Coloring apps

There has been an increasing interest in adult coloring, coloring for mindfulness, mandalas, zentangles, and related activities. It can very simple or get very complicated. I learned this when I received some special coloring pages for Christmas and none of the markers or pencils worked on the glossy pages. App makers have decided to try to get in on the action and make coloring available on mobile devices. Most apps are free but they charge for additional coloring pages, color palettes, and filters. I tried each of these apps and thought I'd give a "highly recommended", "recommended", "not recommended".

Highly Recommended

Pigment (Free) iOS only. This app impressed me the most. You can color with pencil, marker, or paint. You can control how much area it fills in and how large a pen, marker, or brush stroke. While coloring you can choose an area to confine your color to or you can draw outside the lines. If you have a newer iPhone / iPad the pressure sensitive screen allows for different saturations of color. The app allows you to save or share, as all the ones I tested do. The pictures that they give and color palettes to choose from are generous. There are only pop-up ads to buy premium features when you want to save or share. You can subscribe to get a new coloring book added monthly and all the premium features. The images used for coloring are vector images which means no matter how much you zoom in or zoom out there is no pixelation, everything looks smooth. This was the best app by far. Subscription prices vary. http://pigmentapp.co/

Colorfy (Free) iOS, Amazon, and Android. A lot of reviews and coloring app users rave about this app. The first thing that disappointed me was that the images are raster images meaning that they getting blocky and distort when you zoom in to fill in small areas. There are less color palette choices. I liked to see the library of other coloring / art people had created. The app allows you to convert pictures that you take into coloring pages. They do have an interesting selection of coloring pages. They have about as many pop-ups trying to sell their $2.99 a week subscription. http://colorfy.net/

Coloring (Free) Android only. There are some really beautiful coloring pages. It has some helpful settings options like left handed, blending colors, soft lines, and giant pencil. The feature that I really liked had to do with creating your own custom colors and then having an eye dropper to duplicate that color you created and used later. Like most coloring apps you just fill the black spots with color and you don't color like it in. There were no ads and I did not encounter any annoying pop-ups trying to sell me premium features. If you wanted additional coloring pages, you pay for them which seems fair. https://goo.gl/qKo0Ve

Recommended

Colorme (Free) iOS and Android. Extremely easy to color and the pictures don't take long to finish. There were an abundant selection of coloring pages and colors. Lots of ads. Apple: https://goo.gl/YJW7qf Android:https://goo.gl/UxdFQj 

Colorfly (Free) iOS and Android.  The app seems like a lesser quality version of Colorfy but with some added coloring pages, colors, and a ton of ads. There are a lot of addons that cost between $1.99 - $9.99. Apple: https://goo.gl/XFlBSn Android: https://goo.gl/rBvBHK

Recolor (Free) iOS and Android. One of the features that was different about this coloring app was if you tapped on an area to add color but you decide you've made a mistake you can tap a second time and it will undo it. There are a lot of cool filters once you are done coloring like water color, crayon, pencil, but also video filters that add movement to the drawing. Apple: https://goo.gl/1gKLzt Android: https://goo.gl/V0nkak

Mandala (Free) Android only. This app has a lot of fans and there are a lot of positive reviews. There is a limited assortment of coloring pages that are all in the same theme and I felt that the color selection was constrained. There is a banner ad at the bottom but not much else trying to sell users. Very basic and maybe good for children or adults that want something really basic. https://goo.gl/rfDnJc

Adult Coloring (Free) Android only. Good selection of coloring pages and colors, there are additional ones that can be purchased. Not a lot of ads. Nice filters that can be added after you are done. An easy to use app. https://goo.gl/QwIhrH 

Not Recommended

1000 Dot to Dot (Free) iOS only. This app was recommended in one of the articles that I read. I tried it on two separate days and ran into a lot of problems. It really isn't a coloring app but dot to dot and each is about 1000 dots. If coloring is supposed to destress and be calming, this is the opposite and made me want to throw my phone across the room.

Adult Coloring Book (.99) iOS only. Another app recommended in an article, it doesn't work well and uses "adult" sophomoric humor that I thought was dumb instead of funny (and trust me I laugh at some dumb things). Besides that there isn't a good selection of colors or pictures.

Apps That Pay You

There are a bunch of apps that will pay you to do certain things: scan barcodes, check-in at stores, take photographs, eat healthy, etc. I downloaded a few and tried them out so you can find out if they are worth your time or not. There are some more apps in this category that I have not gotten around to trying so I may do another round of these in the future.

Foap (Free) Android and iOS. Take pictures and make money by selling them as stock photos to companies. You make $5 each time they sell one of your photos. There are also campaigns where they direct you to take pictures of certain scenes or products. The campaign winners can win between $100 - $1000, depending on the campaign. There is a nice  community of people that are taking pictures all over the world. I have had the app two weeks and it has been fun but I've made no money. https://www.foap.com/

Pact (Free) Android and iOS. If you are a healthy or fitness minded person this one is easy money but you have to be committed. You sign up for a "Pact" there are three to choose from I will visit the gym or workout for 30 minutes a day, five days this week; I will eat five vegetables or fruit in a week; I will track my calories five days a week using the MyFitnessPal app. The app helps you track your exercise, vegetables / fruit, and calorie counting. There is a downside if you do not follow through you are fined $5 per action you failed to do. There are ways to put a "pause"on your "Pact" but I believe you have to do it at the beginning of the week. If you complete all your "Pact" actions you can expect to make between $1.70 and $2.50 a week. I have had it for over a year and have made about $80 total and never paid a penalty. http://www.pactapp.com/

iBotta – (Free) Android and iOS. Receive rebates on things you buy at grocery stores, mass merchandise stores like Target, liquor stores, convenience stores, and movie theaters. Now they have team bonuses for reaching certain rebate levels with friends. When paired with coupons or store specials you can save a bunch of money on a single item. The rebates are paid by Paypal or Venmo gift cardhttps://ibotta.com/

Checkout 51 – (Free) Android and iOS. Very similar to iBotta but it has different rebates, each week the app includes some generic items like milk or bananas that you can get a rebate on. They also have an incentive that each user that uploads a receipt is placed in a weekly drawing for a gift card. I have used this app but have not found much to get a rebate on. http://app.lk/AaP

Mobee (Free) Android and iOS. Users get points for taking pictures and filling out surveys at restaurants and stores that they go to. There are a list of places on the app, when they want you to go there, and the number of points that it is worth. It makes me think of "secret shoppers" if you ever worked in retail. Where people come in with a list of questions or items to check that a company or owner wants. Basically this app makes anyone with a smartphone and sometime on their hands a secret shopper. It takes a lot of pints to earn rewards, but if you are out and going to those places anyway it might help you earn something nice.
http://www.mobeeapp.com/

Shopkicks (Free) Android and iOS. You get points, called kicks, every time you go to a retailer. Scan products on the shelves or buy something you get more kicks. These kicks can be redeemed for gift cards. So even if you aren’t shopping or buying and just tagging along you could earn some free stuff. http://app.shopkick.com/wr2/4ZYPFFW-4ZYX536

Receipt Hog (Free) Android and iOS. Whenever you go shopping you save your receipt and take a picture of it using the app. They assign you a point value for each receipt you upload. Receipts from certain places and items are worth more points. It takes a lot of points / time to get enough points for gift cards but if you don't mind and you are shopping anyways, you may be able to score some free stuff. http://receipthog.com/

Google Opinion Rewards (Free) Android only. Answer some surveys from Google and earn credit toward Google Play Store purchases. Once you download the app you answer a quick survey to see if you qualify. After that it offers you surveys based on location, how often you answer, and other data points. I don't use an Android device often but some friends of mine have raved about how easy it was for them to earn credits for their Google account.  https://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/google_opinion_rewards