iDraw

Review by eFreeware

Most drawing apps for children begin with a blank canvas and hope for the best. iDraw takes a different route: it treats graffiti as the entry point into painting, so a child's first marks on screen are scrawls and color rather than careful line work. That framing is the most distinctive thing about it, and it shapes everything else in the app.

It comes from iWawa, sits in the Art & Design category and is free to install, with ads and no in-app purchases. The install base is large, over 10 million, and the average rating sits at 4.0 from roughly 3,600 ratings. The app has been on Google Play since January 2015 and was updated in July 2026 with general bug fixes and improvements.

The intended audience is young children, and the developer's pitch is built around them: painting as play, with each finished piece meant to give a sense of progress and success. If you are looking for a first drawing app for a child who is not yet ready for a full illustration tool, this is the space iDraw occupies.

What a session looks like

The core of the app is freehand painting with a graffiti flavor. The developer describes the approach as taking graffiti as the first step in developing a child's interest in painting, which suggests loose, colorful mark-making rather than structured lessons. A child picks colors, makes marks, and the result is a picture rather than an exercise.

The interface is designed for children and described as cartoon-like and easy to use. That matters more than it sounds: a young child who cannot read well needs recognizable icons and forgiving controls, and the developer's stated aim is exactly that kind of low-friction start.

Progress is framed around each individual work. The developer's idea is that a child sees progress from one piece to the next, which turns the app into a series of small finished projects rather than one long session. That is a reasonable structure for short attention spans, and it gives a parent something concrete to look at afterward.

Brushes, chartlets and tablecloths

The toolset is broader than a single brush. iDraw includes different kinds of brushes, so a child can vary the texture and weight of marks without needing to understand settings. For young users, switching brushes is often the whole creative decision, and having several to choose from keeps a session from feeling repetitive.

Chartlets are included to try out, which gives children ready-made elements to drop into a picture instead of starting from nothing every time. There are also tablecloths for decorating a finished painting, a decorative layer that frames the work. Both features point in the same direction: the app supplies material so a child is never staring at an empty screen.

Big head shots are another piece of the same idea. The developer notes that these make works more interesting, and the effect is comic rather than realistic, which fits the cartoon styling elsewhere in the app. For a child who wants a quick laugh out of a drawing, this is likely the feature that gets used most.

Keeping track of what gets made

Finished pictures need somewhere to go, and the developer lists convenient management of works as a feature. For a parent, that is the practical side of the app: a place where drawings accumulate.

The combination of saved works and visible progress is what makes iDraw more than a time-filler. A child can look back at earlier pictures and see how their marks have changed, which is the developer's stated goal of building pleasure and success into the process rather than treating painting as a chore.

The most recent update is a maintenance one, covering general bug fixes and improvements. Nothing in it changes the shape of the app, which is worth knowing if you are comparing this against newer releases in the same category.

What to expect before installing

iDraw is free and supported by ads, and there are no in-app purchases to consider. That keeps the decision simple: there is no spending to manage, but advertising is part of the experience and you should go in expecting it rather than being surprised by it.

The focus on children is narrow by design. The tools, the cartoon interface and the graffiti-first approach are all aimed at younger users, so an older child or an adult wanting a serious drawing tool will find the app's scope limited. That is not a flaw so much as the boundary of what it was built to do.

The 4.0 average from around 3,600 ratings is a reasonable signal for a free children's app, though it is an average rather than a guarantee.

A good fit for young beginners

The clearest audience is parents of younger children who want a drawing app that does not assume any prior skill. The graffiti-first design, the cartoon interface and the ready-made chartlets and tablecloths all lower the barrier to making something that looks finished. A child who gets frustrated by blank-canvas apps is the one most likely to stay with this one.

It also suits households that want a free option without purchases attached. Ads are the trade-off, and for many families that is an acceptable one for a children's drawing app.

Where it will feel thin is with older or more ambitious users. Anyone wanting precise illustration tools, layers or advanced control is outside the group the developer is writing for, and the child-focused design will read as a limitation rather than a feature.

The verdict on iDraw

iDraw is a free, ad-supported drawing app that introduces children to painting through graffiti, backed by a cartoon interface, several brushes, chartlets, tablecloths and big head shots. It has been available since early 2015, has passed 10 million installs and holds a 4.0 average from roughly 3,600 ratings, with a recent maintenance update keeping it current.

I would point it at parents of young children who want a low-pressure first painting app and do not mind ads in exchange for a free download with no purchases. The narrow, child-focused design is the reason it works for that group, and the reason it will not stretch much beyond it.

What's new in version 1.17.7

• General bug fixes and improvements.