ColorHints Mosaic vs PressInk
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ColorHints Mosaic
Transform your photos into pixelated mosaics with customizable tile shapes, colors, and aspect ratios. Perfect for creating patterns for crafts like quilting, cross-stitch, or even Minecraft art. Share, save, or print your creations in large poster sizes.
- Photo to mosaic conversion
- Customizable tile shape and count
- Color limiting and editing
- Save, share, or print mosaics
- Large poster printing up to 200"
- Pattern generation for crafts
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Color Hints Mosaic creates a mosaic or pixelated version of a photograph. The mosaic you create can be shared with others, saved, or printed. To create a mosaic, simply - take or choose a photograph - choose the tile shape, the number, and aspect ratio of the mosaic tiles - select the Mosaic tab to see the results Too many colors in the mosaic for your purposes? Just tap the “Limit” button and then adjust the slider to choose the number of colors that does suit your purposes. Or, use the Mosaic editor to choose exactly the colors you want – including using a palette to assign colors to the Mosaic. Create mosaics to use for - pixel quilt designs - pixel quilt designs - tile patterns - knitting patterns - cross-stitch patterns - beading - mosaics from glass, wood, or other media - minecraft art - posterization - student art Want to share your mosaic? Share directly from Color Hints Mosaic via social media or Air Drop, save it to iBooks as a pattern, or send it to another App, like Color Hints or QuiltSandwich (from NNN Software). Want a printed copy? Print your mosaic as poster as large as 200" (500cm) on a side. Or, print an annotated version of the mosaic complete with a table of colors.
PressInk
Transform your photos into realistic prints with various ink and paper textures. Create zines, posters, and explore diverse printing traditions from around the world. Export print-ready files for your creative projects.
- Photo print simulation
- Zine and poster layout
- Diverse printing traditions
- Customizable inks and papers
- Print-ready PNG export
- On-device processing
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PressInk turns your photos into prints that could really be made with ink on paper. Not a filter: plates, ink, paper and the marks of a real press, rendered on your iPhone or iPad. PHOTO PRINT Overprint one to three inks with halftone or grain screens on papers from cream to kraft. Start from 14 presets or pick from 259 inks, including 250 traditional Japanese colours. Frame it, then export a print-ready PNG. ZINE Lay out a poster or a two-page spread from 11 templates: your photo, a headline, colour blocks and a print feel such as Riso, Xerox or letterpress. IMPRINT One image, one method, one ink. Rebuild your photo as grainprint, stipple, linepress, glyphs, cyanotype and seven more. RUBBING AND WOODBLOCK 19 printing traditions from 8 countries, each laid out as a full sheet with its inscription, seal and mount: • Rubbing: black-gold and cicada-wing rubbings, cinnabar rubbing, gyotaku, Korean takbon, English brass rubbing • Woodblock: Yangliuqing and Zhuxianzhen New Year prints, ukiyo-e, senjafuda, Đông Hồ, lubok, Épinal, cordel woodcut, wood engraving and more TRAVEL PLATES (BETA) Set a travel photo beside the plate it was printed from: hand-coloured print, cyanotype, postage stamp, ticket and more. In Settings. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Every photo is processed on your device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account. PRESSINK PRO Every studio and every preview is free, and each studio has free processes you can export. PressInk Pro is an optional one-time purchase that unlocks exporting the remaining processes, inks and print-size options. No subscription; Family Sharing supported. Languages: English, 简体中文, 日本語, 한국어. PressInk is a creative print simulation. It is not a calibrated separation tool for a specific commercial press.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PressInk at 100% against ColorHints Mosaic's 40%. PressInk also leads on price (Free vs $1.99) and rating (5.0 vs 3.7). ColorHints Mosaic's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#95 vs unranked). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
PressInk is free to download; ColorHints Mosaic costs $1.99 up front. PressInk sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ColorHints Mosaic asks for nothing beyond the download.
PressInk holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of ColorHints Mosaic's written reviews are positive against 100% of PressInk's.
ColorHints Mosaic ships an update every 3 months, PressInk every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ColorHints Mosaic | PressInk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.7 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #95 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jim Calvin | deng yongyuan |
Customer experience
ColorHints Mosaic
PressInk
In-app purchases
ColorHints Mosaic
No in-app purchases
PressInk
- PressInk Pro$4.99









