App Review: Medibang Pro (2024) for iPad

Medibang, a company founded in Tokyo in 2014, has released a new iPad exclusive app called Medibang Pro on 11 Jan 2024.

Let's make the naming convention clear first.

• Medibang Paint is a tablet app
• Medibang Paint Pro is a desktop app.
• Medibang Pro is the new iPad-only app.

I can foresee difficulty when searching for Medibang Pro help online because search engines will show Medibang Paint Pro results instead.

The main difference between the two apps is the user interface. Medibang Pro is designed with minimal UI that works well with the limited display sizes of tablets. The UI actually looks and feels similar to Procreate, Infinite Painter and even the new re-designed Studio Mode of Clip Studio Paint.

Medibang Paint (above) uses the familiar desktop style UI where you can have toolbars and palettes by the side. Downside is on smaller tablets, the palettes take up a bigger proportion of the screen compared to the canvas size. The tools and palettes can be hidden and shown.

Medibang Pro (above) has a more minimalist streamlined UI that takes up less space, and the workspace is designed with finger gesture use in mind. The tools and palettes can still be hidden and shown, and when shown, they don't clutter up the workspace.

Cloud storage
The cloud storage services used by Medibang Paint are currently not available to Medibang Pro. In other words, Medibang Pro cannot save artworks directly to the cloud. If you want to open the artwork on your computer, you have to export the artwork from the iPad, transfer over, and then open it.

Medibang Paint has a huge brush library on the cloud. This feature is not available to Medibang Pro, and there

Cost

The price of the app is USD 15 and it's available alongside the free ad-supported Medibang Paint.

Medibang Paint is is available on Windows, iPad and Android. It was possible in the past to make a purchase to remove the ads but that option is no longer available as the company moved towards the subscription based model.

Medibang Pro is a one-time purchase of USD 15 and hence it's more worth the money. This app is only available from the Apple App Store. There are many capable drawing apps available on the iPad so why would anyone choose Medibang Pro? If you are already using other drawing apps, there isn't any compelling reason to switch because most apps already have the essential tools for creating digital art. The reason to choose any drawing apps comes down to whether they have the features you need, and whether you like the user interface and workflow.

Anyway, there's a 30-day trial for Medibang Pro so you can test it thoroughly before deciding whether to buy.

Workspace

This is the home screen with the files. Folders can be created to group your files. You can create preset file sizes or create your own dimensions and DPI. What's missing here is there's no cloud services for saving files. In other words, make sure you backup your iPad because the artworks are stored internally, not online.

From the options at the top left, you can import images, adjust canvas settings and export in various file formats (JPEG, MDP, PSD, PNG, BMP, GIF, PSD, PSD for duotone print). There are also settings for shortcuts, pen pressure, and gestures. Pen pressure is adjusted with a slider and not with a curve. Gesture shortcuts are limited to pre-programmed ones that you can enable or disable. There's also stylus position where you can adjust the cursor offset, a feature that is more useful on Android tablets than on iPad as cursor tracking of Apple Pencil is accurate enough for this feature to be unnecessary.

The comic panel tools are available.

There are grids, guides and perspective lines that you can snap to while drawing. It's not easy adjusting the vanishing point and perspective lines though.

There are over 300 free textures available.

There are basic text controls.

Many brushes are similar to those you can find on Medibang Paint. My favourite Sumi brush is available.

From what I can see, there's currently no way to import brushes or create your own brush. You can edit brush settings, but you cannot create a new brush with the new settings. Hopefully the company can give you access to their brush library online in the future.

The sliders on the left control the brush size and opacity. There's a shortcut button between the slider and you can customise the shortcuts that appear.

These are the customisable shortcuts.

One big difference between this app vs Procreate is, Procreate supports for more finger gestures for shortcuts.

Those are the layer tools.

Drawing experience is good. Pen pressure works well, and palm rejection is almost flawless.

Only downside with drawing experience is the app does not support tilt sensitivity.

Conclusion

The app comes with essential tools for creating digital art. The user interface looks good works well with small iPad minis to larger 12.9-inch iPad Pros. Drawing performance is predictable and consistent.

Downsides are the lack of cloud features that make it easier to work across different platforms. There's no tilt sensitivity. You can't create your own brushes or import brushes, yet.

Medibang Pro is good app that's certainly worth USD 15. But if you are already using other drawing apps, I don't see any compelling reason to switch.

I hope the company brings this app over the to Google Play Store too, because they are missing out on a huge market if they don't.