Report updated May 19, 2026
Dark Color: Paint by Number
For teens and adults seeking a calm, creative outlet through mature, atmospheric, and surreal art styles.
Dark Color: Paint by Number is a struggling games app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.5/5 rating from 18.8K reviews, it struggles with user retention. Users particularly appreciate high quality visual artwork provides a relaxing experience for users who enjoy coloring, though excessive ad frequency during active coloring sessions disrupts the relaxation and flow remains a common concern.
What is Dark Color: Paint by Number?
Dark Color is a paint-by-number coloring app for teens and adults, featuring surreal and moody illustrations on iOS.
Users hire the app for meditative, low-stakes creative flow, but the current ad-heavy design forces interruptions that break the very relaxation they seek.
Current Momentum
v3.2 · 3d ago
Steady- Shipped new surreal illustration themes.
- Improved zoom and coloring performance.
What makes this app unique?
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What Are The Key Features?
Curated collection of illustrations focusing on alternative aesthetics, surrealism, and symbolic imagery.
Automated coloring function that fills larger sections of an illustration with a single tap.
Full functionality available without an active internet connection.
How much does it cost?
- Free tier with ad-supported access to the illustration library
Monetization relies on ad-inventory generated through high-frequency, low-friction coloring sessions.
Who Built It?
POMELO TECH
Providing accessible digital coloring experiences for users seeking stress-relief and creative outlets. Focused on simple, tap-to-color mechanics.
Portfolio
2
Apps
What other apps does POMELO TECH make?
Explore the full POMELO TECH report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by POMELO TECH.
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · Latest 60 of 76 total reviews analyzed · Based on 76 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a upset sentiment. Users appreciate high quality visual artwork provides a relaxing experience for users who enjoy coloring, but report excessive ad frequency during active coloring sessions disrupts the relaxation and flow and aggressive monetization tactics and subscription costs create a negative user experience.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
How have ratings & review volume moved?
Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.
Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Dark Color: Paint by Number?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (15)
How's The Games Market?
How does it evolve in the Games market?
The app holds a #73 Free rank in the US and #99 Grossing, but the grossing rank lagging behind free discovery signals monetization friction. The 4.5-star rating on 18,753 reviews confirms a strong core product that is currently being undermined by ad-density.
Rank progression
17 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
With over 1.6 million reviews and a high release cadence, this app dominates the paint-by-number category through sheer content volume and market presence.
Differentiators
- Maintains a massive, constantly refreshed library of daily content that keeps users returning for new challenges
- Leverages a mature, high-frequency update cycle that consistently introduces new thematic categories and seasonal events
- Utilizes a highly optimized monetization funnel that balances free-to-play access with aggressive premium content gating
Head to head
The target app must double down on its unique 'moody/surreal' brand identity to avoid being commoditized by Wildlife's massive, general-purpose content engine.
Contenders(3)
Directly targets the 'calm' and 'relaxation' value proposition of the target app with high user satisfaction.
Differentiators
- Prioritizes a minimalist, zen-focused UI that minimizes visual noise to enhance the meditative coloring experience
- Curates a specific library of soothing, atmospheric art styles that directly overlap with the target's aesthetic
A secondary, high-performance title from Wildlife Studios that competes directly on feature parity and update frequency.
Differentiators
- Focuses on a streamlined, rapid-fire coloring experience designed for quick, casual sessions throughout the day
- Implements a simplified progression system that rewards users for consistent daily coloring streaks
A massive competitor in the pixel-specific niche with a long-standing history and high user engagement.
Differentiators
- Specializes in pixel-art specific tooling that provides a distinct, retro-inspired coloring experience for enthusiasts
- Features a highly refined social sharing integration that encourages user-generated content and community growth
Same space(2)
Positions itself as a premium, professional-grade coloring tool rather than a casual game.
Differentiators
- Provides advanced digital coloring tools like brushes and pencils that mimic real-world artistic media
- Targets a prosumer audience looking for creative control rather than simple paint-by-number automation
An adjacent puzzle-art experience that competes for the same 'creative relaxation' time slot.
Differentiators
- Combines traditional jigsaw mechanics with coloring elements to create a hybrid, multi-layered puzzle experience
- Uses high-quality, artistic imagery that appeals to the same aesthetic-conscious audience as the target app
New entrants(1)
Demonstrates aggressive growth with 20 releases in the last six months, signaling a rapid feature-iteration strategy.
Differentiators
- Rapidly deploying new puzzle categories and seasonal content to capture market share from established players
- Integrating social competition elements that drive higher session lengths compared to static coloring apps
Compare Dark Color: Paint by Number against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Dark Color: Paint by Number
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Surreal art library differentiates from mass-market competitors
- Offline-first architecture maintains habit loops
- Dark mode increases nighttime session duration
Critical Frictions
- High ad-density disrupts user flow
- Subscription costs exceed category median
- Reports of inappropriate ad content
Growth Levers
- Untapped B2B partnerships in education
- Expansion into wearable-friendly puzzle formats
Market Threats
- Wildlife Studios' content-volume advantage
- Easybrain's social-sharing network effects
- Rising user churn due to ad-frequency fatigue
What are the next best moves?
Audit ad-network partners because inappropriate ad content is a top complaint → restore brand trust
User sentiment analysis flags inappropriate ads as a major concern for parents and users.
Trade-off: Pause new illustration library expansion — brand safety takes precedence over content volume.
Reduce ad-frequency during active coloring sessions because it is the #1 churn driver → increase session retention
Sentiment data shows high-frequency ads make the app feel unplayable for many users.
Trade-off: Accept short-term ad-revenue dip — long-term LTV depends on reducing churn.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's #2 chart rank is a risk, as maintenance-mode at the top is more vulnerable to a single live-ops rival than a lower-ranked app climbing the chart.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Real-time social competition (available in Jigsawscapes but absent here)
- Advanced digital brush tools (available in Pigment but absent here)
Key Takeaways
Dark Color holds a strong niche through its surreal art, but the aggressive ad-monetization is actively destroying its user base, so the PM must prioritize ad-density reduction to stabilize retention.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The casual coloring market is consolidating around high-frequency content updates, and the current ad-heavy strategy leaves this app exposed to rivals with better monetization balance. The PM must pivot to a subscription-first model to avoid losing the niche audience to competitors like Zen Color.
High ad-density in the latest version triggers user churn, which compounds the negative sentiment already visible in recent reviews.
The latest release added new surreal illustration themes, showing that the team is still investing in the core art library.