Comparison

Hue Essentials vs MiniPaints

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Hue Essentials

Unlock the full potential of your smart lighting system. Create custom scenes, dynamic effects, and automate your lights with schedules and triggers. Control multiple smart home bridges and devices seamlessly for a personalized ambiance.

Highlights
  • Custom scenes and effects
  • Music and entertainment sync
  • Sunrise/sunset automation
  • Multi-bridge control
  • Device discovery and setup
  • Button and sensor automation
  • Away from home control
Features
Read full description

Imagine unlimited possibilities in your smart home. Set scenes and fast effects to your mood. Experience Dance Sensation in your entertainment area with Philips Hue Entertainment. Feel more in control with schedules and automation from sunrise to sunset. Control multiple bridges simultaneously without switching between them. Supported devices • Philips Hue bridge • Philips Hue Bluetooth lights • deCONZ (ConBee) • diyHue • LIFX Scenes & effects Create the perfect ambiance from your photos or the included photo library. Experience special animations like lava, fireplace, fireworks, or lightning. Wake up at sunrise and go to sleep at sunset with fading lights. Get into the party on the beats of your music. Sync your lights for a night of disco with strobe effects (updates 25 times/sec). Quick access Create rooms and groups to organize your lights. You can even put a light in several groups. Smart lights & controls The unique ‘Touchlink’ search allows you to find new (3rd party, Zigbee) lights. Use included wizards for easy setup of your devices. You can set scenes, actions, or even multiple scenes on a button to make your switch a real investment. Experience the right ambiance during different times of your day with your motion sensor. All of your creations are stored on the bridge. Easy for you and your family. Advanced Automation allows you to have greater control of your smart home. Turn on your lights when the door opens. Adjust your ventilation when the humidity gets too high. Open or close blinds and curtains based on temperature or sunshine. Make it look like you are at home using 'Away from Home' (out of home control). Communicate directly with your Hue bridge using the API debugger. View technical details of your Hue bridge and update its resources like lights and sensors. You want it all? Fast performance with ad-free experience. Purchase the premium version to unlock full content.

About

MiniPaints

This app helps miniature painters find and mix paints, create color schemes, and organize their paint collections. It features a paint mixing simulator, color capture from photos, and a barcode scanner for easy inventory management.

Highlights
  • Save and share paint recipes
  • Paint mixing simulator
  • Analogous and complementary color finder
  • Color capture from photos
  • Color scheme generator
  • In-stock and wishlist tracking
  • Barcode scanner
Read full description

● SAVE AND SHARE PAINT RECIPES* A brand new module to save and share paint recipes and organise them into projects. You can share, scan and import paint recipes with YouTube video, Dropbox or Google Drive image, notes and Social network infos, using the MiniPaints QR Code system. ● PAINT MIXER* A paint mixing simulator with proportions and medium dilution. A gradient paint mode allow you to display colors as on palette. ● ANALOGOUS & COMPLEMENTARY COLORS MiniPaints helps to find analogous colors in the different ranges and complementary colors. ● COLOR CAPTURE ON PHOTOS* Capture and save colors on images or photos and find similar colors in all the paint ranges. ● PHOTO FILTERS* Apply photo filters on image to help you to bring out highlights of a painted miniature (available filters : Contrast, Black & White, Sepia, Invert). ● COLOR PICKER The color picker allows to find paints from the Color Wheel by automatic hexadecimal color code. ● COLOR SCHEMES* The brand new Color Schemes help to find color harmony on the Color Wheel (Monochromatic, Analogous, Complementary, Split-Complementary, Triad, Tetrad, Square). It's possible to search for paints directly from the schemes elements and to find variants by changing the brightness. ● IN-STOCK LIST and WISHLIST help you to track paints. ● BARCODE SCANNER (FREE!) Quickly add your paints by scanning barcodes. ● SIMPLE SEARCH A very simple to use search engine helps to find paints with only one text input. You can also combine color and manufacturer criteria for even faster filtering. You can even directly enter hexadecimal color code (with the # symbol) to launch search. ● PAINT RANGES (about 4000 references)** The current version contains the most used paints in the miniature painting community and few old ranges to find matches: - Ak Interactive® 3rd Gen - Citadel® (includes New Citadel Contrast, Air, Base, Spray Paints and old Citadel colors) - Coat d’arms (Fantasy Colours, Super Washes, Military Colours, World War II Colours) - Green Stuff World® (Acrylic Paints, Metallic Paints, Acrylic Inks, Acrylic Fluor Paints) - Kimera Kolors® (Pure Pigments Acrylics, Danilo Cartacci Signature Set, Michal Pisarski NMM Signature Set) - Nocturna® N-Paints (Aux, Basic, Ink, Metal) - Prince August® (Classic, Air, Games, Games Air, Panzer Aces, Mecha Color) - Privater Press® Formula P3 (Paints, Ink, Wash) - Molotow One4All® - Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl® - Reaper®(MSP, MSP Bones, MSP Pathfinder) - Scale 75® (Acrylic Paint, Fantasy & Games, Instant Colors, Artist, Warfront, FX Fluor Experience, Mystic) - The Army Painter® (Acrylic Warpaints, Metallics Warpaints, Quickshade, Washes) - Vallejo® (Model Color, Model Air, Game Color, Game Air, Game Color Effects, Game Color Extra Opaque, Game Color Inks, Wash Game Color, Nocturna, Panzer Aces, Mecha Color, The Shifters) - WarColours™ (Fluorescent, Gem, Glaze, Inks...) More to come: - Other paint ranges will be added (Tamiya, Turbo Dork, Pro Color, Secret Weapon, Alclad II, AMMO by MIG Jimenez, Andrea Color, Darkstar, Liquitex) - Data export *Available for those who support the development of MiniPaints. All other features (like barcode scanner, analogous and complementary color list, all paint ranges) are free. **All trademarks or registered trademarks are ® or ™, and/or © of their respective owners.

Screenshots

Hue Essentials4 screens
MiniPaints4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: MiniPaints at 87% against Hue Essentials's 38%. MiniPaints also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Hue Essentials's advantage is device support (5 vs 3). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Hue Essentials sells 8 one-off in-app purchases and MiniPaints sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MiniPaints holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 139 and 60 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of Hue Essentials's written reviews are positive against 87% of MiniPaints's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Hue Essentials versus MiniPaints: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHue EssentialsMiniPaints
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (139 ratings)4.6 (60 ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.8% of reviews86.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings139 — better60
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size271 MB50 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThomas VosChristophe Garreau

Customer experience

Hue Essentials

All ratings138 ratings
Positive77.5%
Neutral7.2%
Negative15.2%
Written reviews241 reviews
Positive37.8%
Neutral8.3%
Negative53.9%

MiniPaints

All ratings60 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral3.3%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive86.7%
Neutral2.9%
Negative10.5%

User reviews

Hue Essentials

From 139 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent Hue lighting control
  • 👍 Works well with multiple bridges
  • 💡 Customizable remote controls
  • 🚀 Faster than official Hue app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and crashes frequently
  • 🔒 In-app purchases required for key features
  • 👎 Poor execution and user experience
  • 🔋 Widgets and Apple Watch app not working

MiniPaints

From 60 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for tracking paints
  • 💡 Useful project system
  • 👍 Compares colors across brands
  • 👍 Stores project recipes and steps
  • 👍 Handy for shopping

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App won't open/load
  • 🐛 Outdated paint references
  • 🐛 Missing many new paints
  • 🐛 No longer relevant due to market changes
  • 🐛 Developer seems to have abandoned app

Bugs and requests

Hue Essentials

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Fade feature not working
  • Saving automations not working
  • Crashes when checking 'About' section
  • Widgets and Apple Watch app issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Repeat/loop function for automations
  • Strobing/flashing effects
  • Dark mode
  • Alexa integration

MiniPaints

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App won't open
  • App won't load past 'loading paints please wait'
  • Camera function not working
  • No way to contact developer
  • No landscape mode for iPad

Requested features

19 requests
  • Add new paints and brands (Vallejo Game Color, Two Thin Coats, Duncan, Tamiya, Army Painter Speedpaint, Vallejo Xpress, Culturehustle, Reaper)
  • Share to text feature
  • Additional characters for notes
  • Allow users to update paint lists
  • Add Duncans, Two Thin Coats, line of paints
Show 14 more
  • Add Tamiya paints
  • Add picture at each paint step instead of just a completed sub part
  • Add Citadel Shades and Contrasts when released
  • Add Vallejo line of Xpress paints
  • Add Australian paint retailers
  • Ability to manually add paints into inventory
  • Search by RGB/Pantone
  • Landscape mode for iPad
  • Alternate views on paints (grids, smaller icons)
  • Data management using iCloud or Dropbox
  • Share paint list with another user
  • Add Culturehustle paints
  • Compare any color to any other color
  • Dark mode option

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Hue Essentials

One-time8
  • Effects: Christmas$0.99
  • Effects: Universe$0.99
  • Effects: Wonders of nature$0.99
Show 5 more
  • Effects: Romantic$0.99
  • Effects: Floral fantasy$0.99
  • Effects: Spooky$0.99
  • Multiple bridges$4.99
  • Premium$7.99
5 purchases

MiniPaints

One-time5
  • Silver Sponsor (discounted)$1.99
  • Bronze Sponsor$3.99
  • Silver Sponsor$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Gold Sponsor$8.99
  • Platinum Sponsor$17.99

Questions

Is Hue Essentials free?
Hue Essentials is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MiniPaints free?
MiniPaints is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Hue Essentials or MiniPaints?
MiniPaints is rated higher. Hue Essentials averages 4.2 out of 5 from 139 ratings, while MiniPaints averages 4.6 from 60 ratings.
Do Hue Essentials or MiniPaints have ads?
Neither Hue Essentials nor MiniPaints shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hue Essentials or MiniPaints?
Hue Essentials ships an update every 2 weeks, and MiniPaints every 2 weeks. Most recently, Hue Essentials was updated on October 22, 2026 and MiniPaints on October 7, 2026.

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