Comparison

Puppet Pals vs Hello WaterColor

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

Head to head
About

Puppet Pals

Bring your stories to life by creating animated shows in real time. Choose actors and backdrops, then record your movements and voice to produce unique performances. Unleash your creativity with endless storytelling possibilities.

Highlights
  • Real-time animation recording
  • Create actors from photos
  • Use photos as backdrops
  • Zoom and rotate characters
  • Downloadable creative characters
  • Director's Pass for all content
Read full description

Create your own animated shows in real time! Pick your actors and backdrops, drag them onto the stage, and tap record. Your movements and voice are captured live, ready to play back, save, and watch again. Act out a pirate adventure on the high seas, a spooky monster showdown, or a Wild West escape — and mix any characters and scenes however you like. Your shows are only limited by your imagination. FREE FEATURES - A stage full of characters and backdrops to perform with - Turn a photo into a character or a backdrop - Record shows with live animation and audio - Zoom, rotate, and flip characters as you perform - Save shows and watch them anytime CREATIVE CLUB (optional subscription) Join the Creative Club to unlock the full show: - Imagine any character or backdrop, describe it, and watch AI bring it to life - Every character and scene pack included - Record shows up to 10 minutes long - Draw your own characters and backdrops - Export your shows as videos - Widescreen stage and full control over the end-of-show outro Choose your plan, monthly or annual: - Essentials — includes 40 AI creations per month - Unlimited — includes up to 1,000 AI creations per month SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://www.polishedplay.com/puppetpals1/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Puppet Pals is fully usable without a subscription — the Creative Club just adds more magic.

About

Hello WaterColor

This app offers a realistic watercolor painting experience with advanced fluid simulation for natural pigment blending. It supports various watercolor techniques and pencil sketching, making it ideal for both beginners and aspiring artists to learn and create. Explore different brushes, colors, and coloring books.

Highlights
  • Realistic watercolor brushes
  • Pencil sketching support
  • Fluid simulation for pigment blending
  • Support for watercolor techniques
  • Free coloring books
  • Drying tool
Features
Read full description

Hello WaterColor is a realistic watercolor painter. It is a good painting tool for kids to learn how to paint water color.   Watercolor is a drawing method using water-soluble pigments.  Based on fluid simulation technology, Hello Watercolor simulates blending and spreading behaviors of pigments. This feature makes it possible to express techniques such as “wet-in-wet”, “wet-in-dry”, “dry brush”, and “dry on wet”.   Pencils are also supported. You can draw an initial sketch with the pencil tools then apply watercolor brushes on it.   Full version provides watercolor brushes with 32 color * three sizes, 32 color pencils and 6 types of erasers Features - Realistic Water color brushes - Pencils - Dry button to dry water on the paper - Free Coloring Books - IAP items : Full version, Watercolor painting book #1, Watercolor painting book #2

Screenshots

Puppet Pals4 screens
Hello WaterColor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Puppet Pals at 71% against Hello WaterColor's 46%. Puppet Pals also leads on rating (3.8 vs 3.6). Hello WaterColor's advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 17.0). 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. Puppet Pals sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Hello WaterColor sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Puppet Pals holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 53 and 86 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Puppet Pals's written reviews are positive against 46% of Hello WaterColor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Puppet Pals ships an update every 6 months, Hello WaterColor every 7 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Puppet Pals versus Hello WaterColor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppet PalsHello WaterColor
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (53 ratings) — better3.6 (86 ratings)
Positive reviews70.9% of reviews — better45.8% of reviews
Number of ratings5386 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.09.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size77 MB75 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPolished Play, LLCRaysoft.co

Customer experience

Puppet Pals

All ratings53 ratings
Positive69.8%
Neutral7.5%
Negative22.6%
Written reviews213 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral7.5%
Negative21.6%

Hello WaterColor

All ratings83 ratings
Positive57.8%
Neutral14.5%
Negative27.7%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive45.8%
Neutral9.7%
Negative44.4%

User reviews

Puppet Pals

From 53 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ⭐ Great app for classrooms and education
  • 🤩 Lots of fun and creativity
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 💯 Awesome for making videos and animations
  • 🎨 Ability to use own photos and characters

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features require paid upgrade
  • 🤬 Frustrating that you can't use own characters without paying
  • 🐛 Bugs with exporting and saving videos
  • 🙄 Limited free content

Hello WaterColor

From 86 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🎨 Good watercolor effect
  • ✨ Convenient for sketches
  • 🖌️ Blends colors softly
  • 💡 Useful for artists

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashing
  • 🐛 App closes unexpectedly
  • 🐛 Work is lost after crashing
  • 🗑️ Limited color selection
  • 🗑️ Colors don't mix well

Bugs and requests

Puppet Pals

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when trying to export videos
  • Saved videos not playing back properly
  • Issues with using own photos and characters

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more characters, backgrounds, and themes
  • Allow exporting and sharing of videos
  • Improve video editing and recording features
  • Add sound effects and background music options

Hello WaterColor

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • App closes and won't reopen
  • Save icon closes the app
  • Clicking on new closes the app
  • App crashes often
  • App freezes up phone
Show 15 more
  • App quits constantly
  • App closes and work is lost
  • App crashes when going to shop
  • App freezes when choosing preview
  • App keeps crashing and not saving
  • App closes on me and erases all my work
  • App closes out of the app fully if I go off screen with pen
  • App crashes a few times
  • App stops and work is lost
  • Keeps kicking me out of the app
  • App stops and all work is gone
  • Kicks me out when I paint
  • App crashes and deleting some of the work
  • App has latched onto my screen in the apps utility and I can't get it off
  • Still broken after update

Requested features

12 requests
  • Add zoom feature
  • Add blending tool
  • More colors
  • Better shading and quality pencils
  • Add glitter
Show 7 more
  • More pencils and pens
  • Add fan brush
  • Add tutorial
  • Add layers
  • Ability to import images
  • Fix jagged edges
  • Fix noise

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Puppet Pals

One-time10
  • Wild West$0.99
  • Political Par-tay$0.99
  • Monsters$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Talk Shows$0.99
  • Pirates$0.99
  • Fairytale$0.99
  • Zombie Attack$0.99
  • On the Farm$0.99
  • Christmas$0.99
  • Director's Pass$3.99
8 purchases

Hello WaterColor

One-time8
  • water.fullversion$0.99
  • water_ibook1$0.99
  • water_ibook2$0.99
Show 5 more
  • water_cbook123$0.99
  • water_cbook4$0.99
  • water_cbook5$0.99
  • water_cbook6$0.99
  • water_cbook7$0.99

Questions

Is Puppet Pals free?
Puppet Pals is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hello WaterColor free?
Hello WaterColor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Puppet Pals or Hello WaterColor?
Puppet Pals is rated higher. Puppet Pals averages 3.8 out of 5 from 53 ratings, while Hello WaterColor averages 3.6 from 86 ratings.
Do Puppet Pals or Hello WaterColor have ads?
Neither Puppet Pals nor Hello WaterColor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Puppet Pals or Hello WaterColor?
Puppet Pals ships an update every 6 months, and Hello WaterColor every 7 months. Most recently, Puppet Pals was updated on November 1, 2026 and Hello WaterColor on November 1, 2026.

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