WowPaint vs Bloom.
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
WowPaint
Create seamless patterns for backgrounds, textures, and more with intuitive drawing tools. Adjust parameters live while painting and utilize fingertip-based stroke sizing. Supports Apple Pencil and multiple layers.
- Seamless pattern creation
- Wrapped painting mode
- Fingertip stroke size adjustment
- Live parameter changes
- Multiple layers
- Photo tracing mode (Pro)
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Pattern/texture designers: You’ll find the app’s unique feature set very useful when making repeatable images (patterns). Other artists: WowPaint is great for drawing and painting “normal” art as well! • CREATE SEAMLESS PATTERNS • Use the Seamless Pattern Options to aid you in creating seamless patterns that can be used as website or desktop backgrounds, in print, or for textures in 3d modeling. When you have switched on Wrap X/Y, any strokes you paint that go over the picture’s edge will continue on the opposite side. That means that there will be no hard edges where strokes are cut off (since they continue instead), which makes the picture a perfect candidate for being seamlessly repeated. A tremendous help when using the Wrapped Painting mode is the option of having the picture displayed as tiles next to each other. You’re free to paint anywhere on these tiles, and you will see the results in real time. You can also switch on Edge Indicators, to make it easier to see where the picture being repeated begins and ends. • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • When you paint, the app measures how much of your finger is touching the screen and changes the stroke size accordingly. There’s a huge difference between using just the corner of your fingertip and pressing down the whole fingerprint area! A 2nd tool assigned to your finger will still use this feature, so don’t ignore it just because you have an Apple Pencil! • LEFT-HANDED? • Just swipe the toolbar over to the other side! • PARAMETERS CAN BE CHANGED LIVE • Use any buttons or controls to change/adjust color, size, force, simultaneously while painting. • UNIVERSAL PURCHASE • If you choose to buy the Pro upgrade, this one-time in-app purchase will unlock all Pro features in the app on all available platforms (iPad-iPhone-Mac)! • METAL • The engine is based on Metal, with 128-bit color and floating-point arithmetic. • SWIFT • The app was developed entirely using Swift (earlier versions used C++). • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN PAINTING • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •
Bloom.
This app generates unique computational art where each pixel has a distinct color. Users can customize algorithms to influence the patterns and apply them as textures to various 3D shapes. It includes in-house music and options to save and reload custom creations.
- Self-generating, pseudo-random color patterns
- Pixel-level unique RGB color generation
- Apply images as textures on 3D shapes
- In-house music for generative art sessions
- Save and reload custom Bloom Documents
- Variety of 3D shape geometries
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Bloom is an app that generates computational art, which means images are created by algorithms rather than by hand, but users can customize parameters to influence the results. In Bloom, textures can be generated so that every pixel has a unique color. Bloom is available for macOS and iOS, in a virtually identical experience. To give every pixel in an N×N grid its own unique RGB color, we need enough color variations. With M shades per color channel (red, green, blue), we get M³ total colors. So we choose M so that M³ matches the number of pixels, N²: N² = M³ This algorithm produces endlessly varied patterns that can be applied to a variety of 3D shapes. Feature overview: • Self-generating, pseudo-random process creates unique patterns of a rainbow of colors. • 1000x1000 dimension color profusions consisting of one million different colored pixels, with option of more or less. • Apply generated images, or any other image, as textures on 3D shapes - sphere, cube, heart and more. • Listen to our own in-house music as you watch and wait. Many 3D output options, including texture filters, shape rotation, material and lighting properties. A presets menu provides you with several sets of parameter values that you can start with and then tweak further. Use the Defaults menu item to reset all parameters to the state of Bloom on first launch. Options can be saved to and reloaded from Bloom Documents, using the Share menu. Bloom Documents are created using the Share menu item Save Bloom Sphere Document, and reloaded using the Share menu item Load Bloom Document. Bloom Documents support Quick Look Thumbnails. Quick Look thumbnails are small preview images that the operating system generates for files so you can see what’s inside without opening them. For example, when you browse your files in Finder, each Bloom Document or image may have a tiny preview showing the content or a miniature version of the 3D shape and texture. This makes it easier to identify files at a glance and quickly find what you’re looking for. Available shape geometries: sphere, torus, cube, cylinder, plane, capsule, pyramid, star, trefoil knot, exclamation heart and heart. A Music Manager enables listening to an assortment of music tracks while you wait and watch the art generate.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Bloom. at none against WowPaint's 6. Bloom. also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). WowPaint's advantage is ratings volume (119 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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
Both are free to download. WowPaint sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Bloom. asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bloom. holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WowPaint has 119 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
WowPaint ships an update every 2 months, Bloom. every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | WowPaint | Bloom. |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (119 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 119 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 157 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Norbyte | Limit Point Software |
Customer experience
WowPaint
Bloom.
In-app purchases
WowPaint
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
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- Pro Upgrade$7.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Bloom.
No in-app purchases







