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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw vs FlipaClip

Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 4.4★ · Free + IAP 30
Winner FlipaClip
FlipaClip 4.6★ · Free + IAP 65

FlipaClip is the better choice for animation, offering a more robust free experience despite its ads and paywalls, while Drawing Desk is heavily criticized for its aggressive monetization that locks most features behind a subscription.

Full reviews: Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw · FlipaClip

Drawing Desk is widely panned for its aggressive paywall, with many users feeling misled by its 'free' designation, as most drawing features require a subscription. FlipaClip, while also having ads and paid features, is generally seen as a more functional animation app for beginners, though recent updates and bugs have caused frustration.

Head to head

Features & Content edge: FlipaClipR1R3R4R48
Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw Drawing Desk offers step-by-step drawing lessons and a variety of pictures, but the vast majority of these, including categories like anime, are locked behind a premium subscription R1R3R4. Users express frustration that they cannot access most content without paying, even after watching ads R48.
FlipaClip FlipaClip is praised as a good animation app, especially for beginners, offering tools for creating cartoons and videos R65. However, many advanced features like adding audio, more than three layers, and certain brushes are locked behind a paywall or require watching multiple ads R65R69.
Ease of Use edge: FlipaClipR6R7R23R28
Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw Some users find Drawing Desk easy to use and helpful for learning to draw step-by-step R23. However, the constant prompts to pay and the inability to access content freely detract significantly from the user experience R6R7R28.
FlipaClip FlipaClip is generally considered easy to use and beginner-friendly for animation R65. Some users, however, find it complicated to figure out how to do things , and recent updates have made the app harder to use for some long-time users .
Reliability & Performance tieR16R26R42R57
Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw Drawing Desk users report glitches, such as the check button being glitchy R42 and parts of drawings being deleted after updates R57. Some also mention the app requiring a pen for electronic devices R26.
FlipaClip FlipaClip suffers from frequent bugs and glitches, including crashes R64, videos not loading , animations not working , deleted lines or whole projects , disappearing audio , and issues with inserting photos or videos . There are also complaints about lag and ads not loading .
Price & Value edge: FlipaClipR1R2R4R7
Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw Drawing Desk is overwhelmingly criticized for its aggressive monetization, with nearly all content and features locked behind a paywall or subscription, making it feel like a paid app despite being listed as free R1R2R4R7. Users feel misled and express frustration about having to pay for basic drawing functions R2R15.
FlipaClip FlipaClip is a free app with in-app purchases, but users frequently complain about the high number of ads R61 and that many desirable features, such as adding audio, more layers, or certain brushes, require payment or watching ads R65R69.
Pick Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw if

you are looking for a very basic, guided drawing experience and are willing to pay a subscription to unlock most content, or if you only intend to use the very limited free daily lessons R42.

Pick FlipaClip if

you want a free animation app for beginners and are willing to tolerate frequent ads and paywalls for advanced features, or if you are looking for a tool to create animations for platforms like YouTube or TikTok .

Evidence note: Reviews for Drawing Desk are heavily skewed towards negative feedback regarding its aggressive paywall, making it difficult to assess other aspects of the app. FlipaClip reviews are more balanced, discussing both its utility and its monetization issues.

Frequently asked

Is Drawing Desk truly free to use?
No, Drawing Desk is not truly free; while it can be downloaded for free, nearly all drawing pictures and categories require a premium subscription or a free trial that leads to payment, leading many users to feel it's a scam R1R2R4R7. There is often only one free drawing available per day R42.
What are the main complaints about FlipaClip?
The main complaints about FlipaClip are the excessive number of ads, especially when opening the app or pausing animations R61, and that many core features like adding audio, using more than three layers, or accessing certain brushes are locked behind a paywall or require watching multiple ads R65R69. Users also report frequent bugs and glitches R64.
Which app is better for learning to draw or animate?
FlipaClip is better for learning animation, as it is considered beginner-friendly and allows users to create animations, although some features are paid R65. Drawing Desk aims to teach drawing step-by-step, but its severe paywall prevents most users from accessing the learning content without a subscription R3R15R46.

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. [R1] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 1/5 · US U HAVE TO GET PRO: I try to pick a picture but every single picture has to have pro…WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD DRAWING DESK
  2. [R3] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 3/5 · US Little drawings: There are too little drawings and for the others you need to buy premium which some people don’t want to buy. Furthermore many categories which include how to draw anime for example needs premium, so you aren’t learning anything.
  3. [R4] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 1/5 · US 1 stars you know why?: So here’s the thing I’ve seen a lot of drawing apps and they have been fake! Fake I tell u and I feel like finally something that is normal so I look and I say “here it comes just one sec” and zero dollars then I click the button and it says for me to subscribe to them I’m like well here I hope you guys can understand me
  4. [R48] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 3/5 · US READ BEFORE DOWNLOADING: Honestly, it’s a good app. There are good pictures. But, you have to pay for basically everything, and even after you watch an ad to draw, there are like 10 other ads you have to watch while you draw. Also, I feel like some of the pictures are ai generated. I could be wrong, but idk.
  5. [R6] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 3/5 · US Fun, but immediately there is a FREE TRIAL THEN YOU HAVE TO PAY…: So I saw this app and I was like oh yeah this is an app that’s free and I can draw for free and have fun really of course I understand that people are trying to make money for the ad thingamajigy but I really hoped they wouldn’t bother me with a free trial thing every literal time that I try to click on a drawing. I think this app i
  6. [R7] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 1/5 · US Not a fan: I don’t really like this app because I have to pay to even do anything! Not cool.
  7. [R23] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 5/5 · US The fun!: 'this is easy and for I love it?
  8. [R28] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 1/5 · US READ BEFORE GETTING!!!!: I put it at 5 stars so everyone can see it. It logs you in after picking a Character,Age limit, and why you picked the app. After it does all of that, it asks you to pay for a FREE trial!!!!!!!! FREE!!!!! So if you’re looking to pay for something, here’s your app.
  9. [R16] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 1/5 · US BAD GAME🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬🤬🤬 funde: This game has to many gliches and I’m mad
  10. [R26] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 4/5 · US You need a pen for your eletonec🤬: 🤬 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
  11. [R42] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 3/5 · US To the creators of Drawing Desk…: First of all, it cost money, and I searched up free drawing games and this shows up. There is one free drawing per day, but I don’t think that’s enough. And the check button is super glitchy. But I think it would be a great app if it was free it also helped me with art.
  12. [R57] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 3/5 · GB Please fix the app!: I absolutely loved this app, I always thought that I couldn’t draw but have learnt a lot just from using the app but since the update, it keeps deleting parts that I’ve already finished and moves on to the next step and I’m left stuck. This means I now part do drawings and end up quitting part way/most of the way through as it keeps deleting things and I get fed up. I now use
  13. [R2] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 5/5 · US I don’t like this game: I don’t like this game bc you have to pay to draw worst game ever 1 star but there is another game that is called art workout ind art work out is better than this trash but I put five stars so it could show so don’t buy this game please don’t play this game play art work out it is sooooo fun 🤩 but this game is trash one star I hate this game
  14. [R61] FlipaClip 2/5 · US TO MENY ADS: If you’re trying to do something, it’s like gives you two ads. I mean, I don’t mind that but like I don’t care why so many ads
  15. [R64] FlipaClip 1/5 · US I crashed out: I made my first drawing and I was very happy I meant I did the tutorial and I was very happy, but I didn’t know that this game would make me crash out so I made another animation I was going to make a a girl walking animation I was using the paint bucket and I changed the color And I scribbled on the hair too I started tapping it and and I crashed out because of it and I don’t know
  16. [R65] FlipaClip 5/5 · US Pretty good.: Very good and easy for beginner animators to work their way around it, though I wish adding audio wasn’t a premium feature.
  17. [R69] FlipaClip 3/5 · US Review ♡ ∩^ω^∩: Good animation app you only get 3 layers
  18. [R15] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 3/5 · US It Costs Money: It’s really fun Im pretty bad at drawing so I like it BC it helps me learn and get better but IT COSTS MONEY I mean I know the owner wants to get money but it cost so much and why can’t we just learn to draw for less expensive costs or for free.
  19. [R46] Drawing Desk:Learn How to Draw 1/5 · US Horrible: Literally every singer drawing I had to get the free trial for, I’d rather learn to draw on my own

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