Questions,
answered.

Yes. DarkRef is free to download and use on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows and the web, with no account needed. Boards, references, notes, drawings, arrows, image edits and exporting are all free. DarkRef Pro adds cloud sync across your devices, hosting live boards, and saving from the Chrome extension. See pricing.

No. You can use DarkRef without signing up, and everything is saved on your device. You need an account to sync between devices, to work on live boards with other people, and to use the Chrome extension.

iPhone, iPad and Mac (all from the App Store), Windows, and any modern web browser. There's also a Chrome extension for saving references from the web. Download DarkRef.

Images (JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and animated GIFs), notes, freehand drawings, arrows, links to web pages, and YouTube and Vimeo videos that play right on the board. See the guide.

PureRef is a desktop app. DarkRef also works on iPhone, iPad and the web, keeps every image in a searchable library, and can sync your boards between devices and share them live with other people. Read our guide to PureRef alternatives.

Make a board, add some images, then select them and use Auto-Organize to line them up in neat columns. The guide shows every feature with a short video, and you can replay the in-app walkthrough any time from Settings.

Cloud sync across all your devices with 1 GB of cloud storage, hosting live boards and editing them with other people, and saving from the Chrome extension. Everything else in DarkRef is free.

Yes. The pricing on this site calls the plan Sync, and the app calls it DarkRef Pro. It's the same plan. See pricing.

Sign in, open the menu (☰) and choose Upgrade. On iPhone, iPad and Mac you pay through the App Store.

Open the menu and choose Manage subscription. If you subscribed on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, this opens your Apple subscription settings.

Sign in with the same account on this device. On iPhone, iPad and Mac you can also tap Restore Purchases in the upgrade screen.

Nothing is deleted. Everything on your devices stays there and keeps working. Syncing between devices stops until you subscribe again.

With DarkRef Pro, sync is automatic. Sign in with the same account on each device, and your changes reach your other devices within seconds. There is no sync button to press. See how.

Yes. Your boards and references are stored on your device, so DarkRef works without a connection. With DarkRef Pro, anything you change offline syncs when you're back online.

DarkRef Pro includes 1 GB, and Settings shows how much you've used. Live boards you host count towards your storage. Boards you've joined count towards their owner's.

No. Deleting a board never deletes your references. Anything that was only on that board stays in your References library.

Save it as a .darkref file from Settings, under Canvas files, and open that file in DarkRef on any device. The file keeps the board's images and notes, but not its drawings or arrows. You can also export a board as a PNG picture with the Export button. With DarkRef Pro, your boards are kept in your cloud account as well. See how.

On your device. With DarkRef Pro, a copy is also kept in your DarkRef cloud account so your devices can stay in sync. Read the privacy policy.

Open the board, click Collaborate at the top right, then Start collaborating. Invite people by email as editors or view-only. Everyone sees each other's cursors and changes as they happen. See how.

No. Anyone you invite can join and view a live board for free with a DarkRef account. Hosting a live board, and editing one, needs DarkRef Pro. See how to join.

An invite belongs to an email address, so the person must sign in with that address, and it must be verified. Signing in with Google or Apple verifies it automatically. With an email and password, they need to click the link in the verification email first.

The owner's. Images on a live board count towards the cloud storage of the person who created it, never the people invited.

Yes. In the Collaborate panel, choose Save a local copy. If you own a live board and leave it, DarkRef saves a copy for you first.

Tap Share in Photos, Safari or any other app, and choose DarkRef. The picture is waiting in your References the next time you open DarkRef. See how.

In the share sheet, scroll to the end of the row of apps, tap More, and turn DarkRef on. You can move it higher up the list while you're there.

Copy the image, then open the menu (☰) in DarkRef and choose Paste image.

The extension is free to install, but saving with it needs DarkRef Pro, because your saves travel through your cloud account to reach your devices. See how it works.

Yes, in the Windows and Mac apps. Click the pin in the title bar to keep DarkRef on top, fade it with the opacity slider, and turn on overlay mode to click straight through it. See how.

In the Windows app and on iPhone and iPad, DarkRef looks at each new reference on your device and gives it tags and a title, so you can find it by searching. Your images aren't sent anywhere to be tagged. With DarkRef Pro, the tags reach your other devices too. See how.

Yes. Edit or remove any tag in a reference's details, and your own changes always win. To stop tagging new references, turn off Tag new references automatically in Settings.

Tagging runs in the Windows app and on iPhone and iPad. The web app and the Mac app don't tag references themselves, but with DarkRef Pro they show the tags added on your other devices.

In Settings, choose Report Bug or Suggest Feature, or go straight to the DarkRef feedback board. You can vote on other people's ideas there too.

Open Settings, find Danger Zone, and choose Delete Account. This permanently deletes your DarkRef account. It doesn't cancel a DarkRef Pro subscription, so cancel that first.

Send us a message from the contact page, or use Support at the bottom of any DarkRef page.