App guide

Using Colour Within

Last updated: 8 June 2026

Colour Within is adult paint-by-numbers for iPad: structured enough to begin, quiet enough to stay with, and open enough for the result to feel like yours.

What Colour Within is

Each artwork is prepared as a set of paintable areas with a palette chosen to work beautifully together. You choose a colour, find the matching shapes, and fill the page at your own pace.

It is not a freeform drawing app, a game, or a streak to maintain. There are no scores, timers, leaderboards, or penalties for leaving a page unfinished.

What you need

• An iPad that can run the current version of Colour Within.
• Apple Pencil if you have one, or your finger if you prefer.
• An internet connection to browse and download new artworks. Downloaded work can be opened again offline.

Finding an artwork

The Library is where you browse available artworks. The Daily view highlights the current featured page. My Work keeps the pages you have already started, so you can return to them without beginning again.

Colouring a page

1. Open an artwork from Daily, Library, or My Work.
2. Choose a colour from the palette.
3. Use the Paintbrush, Pencil, or Tap Fill to colour the matching area. Paintbrush is selected for you when you start.
4. Change colours whenever you want to continue through the page.

The structure is there to reduce the blank-page problem. You are still choosing the pace, the order, and how long you want to stay.

Tools

Colour Within includes simple tools for filling, colouring, correcting, highlighting, and moving around the page. Apple Pencil is recommended for precision, but every core tool also works with touch.

When you open an artwork for the first time, Paintbrush is ready to use. It starts with a medium nib size, about halfway along the size slider. Matching areas use the checkerboard highlight by default, so you can see where the selected colour belongs.

Apple Pencil and finger drawing

You can draw with Apple Pencil, your finger, or both. If Apple Pencil is connected when you first tap to draw, Colour Within asks whether you want drawing limited to Apple Pencil or available with both Apple Pencil and finger.

You can change this later in Settings.

Keeping area numbers visible

The highlight popover includes a Keep area numbers visible option. When it is on, each area number remains visible after the area is filled or coloured. A light halo around the number keeps it readable over darker colours.

Your choice is remembered when you leave and reopen the app.

Help while colouring

The toolbar help button opens a labelled guide to the colouring controls. Colour Within also shows small first-time tips for the palette and highlight controls, then points you back to the help card if you want the full control reference again.

Saving and returning

Your progress is saved on your iPad. Started pages appear in My Work, where you can continue, review, or delete them later. If you reopen Colour Within within four hours, it returns to the page you were colouring.

Deleting work

To delete a saved colouring session, open My Work, press and hold the drawing, then choose Delete from the context menu. Deleted drawings cannot be recovered.

Subscription and ads

Colour Within is free with ads. The ad-free subscription removes ads everywhere in the app. It does not unlock extra artworks, tools, or tiers.

Feedback

If something feels rough, confusing, broken, or visually odd, a short report helps. Screenshots are especially useful for artwork and interface issues.

If you are testing through TestFlight, please file feedback from TestFlight with the build number visible.

You can open a feedback issue on GitHub, start a discussion, or contact us privately at team@colourwithin.app.

Need more help?

The support page has contact details, subscription notes, crash-reporting guidance, and privacy-related help.