RoughAnimator vs DrawMaps
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RoughAnimator
Create traditional hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animations on your iPad. This app offers professional-grade tools like unlimited layers, onion skinning, and audio import, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced animators. Export your work in various formats or import it into professional animation software.
- Timeline with unlimited layers
- Onion skinning
- Audio and video import
- Custom brushes
- Apple Pencil support
- Export to video, GIF, image sequence
- Import to professional software
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A fully featured hand drawn animation application for iPad. Made by an animator, for animators. Powerful enough for professionals, simple enough for beginners. Everything you need to create traditional hand drawn frame-by-frame animation, anywhere you go! Features: - Timeline with unlimited layers and easily adjustable exposure length of individual drawings, for pose-to-pose or straight-ahead animating - Onion skinning - Preview playback - Scrub along timeline - Import audio for lip syncing - Import video for rotoscoping animation - Custom brushes - Supports Apple Pencil, Logitech Crayon - Control framerate and resolution - Export animation to Quicktime video, GIF, or image sequence - RoughAnimator projects can be imported to Adobe Flash/Animate, After Effects, and Toon Boom Harmony - Also available on desktop See a short film animated with RoughAnimator: https://youtu.be/vaHuJNNPoMM
DrawMaps
This creative mapping tool lets you draw directly on interactive maps to plan trips, mark locations, or sketch ideas. Customize your maps with various drawing tools and save your creations securely to the cloud.
- Draw freehand routes and doodle on maps
- Customizable brush sizes, opacity, and colors
- Drop custom pins for important locations
- Real-time cloud synchronization across devices
- Intuitive glassmorphism-inspired interface
- User profile to track creative activity
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DrawMaps is a shared global canvas built on a real-world map. Explore the map and try drawing as a guest. Sign in to publish your practice, save drawings, place public pins, and join a creative map shared with people around the world. DRAW ON THE WORLD Use freehand drawing tools directly on the map. Choose colors, brush size, and opacity, switch naturally between pencil and eraser, then pan and zoom to work at the scale you need. PUBLIC MAP PINS Place colored pins with short messages to mark ideas, discoveries, meet-up points, or places that matter to you. Drawings, pins, names, and messages are public by default. FAIR INK SYSTEM The ink allowance keeps the shared canvas responsive and gives everyone a fair opportunity to create. Ink regenerates over time and is never a currency or paid item. FAST SHARED CANVAS DrawMaps loads map content by visible tiles and securely synchronizes your contributions through its cloud backend. The interface stays focused on the map with compact, glass-inspired controls. ACCOUNT AND SAFETY CONTROLS Sign in with Apple or email, customize your avatar, review your contribution statistics, report inappropriate content, and block users. You can permanently delete your account and associated content from inside the app. EXPORT AND LANGUAGES Export a view of the map and use DrawMaps in English, Simplified Chinese, or Japanese. DrawMaps does not request GPS location permission. The coordinates saved by the service are locations you intentionally choose on the map. Map content is collaborative artwork and should not be used for navigation, emergencies, or other high-risk decisions.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: DrawMaps at Free against RoughAnimator's $7.99. DrawMaps also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6). RoughAnimator's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (2.9K vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases 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
DrawMaps is free to download; RoughAnimator costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
DrawMaps holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RoughAnimator has 2.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
RoughAnimator ships an update fortnightly, DrawMaps every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RoughAnimator | DrawMaps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (2.9K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.9K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #8 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 49 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jacob KAFKA | 玉竹智能 |
Customer experience
RoughAnimator
DrawMaps
Bugs and requests
RoughAnimator
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when importing audio
- Onion skin not working
- Pixelated drawings when playing animation
- Laggy performance with larger projects
Requested features
8 requests- Add transparency support for exports
- Implement a text tool
- Provide more brush options and customization
- Add a ruler/shape tool
- Improve audio handling (record, import, sync)
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- Implement a tween/animation feature
- Add layer grouping and organization tools
- Provide a dark mode option
DrawMaps
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
RoughAnimator
No in-app purchases
DrawMaps
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is RoughAnimator free?
Is DrawMaps free?
Which has better reviews, RoughAnimator or DrawMaps?
Do RoughAnimator or DrawMaps have ads?
Which is updated more often, RoughAnimator or DrawMaps?
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