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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
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The verdict on

Animation Desk® Draw & Animate

45
User verdict / 100 High confidence Divided

Animation Desk offers a free entry point for basic animation, but recent user experiences are significantly hampered by persistent, critical bugs, frequent crashes, and extensive paywalls, making it frustrating for serious projects.

4.2★ lifetime (15,706) Free + in-app purchases since 2015 by Kdan Mobile Software LTD updated 5.6 mo ago recent negative 36% 120 reviews across 4 regions
Bugs & Glitches Paywalls & Free Features Audio Import Issues Ease of Use / Learning Curve Ads
5★264
4★169
3★169
2★122
1★222
recent reviews across 4 regions, vs the 4.2★ lifetime average

Animation Desk is a free app designed for creating animations, offering a simple interface and tools for beginners. However, recent reviews highlight numerous critical bugs that lead to lost work, frequent app crashes, and a restrictive free tier with many essential features locked behind paywalls.

What users like

  • Easy to use for beginners and simple animationsR59R70R71R80
  • Good for learning animation without initial costR40R88R33
  • Includes onion skinning featureR70

What users complain about

  • Frequent and critical glitches lead to lost work, including deleted frames, flipped images, and random scribblesR5R8R11R13
  • Many essential features, including brushes and tools, are locked behind paywalls or subscriptionsR2R4R7R10
  • App frequently crashes or freezes, kicking users outR11R19R24R39
  • Limited or problematic audio import options, often restricted to iTunes or not workingR34R74R77R79
  • Ads are frequent and intrusive, especially for non-subscribersR7R9R35R41
  • Poor brush quality and limited free brush optionsR2R16R48R52
  • Lack of essential drawing features like better zoom, selection tools, and layer mergingR4R48R50R86

Latest update · v9.4.9

What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):

- UI optimization

Recurring themes

Bugs & Glitches negative
Users report numerous critical bugs including frames being deleted, duplicated, flipped, or having random scribbles appear, leading to significant loss of work. The app also frequently crashes or freezes, often without saving progress. This contradicts the developer's notes about 'UI optimization' as core functionality is broken.R5R8R11R13
Paywalls & Free Features negative
Many users express frustration over the extensive paywalls, stating that essential features like different brush types, advanced tools (e.g., colored onion skinning, selection tools), and even basic functionality are locked behind subscriptions or in-app purchases. This makes the 'free' app feel very limited and pushes users towards paid alternatives.R2R4R7R10
Audio Import Issues negative
A recurring complaint is the inability to easily import audio files from sources other than iTunes, or that even iTunes imports fail. This severely limits the app's utility for creating full animations with sound.R34R74R77R79
Ease of Use / Learning Curve mixed
Some users find the app easy and fun for simple animations and beginners. However, others find it confusing, hard to draw with, or lacking intuitive features.R44R45R47R51
Ads negative
Ads are reported to be frequent and disruptive, appearing even during animation work or when switching frames.R7R9R35R41

Who it's for

This app is for beginners or casual users looking to try out basic animation for free, without committing to complex projects R59R70R80. It is not for users who need reliable performance, advanced features, or intend to create serious or long-form animations, as they will likely encounter critical bugs and paywalls R8R50.

Evidence note: The recent reviews skew heavily negative, focusing on critical bugs and paywalls. While some positive reviews exist, they often acknowledge glitches or limitations, or are from users focused on very simple, short-term use. The lifetime rating of 4.2 suggests a more positive past, but the recent trajectory is clearly negative.

Frequently asked

Does Animation Desk have many glitches?
Yes, recent reviews indicate Animation Desk has many significant glitches, including frames being deleted, duplicated, or flipped, and random scribbles appearing, often leading to lost work R5R8R11R13.
Do I have to pay for features in Animation Desk?
Yes, many essential features in Animation Desk, such as different brush types, advanced tools like colored onion skinning, and even basic functionality, are locked behind paywalls or subscriptions R2R4R7R10.
Can I import my own audio into Animation Desk?
Users report significant difficulty importing audio, often being restricted to iTunes or finding that even iTunes imports do not work R34R74R77R79.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R59] 5/5 · US Easy to animate.: This is really good for beginners and experts!
  2. [R70] 5/5 · US Great game! Amazing for stick fighting animations!: This app is amazing! It is easy to use and great for stick fighting animations! I love that it has automatically has onion skin on.
  3. [R71] 5/5 · US great: I love it bc its so easy to use
  4. [R80] 3/5 · US Just some stuff: It’s a grate app for easy, simple animations but I want something MORE! more features, maybe easier to use, just something a little more professional. Maybe this was just me but the most common animations i found myself doing were little colorful blobs going about their lives. If you want to make something like this, GRATE! I just want something a little more complicated.
  5. [R40] 4/5 · US What I think: It could have some improvements but over all I enjoy it and it’s good for people wanting to learn without having to pay money!
  6. [R88] 5/5 · US Best animation app ever: So good I was excited to play it before I got in the app, you don’t even have to pay
  7. [R33] 5/5 · US . Best animation thing ever.: It is amazing. You should definitely download it because you can animate when ever and it’s free.
  8. [R5] 3/5 · US Doesn’t Save???: This app was good but while I was in the middle of animating it randomly exits me out and deletes some frames of my work. Idk what’s happening, but maybe fix it?
  9. [R8] 3/5 · US 2 Hours of work, GONE!: I was working hard on an animation that I really wanted to be one of my best. I had been drawing for 2 hours straight. 120 frames or so. I really loved it so far. And then, the screen froze. The app force closed and when I re-entered all of my work had erased. I was devastated. This app has done this 3 times now, and my i-Pad is never slow. Be prepared to lose your artwork.
  10. [R11] 4/5 · US It’s good but it’s not all that: Hey y’all so the app is good but there are some bugs it’s minor but annoying. First when I zoom in and when I try to get back out I can’t I have to exit the app and go back in. Next is like a toca boca glitch if you work on it for a while you get kicked out it happened to me and when I went back in my animation I was working on was gone. So yeah if you can fix that
  11. [R13] 1/5 · US WORST GLITCHS DEKET EVRYTHING: When I move to the next frame sometimes it deletes half of it with no undo or just flips everything upside down and I can’t change it fix this stupid thing
  12. [R2] 2/5 · US It could be better: I would have liked it if I didn’t have to pay for everything. I could only use one brush ( and the brush sucked) also it was kinda glitchy. So if you are planning on getting this app I would not recommend it. Developers please make this app more free!! It would be sooooo much better!
  13. [R4] 3/5 · US Decent enough: I feel like it’s so hard for a single animation app to actually include all the things that I feel like should come with it. Colored onion skinning and being able to move around things in a selection should be a basic essential and not behind a gamble or nonexistent!
  14. [R7] 5/5 · US Absolutely FANTASTIC: It’s so fun and there are almost NO adds im NOT exaggerating. Only thing I DONT like is that you have to pay for the different brush types that’s the only thing so if the developers could update that it’ll be like a million stars
  15. [R10] 4/5 · US I love it but…: I love this I have made comics and stuff but you do have to pay for certain stuff # a lot. But I still really love it.
  16. [R19] 1/5 · US Right now I’m watching a video about viruses: This doesn’t work for me but I’m on an iPhone 6 and also I saw other reviews that said “this is so laggy and there’s a glitch” and I can agree with all the people saying that and I think the glitch does it like this “by kicking people out of the app” and that’s happening to me bye i’m mobile game reviewer IDK
  17. [R24] 1/5 · US It ok but…..: It’s crashes for me
  18. [R39] 3/5 · US Help me developers!!!!!: I think this looks like a great app but it won’t fricken let me get in!!!!! I press on the app, it gets on an orange screen for a second and then logs me out and puts me back to the apps. Please help developers🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
  19. [R34] 4/5 · US Pretty cool: It was super cool to use, simple, but effective, and I really love the fact that when you’re animating, it looks like you’re doing it with an actual animation desk. Though, if you’re making a story time animation, it only lets you import music from iTunes. Still pretty good.
  20. [R74] 3/5 · US Audio issues: The app is good and all but today I wanted to import audio for something important but it said to download music from iTunes and I’m broke so I really hope you can somehow make it to where you can import audio from: screen recordings, audio files, downloaded audio, ect please make my dream come true it would mean the world to me.
  21. [R77] 3/5 · US Audio Issues: Hi! This app is amazing! There’s so many features and helpful tools! However, there is one issue that makes this app feel more of a drawing app, and less of an animation app, and that’s the inability to add audio files, specifically on iPad’s IOS. This differs from adding iTunes/Apple music songs, as it allows animators to add snippets of things like rain they recorded, or a scene th
  22. [R79] 2/5 · US Sighh: I wish we were able to import music from our files, i cant pay for iTunes or whatever
  23. [R9] 1/5 · US Why?: I wanted to start my own YouTube channel and do storytime animations, but for some stupid reason, it kept making an inverted copy of my drawing upside down and inverted colors. I was going to ignore it and crop it out using my editing program, but it kept doing it over and over and it eventually messed with the original design on the bottom, and that's whenever I quit. Worst app ever, not to
  24. [R35] 4/5 · US It’s good, but…: I love the app, but I don’t understand why every time I try to work on one of my animations, an ad pops up. Other than that, the app is great!
  25. [R41] 5/5 · US Horrible!!: I only rated 5 so you can see IT KEEPS ON ASKING POP UP QUESTION EVERY TIME I PRESS NEW FRAME DO NOT DOWNLOAD
  26. [R16] 1/5 · US Blurry!!: This app is so bad the markers are so glitchy please make the markers way less thick boooooooo!!!!!
  27. [R48] 1/5 · US DONT GET!!!!!!!!!: The only redeeming thing about this app is that it’s free. When I make an animation if i go back to look at it the app deletes half of the frames I’ve drawn which wastes my time and not to mention when drawing they only provide you with 1 subpar brush that doesn’t work half of the time and don’t even get me started on the camera, when you move the camera to a certain angle it’ll
  28. [R52] 3/5 · US Nice, but to many “SinE iN aNd geT ThIs” things.: I have 2 flipping pen strokes and I either need to sign in or buy a subscription to get more. If I’m going to pay for animation, I would get Procreate Dreams.
  29. [R50] 1/5 · US The most infuriating animation program I use: This program, not only has a limit to how far you can zoom in, but I am writing this after my FIFTH TIME, where it deletes 90% of my animation, and there have been countless other times where it corrupts or deletes several frames. On top of ALL of that, the amount of ads that appear is really annoying!!
  30. [R86] 5/5 · US I love the app but: Don’t get me wrong this app is absolutely amazing for animation but one small thing can yall please make it where you can zoom in more like in ibisPaint and FlipaClip I use this app instead cuz I don’t have to pay for everything but can you please make it where you can zoom in more when ur drawing it would help a lot
  31. [R44] 1/5 · US SOS: So, I got this app, and I can’t make an animation. I’ve tried everything. Please help. I’d love to be able to use this app. Thanks! -CozyFox26
  32. [R45] 5/5 · US I love this: I had so much fun on the first drawing I would we made a ball crashing into a window
  33. [R47] 5/5 · US Easy: Easy to use app and it’s very appropriate to use her children and adults
  34. [R51] 5/5 · US Hi, I love this app: This app is so much fun. I love animation. The art is so much fun right now. I’m trying to create JAX from the amazing digital circus it’s pretty hard and pretty easy at the same time to make it but I’m having a fun time and I give a five star. It’s just like the best thank you for reading this. Please take time to think about this but it’s so much fun thank you. Please think

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store