Line Lift – Watercolor Studio

Real watercolor, finger-first

Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.

Line Lift is real watercolor on your phone. Not a filter, not a brush texture, a living simulation of pigment and water: washes stay wet, colors bleed into each other, blooms and backruns spread while you watch, dry-brush strokes catch on the paper's tooth. Wet the whole sheet first and paint into it, and the color creeps and feathers the way it does on real cotton paper. Every serious art app assumes a tablet and a stylus. Line Lift is built for fingers, for the sofa, the café, the commute. The studio works the way a real one does: dip a pan of pigment, rinse the brush in the water bowl, dab it on the towel, mix two pigments in the tray. On iPad there's room to spread out, and Apple Pencil pressure and rotation are supported — but never required. And it starts on paper, if you want it to. Draw with real ink on real paper, point the camera at it, and Line Lift lifts your linework off the page, so you can lay watercolor under your own drawing without ever losing it. Or skip the paper and start on a blank sheet. Paint with sound on. Every stroke is synthesized in real time, the wet drag of a loaded brush, the dry whisper of a thirsty one. What's in the studio: • A wet watercolor engine with blooms, backruns, stacking washes and true drying • Wet-the-sheet mode: soak the whole page and paint into the standing water • A broad hake for laying washes, and a sponge for skies, clouds and lifted texture • Washi tape and a craft knife: mask an edge, cut a shape, peel back to crisp paper • The fineliner and the reservoir pen, a dip pen with a real, finite ink load • Ink lift from camera, scanner or imported photos • Reference photos to trace over on the lightboard, or keep beside your work • Papers with real tooth • A sketchbook home: your work lives in notebooks you flip through, and every painting session saves a new version — the original is never touched • Time-lapse of your painting as it comes together • iCloud backup of your sketchbook • Full export and undo Everything in this version is free. Your artwork stays on your device and in your own iCloud, analytics are anonymous, and there are no ads and no account.

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- Colours now mix like real paint. Lay one wash over another and the overlap goes to a colour — blue over yellow gives green — instead of just going darker. It is the biggest change here and it touches every stroke. - Faint washes are far easier to reach: nine even steps from full strength down to a whisper, one dip each, and the meter finally matches what lands on the paper. Scrub the brush in the glass for a proper deep clean. The studio also teaches itself now, labelling each tool in masking tape that peels off once you have used it a few times. Line Lift runs on iOS 17 and later, so it installs on far more iPhones than before. Fixed: tape masking works again (it had been quietly broken for weeks), the feedback sheet sends, the loupe stays where you put it, and the app no longer freezes when you lay a long strip of tape. On iPad the bottom toolbar is back in landscape and the paint tin is a sensible size, and on Apple Pencil Pro the barrel roll finally turns the brush the right way.

The developer, NILS FREDRIK PAHLMAN, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Linked to You

    The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

    • Contact Info
  • Data Not Linked to You

    The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

    • User Content
    • Identifiers
    • Usage Data
    • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More

Seller
  • NILS FREDRIK PAHLMAN
Size
  • 19.3 MB
Category
  • Graphics & Design
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
  • iPhone
    Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
  • iPad
    Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
  • Mac
    Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
  • Apple Vision
    Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Languages
  • English
Age Rating
4+
Copyright
  • © 2026 Fredrik Påhlman