Have you ever done origami at school? Even if not, it’s likely you did it at least once when folding a paper sheet into an airplane or a crane. Would you like to advance in origami-making and create a full garage of paper vehicles or an aircraft fleet to play with friends?
Here we have listed the free origami apps that will help you master an uneasy masterpiece of such an ancient and unique craft as origami.
Looking for more creative apps that will help you to spend time with fun? We definitely recommend checking out the article about the best apps that will teach you how to draw.
How to Make Origami
How to Make Origami is a good choice for those who are only beginning to make origami. The app is full of shapes to choose from and offers two ways of learning – either by watching a YouTube video or by following step-by-step animated instructions.
Once you open the app you see the main menu with 13 categories – from animals to sea creatures and valentines. Each category has several options for you to decide which one you would like to make.
When you click on the shape you like, you will have the animated version of the first step on the screen along with arrows to switch the steps. You can repeat each step as many times as you need, complete them in your order and return to the most complex ones if there is a necessity.
The app has video ads that pop up each time you complete two or three steps. However, the ads are not that irritating and you can skip them easily after a few seconds.
Key features:
- 3D animated guide
- Repeat any step you like as much as you like
- Not so many shapes available
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Origami Easy Creator
A classic set of illustrated origami step-by-step instructions. When you open the app you see the menu of categories where you have to scroll up and down to see all the options.
Picturesque illustrations show what shape exactly you are to opt for along with a brief description that contains the most useful information for any origami-maker: the number of steps, how difficult the shape is, how many paper sheets you will need, and even how thin a paper sheet should be.
To the credit of the developers, the comments they made themselves like ‘This one looks really good’ or ‘This looks funny’ contribute very much to the desire to make the shape and see how it looks when it’s ready.
Though the guide itself is not animated and schemes are sometimes difficult to understand for a beginner, this app is still a good brief manual for anyone interested in origami-making.
What is a real disadvantage of the app is that you can access only one or two models for free. The majority of models (the ones starting from a ‘medium’ level of difficulty) can only be accessed by buying Premium mode or by watching a video ad.
Key features:
- All categories listed in one menu
- Step-by-step picture guides
- A separate basic folds section
- No 3D-animation
- A brief description of every shape
- No ads! (Could you believe it?)
Paper Origami
Paper Origami is a bit different from other apps since it offers both a photo and a video guide. The ‘Photo’ instruction is not animated like in ‘How to Make Origami’, but it is also quite simple to follow all the steps looking at the photos taken during a real origami-making process.
When in doubt, it is better to opt for a video part, as it is far easier and faster to understand. The app, as well as the previous one, creates a list of YouTube video links so that you can easily find them in one place.
Both beginners and more proficient origami makers can find something new for them in Paper Origami. Here the categories of shapes are more diverse: you can find out how to make gifts, home décor items, clothes, etc. Even the Pokemons are here!
However, video ads are here too, so don’t get too angry when you will have to skip a video ad every time you would like to start a new video guide.
Key Features:
- Both photo and video guides
- A wide level range: from beginners to advanced learners
Skilled Origami
As it comes from the name, Skilled Origami is for those who have already made all possible simple models of animals, birds, and planes.
The app offers quite complex shapes of dinosaurs, ships, and submarines, as well as such unusual of a sorcerer or a space invader that you won’t find in a basic app with traditional models only.
Step-by-step tutorials will help you to become a real origami master. However, the schemes here are quite tricky and require some skill to be deciphered.
Key Features
- Diversity of intricate shapes
- Step-by-step guides
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How to make Paper Airplanes
What was your first origami shape? Don’t tell it, it has to be quite easy to guess. Was it a plane? Well, even if you didn’t kick off with a plane as most kids did, this app will help you to feel like a real Wright.
How to make Paper Airplanes is dedicated to multiple shapes of paper planes only. The fleet of shapes here is divided into more simple and more complicated ones. When you browse through the category, you can see the final result and how many steps it is to complete.
This app, as well as How to Make Origami, offers video instructions which are YouTube links and a step-by-step animated tutorial followed by some text. Once you finish your work, you’ll have to skip a video ad to choose another plane shape.
Key features:
- Dedicated to a specific category
- 3D animated guide
- A lot of plane models are available
Origami Vehicles from Paper
Origami Vehicles from Paper is a specified app that guides how to make vehicle models from paper. The app contains plenty of designs that resemble real cars, war technique specimens, and spacecraft. Here you can find how to make tanks, cars, buses, and trucks out of paper.
All in all the app includes almost twenty models that can comprise a real origami garage.
As for the process of learning, the app features both step-by-step guides and inbuilt video lessons. You can also use a replay button to redo a complex step. However, if you are a fan of text steps, then you may find the guide rather vague since the image is not followed by written instructions.
Key features:
- Theme app – vehicles only
- Step-by-step & Video instructions
Paperamar
Paperamar App is far from being a basic origami app. To put it simply, it is a good adaptation of the original origami idea into a detailed multi-level game. When we say ‘detailed’ we mean it since every letter also looks as if it was made by paper folding.
Once you see this beautiful logo, you’ll then find a menu with many levels, each having 3 stars to reach. Every level is a shape you are to fold having a limited number of moves. Be careful and accurate – as if you were making real origami!
As in the real world, virtual origami can sometimes be quite complex, especially when the number of folds is limited, but the effort is worth it. If you experience realistic models in Paperamar app, you’ll want to try real origami!
Key features:
- No-guide app
- Logic game
- 3-star level system
Origami Challenge
Origami Challenge is also an app that has levels of different difficulty. Every level has a task that has a rating system. Typical rating criteria include accuracy and the number of repetitions. If you make everything right, you’ll move from one level to another, creating a world of extraordinary vibrant models on your screen.
The app offers diverse gameplay which keeps you interested in the process. In total there are more than a hundred levels and minigames, accompanied by achievements you can share with your friends or on social networks.
However, the app crashes quite often, but when you reboot it two hints are waiting for you just as a way to say sorry. How cute!
Key features:
- No-guide app
- Various gameplay
- Soft and relaxing Chinese music
- Abnormal crashes
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Paper Fold
Paper Fold is a unique combination of the classic origami technique and vibrant pictures. The app focuses on the correct combination of folds which allows creating of a shape with a picture on it. The further you go – the more difficult combinations you see.
The pictures you create are very detailed and bear the same style features which create the feeling of progress and a common idea through the levels.
However, what breaks the chain of your success is a video ad that appears basically after every level. It is extremely annoying since you most often can’t even skip it after the first five seconds. So, to see a nice picture of a lovely cat that you have folded yourself you will have to watch tons of much less lovely ads.
Key features:
- No-guide app
- Good design
- A lot of levels
- Gradation of difficulty
- Too many ad videos
