Report updated May 7, 2026

TL;DR:Paint by Number (PBN) defends its position in the casual coloring market through a massive library of 30,000+ artist-crafted images, but its reliance on aggressive ad-monetization creates a persistent friction that threatens long-term retention. Users feel Mixed, praising relaxing coloring mechanics provide a calming daily habit for long-term users but frustrated by false advertising regarding offline play and ad-free experience causes user frustration. PBN retains users through a massive content library, but aggressive ad-monetization and misleading offline-play claims erode trust, so the PM must prioritize ad-cadence auditing to prevent churn to ad-light rivals..|TL;DR:Paint by Number (PBN) defends its position in the casual coloring market through a massive library of 30,000+ artist-crafted images, but its reliance on aggressive ad-monetization creates a persistent friction that threatens long-term retention. Users feel Mixed, praising relaxing coloring mechanics provide a calming daily habit for long-term users but frustrated by false advertising regarding offline play and ad-free experience causes user frustration. PBN retains users through a massive content library, but aggressive ad-monetization and misleading offline-play claims erode trust, so the PM must prioritize ad-cadence auditing to prevent churn to ad-light rivals..

Paint by Number: Coloring Game is an established games app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.8/5 rating from 99.3K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate relaxing coloring mechanics provide a calming daily habit for long-term users, though false advertising regarding offline play and ad-free experience causes user frustration remains a common concern.

What is Paint by Number: Coloring Game?

Paint by Number is a casual coloring and puzzle game for mobile users, featuring a number-guided interface and a library of 30,000+ images.

Users hire the app for low-stakes creative relaxation, using the number-matching mechanic to create a consistent daily decompression habit.

Current Momentum

v5.1 · 1w ago

Active
  • Shipped restoration feature for subscriptions.
  • Added new image content library.
AI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.

Active Nemesis

Happy Color by Numbers Game

Happy Color by Numbers Game

By X-Flow

Other Rivals

Pixel Art - Color by Number
Zen Color - Color By Number
Jigsawscapes® - Jigsaw Puzzles
CodyCross: Crossword Puzzles
Paint.ly: Color by Number

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Games

No ranking data

GamesPuzzleGrossing

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?

Loading...

What Are The Key Features?

Number-Guided ColoringStandard

Tap-to-fill interface mapping specific color palettes to numbered segments.

Premium Art LibraryDifferentiator

Access to 30,000+ curated coloring pictures.

Story-Driven ColoringDifferentiator

Narrative-based coloring progression unlocking sequential story chapters.

How much does it cost?

Freemium
  • Free tier with ad-supported gameplay
  • Premium subscription for full content access

Freemium model utilizes ad-supported play for the free tier and subscription gates for content library access.

Who Built It?

Wildlife Studios app icon 1
Wildlife Studios app icon 2
Wildlife Studios app icon 3
Wildlife Studios app icon 4

Wildlife Studios

(25.6M)

Developing high-fidelity mobile games that bridge casual accessibility with competitive multiplayer for a global audience.

Portfolio

13

Apps

Free 10Paid 2
Games67%
Entertainment8%

Who is Wildlife Studios?

Wildlife Studios operates as a genre-agnostic publisher, maintaining a massive legacy portfolio of arcade simulators while pivoting toward high-fidelity, real-time multiplayer ecosystems. Their structural advantage lies in a sophisticated live-ops engine and a cross-promotion network that allows them to scale new competitive titles using their established user base. The key strategic inflection point is their transition from simple physics-based mechanics to complex, service-oriented games that demand higher technical stability and deeper social integration.

Who is Wildlife Studios for?

  • A diverse global user base ranging from casual sandbox creators
  • Families to competitive sports enthusiasts
  • Tactical shooter players
Active

Portfolio momentum

The publisher maintains an active development cycle with 91 releases in the last 6 months across 21 active titles, though 12 legacy apps remain in maintenance.

Last release · 10d agoActive apps · 21Abandoned · 12

What do users think recently?

High confidence · Latest 100 of 113 total reviews analyzed · Based on 113 reviews. Signal may be noisy.

How did the latest release land?

Overall
4.8/ 5
(99.3K)
Current version
4.8/ 5
+0.0 vs overall
(96.4K)
Main signal post-update: relaxing coloring mechanics provide a calming daily habit for long-term users.

What is the recent mood?

Mixed

Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate relaxing coloring mechanics provide a calming daily habit for long-term users, but report false advertising regarding offline play and ad-free experience causes user frustration.

What Users Love

Relaxing coloring mechanics provide a calming daily habit for long-term users

What Frustrates Users

False advertising regarding offline play and ad-free experience causes user frustration

What Users Want

Addition of simpler coloring templates to accommodate younger children

What is the competitive landscape for Paint by Number: Coloring Game?

How's The Games Market?

How does it evolve in the Games market?

The app maintains a high 4.83 rating, but the limited 113-review sample size suggests a fragile user base following the latest update. The high rating contrasts with specific complaints about ad-frequency, signaling that monetization is currently outpacing user tolerance.

ChartRankChange
iOSGrossing#73
iOSGrossing#81

The rivals identified

The Nemesis

Head to Head

The target app must pivot toward community-driven features or exclusive artist partnerships to differentiate from the sheer content volume of this nemesis.

What sets Paint by Number: Coloring Game apart

  • Focuses on a more streamlined, minimalist UI that reduces cognitive load for casual coloring users

  • Provides a more curated selection of artist-crafted masterpieces compared to the broader, high-volume library approach

What's Happy Color by Numbers Game's Edge

  • Leverages a massive, established user base to drive superior algorithmic recommendations for new coloring content

  • Features a more aggressive content release cadence that keeps the daily user experience feeling fresh

Contenders

Specializes in a distinct pixel-art aesthetic that appeals to a specific retro-gaming and nostalgia-driven audience

Integrates advanced tools like a camera-to-pixel-art converter that allows users to create custom coloring pages

Zen Color - Color By Number

Zen Color - Color By Number

4.8 (374.6K)

Oakever Games

Directly competes in the coloring niche with a strong emphasis on relaxation and mindfulness-based UX.

Positions the product as a mindfulness tool with calming soundscapes and minimalist interface design choices

Prioritizes a 'zen' user experience by removing aggressive ad interruptions during the core coloring flow

Peers

Implements a high-velocity release schedule for new puzzle packs to maintain daily active user engagement

Uses a sophisticated progress-tracking system that gamifies the completion of complex, multi-piece jigsaw puzzles

Wraps standard crossword mechanics in a narrative-driven world exploration theme to increase long-term player retention

Employs a unique 'word-reveal' mechanic that provides immediate feedback to keep players in a flow state

New Kids on the Block

Paint.ly: Color by Number

Paint.ly: Color by Number

4.7 (146.9K)

Picfun, Inc.

Shows high operational velocity with 11 releases in the last six months, indicating aggressive feature iteration.

Rapidly iterating on social-first coloring features to capture younger demographics through frequent content updates

Testing experimental monetization models that blend rewarded video ads with low-friction micro-transactions for specific art packs

The outtake for Paint by Number: Coloring Game

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • 30,000+ image library creates high content-variety retention
  • Story-driven progression creates a long-term habit loop

Critical Frictions

  • Aggressive ad-cadence drives high-frequency user churn
  • Offline-play marketing discrepancy triggers negative sentiment

Growth Levers

  • Untapped B2B partnerships for educational coloring content
  • Wearable integration for mindfulness-focused user segments

Market Threats

  • Zen Color's ad-light UX siphons relaxation-seeking users
  • Happy Color's daily content cadence outpaces current updates

What are the next best moves?

highPivot

Audit ad-frequency triggers because high-frequency complaints are the #1 churn driver → stabilize rating baseline.

Sentiment analysis identifies excessive ad frequency as a primary cause for negative ratings.

Trade-off: Pause new content library expansion — ad-retention has higher immediate impact on churn than library volume.

mediumMaintain

Correct offline-play marketing copy because false advertising claims drive 1★ reviews → reduce refund surge.

Users report frustration specifically regarding the mismatch between advertised offline features and actual connectivity requirements.

Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.

A counter-intuitive read

The app's #2 chart rank is a liability, as maintenance-mode at the top of the category makes it more vulnerable to a single live-ops rival than a smaller, climbing app.

Feature Gaps vs Competitors

  • Ad-light core experience (available in Zen Color but missing here)

Key Takeaways

PBN retains users through a massive content library, but aggressive ad-monetization and misleading offline-play claims erode trust, so the PM must prioritize ad-cadence auditing to prevent churn to ad-light rivals.

Where Is It Heading?

Mixed Signals

The casual coloring market is consolidating around ad-light experiences, leaving PBN exposed to rivals that prioritize user flow over immediate ad-impression volume. The PM must pivot from aggressive monetization to retention-focused UX to prevent the current sentiment drag from eroding the user base.

The discrepancy between marketed offline features and actual connectivity requirements drives churn, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.

The latest release added restoration features for subscriptions, showing active maintenance of the core revenue-generating infrastructure.

Disclosure

Independent intel to help builders create better apps.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. See methodology.

Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Paint by Number: Coloring Game, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

Hope this helps & keep building! · Found an error?

What's new in this report

The app transitioned to a freemium model and introduced narrative-based features, but now faces significant user pushback regarding ad-monetization and offline-play discrepancies.

shifted

Freemium Model Adoption

declined

New Friction Points

added

Story-Driven Coloring

added

Competitive Threats

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “Paint by Number: Coloring Game Intelligence Report.” Updated May 7, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/intel-report/games/paint-by-number-coloring-game

Agent Markdown (.md)·

Data licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0