Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

FlipaClip vs Sketchbook®

FlipaClip 4.6★ · Free + IAP 65
Winner Tie
Sketchbook® 4.8★ · Free + IAP 70

For animation, FlipaClip is the clear choice despite its monetization issues, while Sketchbook® is better for general drawing and illustration due to its broader toolset and ad-free experience.

Full reviews: FlipaClip · Sketchbook®

FlipaClip excels as an animation tool, offering ease of use for beginners, but it's heavily criticized for its aggressive ads and paywalls. Sketchbook® is a robust drawing app with many free tools and no ads, though it lacks animation features on mobile and has some usability issues.

Head to head

Features (Animation) edge: FlipaClipR3R4R11R12
FlipaClip FlipaClip is widely praised as an excellent animation app, easy for beginners, and capable of helping users create animated series and music videos R11. However, many core animation features, such as adding sound, more layers, or longer animation segments, are locked behind paywalls or require watching ads R3R4R12R21.
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® is primarily a drawing app and lacks animation features on mobile devices, disappointing users who expected this functionality R75R90.
Features (Drawing Tools) edge: Sketchbook®R9R25R61R68
FlipaClip FlipaClip offers basic drawing tools suitable for animation, but users report pixelated screens for detailed work and limited brushes behind paywalls R9R25.
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® provides a diverse toolkit with many free brushes and stencils, customizable options, and features like layers and photo outlining R68R74R77. However, some users report issues with basic tools like the fill bucket, color picker, and the absence of an eraser or blur/blending brushes R61.
Ease of Use tieR8R11R16R19
FlipaClip FlipaClip is generally considered easy to use, especially for beginners R11. However, recent updates have changed the layout, making it harder for some users to navigate and understand R8R16R19.
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® is praised for being user-friendly and easy for both beginners and experienced artists R68R77R98. Yet, some new users find it not beginner-friendly due to a lack of tutorials and difficulty finding basic tools . There are also complaints about the interface being complicated or having persistent pop-ups .
Reliability & Performance tieR6R7R32R39
FlipaClip FlipaClip users report frequent issues with lag, crashing, bugs, and projects being deleted or not loading R6R7R32R39. Some also experience problems with ads not loading, preventing access to features R7.
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® also faces significant reliability issues, including drawings being deleted or distorted, the app freezing or force-closing, and a lack of autosave . Some users report brushes not working or color selection glitches .
Price & Value edge: Sketchbook®R1R3R4R5
FlipaClip FlipaClip is heavily criticized for its aggressive monetization, with numerous ads and essential features locked behind paywalls or subscriptions R1R3R4R5. Users who paid a one-time fee in the past report being forced into new subscription models or still seeing ads R1.
Sketchbook® Sketchbook® is highly valued for being free, offering many brushes and tools without ads or mandatory payments R62R74R98R104. While there is a premium option, it's described as affordable (around $3) and not essential for a good experience, with some users paying just to support the developers . However, some long-time users recall when more features were free and are disappointed by recent changes .
Pick FlipaClip if

you specifically need an animation app and are willing to tolerate or pay to avoid frequent ads and paywalls for essential features R11.

Pick Sketchbook® if

you are looking for a free, robust drawing and illustration app with a wide range of tools and no ads, and animation features are not a priority R62R74R98R107.

Evidence note: FlipaClip's recent negative reviews heavily focus on its aggressive monetization and bugs, which contrasts with its higher lifetime rating, suggesting a decline in user satisfaction. Sketchbook®'s reviews indicate a generally positive experience with its free offerings, although some long-time users express disappointment over past free features now being paid.

Frequently asked

Is FlipaClip truly free to use?
FlipaClip is free to download and offers basic animation, but many essential features like adding sound, more layers, or longer animation segments are locked behind paywalls or require watching frequent, disruptive ads R3R4R21R25.
Does Sketchbook® have ads?
No, Sketchbook® is highly praised by users for being completely ad-free, even in its free version, which is a significant advantage over many other apps R62R74R98R104.
Can I animate with Sketchbook®?
On mobile, Sketchbook® does not offer an animation feature, which is a point of disappointment for some users, especially those who used its desktop version or other apps with this capability R75R90.
What are the main issues with FlipaClip?
The main issues with FlipaClip are its excessive and often non-functional ads, aggressive paywalls for core features, and frequent reports of bugs, lagging, crashing, and project loss R1R4R7R21.
Is Sketchbook® good for beginners?
Yes, Sketchbook® is generally considered good for beginners due to its user-friendly interface and wide range of free tools, though some new users desire more in-app tutorials R68R77R98R107.

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. [R3] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Not fair: Why do you make all the helpful and nice things cost money? I’m 9 going on 10 and i cant even add the sound i want without the app trying to force me to pay for premium and also the adds arev very disruptive. I am disappointed that i thought it would be diffrent
  2. [R4] FlipaClip 2/5 · US Ads, greedy.: If you want a simple animation it does the job but it’s exetremely annoying because you have to pay money just to add sound. You could buy the whatever it is and you’ll just get what you’d expect to be free. They really don’t need that much money, they’re just greedy asf and want more. And the every time I want to play my animation it shoves an ad that I’ll never buy a product from i
  3. [R11] FlipaClip 5/5 · US My review: It really helped me and from the start I could animate with this app it was really helpful. Also I saw it in a viyaura YouTube video
  4. [R12] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Pretty Good, just a couple of things that make it annoying: Flipaclip is amazing. Super easy to use, even on my phone.I can understand why this is a thing but it stills frustrates me, the fact that I can’t use my own music in my animation without the pass. I get it of course, but it still makes it tedious for me to use other editing software so I don’t have to spend any money doing a hobby I enjoy
  5. [R9] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Okay app: It pretty good at animating but you pretty much have to pay cause there too many adds and brushes lock behind a paywall
  6. [R25] FlipaClip 1/5 · US Didn’t quite work.: The pixelated screen was kind of annoying, especially when I’m trying to animate something detailed. Why is everything on premium??? I don’t got that kinda money and dont nobody wanna pay for that. Also, It was kinda hard to animate smoothly and it was kinda annoying how you can only add 3 layers and you have to either pay or watch an add to merge layers or add more. Not to men
  7. [R61] Sketchbook® 1/5 · US no.: I spent over an hour for it to turn out that i cant fill in paint when i use the fill bucket on something and i made the stuff divided and guess what? STILL NO FILLING, IT FILLS THE ENTIRE THING INSTEAD.
  8. [R68] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Amazing: I have been using Sketchbook since about 2016-ish, and it has never failed me! As a lifelong illustrator, I could not recommend a better app for artists of all skill levels. It is clean, organized, user-friendly, and comes with a diverse toolkit that will surely satisfy any creative soul lucky enough to come across it. All in all, a very reliable, affordable app with the artist’s experien
  9. [R8] FlipaClip 4/5 · US The new update changed my flipaclip experience: It’s a really good update, but also it seems like everything is all across the screen, and I still don’t know how to change the fps. I do like how you can change it back to the old flipaclip. Great app and I think it’s the best anamation app that I have used!
  10. [R16] FlipaClip 1/5 · US Why…: I love this app but why did yall change that layout now it so hard for me to use! And it annoying so I stop using the app until yall fix that im use it again
  11. [R19] FlipaClip 1/5 · US Nah: New ui is actually trash💔
  12. [R6] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Not my fav but still good!: It’s a good app I didn’t like it was too laggy tho but it may of been my internet but the app is really good! Actually my first drawing/animating app!
  13. [R7] FlipaClip 1/5 · US Ads, bugs, GREED.: This app was beautiful, wonderful even, until the “New FlipaClip” update… there are ads everywhere, when I try importing audio and videos into the studio it tells me to wait for an ad, WHICH DOESN’T EVEN LOAD???? Like yeah, I understand the greed. Hustlers gotta hustle. But come on… the fact that you heartlessly give us users an ad that doesn’t even work shows that you don’t eve
  14. [R32] FlipaClip 5/5 · US Why is it crashing so much?: I am trying to make a animated series on YouTube and for some reason it keeps crashing every time I open it and I deleted a few things to make more storage and yet it still crashes I have freed around 76.3 MB and it still crashing FlipaClip please help me out here.☹️☹️☹️
  15. [R39] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Good but many bugs 👾👾👾: It would be five stars if not the bugs one time it just would not let me animate and that bug has been here for like a few days now but yeah pretty good if you ask me
  16. [R1] FlipaClip 1/5 · US What’s happened..: It was 2019. I was happily animating with this app for the first time. It felt so free. I could use anything any time. After a while, I got tired of ads. I purchased a one time fee promising me that I would never have to watch ads again. It was a simple price- $8.00. I kept on animating a ton. It went on for years. Then 2023 came. I got on the app after installing one update- an
  17. [R5] FlipaClip 4/5 · US To many adds: 4/5 to many adds
  18. [R21] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Read this please!!!: Honestly its asking for to much whenever I do something, I go to add more onion that suddenly costs money, I do more than six seconds cost money, I cant even do anything without paying so thats 3 stars and flipaclip used to be better than this, you guys are acting money hungry and asking for to much!! Also your app is awesome but I don’t know if you can help me out because I c
  19. [R62] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Best app ever: If you're looking for a good app for drawing and writing i would recommend this app, it doesn't need you to watch an ad or anything like that to draw and if you want you can create an album and there are so many other stuffs that are so good! I can't recommend this app enough!
  20. [R74] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Omg buy nowww: Sketchbook is literally amazing. First time. I tried it. It blew my mind of how many brushes there are for free. I mean, you don’t even have to pay for a certain amount of time and it’s just you can do whatever you want. There’s a lot of things that you can do, and you can make, however many, like untitled things you want. So amazing. You should totally buy it. Thank you for not mak
  21. [R98] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Best app ever!: As a beginning artist I recommend this app to anyone who wants to learn how to draw! It is free and has NO ads! I LOVE this app and use it daily. Thank you so much devs! I love this and you don’t need a membership to play!
  22. [R104] Sketchbook® 4/5 · US Decent (READ THIS PLS GUYS! :D: PLSS READ THIS. Nothing to say this app is pretty good. 👍 So number one is I can't find how to get my paper (in the game)to stop moving, so maybe have a lock it place button or smt. app is amazing I definitely recommend and there is no adds too!I would add a search bar for the brush but other than that I recommend this! Ok also like if you HAVE an Apple Pencil o
  23. [R75] Sketchbook® 3/5 · US No Animation Feature on iPad Pro?: I don’t understand why they don’t have the animation feature on the iPad Pro version. Pro Create has that feature, Clip Studio, Adobe, and now even apps that out right suck. I like this app’s tool and brushes the most. I just miss the animation feature, since I had projects I was working on before I lost access to the desktop version.
  24. [R90] Sketchbook® 3/5 · US Why can’t I access flipbook on mobile?: Pretty good not that bad but I wish I could access flipbook on mobile
  25. [R77] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US All-time favorite! Great for beginners and pros alike!: I’ve been using this app for years. It’s features are easy to use and great for beginners. On top of that, they have a wide range of different brushes which can be adjusted to your specific preference(size, blend,opacity, ect.), so it’s perfect for experienced artists as well! My one thing I would add (which may already be in the app but I ca
  26. [R107] Sketchbook® 5/5 · US Best drawing stuff ever: 10 year old me wanting to find a digital app to color in when bored and I found sketchbook and unlike other drawing apps when you do not have premium you can do fun actual stuff instead of ONE thing it annoys me a lot when they do that but it is super fun and you can make whatever you want so if you want a good drawing get sketchbook 🫪😃😇✌️

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