Hardware And Software 3 - Amadine For iPhone

Intro

I’ve always enjoyed using iPhones. One of the reasons I swapped from Android, way back in the day was that the app ecosystem was crazy. There were so many productivity apps available, and the dream of having a mobile and efficient production was born. Unfortunately, for that dream, I would invest in the older phones (after all apple’s ecosystem is expensive) and at the time they wouldn’t run the apps I wanted too well. So I forgot that dream, stopped doing creative work on my phone and relegated its productivity usage to the most basic of note taking apps. For more intensive tasks I would use my other devices to do the work, but the dream of my iPhone being my main productivity device was gone.

Crisp Edges

A few months ago I upgraded from an iPhone XR to an iPhone 16 pro. I initially did not want the pro version, but I figured if I got it, that it would last a little longer than the base version. The phone is a beast and I love it, but with all of the excess horse power I had to re-think what I could on my phone. Fortunately, I am in the midst of a massive redesign of my puppets and that presented me with an opportunity to explore what’s possible to do with a phone now.

A core part of my production is vector creation. I use illustrator to make assets, and I’ve also been looking for alternatives to the program because, frankly, I’m tired of Adobe. I remember using a vector app called “Vectornator” that was really good so I started there. Disappointingly, the app is now a subscription app. I’m not interested in any more subscriptions.

I did some more perusing of the App Store and eventually I came across an app called “Amadine”, downloaded it and worked a bit in it. I have to say, after spending some time with it, the app is great and everything I was looking for in a vector app for your phone.

The app is free to download and you can do pretty much everything but export a file in a non-lossless file type. It does have an optional subscription, or if you’re like me, it offers you a perpetual license to buy. Purchasing the license gives you access to exporting to more file types.

Functionally, Amadine is Adobe Illustrator for your phone. It has all of Illustrator’s basic tools (select, direct select, pen, etc.). The interface is simple and there’s a slight learning curve as some features are behind menus. However, once you adapt to the UI, you should be able to get right to work in the program. It took me about 20 minutes of actively working on a project before I got the hang of where things were and how they worked.

My biggest issue with the app, is a small one. You can’t export Adobe Illustrator files. It’s not a huge issue and I understand why they don’t have the option. Fortunately there’s 2 other generic vector file types you can export to that makes up for this issue. Everything else about the app really is lovely.

Outro

I’m very happy that I have a viable way to create vector art from my phone. The dream of having a mobile and efficient production might not be dead after all. In fact, for me, Amadine is just the start and I’m excited about what else is out there. If you’re in the market for a mobile vector app, definitely check out Amadine

Here’s a link to download (not sponsored)

-Until next time-