Report updated May 4, 2026
Sketchbook® Premium
For artists, illustrators, and students requiring professional-grade drawing tools with desktop file compatibility.
Sketchbook® Premium is a well-regarded graphics & design app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.0/5 rating from 702.5K reviews, it maintains solid user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate smooth brush responsiveness and high-quality rendering provide a professional digital art experience for mobile users, though post-update animation playback speed issues disrupt the intended timing of user-created artistic projects remains a common concern.
What is Sketchbook® Premium?
Sketchbook® Premium is a digital illustration app for professionals and students, offering a professional-grade brush engine and desktop file compatibility on iOS and Android.
Artists hire Sketchbook for a distraction-free, high-performance drawing experience that integrates into existing desktop creative pipelines without the friction of recurring subscriptions.
Current Momentum
v6.2 · 1w ago
ActiveThe latest version focuses on performance, while the previous release introduced significant new tools including a Draw Outline selection tool and Lasso Fill.
Active Nemesis
Procreate
By Savage Interactive Pty
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
Graphics & DesignNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Advanced tools including layer grouping, clipping masks, and canvas resizing.
Customizable marking-menus for gesture-based tool access.
Native import and export of layered desktop files.
How much does it cost?
- Free version with core tools
- $2.99 one-time Premium Bundle
Freemium model anchored at $2.99, targeting volume licensing via Apple Business and School Manager.
Who Built It?
Sketchbook
Providing a distraction-free digital canvas for artists and illustrators. Enabling creative workflows from quick sketches to finished art.
Portfolio
3
Apps
What other apps does Sketchbook make?
Explore the full Sketchbook report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Sketchbook.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 100 of 132 total reviews analyzed · Based on 132 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a excited sentiment. Users appreciate smooth brush responsiveness and high-quality rendering provide a professional digital art experience for mobile users, but report post-update animation playback speed issues disrupt the intended timing of user-created artistic projects.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Sketchbook® Premium?
How's The Graphics & Design Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Savage Interactive Pty Ltd
The definitive professional-grade illustration app for iPad, setting the benchmark for brush engine performance and layer management.
Differentiators
- Industry-leading brush engine customization
- Optimized Metal-based performance for iPad hardware
Head to head
Sketchbook should lean into its cross-platform availability and enterprise-ready licensing to capture the institutional and multi-device market, while defending against Procreate's performance dominance by optimizing its core brush engine for high-end tablets.
The outtake for Sketchbook® Premium
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Cross-platform PSD/TIFF parity reduces switching costs for desktop-integrated artists
- Gesture-based Lagoon UI maximizes screen real estate for creative focus
Critical Frictions
- Account-login changes prevent historical project access
- Animation playback speed regressions disrupt professional workflows
- Lack of cloud-save functionality drives churn
Growth Levers
- Pixel art toolset expansion addresses niche creative segments
- Wearable calibration tools solve precision issues for matte screen protectors
Market Threats
- Procreate’s Metal-optimized performance dominates the iPad segment
- Lack of cloud-save drives users toward sync-capable competitors
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild account authentication to restore historical project access because login changes are the top churn driver → reduce negative sentiment.
User reviews cite account-login changes as the primary cause for losing access to saved artwork.
Trade-off: Pause the pixel-art toolset sprint — project-access stability is a higher retention priority.
Patch animation playback speed to restore intended timing because playback regressions disrupt professional projects → improve professional-grade credibility.
Animation playback speed issues are a top-cited complaint post-update.
Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's enterprise-licensing focus is its primary moat, as it allows Sketchbook to bypass the consumer-subscription fatigue that forces competitors to constantly adjust pricing.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Metal-optimized hardware performance (available in Procreate)
- Cloud-save synchronization (available in competing illustration apps)
Key Takeaways
Sketchbook® Premium maintains a strong professional niche through desktop-file parity, but the recent account-login regressions threaten its reputation for reliability, so the team must prioritize restoring project access to prevent churn to Procreate.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The creative-tool market is consolidating around performance-first apps, and Sketchbook's maintenance-mode updates leave it vulnerable to Procreate's hardware-optimized lead. The team must shift from feature expansion to platform stability to ensure the enterprise-licensing base remains loyal.
Account-login regressions prevent users from accessing historical projects, which directly erodes trust and increases churn pressure toward competitors.
The $2.99 enterprise-licensing model secures a stable B2B distribution channel that protects the app from consumer-market volatility.