handpix
Help Center

Help

Tips and answers for using handpix on iPad and iPhone. Can’t find what you need? Email [email protected].

Getting started

Long-press anything to see what it does

Not sure what a button does? Long-press it. Almost every tool, button, and option in the app shows a short explanation.

See the help cards again

Tap the ? button at the bottom of the home screen to replay the help cards on the core gestures.

The four views

The top of the editor switches between four views of the same artwork: Edit for drawing, Ironed for a preview of the finished piece after ironing, Image for a styled picture to share, and Pattern for a printable bead pattern with color codes and counts.

Drawing and editing

Undo and redo

Tap with two fingers to undo and with three fingers to redo.

Fill

Drag a color from the palette straight onto the canvas, or use the Fill tool. Choose With Diagonals to treat beads that touch only at a corner as connected.

Shapes, Outline, and Symmetry

  • Shapes draws lines, rectangles, and circles, showing the bead count as you drag.
  • Outline adds an outer, inner, or full outline to a shape in one step.
  • Symmetry mirrors what you draw on one side to the other — left and right, top and bottom, diagonals, and more. It works with the brush, eraser, shapes, outline, and lasso.

Copy part of a design to another layer or artwork

Select an area with the Lasso, then move, transform, or copy it. You can paste into another layer or into another artwork — handy for a series of designs that differ only slightly.

Layers

Use layers to keep parts of a design separate. You can add, reorder, hide, merge, and group layers.

Full-screen canvas and canvas size

Tap the artwork title in the editor for Full-Screen Canvas or Resize Canvas. When resizing, you can choose where the existing design sits on the new canvas.

Quick Button

On iPad, press and hold the Quick Button at the bottom of the side panel in the Edit view to show color codes on the canvas, or to Focus Current Layer by dimming the other layers — choose which in Settings. In the Image view, the same button plays back how the artwork was drawn.

Colors and palettes

Choose a bead brand

handpix includes palettes for MARD, COCO, Perler, Hama, Artkal, Nabbi, Yant, and other brands. Switch the palette in the editor’s color panel; existing colors are mapped to the closest colors in the new palette.

Replace, merge, or delete a color everywhere

In the color panel, open the Canvas or Layer tab to see the colors in use and their counts. Tap a color to select it and highlight it on the canvas, then tap it again to choose Merge into…, Replace…, or Delete Color. Every change can be undone.

Why does a color look different from my beads?

The MARD palette is calibrated against real ironed beads under standard lighting; other brands use published color charts. A few things can make colors look off:

  • Beads change color when ironed, so compare against ironed beads.
  • Different batches of the same color can vary.
  • True Tone and Night Shift shift your screen’s colors — turn them off when comparing.

To match your own beads, go to Settings › General › Adjust Colors and fine-tune individual color codes. Changes take effect after restarting the app and apply to all artworks.

Custom palettes and color sets

  • Custom Palettes (Settings › General): import your own brand’s colors from an Excel color list (takes effect after restarting the app).
  • Color Sets (Pro): save the colors you use most and pick from them in any artwork.

Importing images

Trace a picture

Import a reference image from the home screen (Import › Reference Image) or with the Reference button in the editor. Crop and position it, then turn on Underlay to show it semi-transparently beneath the canvas while you draw.

Turn a photo into a pattern

With a reference image in place, use Generate Pattern to convert it into beads from your palette. Adjust the color style and target number of colors, preview the result, and generate it to a new layer you can keep editing.

Import existing pixel art

On the home screen, choose Import › Pixel Art. handpix detects the grid automatically and matches each pixel to the closest color in the palette you choose. Use clean pixel art without blur or compression artifacts.

Exporting and sharing

Export Bundle

Save several files at once: the bead pattern (optionally mirrored for ironing from the back), the styled image, per-color counting sheets, and a creation video that replays how the artwork was drawn.

Customize the pattern and image

In the Pattern and Image views, you can adjust the layout, guide lines, swatch style, background, ironing finish, and add a text watermark or your signature image. New artworks use your latest settings.

Smart PDF

Export a high-resolution PDF pattern that won’t be compressed when shared, with room for your social links and a copyright note.

Beading

Choose Start Beading from the export menu to follow your pattern block by block and color by color while you place beads, with your progress saved.

Sync, backup, and deleted artworks

Handpix Artwork File (.handpix)

Export a Handpix Artwork File to keep a complete copy with all layers. Open it in handpix on any device to import it again — use it for backups or to move artworks between devices.

iCloud sync

With active Handpix Pro, turn on artwork sync in Settings › Data & Sync on each device. Artworks are always saved on the device first and work offline; syncing needs a connection and may take a while. If the same artwork was edited on two devices at once, both versions may be kept as separate copies.

Recover a deleted artwork

Deleted artworks stay in Settings › Data & Sync › Recently Deleted for 30 days before they are removed.

Apple Pencil

  • Draw with Apple Pencil Only (Settings › General › Apple Pencil): only the Pencil draws, and fingers zoom and pan, so stray touches won’t leave marks.
  • Double-Tap Pencil for Eraser: on Pencils that support double-tap, switch between the current tool and the eraser.

Contact us

Email [email protected]. Bug reports, suggestions, and color feedback are all welcome — screenshots help a lot.