Disney Coloring World Review

Story Toys new coloring app called Disney Coloring World features many of Disney’s well known characters and franchises including the classic originals such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, plus a selection of Disney Princesses including Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida plus newer characters such as Wreck It Ralph and Lightning McQueen.

This app is bursting with different images to color in, with different categories such as Princesses, Cars, Classics etc, that are filled with dozens of different characters and poses.

The selection of images is pretty large for launch and offers countless hours of enjoyment, but for a subscription based app, I can’t help but think they need to make sure there is regular monthly updates with new content and characters.  There are hundreds more characters, movies and shows for this Coloring app to explore and no details on future expansions have been announced.   If there aren’t plans for future expansions, it should be a single purchase app rather than a subscription model in my opinion.

I found the design for the menus while coloring in, to be very easy to use and simple to pick up.  Different colors on one side and different styles of tool on the other.  Though I occasionally nudged a color by mistake with my hands, but this was easy to fix with the undo button.

One of the biggest issues I had with using the app was about how little control I felt I had while coloring in.  The simple reason was I never felt I had enough control while trying to do the more detailed work.  Using just my fore finger always felt more luck than skill, resulting to just trying to use the tip of my fingernail to get into the tight spots, which still failed.  Maybe with longer fingernails this would be easier.

And that leads onto one of the things that I just kept thinking while using it.  It feels like it needs a pen accessory, like the Apple Pencil etc.   A couple of years ago I reviewed Disney Art Academy on the Nintendo 3DS, which had the benefit of having a stylus to use like a pen and I can’t help but think that if I was using a real accessory, all of those issues with a lack of control would be gone.  But I can’t justify spending additional money on a accessory I’ve never need before this app.

This isn’t Disney’s first coloring app, as they also launched “Color By Disney”, which also used to offer a subscription model, but Disney closed the app down in August 2018 to outsource their game output to outside companies.  And I used to use that app occasionally and it had much more detailed images for adult Disney fans, which this new app just doesn’t seem to be catering for.  Disney Coloring World feels more like a children’s app, which feels like a lost opportunity for a large user base, but by being more focused on a younger audience, it does what it needs to.

The good thing is that once your into the app, there aren’t any adverts or additional pop-ups to purchase more items like in most mobile apps, which is a bonus for parents.  But may put adult users off, especially with how childish the whole app feels.

At $19.99 for a years subscription, its not too bad if its going to be used throughout the year.   And for the same price, if this is for some kids, you could just go and buy a pile of cheap coloring books and pencils for less money, without having to keep spending money on a subscription.  And for adult users, there are much better and detailed books or apps out there.   This app is trying to recreate something simple and nearly has succeeded, But I would suggest maybe trying the app for its free trial or just a month to begin with.

*** Update – The app was updated with Frozen content within the first month and it looks like they are planning regular content.