20 Best Free and Paid Animation Apps for ipad and Android

Animations like loading, hover, and signup animations have become essential in UI/UX design, greatly enhancing user engagement and experience. A handy animation tool that can help designers and design teams to create engaging web or app animations is now a must-have tool to ease the whole UI/XU design process.

In this article, we've picked 20 top-notch animation apps that enable you and your team to create stunning 2D, 3D, or stop motion animations effortlessly, even simply by importing existing images or illustrations. Choose the app that best suits your needs and combine it with our prototyping tool to craft the optimal UX for your next design project.

What is the animation app？

Animation apps refer to software programs or tools that help to animate static visual files or objects, such as 2D, 3D, or hand-drawn images, and make them move just like the real thing. These apps often provide a wide range of animation features and functionalities, allowing users to:

• Create various types of animations, like traditional, 2D, 3D, and stop motion animations

• Produce animations for different platforms, such as the web, android, and iOS

• Generate animations on different devices, such as Android, Apple, iPad, PC, and Mac devices 

• Edit animation details and add music, timing, transitions, special effects, and more

The actual features and functionalities can vary depending on the animation app you choose.

Why do we need an animation app in design?

To understand the necessity of animation apps in design, we should first learn the importance of animations in UI/UX design, such as:

 Simply put, animations become an integral part of web and app design. Using a convenient animation app is a vital first step for designers and teams to harness the power of animations smoothly.

How to choose your animation app

We've put together several factors you should consider when choosing an animation app:By considering these factors when choosing an animation app, you can easily narrow down your options and choose the one that best suits you quickly.

20 best animation apps to get you started

Gone are the days when designers and design team needs to generate animations by drawing everything from scratch. Let's check a list of the 20 best animation apps to simplify your design process:

Best animation apps for beginners

1. FlipaClip (Free, available for Android, iPhone and iPad)

FlipaClip is a free 2D cartoon animation app available for Android and iOS mobile devices. It allows designers to transform their sketches into captivating animations, offering a frame-by-frame approach and a range of drawing tools, like brushes, lasso, ruler shapes, fill, etc.

If they don't want to draw everything from scratch, FlipaClip also enables them to import existing videos and images to enhance their animations with even more effects, like Retoscope, and seamlessly share these animated masterpieces on popular social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more.

Platform: Android and iOS devices
Pros:

• Beginner-friendly user interfaces

• Export animations in various formats, like MP4, GIF, and PNG

• Customizable templates to create your own quickly

Cons:

• A mobile-only app

Pricing:Free

2. Pencil2D (Free, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux)

Pencil2D is a free, open-source animation app allowing designers to create traditional 2D hand-drawn animations using vector and bitmap graphics. With the ability to work with both raster and vector workflows, designers also can seamlessly switch between the two and utilize features such as resizing, filling, blurring, and erasing to enhance their creations. They can still feel free to add, duplicate and remove frames as needed, and share their animations on YouTube.
Platform: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Pros:

• Free, open-source

• Simple and straightforward UIs

• Raster and vector workflows

• Drag-and-drop editor

• Completely open-source and free to use

Cons:

• Not robust enough for professional designers

• A desktop-only app

Pricing: Free

3. OpenToonz (Free, available for Windows and Mac)

OpenToonz is another free, open-source 2D animation app for both designers and developers. It combines traditional drawing and 2D animations, providing many powerful features, such as 2D animation tools, Frame by frame 2D drawing, customizable fonts and templates, 2D imaging, video effects, 3D video editing, and more. It also enables users to animate a drawing simply by scanning it. OpenToonz is a nice tool for experienced designers or users.
Platform: Windows and Mac
Pros: 

• Completely open-source and free to use

• Excellent 2D drawing and animation features

• Scan to add and animate a drawing

Cons: 

• Not intuitive interfaces 

• Not good for beginners 

Pricing: Free

4. Adobe Animate CC (a 30-day free trial, available for Windows and Mac)

Android Animate CC is a highly regarded 2D animation app, widely embraced by designers, developers, and other creative professionals worldwide. As a part of the Creative Cloud suite, it provides plenty of cool and professional features to generate animations they exactly imagine, and seamlessly share across desktop, mobile and TV with HTML, WebGL, SVG and other custom Formats.

For those familiar with coding, the app allows the direct inclusion of code within projects to save time and effort, if necessary. Android Animate CC proves to be an excellent choice for designers and developers seeking to create engaging and interactive animations for games, TV shows, web projects, and more.
Platform: Windows and Mac
Pros:

• Clean interfaces 

• Support all types of images 

• 100GB of Cloud storage

• A 7-day free trial

Cons:

• Steep learning curve 

Pricing:

• A 7-day free trial

• Premium plans start at $20.99 per month

5. Blender (Free, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux)

Are you looking for a top-notch 3D animation app? Look no further than Blender! It's the perfect choice for both pros and newcomers, and guess what? It won't cost you a dime since it's free and open-source. You've got everything you need to create mind-blowing 3D animations, from cool visual effects to 3D modeling, digital sculpting, video editing, and even motion tracking.

But the real kicker? Blender's got this incredible unbiased path-tracer engine that brings your animations to life with realistic 3D figures and scenes. And here's the best part – you can easily mix 3D and 2D content, giving your projects that extra "wow" factor. So why wait? Grab Blender now and let your creative journey begin!
Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linus
Pros:

• Free and open-source

• A full set of modeling, 3D editing, and rendering features

• Combine 3D and 2D together

Cons:

• A desktop-only animation app

• Steep learning curve for newcomers

• Its video editor is not so good enough

Pricing: Free

6. Animoto ( free and paid online animation app )

Animoto is a fantastic online web app that lets designers effortlessly blend texts, images, and video clips to transform their creative ideas into stunning videos. The best part? You can even grab a screen recording directly from this tool for further tweaking.

With Animoto's vast collection of stock images, songs, and other resources, crafting incredible videos and animations becomes a breeze. Plus, they offer a bunch of ready-to-use video templates that help speed up your creative process. And guess what? Animoto is also an excellent choice for designers who prefer editing on their iPhone or iPad, offering seamless usability on the go.
Platform: an online app that works right in a browser
Pros:

• Drag-and-drop editing tools

• A web-based apps that works on different devices

• Video templates

• A large number of resources, like stock images and songs

• Support screen recording for further editing

• Customize to fit your brand

Cons:

• It sometimes lags because it is a web-based app.

Pricing:

• A free-forever plan 

• Premium plans start at $100 per month

7. PicsArt Animator (a 7-day free trial, free and paid)

PicsArt Animator is an incredible web-based animation tool that empowers designers to craft captivating cartoon videos and animated GIFs frame by frame. With its comprehensive array of advanced drawing and sketching tools, visualizing cartoons becomes a breeze, and the abundance of templates ensures a quick and easy start.

Once your videos and animations are ready, sharing them on popular social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram is a seamless experience. But wait, there's more! The coolest feature is its AI-powered photo and video editing, which not only saves you time but also elevates the quality of your creations to a whole new level.
Platform: a web-based tool that can work nearly on all devices with a browser
Pros: 

• A 7-day free trial

• Easy-to-understand interfaces 

• Edit your animation frame by frame

• Ai-powered photo and video editing tools

• Share videos and animations on nearly all popular social network 

• There are also versions available for iOS, Android, and Windows

Cons:

• Some users complain it may take much space on your mobiles. 

Pricing:

• A 7-day free trial

• Premium plans start at $5 per month 

8. SVGator (free and paid online SVG animation app)

When you're working on a web or app design project, you might want to add some animated elements like SVG illusions, logos, and icons to bring a fun touch to your design. In this case, SVGator could be the perfect tool for you to try out. It's a browser-based animation app, meaning you can jump right into animating without the hassle of downloading or installing anything.

What makes SVGator really great is its user-friendly interface, making it super easy to edit your SVG images with various path morphs, filters, and color animations. Once you've created your animations, you can export them in multiple formats, including .svg, .js, .dart, video, and gif, making them suitable for both web and mobile use.So, if you want to add some excitement and life to your designs, give SVGator a go and see how it takes your project to the next level!
Platform: a browser-based app that works online
Pros:

• Easy-to-use interfaces

• Create line animations easily 

• Have a full control over the animations and motion paths of SVG images

• Various export options, like videos and gifs

Cons:

• Free version offers limited features 

Pricing:

• A free version with 3 animation exports and 1 GB storage 

• Premium plans start at $12 per month

Best animation apps for iOS devices

9. Animation Desk (free and paid, available for iPhones and iPads)

Animation Desk is an animation app that allows designers to create 2D cartoon hand-drawn animations frame by frame. It comes with powerful features such as paint tools, onion skinning for motion tracking, sound effects, layers, frame rate settings, and more. There are also plenty of import and export options to help save a handful of time.

While Animation Desk is available for Android, iOS, and Windows, it's the iOS version that steals the hearts of most designers and users. Why? Because it flawlessly integrates with the Apple Pencil and allows users to fully bring their ideas to life on iPhones and iPad, elevating the animation experience to a whole new level of precision and creativity.
Platform: Android, iOS, and Windows
Pros:

• A clutter-free user interface

• Rich import and export options, like video, PDF, PSD, or images

• Over 46 brush patterns and tools 

• Apple Pencil integration

Cons:

• There is a learning curve for beginners

Pricing:

• A free basic plan with limited features

• Premium plans start at $2.49 per month 

10. Animation Creator HD (Free, available for iPad and iPad Mini)

Animation Creator HD is a fantastic iPad app that allows you to draw out your concepts from scratch and animate them simply by finger touch. With advanced drawing tools, smooth motion tracking, easy frame management, and Apple Pencil integration, it's perfect for all skill levels. Express your creativity and share your masterpieces with the world!
Platform: iOS, best for all iPads and iPad mini devices
Pricing: Free

Best animation apps for Android mobiles 

11. Stickman (free, and available for Android) 

If you are working at the early stage of a web or app design project, you may need Stickman to quickly visualize the key scenes, characters, and animations of your future videos and demonstrate them clearly to your teammates. It is a fun video animation that allows you to do all sketches on your Android mobile in simple steps and share them through your social media, like Facebook and Twitter, or directly via direct emails.
Platform: Android and iOS
Pricing: Free

12. Toontastic (free, available for Android) 

Toontastic is a free 3D animation video-making app for Android device users. With its intuitive interface, you can easily create animated cartoons by designing characters, adding dialogue, and setting up dynamic scenes.

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned animator, Toontastic offers a seamless and engaging experience for crafting captivating 3D animations. Express your creativity, dive into imaginative worlds, and share your animated tales with friends and family in stunning three-dimensional style. It's the perfect tool to unlock your storytelling potential and create unforgettable animated adventures!
Platform: Android and iOS
Pricing: Free

Best stop motion animation apps

13. Stop Motion Studio (a free cross-platform animation app )

Stop Motion Studio, as its name implies, is an animation app that helps you create incredible stop-motion animations and videos by importing your video clips and images. You can even use a remote cam to take a screenshot and further edit it there. With a full set of editing features, you can fine-tune your creations, draw over them, remove unwanted objects, and use the green screen feature for cool illusions.

Best of all, it works on various devices like iPhone, iPad, macOS, Android, Windows, Chromebook, and Amazon Fire. Unleash your creativity and bring your ideas to life with Stop Motion Studio!
Platform: iPhone, iPad, macOS, Android, Windows, Chromebook, and Amazon Fire devices
Pros:

• User-friendly interfaces

• A full set of editing features, effects and more

• Available for iPhone, iPad, and macOS 

• Easily share on YouTube, Facebook, Dropbox and else

• Export your projects as movies, animated GIFs, and even printable flipbooks

Cons:

• Some users feedback that it crashes occasionally

Pricing:

• Free (With in-app purchasing options)

14. I Can Animate (paid, available for iOS)

Can Animate is one of the best stop motion animation apps available for iOS devices, like iPhone.  With this tool, you can capture frames effortlessly with your camera or iOS device, adjust settings like exposure and focus, and enjoy onion skinning for smooth animation. You may also edit frames easily, add sound effects, and even use the green screen function for creative backgrounds. It is perfect for beginners and pros alike.
Platform: iOS
Pricing: Start at $29.95

15. GIFMob (free, available for Android and iOS)

GIFMob is taken as the easiest app that helps to create stop motion animations on mobile devices. It allows designers to edit their animations frame by frame based on the easy-to-use interface, and instantly preview them. It is also super easy for you to save your animations as GIF or MP4 formats or share them directly to Facebook.With GIFMob, your creativity knows no bounds, and you can effortlessly bring life to your ideas in the form of captivating animations and share them with the world.
Platform: Android and iOS
Pricing: Free

16. LookSee Animator (free, available for Android)

LookSee Animator is another user-friendly stop-motion animation app for Android. It enables easy animation of photos taken with the main or front-facing camera. With features like onion skinning, you can visualize your ideas and export them as videos or GIFs.Plus, it offers a unique remote control function, allowing wireless app control from another phone. This is super cool!
Platform: Android
Pricing: Free

Best photo animation apps

17. Lumyer (Free and paid, available for iOS and Android)

If you have photos taken with your phone or camera and want to turn them into a fun animation, GIF, or video, Lumyer is the perfect tool for you. With Lumyer, you can access a vast collection of over 200 high-quality filters and effects. You can freely resize your photos and add texts, logos, and more to make your images come alive and move just the way you envision.
Platform: iOS / Android
Pros: 

• Easy to easy

• Over 200 high-quality filters and effects 

• Powerful photo editing capabilities

• Share animated photos on social media, like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and more

Cons:

• The free version is limited and will also have a watermark

• There will also be a watermark when using the free version 

Pricing:

• A free version is available for everyone

• Premium plans start at $12.90

18. Movepic (Free and paid, available for iOS and Android)

Movepic is an incredible 3D photo animation app that brings life to your pictures by animating people or objects within them. With this app, you have complete control over the animation process. Simply select any part of your photo, draw the desired path for movement, adjust the speed, and even add loops and effects to achieve the perfect animation you have in mind.

The app offers a delightful variety of 3D stickers, filters, and overlays that add captivating visual details to your animations. And to enhance the overall experience, don't miss the opportunity to include music, making your animations or videos truly unique and engaging. With Movepic, you can unleash your creativity and breathe life into your photos like never before.
Platform: iOS and Android
Pros:

• User-friendly interfaces 

• Rich animation effects 

• Create 3D animations or videos with music 

• Over 230 3D stickers, 140 3D filters and overlays

Cons:

• The free version also has a watermark

Pricing:

• A free version with limited features 

• Premium plans start at $1.99 per month

• There is also a one-time option costs $9.99

Best test animation apps 

19. Textro (free, available for iOS and Android)

In addition to animating images and videos, you can also animate the texts or photography of your web or app interfaces. For creating captivating animated texts, Textro is the perfect tool to explore. This simple text animation maker offers a wide range of text animation styles, along with an extensive selection of fonts and color combinations to choose from.

With Textro, you can easily elevate your text animations by adding music, making them stand out even more. Whether you want to create animated quotes, intros, or other visual elements, Textro provides a user-friendly platform to do so with ease. Give it a try, and see how Textro can add a whole new dimension of creativity to your web or app designs.
Platform: iOS and Android
Pros:

• Easy of use 

• Rich text animation styles

• Tons of color combinations, fonts and background images 

• Various import options

Pricing: Free

20. Hype Type (free and paid, available for iOS devices)

Hype Type is another animation app that let you animate your texts to storytelling your brand or products. It helps to bring your ideas to life with over 300 text styling options and allows you to easily play with colros, styles, speed and timing according to your ideas.

Additionally, with this tool, you also can choose text layouts, and add audios to make a different text animation.
Platform: iOS
Pros:

• Easy to use and navigate

• A wide range of text layouts 

Cons:

• Free version comes with limited features 

• Only available for iOS devices

Pricing:

• Free version with limited features 

• Premium plans start at $1.99

Conclusion

Animation apps have become one of the must-have tools for designers and teams to enhance their web or app projects. While using these tools, also do not forget to combine them with more efficient tools, such as the wireframing tool, prototyping tool, design handoff tool, etc.