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.
I’ve love this app! It is so handy to have. I have created several palettes and educated myself just through this app. There are just a few things to work through so that it why it is 4 stars. I do realize this is a fairly new app and hopefully improvements will come. For me it was worth the purchase!
Cannot search by color, cannot buy app
Bad Kitty
I had high hopes for this, but after purchasing on my iPad, the developer did not create an iPad version, so it’s in a vertical orientation and not landscape, so you can’t use a keyboard. I tried to purchase on my iPhone anyway, hoping that updates would come, but the app crashes immediately. There is good information in the app, but I would like to retain the brands I choose in a search…I’ve never heard of most of these. I would also like to add paints to my “personal collection” that I can choose from to create a palette, but then be able to “shop” for other paints, looking through the entire catalog. It’s nice that I can choose by transparency and granulation, but I’d also like to be able to choose by a color family. Like maybe I want to find a new transparent, non-granulating pink that’s from Daniel Smith. There is no option to choose only pink paints, so you have to view every paint in a catalog, and they’re pretty mixed up. I expected this to be a way that I could keep track of what paints I’ve purchased, but I don’t think that’s what the app is meant to do.
Developer Response
Thanks so much for your feedback. The recent updates have addressed many of your concerns, including the ability to search and sort by color family and color lean. The purchasing issue has been fixed as well.
Beware, you can't sync data between your iPhone and iPad
Papa Guerilla
This will maybe someday be a great app, maybe, but for now it has some serious limitations. Here are the 3 I've discovered so far. You can't sync data between devices (I confirmed this w customer support who is basically the app developer herself?) This means that any palette you create on your phone, will not appear on your iPad. It also doesn't seem to recognize on my other device that I bought the "pro" version. Using this on my iPhone means the color swatches are teeny tiny. To drag and move a square around a palette, you'd have to tap an even tinier little "=" icon at the top of each square. If you don't hit the icon JUST right, you can't drag that swatch. If could go the moving around on my iPad, life would be less frustrating. To do so now means recreating all my palettes AGAIN, and paying for the the pro version AGAIN. No, thanks. My favorite palette is 9 columns across and 4 rows down. The app only allows max of 8 columns across, so I had to build it sideways, if that makes sense. Not ideal. My workspace is such that pivoting my palette 90 degrees is not an option. The watercolor enthusiast world is HUGE! I belong to many Facebook groups, one of which has over 44,000 members. The market for a GOOD palette database is enormous. And we share our great finds. I can't say this is one of them yet.
Developer Response
Thanks for hanging in there with me: Sync has finally arrived. I've also made some improvements to the palette organization and taken your advice to get rid of the little "=" icons. Now you can try long-pressing to drag and drop. Lots of other new features, too. I hope you'll come check them out.
Saves me time and money!!
Praying Painter CHI
I just learned about this app! Nearly immediately it provided me more efficiency when choosing a color, prepping for a workshop, and ordering more tube stock. The ability to create a palette for any groups of paints is lifesaving. I made a palette for my paints by manufacturer. The sorting options within a palette are great; transparent, pigment, reds, etc. While reviewing a workshops supply list I encountered colors unknown to me. So on the app I looked up the formula, searched for similar formulas that I own (via the manufacturer palettes I created) and found that mixing two of my owned paints kept me from needing to buy any paint for the workshop!
Ever wonder if your favorite palette is a "split primary" palette? I did, so I added a "Wheel" view for Smarty Paints palettes! Now the paints of each palette can be plotted on the color wheel. Never wonder if it's a warm-leaning blue again!
Version 1.0.19
The developer, Neural Appworks LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Usage Data
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
