DarkRef - Art Reference Board

• Free to download
• In-app purchases

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

2.8 4 ratings · App Store

1. 4/5Pretty decent for a free Refrence board!

   A nice clean look overall, but I do have some minor issues. Since it appears it was designed for a computer in mind over a mobile phone, the controls can be VERY clunky when it comes to moving and contorting images. I also currently cannot seem to find a delete button, which can be annoying. There is a delete shortcut, but once again it’s only available for computer. If these problems can be fixed, I’m confident that this app will do pretty well!

   Just A Very Weird Tomato · 31 Jul 2026

2. 2/5It works but…problems.

   It is very obvious that this has a way to go before it’s perfect. Throughout signup i had to rely on my best guess for what was written in a box, because all of the editable or changeable text blocks like email and project title were completely black when i started to enter anything. It did not go away with a restart either and the problem still persists. So yeah, it works, but it doesn’t work well by any stretch.

   Steward7 · 31 Jul 2026

3. 2/5Good bones but full of bugs

   I’ll be following this project closely as I’ve been looking for a cross platform pureref alternative. It’s impossible to delete accidental images and resizing is a chore. Needs work and better controls but the bones are great. Looks good. Just squash the bugs and fix the controls and it will be fantastic

   Laura Bythatagari · 31 Jul 2026

4. 3/5Really cool but some bugs that make it unusable

   The app has really cool features like a Pinterest like board view with all your images on it, and separate canvases for different projects. And you can tag images so you can search for them later. Also has automatic color palette generations under each image. I really like the design and layout BUT, it has some bugs that totally kill it for me. Every few seconds the app refreshes or acts like it restarts, and it defaults to the home/reference page. Doesn’t matter if I interact with anything or not. It also doesn’t have a way to zoom in to photos in the reference view. You can open them fullscreen, but there’s no options beyond that like, horizontal/vertical flipping, greyscale view, or the aforementioned ability to zoom in or out. The canvas is the only way to do zoom on an image, but it has an issue where if the image is selected with the bounding box around it, it gets real glitchy. The image jumps around the canvas, panning is stuttery, it causes the OS copy+paste text prompt to pop up, and resizing takes a few seconds before it starts happening. Dev if you read this please consider fixing these issues as this would be an amazing app!

   Dr. Nixi · 31 Jul 2026

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• 1.0
• 1.1.0

  iPhone support — Save references on the go, right from your phone. Share extension — Save references as you browse without leaving the app you're in. They'll be waiting for you when you get back to DarkRef.

• 1.2.0

  New to DarkRef? You'll now be greeted with an interactive walkthrough guide to help you get started quickly and make the most of the app from day one. We've also squashed a bug that was preventing images from being imported on iPad when starting a new project — sorry for the hassle, this should now work smoothly. Finally, we've added a link to submit bug reports, request features, and vote on what we build next. We'd love to hear from you!

• 1.3.0

  This update is a big round of polish to make DarkRef feel right at home on iPhone and iPad, plus some helpful new tools for organizing your boards. • Share photos into DarkRef straight from Photos or Safari • Faster, smaller image imports — with correct orientation and HEIC support • Long-press to delete images and boards • More reliable image resizing and group dragging • New Select All, Delete, and Auto-Organize tools • Undo/Redo now work reliably • A fresh app icon, plus stability, security, and performance improvements

• 1.5 · 7 Jul 2026

  Major updates in Version 1.5: - New References home: every image you've saved on one searchable wall, with color palettes and automatic tags and descriptions (created on your device, private, free). - Complete UI and navigation overhall across the application. - References can live on multiple boards at once now. - Share images to DarkRef from any app, even a whole batch. New Chrome extension for saving from the web. - Sign in with Google or Apple. - Sync is much faster and updates across devices in seconds. - Cleaner navigation: one menu everywhere, canvas search, folders, name canvases on creation. - New guided walkthrough that follows along as you add your first reference and build your first board. - Lots of polish and fixes throughout.