There’s an App for That???

Adult coloring? Of course, there is an app for that now!

In a world where people constantly struggle to find time to “unplug” from their electronic devices, it was practically inevitable that the adult coloring trend would get digitized to accommodate everyone. There are a multitude of different adult coloring apps out there, many of them free apps, for all your digital coloring wants and desires. I have tried a few of these and can’t seem to put them down, but there are a lot that I haven’t tried which compelled me to do some research and share with you.

One of the apps that I’d never heard of before was Momi Coloring. I encountered this app in a post by Susan Spring on the blog Coloring For Fun. It seems like a pretty cool coloring app from what I have read. The app offers a limited selection of free illustrations, and you can easily unlock all the colors by rating the app. Overall, it seems okay, but I can see why it may not be as popular as others.

Another app that I recently found out about which I haven’t downloaded and tried yet is an app called Colorfly. I read about it in a review post on another blog. This app seems pretty cool because you can easily gain access to all pictures by giving a review in the app store instead of paying money. The biggest con that seems to come with this app is the confusing interface, and in addition it doesn’t zoom in as much as other apps.

Yet another app is Recolor. While I also haven’t tried Recolor, it is one of the most popular apps for adult coloring out there. According to the developer’s website (Sumiong), once you finish a picture in Recolor you can use different style themes that make the picture look like it was done in pencil, marker, acryl, and more which I think is totally awesome.

The very first coloring app that I actually downloaded was called Colorfy, which from my knowledge is quite similar to Colorfly. According to Chicago Tribune writer Amina Elahi, Colorfy flew to No.2 among free apps within three days of its debut. I can personally see why since I was addicted to it the minute I started my first design.

Colorfy offers a range of free illustrations to color which vary in intricacy and difficulty. According to Elahi (and I agree), the app makes it convenient to express your creativity anywhere. I love this because I will often use the app while I am waiting for my classes to start or as a break from homework when I need a small distraction.

Colorfy is simple, easy, and fun to use. Here is an example of a illustration I created on Colorfy:

An article on Yahoo also talks about Colorfy. The article talks about its popularity and humorously says that Colorfy is keeping stressed-out adults away from Candy Crush. The article also points out that you can share your designs through multiple social media outlets such as Pinterest and Instagram which I often like to do.

My absolute favorite coloring app to use is called Prismajoy. I just recently downloaded it a few weeks ago. It completely took my attention away from Colorfy because of its seasonally appropriate coloring page choices such as breast cancer awareness and Halloween illustrations for October. Although one draw back is that it doesn’t offer a lot of color options unless you buy them in the app.

Award-winning designer, Joy Renee, illustrated some of the art exclusively for Prismajoy according to it’s website. You can color images such as Florals, Cupcakes, Mandalas, Animals and more. In addition, the app is entertaining, stress relieving and fun. Here is one of the designs I’ve done on Prismajoy:

Tim Brookes, on the website Make Use Of, says that these apps help you to “zone out, meditate, practice mindfulness, and simply express yourself creatively without getting paint everywhere.” I happen to agree with this to a point. Using coloring apps does help me zone out and it’s nice to need nothing more than a tablet or phone to color, but it will never replace actual coloring to me.

Even moreso, I side with the view of Stuart Dredge from The Guardian when he says that these apps miss the physical element of actual coloring books. Tapping a space to make it a certain color is no match for the tangible relief of scribbling with a pencil.

In addition, I further agree with his point that these apps are on devices where emails, social networks, incoming calls and other digital distractions are only a tap away, and can “plug” you back into your busy, hectic life in an instant. Actual coloring allows you to completely “unplug” from the stresses of life.

So…yeah there are apps for adult coloring now, and they are awesome, but don’t forget about the real deal that started it all.