND THE LESSON When something's finished, keep it. Attach a piece to the board it came from, open it full screen, and see everything you've made on a dated timeline โ€” as a gallery to swipe or a list to scan. Note what worked and what didn't while it's fresh, star the things to carry forward, and those notes sit in a pane on the board while you draw the next one. If you'd rather Proref stayed purely a reference app, turn the art journey off in Settings and it does. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No accounts. No sign-in. No server. No tracking, no analytics, no ads. Your boards, your artworks and your critique notes stay on your device. FREE, WITH A ONE-TIME UNLOCK Proref is free to use with 2 boards, 10 images per board, 3 saved views, 5 finished artworks, and 3 focused critique notes per piece. Proref Pro removes those limits and unlocks every feature โ€” a single one-time purchase, not a subscription. Buy it once and restore it on your other devices.

About

BeamSpace

Features
Read full description

Beamspace let you map everything onto surfaces using only your iOS device and a projector. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Proref4 screens
BeamSpace3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Proref at 15.0 against BeamSpace's 17.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Proref sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and BeamSpace sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Proref ships an update every 6 days, BeamSpace every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Proref versus BeamSpace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterProrefBeamSpace
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 days โ€” betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size45 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn Oliver AtienzaMarvin Krueger

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Proref

One-time1
  • Proref Pro$7.99
2 purchases

BeamSpace

Subscriptions2
  • PRO$3.997 Days
  • PRO3 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Proref free?
Proref is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BeamSpace free?
BeamSpace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Proref or BeamSpace have ads?
Neither Proref nor BeamSpace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Proref or BeamSpace?
Proref ships an update every 6 days, and BeamSpace every 2 weeks. Most recently, Proref was updated on November 10, 2026 and BeamSpace on November 6, 2026.

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