Paint by Number Coloring Games

First Impression

I picked this app up about two weeks ago because my old coloring game got all glitchy after an update — it kept crashing right when I was in the middle of a nice mandala. I was annoyed and just wanted something simple to unwind after work on my OnePlus 11. The first time I opened Paint by Number Coloring Games, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of pages. Animals, landscapes, even weird abstract patterns. It looked okay, not amazing but okay. I picked a cute cat picture and started tapping. The colors popped nicely on my screen, and the zoom feature actually worked better than I expected. But then I noticed the pop-up for notifications and the permission request for storage and something about “device ID.” That made me pause. I didn’t read the whole privacy policy right then, but I made a mental note to check it later. So first impression was mixed — the coloring itself was smooth, but the data stuff bugged me.

What It Does Well

Honestly, when you just want to zone out and color, this app does a decent job. The number system is super easy to follow — you see a number in a section, you tap the matching color from the palette, and the paint fills in. No mess, no need to be precise with your fingers. That’s really the selling point for me. I liked that I could zoom way in on tiny areas without the lines getting blurry, which was a problem in my previous app. The hint system also came in clutch a few times when I got lost in a big section with dozens of tiny numbered spots. It highlights where to go next, so you don’t waste time hunting. There’s a decent variety too — I did a fox, a forest scene, and some flowers over the course of a few evenings. Each one took maybe an hour or two, and I saved them to my gallery. That felt nice. The colors are vibrant, and there’s a good range — probably around 30 to 40 shades per picture. For a free app, the core coloring experience works well enough to keep you tapping for a while.

Where It Falls Short

But it’s not all smooth sailing. The biggest annoyance is the ads. Every time I finished a section of the picture — not even the whole thing, just a chunk — an ad would pop up. Some were unskippable 15-second videos for some phone game. That got old fast. I get it’s free, but come on. Worse, the app kept asking me to buy the premium version to remove ads. Like, every third time I opened the color palette. It felt pushy. Also, I noticed that the “offline” mode isn’t really offline. I turned off Wi-Fi and mobile data, and the app refused to load any new coloring pages until I went back online. So much for coloring on the train. And the color selection, while big, can be confusing. Sometimes two shades are so close together I had to squint to tell them apart, and the numbers on the canvas can be hard to read in very dark of very light areas. You have to zoom in constantly, which gets tiring on your thumbs after a while.

Is It Worth the Price?

The app is free to download, so the “price” is really your time and your patience with the ads. Is it worth it? For a casual, occasional coloring session, maybe. If you’re the type of person who can ignore two or three ads per picture and not get annoyed, then sure. But if you’re someone like me who hates being interrupted, you might end up feeling cheated out of a relaxing experience. I tried the premium version for a day — it was a trial — and honestly, the ad-free experience was much better. But I wasn’t willing to pay the $4.99 a month they asked for. That seems steep for what is essentially a coloring book. I’d rather buy a real one at the dollar store. So for zero dollars, it’s okay. For the premium price, absolutely not worth it in my opinion.

Developer & Support

I had a small issue last Wednesday — a picture I was halfway through just disappeared from my saved projects. I wasn’t sure if it was a bug or me accidentally deleting it. So I tried contacting support through the in-app “Contact Us” button. It took them two full days to reply, and when they did, the email was clearly a copy-paste template. Something like “thank you for your patience, please try restarting the app.” No real investigation, no apology for the lost progress. Just generic advice. I replied asking for more help, and it’s been four days now without a second response. That tells me they don’t really care about individual users. Feels like they just push out updates and hope people don’t complain much. Not a great feeling when you’ve invested time into their app.

Privacy & Safety

Here’s where I get really cautious. The app’s privacy policy is a long wall of text that I actually sat down and read one evening. It collects device identifiers, your approximate location (even if you deny GPS, they try to guess it from your IP), crash data, and how long you spend in the app. They also share data with third-party ad networks, which explains the creepy ads I kept seeing for the same game over and over. What bothered me most was the permission for “device ID and call information” — on Android, that’s a red flag. They don’t need that for a coloring app. I also noticed it tried to access my camera at one point. I denied that. There’s no social login option, which is actually good for privacy, but the data tracking still feels excessive for coloring flowers. I turned off as many permissions as I could, but the app still works fine, so why do they even ask for them? Makes me suspicious.