Values at Play vs Smarty Paints
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Values at Play
This app helps users practice identifying and analyzing values in art. It offers tools to create value studies, inspect specific color values, and find areas matching a chosen value. Users can import their own images for practice.
- Create value studies from images
- Import custom images
- Inspect Denman Ross and RGB values
- Find points matching selected values
- Colorized value studies
- Full-screen value study viewing
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Use "Values at Play" to practice seeing values in art. Practice with one of the images included in the app or import your own image. Values at Play includes: VALUE STUDY Create a Value Study for any image. Choose the number of values to include in the study, and the value study will be created within seconds! View the value study full-screen, and easily toggle between it and the original image. Create "colorized" value studies. IMAGE INSPECTOR Use Image Inspector to find the Denman Ross Value and RGB value of any point on an image. VALUE FINDER Find all the points on an image with the value you've selected. VALUES-TAC-TOE Drag the cross hair to a precise location on the image you've selected. Do you know the value at that point? If so, you're on your way to a "Values-Tac-Toe." If not, keep practicing.
Smarty Paints
This app helps watercolor artists manage their paint collections, find substitute colors, and match tutorial supplies. It simplifies tracking what you own, identifying dupes, and ensuring your paints align with class or tutorial requirements.
- Track watercolor paint collections
- Find close-enough paint dupes
- Match tutorial supplies to your stash
- Compare paint properties across brands
- Create digital palette layouts
- Searchable paint database
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Watercolor paints, simplified: track what you own, find close-enough dupes, match your stash to any class supplies list, and finally remember which blue is *that* blue. - Can't remember which watercolor paints you already have at home? - Forgot which red you put in that palette, or whether it stains, granulates, or glazes? - Following a video tutorial and not sure your paint substitutes will behave the same way? - Or if you could *mix* a substitute with paints you already own? Smarty Paints can help. It's your watercolor sidekick: a searchable, stash-organizing, tutorial-matching watercolor app for anyone who's ever said "Shoot, which one's Quin Gold again?" *Search, Discover & Learn* Browse a growing database of 3000+ paints. Filter paints by brand, pigment code, transparency, granulation, and more. Go on, nerd out. *Palette Layouts That Match Real Life* Drag and drop your digital palette to match your real one—so you're not guessing which little paint pot is which. No more cross-referencing paint tubes or binders of hand-labeled swatches. *Color Theory Fast Track* Every palette gets the wheel treatment. Your paints plotted, so the missing slot is obvious at a glance. Find the gap. Plan the next pick. Finally see what "warm blue" means. *Follow Any Video Tutorial With Your Paints* Paste a link or browse tutorials right in the app. Smarty Paints maps every tutorial's paint to your collection — own it, have a dupe, or need to grab it — with property-level comparison so you know *why* a substitute works (or won't). No more pausing to wonder if your Phthalo Blue is close enough to the instructor's Prussian Blue. *Find Dupes (or Mix One Yourself)* Smarty Paints compares transparency, granulation, staining, pigment, and lightfastness across brands, so you can see exactly where a match holds up and where it doesn't. When it doesn't, find a mix recipe using paints you already own. No new tubes required. *Collection & Wishlist Tracking* See what you've got. Spot what you're missing. Track usage, log your favorites, and never buy the same paint twice. (Unless you meant to.) Free features: - Full paint database search - Compare swatches and paint properties across brands - Find dupes and suggested mixes - Browse and match video tutorials to your collection - Create one drag-and-drop palette Want more? Go premium for unlimited palettes, cross-device sync, single-pigment filtering, and palette customization. Watercolor is easier for Smarty Paints. Just hear it from some of the smartest: “I love this app!! It’s so fun to keep track of everything!!” - Michelle S. “I used the app this morning to see if I had a color that matched the one used in the tutorial I was watching. Thankfully I had one that was almost perfect. So it’s a very handy app.” - Barbara H. “I've been looking for an app like this for years. Finally something I can really use to track the pigments I use for each painting. I love it!“ - Tim G.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Smarty Paints at every 11 days against Values at Play's every 5 months. Smarty Paints also leads on ratings volume (38 vs 5). Values at Play's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 78%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Values at Play sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Smarty Paints sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Values at Play holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Smarty Paints has 38 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Values at Play's written reviews are positive against 78% of Smarty Paints's.
Values at Play ships an update every 5 months, Smarty Paints every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Values at Play | Smarty Paints |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better | 4.7 (38 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 77.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 38 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 111 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Neil Daly | Neural Appworks LLC |
Customer experience
Values at Play
Smarty Paints
In-app purchases
Values at Play
- Values at Play Unlimited$4.99
Smarty Paints
- Pro$12.991 Year
- Unlock Premium Features$39.99
Questions
Is Values at Play free?
Is Smarty Paints free?
Which has better reviews, Values at Play or Smarty Paints?
Do Values at Play or Smarty Paints have ads?
Which is updated more often, Values at Play or Smarty Paints?
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