Simple AR
In your browser, right now
Free, no sign-up. Put your phone on a stand above the paper and trace.
Nothing to install
Free · no sign-up · in the browser
AR drawing online, free
Trace any picture onto paper with your phone camera. Pick how you want to draw.
PRO ARApp
In the Sketchar app
The picture stays pinned to the paper, even with the phone in your hand. Plus 1,000+ lessons and a time-lapse of your drawing.
Get the appFree on iPhone and Android
How Simple AR works
- 1
Pick a picture
Upload your own photo or take one of our sketches. It never leaves your phone.
- 2
Prop up your phone
Rest it on a glass or a stack of books, about 25 cm (10 in) above the paper.
- 3
Trace the lines
Watch the screen and draw on the paper. Lock the picture so a stray touch does not move it.
What you need
- A phone or tablet with a camera
- Paper – textured fits better
- A pencil or a marker
- Good light – near a window is the best option
AR drawing online: what the browser can and cannot do
Simple AR is the browser version of AR drawing. You open this page on your phone, pick a picture, and the page lays it over the camera image, half transparent, so you can trace the lines onto the paper underneath. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded: the photo stays on the phone. It is free, there is no sign-up and no watermark.
What the browser does is an overlay, not tracking. The picture sits on the screen, so the phone has to stay still while you draw: prop it on a glass or a stack of books, set the opacity, lock the picture and only move the pencil. Move the phone and the picture moves with the screen, not with the paper. That is the honest limit of any AR drawing website, ours included – Real AR vs fake AR shows how to tell the two apart in thirty seconds.
PRO AR in the Sketchar app is the tracked version: the camera recognises the sheet and keeps the sketch pinned to it while the phone moves in your hand, so you can draw at any angle, on a wall or a canvas, and work through 1,000+ step-by-step lessons. If Simple AR got you a clean first sheet, that is the next step. The AR drawing page explains how the tracking works, and the comparison of AR drawing apps lists what each app's store listing states.
On a computer this page cannot trace onto paper, because tracing needs the back camera above the sheet. Prepare or crop the picture on the computer, then open the page on your phone, or scan the QR code above to get the app.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Simple AR has no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many pictures you trace.
In Simple AR the browser can only lay the picture over the camera, so the phone has to stay still. PRO AR in the Sketchar app tracks the paper and keeps the picture on it while you move.
No. The picture is opened right on your phone and is never sent to a server.
Any recent iPhone or Android phone with Safari or Chrome. Allow camera access when the browser asks.
Rest it on a glass, a jar or a stack of books so the camera looks straight down at the paper. Then lock the picture and only touch the pencil.
Not onto paper: tracing needs a phone camera pointing down at the sheet. Prepare the picture on the computer, then open sketchar.io/try on your phone, or scan the QR code on this page to get the app.
This page is one: sketchar.io/try lays a picture over your phone camera in Safari or Chrome, free and without sign-up. A website can only overlay the picture; tracking that keeps the sketch on the paper while the phone moves needs the Sketchar app.