Ghost CanvasComing soon
iOS · iPhone & iPad

Turn your iPhone into a camera lucida.

Ghost Canvas overlays any photo on real paper through the live camera view. Prop up your phone, look at the screen, and trace what you see — outlines, grid, AR anchoring and timelapse included.

AR anchored
55%
How it works

Three steps between a photo and a drawing.

1

Pick a reference

Any photo from your library, camera, or Files. Outline mode can reduce it to clean contour lines before you start.

2

Prop up your phone

Aim the camera at your paper. AR anchoring pins the reference to the table, so it stays put even when the phone shifts.

3

Trace what you see

Adjust the overlay opacity and draw. Record a timelapse of the whole session if you want to share it.

Artists have been tracing reality through prisms since the camera lucida was patented in 1806. Ghost Canvas is the same trick — the prism is now your camera.

Screens

A drawing tool, not a photo app.

Trace over the live camera

The reference floats over your paper — dial its opacity as you draw.

Outline mode

Any photo becomes clean contour lines, ready to follow.

AR anchoring

Pin the image to the table by its corners — it stays put.

Projects that follow you

Everything syncs through your private iCloud, per-drawing time included.

Features

Everything you need to get it on paper.

Outline mode

Two contour engines — including FDoG — turn any photo into clean, traceable line art.

AR anchoring

Pinned to the table by its corners, with perspective correction — the reference stays put even when you move.

Filters, grid & strobe

Monochrome, posterize, a proportion grid, and a strobe that flickers the reference to check your lines.

Timelapse

Record the whole session and watch the drawing come to life — saved straight to your photo library.

Projects & iCloud

Pick up where you left off — projects sync privately across devices, with time-spent tracking per drawing.

Yours, privately

Your photos never leave your device.

$1.99, once.

A one-time purchase on the App Store — every feature included, on iPhone and iPad. No subscription to cancel, no ads to ignore, no account to create.