Artmate: Drawing Together

Review by eFreeware

Most drawing apps treat the canvas as a private space. Artmate takes the opposite view and makes the canvas something you share: two or more people drawing on the same picture at the same time, with a library of guided lessons to follow together. That social layer is the thing that sets it apart from the usual solo sketching tools, and it is clearly where the developer has put the emphasis.

It is a free download in the Art & Design category, published by Braly JSC, and it carries ads and in-app purchases. The install numbers suggest it has found an audience: more than 10 million installs and a 4.8 average across 11,540 ratings. If you like the idea of learning to draw alongside someone else rather than on your own, this is the premise worth examining.

A shared canvas rather than a solo sketchbook

The core experience is real-time collaborative drawing. Drawing next to someone else is a different activity from drawing alone, and the app is built around that difference rather than bolted onto it.

Alongside the shared mode there is a step-by-step lesson system. The developer describes a large library of guided tutorials pitched at all skill levels, with the aim of breaking complicated subjects into manageable stages. You work at your own pace.

Once a drawing is finished you can save it or share it, whether it came out of a collaborative session or a solo one. The developer also says finished work is stored safely and stays available to revisit. For a drawing app, that combination of making and keeping is the basic loop, and it is present here.

Lessons that hold your hand through the hard parts

The lesson library is the part that makes the app approachable for someone who has never drawn seriously. Instead of presenting a blank canvas and a set of brushes, the tutorials walk through a drawing stage by stage. The developer's pitch is that this simplifies concepts that would otherwise be intimidating, and that the process is relaxing rather than demanding.

The subject matter is deliberately broad. The developer lists cute animals, landscapes and anime among the themes, and refers to cultural art styles as well. That range matters more than it might seem: a lesson library that only covers one style gets old quickly, and variety is what keeps a beginner coming back to practice.

Fresh content is added over time. I would treat that as a promise rather than a guarantee, but it is the right intention for an app whose value depends on how much there is to draw. The most recent update, from early October 2026, mentions performance improvements and a bug fix rather than new lessons, so the cadence of content additions is something to judge for yourself once you are inside.

Drawing with friends through private rooms

If you want to draw with people you already know, the app uses a private room system. One person creates a room and gets a key; the other person enters that key to join. It is a simple mechanism, and the rooms are secured by a key.

This is the mode I would expect to carry most of the app's appeal for families, couples and friends who live apart. A shared drawing session is a low-pressure way to spend time together, and it produces something at the end rather than just a conversation.

Quick matching with strangers around the world

The other half of the multiplayer design is global matching. Rather than inviting someone you know, you let the app pair you with another user. The appeal is spontaneity: you can start a drawing session without arranging anything in advance.

It also offers a way to encounter different cultural styles, which is a reasonable argument for drawing with people you would not otherwise meet. Whether that turns into anything more than a pleasant one-off depends on the people you are paired with, and that is not something the app can control.

This mode is worth thinking about honestly before you install. Drawing with a stranger is a different experience from drawing with a friend, and the app offers both, so you can lean on whichever suits you. If the social side is what draws you in, the global matching is the feature that makes the app usable on a whim.

Progress tracking and what the app asks of you

There is a profile area, called My Profile, that records your activity. It shows your sessions, your daily progress and your achievements, so the app keeps a running account of what you have done rather than treating each drawing as an isolated event. For anyone who responds well to seeing a streak build up, that is a useful piece of the design.

The practical requirements are modest. Artmate is free to download, and it is supported by ads and in-app purchases. The app is rated for Everyone, and the developer provides a feedback email address plus links to terms of use and a privacy policy for anyone who wants to read the details before installing.

The trade-offs follow from what the app is. It is built around drawing together, so the lesson library and the profile exist in service of that social loop rather than as standalone tools. The drawing itself is guided and step-by-step rather than a full illustration suite, and the developer's own framing is about ease, relaxation and connection rather than professional output. That is a coherent set of choices, but it does define the shape of the app.

The people this app is built for

Artmate suits someone who wants to draw but does not want to do it alone. That could be a parent and child working through a lesson on a shared screen, two friends in different cities keeping in touch through a weekly drawing session, or a complete beginner who finds a blank canvas intimidating and would rather follow a guide with company.

It also suits people who are curious about drawing with strangers. The global matching gives you a way to start a session without planning it, and the cultural variety is a genuine reason to try it. If you have ever wanted to draw with someone and had no one to ask, that is the gap this app is trying to fill.

The audience is casual and social rather than professional. The developer's language is about relieving stress, making friends and learning fundamentals, not about producing portfolio work. If your goal is to learn to draw in a structured, encouraging setting with other people involved, the design lines up with that. If your goal is a serious illustration tool, the app is not built for it, and the guided, collaborative emphasis tells you as much.

A shared canvas worth trying if you want company while you draw

Artmate is a free app with a clear idea behind it: drawing is better with someone else, and guided lessons make it possible for anyone to join in. The combination of private key rooms for friends and quick matching for strangers covers both the planned and the spontaneous versions of that idea, and the lesson library gives the sessions something to work on.

The caveats are the ones the app itself sets up. It carries ads and in-app purchases, the drawing is guided rather than open-ended, and the whole thing is oriented toward social, low-pressure sessions. None of that is a flaw in the design; it is what the app is. I would go in expecting a relaxed, collaborative drawing companion rather than a professional studio.

The price of entry is low and the premise is one that few drawing apps bother to build around.

What's new in version 1.1.38

Version 1.1.38 02/10/2026 - Improve performance - Fix bug