Collect ideas with fewer interruptions. Resize your masonry grid, edit sticky notes more easily, and enjoy cleaner imports and smoother board controls.
Reference Board is a private visual workspace for collecting inspiration, developing ideas, and keeping creative research close at hand on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
BUILD VISUAL BOARDS
• Collect images, videos, links, text, colors, and PDFs in one place.
• Arrange references freely on an infinite canvas or switch to an organized grid.
• Move, resize, group, stack, crop, flip, and annotate without changing your original media.
• Use the loupe to inspect fine details in images and videos.
FIND WHAT YOU NEED
• Search across boards and references.
• Use on-device analysis, OCR, colors, metadata, and visual similarity to rediscover material quickly.
• Keep notes and details attached to the work they describe.
SYNC, COLLABORATE, AND SHARE
• Keep your library in sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad with iCloud.
• Invite others to collaborate on shared boards.
• Publish a separate public, view-only webpage when you want to present your work more widely.
• Update or unpublish a published board whenever you like.
WORK YOUR WAY
• Import from Photos, Files, Safari, drag and drop, or the Share Sheet.
• Export boards as images, PDFs, or Reference Board archives.
• Use widgets, Shortcuts, the screen saver, and optional MCP automation to connect Reference Board to your workflow.
ONE PURCHASE. NO SUBSCRIPTION.
New customers receive Reference Pro with their App Store purchase, including unlimited private boards and items, Publish to Web, AI metadata and visual discovery, new collaborations, PDF export, and MCP automation.
People who acquired Reference while it was free keep their existing Free plan with one private board and up to 20 items. They can unlock lifetime Reference Pro with a one-time in-app purchase. Reaching a Free limit never deletes or hides existing work.
Original paid-app customers and people who already purchased lifetime Reference Pro keep permanent Pro access automatically.
This app has not received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Amazing tool, bit buggy
Songronmu
Been looking for a tool like this for years now. Really love the clean interface and how it works. Just perfect. Few things to improve I would say—1. Three finger pan or with spacebar pressed (similar to design apps); not easy to use with a trackpad right now. 2. The pick/grab tool/function is a hit or miss at times. 3. Change dimension and font size within sticky notes. Again, if you can make the interaction similar to other design softwares this will be a top app for designers. If you can fix these, it is a 5 star for me and I’d get the pro version and ask others to do so. Great stuff.
Good idea , horrible implementation
PranithK197
My review is only based on the desktop app. And my god is it slow. It barely words. New boards rename all boards to just “board 1 & 2”. It struggles to add even 200 images, mouse navigation does not work when trying to drag the canvas around, it only works with a trackpad. When trying to add more images than 5 it does not add them. It’s barely a working app not worth even trying. I have not tried this app on the phone yet but I’m gonna pass on that.
Developer Response
That is sad to hear. Would you mind sharing what system you are on? This is not the experience I want you to have and it’s the first time I get this feedback. It might be a system related issue and I’m eager to get this resolved.
This small update refines the controls around your board.
• Mac: reduced unnecessary toolbar updates while panning and zooming around the canvas.
• iPhone and iPad: the item action icon stays hidden during dragging and release motion, then reappears when the item has settled.
Version 1.6.2
The developer, Jordan Ruchtie, 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:
Contacts
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Search History
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More