I reviewed EVERY Adult Coloring App I could find for the iPad on the App Store, and subscribed to every trial and subscription available, with the goal to find the BEST Digital Coloring App for Adults.
I ended up with 100 digital coloring apps, all claiming to be made for “adults” (some were definitely not), and many charging ridiculous subscription prices for the features they offered. I was even scammed by a few apps, and caught out some copycats!
But after hours of filtering through *not so great* apps, I also found some amazing coloring apps with great features, and spent about an hour in each, seeing just how far I could take their tools to create digital art.
Watch the full video below!
Interesting discoveries
From the 100 apps I reviewed, I found some interesting patterns and trends among the designs and features.
- Almost every app (at least 90/100) offered paid subscriptions or in-app purchases. The free versions were very limited, either offering only basic brushes, a much smaller range of pictures, or a reduced color range (or all 3!)
- A significant number of apps were identical in design, with copied features and the same color palette selection.
- Many apps seemed like a children’s drag-and-drop coloring book, rather than an app built with adults in mind. The only difference was the coloring pages themselves.
- Most apps offered filters, social sharing, and plenty of fancy patterns and fills.
- Very few apps included brushes that could do detailed shading or blending.
- Even if apps included brushes, it was rare to be able to adjust the size or opacity of the brush, and only ONE app from the 100 seemed to have pressure control.
I specifically focused on coloring book apps, not color-by-number apps, so the lack of brushes was disappointing. But it left me with an easy shortlist of apps that I’ve spent more time in and reviewed in more detail for you below.
Here’s a closer look at the top 12 apps from my list.
The Top 12 Adult Coloring Books Apps on the App Store
From all the apps I tried, I’ve chosen just 12 to take a closer look at. I’ve spent about an hour in each of these apps, exploring every feature and coloring a full page, to find out exactly what features they include.
In order of appearance (from the video):
What I reviewed:
GENERAL:
- Pricing – Is there a free version? What is the subscription pricing? (All pricing is listed in USD)
- How many images are included?
- Can you import your own images? (Take a photo, import a JPEG file, etc)
COLOR SELECTION:
- All 12 apps below included color palette recommendations.
- Does it give you access to the full color wheel to choose any color?
- Can you enter a hex code # to get a specific color?
- Can you easily adjust the value (darkness or lightness) of the current color?
- Does it save the history, or allow you to save a custom color palette?
- Does it offer a color picker tool to pick colors directly from the picture?
COLORING TOOLS:
- Does it have line-assist/locked lines to help you color in the lines? (And it is optional to turn off and on?)
- Fill options: Does it only offer plain-colored fills? Or can you also fill with gradients and/or patterns?
- Does it offer a basic brush or include a variety of brushes with different styles? (i.e. paint, crayons, airbrush, etc)
- Can you adjust the brush size and opacity/transparency for blending and shading?
SHARING:
- Can you add extra filters or effects before saving your final image?
- Can you save the picture outside of the app? What’s the quality like? Does it include a watermark (logo) on the final picture?
- Does the app include a community gallery to share your art and get inspired by other artists who’ve colored the same pages?
Adult Coloring Book Color Page
This app has a lot of brushes, but doesn’t allow you to change the size or opacity of any of the brushes, so they are limited in what they can do. Some areas color automatically across lines into connected areas for you, and some shading is pre-defined, which is helpful, but also reduces your control over the final design.
I did notice the color wheel was limited, because I was unable to access a white or the lightest colors. Overall, though, this was a fun app and a great option for beginners.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features, watermarks & ads.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $4.99 USD weekly
– $7.99 USD monthly
– $49.99 USD yearly
| Image range | 1000+ |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes (see comments) |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | No |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills & gradients |
| Brush range | Multiple options |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | No |
| Extra filters or effects | Yes |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, good quality, no watermark |
Colorfy
This app was fun overall, but I found it to be limited. There was a fingerpaint mode but no other brushes, and no adjustable settings. You can’t turn line-assist off. Otherwise, it had a good range of fills and gradient options.
I used the 7-day trial, which gave me access to extra pictures – but when the trial expired, I was unable to go back to those same pictures I had started. One page didn’t save at all, so I lost my progress.
It has an extra “draw a mandala” tool, which is fun to use.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features & ads.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $7.99 USD weekly
– $19.99 USD monthly
| Image range | 1000+ |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | No |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients, patterns |
| Brush range | Basic |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | No |
| Extra filters or effects | Yes |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, with logo |
Color Pop
I enjoyed the range of images in this app. There were a good variety of different brush types available, although the blending and shading was limited due to a lack of adjustable opacity and size of the brushes. With the help of zooming and gradient fills, I was still able to cerate some shading effects.
The history tab frozen my app a few times, but otherwise this was fairly easy to use.Another thing that lets this app down, though, is the lack of color wheel or access to more colors, even in the premium version.
It was probably my least favorite of the final 12, but I think it still stands out from many of the other apps in the I tried.
Update: The free version has SO many ads, that I’d probably take this off my list of 12 if I were to do this video again.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features & frequent video ads.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $1.99 USD weekly
– $9.99 USD monthly
– $49.99 USD yearly
| Image range | “millions” (unlikely) |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | No |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients, patterns |
| Brush range | Good variety |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | No |
| Extra filters or effects | Yes |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes with logo |
These first few apps above were fun, but did lack the brush features and blending abilities that I would like to see in an adult coloring book app. They were overall easy to use and had such good gradients and other features that I still wanted to give them an honorable mention in my final line-up, although they aren’t quite my favorites today.
inColor – Art Coloring Space
inColor is a good app overall, but it lacks the ability to turn off the line assist that helps you color in the lines – which sounds good, except some of the tiniest areas of the artwork became unfillable. Otherwise, I would have enjoyed this app a lot more.
It is one of the better apps I came across, with adjustable brushes and colors.
If you enjoy the app, there’s an option to buy lifetime access instead of the repeating subscription, saving a lot of money over time. It would be great to see this option on other apps!
Pricing:
Free version with limited features & ads.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 3 Day free trial)
– $7.99 USD weekly
– $15.99 USD monthly
– $59.99 USD yearly
– $39.99 USD lifetime
| Image range | (unsure) |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Always on |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients, patterns |
| Brush range | Good variety |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | No |
| Community gallery | Yes (very active) |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, low quality with logo |
Tayasui Color
This app is quite different to the rest. First, it was the only app I found that was a one-off payment instead of a subscription. And it was also the only app to navigate like an actual book. This does mean you can’t find your coloring page as quickly, but it provides a different coloring experience and the range of coloring tools are really enjoyable to use. While it’s different, I really liked this app overall.
Navigating to your page isn’t as simple as other apps, but the flipping between pages is quite fun in itself, and the artwork feels more professional than many of the apps I tried.
The actual coloring experience was fantastic, and I really enjoyed using the watercolor effects. The only downside was that some fills leaked unexpectedly into different areas, but I was able to work around this with the brush tools instead.
a different experience to other apps. Limited range and not as easy to navigate, but set up more like a physical book, and in some ways, makes this more of a realistic tactical experience.
Price: $2.99 USD
| Image range | I counted 48 pages |
| Can you import images? | No |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills & patterns |
| Brush range | Good variety |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | No |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, good quality, no logo or watermarks |
Lake: Coloring Books & Journal
Lake is a unique coloring app, in that it’s focus is to create a mindfulness experience and journal – and it does this really well. In fact, it’s won an Apple design award and editor’s choice award!
The coloring pages are created by indie artists – and each of them have curated their own color palettes for you to work with.
The color wheel seems to be limited to more muted colors, but still includes a huge range of hues and values that work well together. There is no opacity control, but otherwise the tools are great – with different brush types and adjustable sizes.
If you’re looking for an app to help you unwind, it’s worth a look – everything from the style of art to the color palettes are catered to this goal and you’ll be able to create beautiful artwork.
There is also an option to start from a blank canvas and I really love the journaling features.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features.
Subscription Options: (free trial available)
– $9.99 USD monthly
– $39.99 USD yearly
| Image range | 900+ |
| Can you import images? | No |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Plain fills only |
| Brush range | A few options |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Size only |
| Extra filters or effects | No |
| Community gallery | No |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, screen quality with logo below the artwork |
Calmeleon
I wasn’t sure about including Calmeleon in my final line-up, but this app caught my attention as the only color-by-number app I could find that allowed you to color manually. It includes some of the popular 1000 Dot-to-dot books and Querkles coloring books – which are available as physical books as well. So while this wasn’t an outstanding app on its own, I thought it was worth a mention. It includes simple fill and brush tools, and the selection of books and images are quite a challenge and unique to this app.
Pricing:
Free version with limited images.
You can buy additional add-on packs from $0.99-$2.99 USD each
| Image range | (Unsure) |
| Can you import images? | No |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | No |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | No |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | No |
| Fill options | Plain fills only |
| Brush range | Basic |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | No |
| Community gallery | No |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, low quality with logo |
My Top 5 Favorite Coloring Book Apps for Adults
Of the 100 apps I tried, there were just 5 that really fit the standard of coloring app that I was looking for when I set out on this mission today.
Even these 5 apps have their room for improvement, but these were the apps that I was able to create the best art with, without too much extra effort.
Chroma
This app offered the cheapest subscription pricing out of my final 5 favorites.
It had a great range of brushes and tools that were fully customizable, color palettes and the color wheel, a community to share your art and inspire you, and you can import your own images as well.
The one issue that I came across was that I misunderstood the purpose of the pigment liner – this is a brush intended for outlines, so it always sits on top of the other colors. And I accidentally marked my work with it, and wasn’t able to undo far enough to fit it. So I ruined my final piece, but this was avoidable. Overall, this is a good app.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $2.99 USD weekly
– $5.99 USD monthly
– $29.99 USD annually
| Image range | (Unsure) |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients & patterns |
| Brush range | Good variety |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | Yes |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, screen quality with logo |
Recolor
Recolor has over 4000 images to choose from, and is very easy for beginners. This is the only app in my top 5 that doesn’t include adjustable brush sizes and transparency – but the standard brush works fairly well for creating smooth blends, so I was still able to create amazing art and didn’t find this to be as much of a limitation as I expected.
The overall user experience is very simple, but allows for a lot of creativity, and was a lot of fun to use. The community is huge and very active, and you can import your own pictures. The pricing is the most expensive out of the apps I tried, but the free version is very generous with tools and pictures to enjoy.
I also enjoyed the live coloring as something fun and unexpected – although you can’t share these as moving images to the community gallery.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features and ads.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $7.99 USD weekly
– $29.99 USD monthly
– $89.99 USD yearly
| Image range | 4000+ |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients & patterns |
| Brush range | Basic |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | No |
| Extra filters or effects | Yes |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, good quality with logo |
Colorfly
Colorfly is another great app with over 1000 images, including a large range available in the free version. This app does have adjustable brushes and all the features you’d expect from a coloring app for adults, although it’s more basic than some of the others in my top 5. If you’re looking for the color wheel, you can access it by creating a custom color palette. The one downside I came across during my drawing was that the undo button would undo multiple brush strokes at once, and there was no redo button – so I found myself undoing a lot more than I wanted, and unable to go back.
Other than this, I was happy with what I was able to create.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features & ads.
Subscription Options:
(Includes free trial)
– $7.99 USD weekly
– $14.99 USD monthly
– $79.99 USD annually
| Image range | 1000+ |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | No |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills & gradients |
| Brush range | Basic |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | Yes |
| Community gallery | Yes |
| Can you export/save images | Yes with small logo |
Pigment
Out of all the 100 apps I tried, this is still my favorite.
Pigment has over 6000 images- possibly the biggest range of all the apps. It includes an active community to share inspiration and give feedback, and you can import your own pages.
The range of brushes available are more extensive than any other app I’ve seen, and they are full customizable, with pressure-sensitivity if you’re using a stylus or Apple Pencil. You’ve also got the variety of patterns, gradients and fills that other apps offer, along with the option to use the color palettes they’ve created or the color wheel.
Pigment also allows you to enter hex codes for colors – so you can copy your own custom color palettes from The Color Catalog or Pinterest or anywhere else and save them here.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $4.99 USD weekly
– $9.99 USD monthly
– $59.99 USD annually
| Image range | 6000+ |
| Can you import images? | Yes |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | Yes |
| Hex codes? | Yes |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients & patterns |
| Brush range | Good range |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | No |
| Community gallery | Yes, very active |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, good quality, no logo |
Marvel Color Your Own
This is an app specific to Marvel that is made by the Pigment team – so you won’t find florals or mandalas here -but you’ll find all the licensed Marvel and Star Wars coloring pages that you can’t get anywhere else. And because it’s made by Pigment, you’ve got all those same great features to create something amazing.
I have noticed that the color wheel has disappeared, but the range of available color palettes has changed to be more suited to these kinds of pages – so while I’m curious about this, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing.
Pricing:
Free version with limited features.
Subscription Options:
(Includes 7 Day free trial)
– $3.99 USD weekly
– $5.99 USD monthly
| Image range | Marvel only |
| Can you import images? | No |
Color Selection:
| Color wheel available? | No |
| Hex codes? | No |
| Adjustable values? | Yes |
| History or custom palettes? | Yes |
| Color picker tool? | Yes |
Coloring Tools:
| Optional line assist? | Yes |
| Fill options | Fills, gradients & patterns |
| Brush range | Good variety |
| Adjustable brush size & opacity | Yes |
| Extra filters or effects | No |
| Community gallery | No |
| Can you export/save images | Yes, good quality |
What about Procreate?
Now you might be wondering why I didn’t include an app like Procreate in today’s line-up. After all, you can import coloring pages into Procreate and create amazing art pieces without any limitation. Today, I chose to focus specifically on ADULT COLORING BOOK APPS. Maybe in a future video, we’ll look at art apps that you can also use if you want to really take your digital coloring to another level. Art apps will do that, but they also come with a greater learning curve, and they aren’t primarily designed for coloring pages.
You can find my previous articles about using Procreate here, some that are guest posts by other amazing artists!
What is the BEST Coloring Book App for adults?
After reviewing all 100 apps, my favorite app is still Pigment. I have used it previously, but not for at least a year, and it has improved even more since then. It had features than no other app offered- including the hex codes and the pressure-sensitive stylus that more professional art apps offer. This puts it in a league above these other apps, while still being within the same subscription pricing.
I hope to create more tutorials using the Pigment app (or these other apps) in the future, now that I’ve seen the potential! But for now, here’s a look at an older tutorial that the Pigment team created using one of my pictures about a year ago.
Digital Coloring in the Pigment App | Guest Tutorial
This tutorial will take you through the steps of coloring one of Sarah’s adult coloring pages – “This Too Shall Pass” – using different fills, gradients, and shadows to create an eye-catching page.
If you have any other apps you would like to recommend, please let me know in the comments here or in the video on YouTube above! I’d love to hear about them!
(FINAL NOTE: I was given a free Pigment subscription a year ago when I worked with the Pigment team briefly, but I am not currently associated with them or any other apps featured in this review. My subscription expired a few months ago, and the app wasn’t even installed when I started this review. This video was not sponsored or endorsed by any 3rd party, and doesn’t include any affiliate links, so there is no benefit to me favoring a particular app.)
Wow! This is a great look at some apple colouring apps! I was just casually Googling for some good colouring apps and happened to find your page. I wasn’t expecting to find such an in depth review. Thanks!
I was really surprised that the Color Therapy app wasn’t included??? Not even a mention.!!! It does everything you were looking for in an adult coloring book. (Except no hex codes)
I was wondering if you have done or could do another video like this but for coloring apps on android
I can’t find calmeleon on the App Store
Please stop calling sped up videos tutorials. No one can learn the steps in this type of format.
I can’t find pigment
Pigment and Colourfly google play links don’t work, I’m pretty sure they aren’t available because they don’t produce results in playstore
Your Google Play store link for Pigment no longer works, and I cannot find the app on the store for my Android phone.
Thanks for letting us know. This has been updated now. :)
Ummm, Android???
I did a review for Android apps too! They are cheap or even free. Check out at Instagram.com/MyColoringOasis (or head to Facebook)
But Pigment is only one week free.
If you remove the app, you still pay! So watch out!
This is the most comment in the reviews.
I only want free apps, or like Pro Create Just paying once for an app.
There is a free version, just don’t sign up to any trials. With ANY app, the subscription continues as long as you are subscribed in the app store, even if you delete an app. You need to cancel your subscription through iTunes. You can do this as soon as the trial starts, and you’ll still get the week free trial.
But most of these apps offer a free version, with limited brushes and ads, so you don’t need to pay for the subscriptions unless you REALLY want to.
It links to your credit card the second you start your free trial though. That way after one week they start charging you!