Artrace
Free Android AR app that overlays photos on your camera for tracing
Drawing apps for Android
The six drawing apps in this list do quite different jobs, so the useful question is which type you need. Artrace works through the camera as an AR tracing aid. ibis Paint X is a full illustration and animation app. Butterfly treats drawing as part of note taking on an endless canvas. Learn how to draw is built around lessons and a multiplayer mode. Krita is a desktop-style painting program released as open source.
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Butterfly, its Nightly build and Krita carry no ads. Artrace, ibis Paint X and Learn how to draw are free to install but include ads and in-app purchases. Google Play shows Artrace at 4.6 and ibis Paint X at 4.5, with over 100 million installs for ibis Paint X.
Each app below is matched to one sub-type. Last update dates are included because they differ a lot.
Apps in this category
ibis Paint X
Free Android drawing app with 130,000+ brushes and frame-by-frame animation
Butterfly
Free, ad-free Android notes and sketching on an endless canvas
Linwood Butterfly Nightly
Free open-source notes and sketching on an endless canvas, no ads
Learn how to draw
Step-by-step drawing lessons with stroke scoring and live multiplayer tracing
Krita
Open-source painting app for Android tablets, with no ads, still in beta
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Top 5 picks
Artrace
Artrace is the AR tracing option. You prop the phone on a stand, look through the camera view, and draw over a sample image or a real object. It can also reduce a complex photo to a simple outline for practice. Google Play lists a 4.6 rating and over 50 million installs. Version 2.0.2 was updated October 30, 2026, and it has ads and in-app purchases.
ibis Paint X
ibis Paint X covers full illustration and animation on phones and tablets. It is free with ads and in-app purchases, and it mentions an auto-renewing free trial.
Butterfly
Butterfly is the pick for sketching inside notes. It gives you an endless workspace where drawings, text, diagrams and images sit on the same surface. It is open source under AGPL-3.0-only, has no ads and costs nothing. Version 2.6.2 is 124.4 MB and was updated October 31, 2026. A separate Nightly build, 2.6.2-rc.0, is listed too.
Learn how to draw
Learn how to draw, from ArtWorkout, is the lesson-driven choice. The listing cites over 2500 lessons and a multiplayer mode for drawing together in real time. Google Play shows a 4.5 rating and over 10 million installs. Ads and in-app purchases are present, and an ad-free experience appears among the listed features. Version 0.1.91 dates from October 16, 2026.
Krita
Krita is the professional painting program in this group, published by Stichting Krita Foundation under GPL-3.0-only. It has no ads and takes up 97.5 MB. The caveat is age: version 5.1.5 was last updated January 16, 2023, and Google Play shows a 3.3 rating with over 1 million installs. Treat it as an older listing.
Questions and answers
Which drawing apps here have no ads?
Butterfly, Linwood Butterfly Nightly and Krita have no ads. Artrace, ibis Paint X and Learn how to draw all show ads and offer in-app purchases.
Which app suits someone learning to draw?
Learn how to draw is organized around lessons, with over 2500 cited in its features. Artrace suits tracing practice, since it turns photos into outlines you follow through the camera.
What is the difference between Butterfly and Linwood Butterfly Nightly?
Both come from Linwood, share the same 124.4 MB size and the AGPL-3.0-only license, and have no ads. The Nightly build is version 2.6.2-rc.0, updated October 27, 2026, while Butterfly is 2.6.2, updated October 31, 2026.
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Best-of lists
Before installing, check two things in the listing: the update date and the monetization. Krita's last update was in 2023, while ibis Paint X and Artrace were updated in late October or early November 2026. Storage matters less here, since Butterfly is 124.4 MB and Krita is 97.5 MB, but the apps with ads and in-app purchases are worth a look at their purchase options first. If you only want to sketch ideas alongside notes, the Butterfly builds are the simplest fit. For finished artwork, ibis Paint X is the larger tool.