Detailed Help

Beadly Help

Beadly is a document-based app for creating peyote stitch bracelet patterns on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Getting started

Start a Design

Create a custom design

Use this when you know the exact number of beads you want.

  1. Open Beadly.
  2. Click or tap New Bead Map.
  3. Set Columns for the bracelet width.
  4. Set Rows for the bracelet length.
  5. Use the minus and plus buttons, or move the sliders.
  6. Click or tap Create.

Valid designs are 4 to 100 columns and 4 to 200 rows.

Open an existing design

  1. Open a .beads file from the system document browser, Finder, Files app, or the app's document picker.
  2. Beadly opens the saved map, colors, palette codes, and completed bead marks.

Workspace

Main Editor

The editor contains the bead canvas, editing tools, palette controls, document actions, and optional map overlays.

Move around the canvas

  • Drag or scroll to pan across the map.
  • Pinch to zoom on iPhone or iPad.
  • On Mac, use the Zoom In and Zoom Out toolbar buttons.
  • If the mini map is enabled, use it as a preview of where you are in the full design.

Undo changes

  1. Click or tap Undo in the toolbar.
  2. On Mac, you can also use the standard keyboard shortcut Command-Z.

Undo works for painting, marking, erasing, resizing, replacing colors, and row or column changes.

Editing tools

Tools

Brush

Use Brush to paint beads.

  1. Select Brush from the editing toolbar.
  2. Choose a color from the floating palette toolbar or color picker.
  3. Click or tap a bead to paint it.
  4. On Mac, drag across beads to paint a continuous stroke.
  5. On iPhone or iPad, hold Hold to Drag, then drag across beads to paint a continuous stroke.

Painting with a new color adds it to the map palette automatically.

Mark

Use Mark to track beads you have completed while stitching.

  1. Select Mark from the editing toolbar.
  2. Click or tap a colored bead.
  3. The bead is marked as completed.
  4. Click or tap the marked bead again to remove the completed mark.

Empty beads cannot be marked.

Erase

Use Erase to remove bead colors.

  1. Select Erase from the editing toolbar.
  2. Click or tap a bead to clear it.
  3. On Mac, drag across beads to erase multiple beads.
  4. On iPhone or iPad, hold Hold to Drag, then drag across beads to erase multiple beads.

Erasing a bead also removes its completed mark.

Color controls

Colors and Palette

Pick a custom color

  1. Select Brush.
  2. Click or tap the circular color picker in the floating palette toolbar.
  3. Choose a color.
  4. Paint a bead.

Reuse a color already in the map

  1. Select Brush.
  2. In the floating palette toolbar, click or tap a saved color swatch.
  3. Paint with that color.

Palette codes are assigned automatically. The first colors are labeled A, B, C, and so on.

Show palette codes on beads

  1. Press and hold View colour codes in the floating palette toolbar.
  2. The palette code appears on each colored bead while the control is held.
  3. Release the control to hide the codes.

Move the floating palette toolbar

  1. Drag the small handle at the top of the floating palette toolbar.
  2. Swipe it left or right.
  3. The toolbar snaps to the left or right side of the canvas.

Replace one color everywhere

Use Replace Color when you want to change every bead using a selected color.

  1. Click or tap Replace Color in the editing toolbar.
  2. Click or tap a bead with the color you want to replace.
  3. In the replacement sheet, choose another color from Map Palette or choose a Custom Colour.
  4. Click or tap Replace with Custom Colour if using a custom color.
  5. Beadly updates every bead using the selected source color.

Map structure

Rows and Columns

Add or delete a row

  1. Click or tap Select Row.
  2. Click or tap any bead in the row you want to edit.
  3. Choose Add New Row After or Delete Selected Row.

Add or delete a column

  1. Click or tap Select Column.
  2. Click or tap any bead in the column you want to edit.
  3. Choose Add New Column After or Delete Selected Column.

Rows and columns cannot be reduced below the minimum map size.

Resize the map

  1. Click or tap Resize Map.
  2. Set the new Columns and Rows.
  3. Click or tap Resize.

When increasing width, new columns are added on the left. When decreasing width, columns are removed from the left. When increasing height, new rows are added at the bottom.

Upcoming workflow

Stitching Mode (Coming soon)

Use Stitching Mode while making the bracelet from an existing colored design.

Start stitching mode

  1. Add colors to the design first.
  2. Click or tap Stitching Mode.
  3. Choose a direction: Top Down starts from the top and moves downward, and Bottom Up starts from the bottom and moves upward.
  4. Choose a starting row.
  5. Click or tap Start.

Stitching Mode is available only when the map has colored beads that are not yet completed.

Use stitching mode

  1. Follow the highlighted beads on the current row.
  2. Click or tap Next when that highlighted section has been stitched.
  3. Beadly marks those beads completed and advances to the next section.
  4. Use the percentage indicator to track progress.
  5. Click or tap Stop to leave stitching mode before finishing.
  6. When all colored beads are complete, click or tap Exit.

When the design reaches 100% completion, Beadly shows an All beads stitched message.

Output and settings

Info, Settings, Share, and Print

View bead map information

  1. Click or tap Info.
  2. Review total beads, colors used, completed beads, beads still to complete, and bead counts per color.
  3. Click or tap Done.

Change editor settings

  1. Open More.
  2. Click or tap Settings.
  3. Change any canvas option: Show mini map view, Show row and column numbers, or Draw beads with gradient color.
  4. Click or tap Done.

The mini map is on by default on iPhone and iPad. It is off by default on Mac.

Restore purchases

  1. Open More > Settings.
  2. Click or tap Restore Purchase.

You can also restore purchases from the unlock screen.

Share a design file

  1. Save the document if needed.
  2. Click or tap Share.
  3. Choose where to send or save the .beads file.

Share is disabled until the app has a file URL for the current document.

Print the pattern

  1. Open More.
  2. Click or tap Print.
  3. Use the system print sheet to choose printer settings.
  4. Print the generated pattern sheet.

On Mac, you can also use File > Print or Command-P.

Printed patterns include the bead map and a color legend with palette codes and bead counts.

Purchases

Trial and Unlock

The trial version supports up to 3 colors per map.

If a map uses more than 3 colors, or if you try to add a fourth color, Beadly shows the unlock screen.

Unlock unlimited colors

  1. Click or tap Unlock Now.
  2. Confirm the one-time purchase through the App Store.
  3. Return to the editor after purchase completes.

Restore a previous unlock

  1. Open the unlock screen or Settings.
  2. Click or tap Restore Purchases or Restore Purchase.

Documents

Files

Beadly saves editable designs as .beads files.

These files store:

  • Map width and height
  • Bead colors
  • Palette codes
  • Completed bead marks
  • Creation and update dates

Keep the .beads file if you want to edit the design later.