Dazzly: Color by Number Game

Review by eFreeware

Dazzly is a color-by-number app from the developer GEODE, listed under Entertainment rather than as a game. Instead of filling shapes with flat color, you match gems to numbered spots on a picture, working through images built from diamonds, rubies and sapphires. The appeal is straightforward: a quiet, repetitive task that produces something decorative at the end.

The stats suggest a well-established app. It has been on Google Play since July 2021, has passed five million installs and holds a 4.6 average from more than 153,000 ratings. The most recent update arrived on October 1, 2026, and brought new daily images, themed banners and bug fixes.

What makes it worth a closer look is the combination of scale and routine. There are more than 20,000 pictures to color and hundreds of gems to collect into a personal book, with new images appearing each day. That is a lot of material for a free download, and it explains why the app has held a following for several years.

A calm fit for casual creative sessions

This is a coloring app first and a collection second, so it suits people who want a low-effort creative habit rather than a challenge. The developer pitches it as a way to relieve daily stress, and the format supports that: matching numbers to gems is repetitive enough to occupy your hands without demanding much thought. If you already enjoy color-by-number books or diamond painting kits, the translation to a phone screen should feel familiar.

The family-friendly framing matters too. The imagery leans on mandalas, animals and jewels rather than anything edgy, and the content rating is Everyone, so it works as a shared activity. The developer suggests creating pieces with family and friends, which points to an app you can hand around rather than one you keep to yourself.

I would expect it to land best with people who like finishing things in short sittings and watching a picture build up over days. Anyone hoping for a puzzle with rules, scoring or competition is looking at the wrong category, since Dazzly is built around the act of coloring rather than play in the conventional sense.

Matching gems to numbers

The core loop is simple to describe. Each picture is divided into numbered areas, and you place the gem that corresponds to each number until the image is complete. The gems are named after real stones, so you are working with diamonds, rubies and sapphires as you go rather than abstract colors. The result is a finished piece with a bit of sparkle to it.

There is a personal angle as well. You can find your birthstone and use it while coloring, which gives the palette a small connection to you rather than being purely decorative. It is a minor feature, but it is the sort of detail that makes a long-running coloring app feel less anonymous.

Once a picture is done, it does not have to sit inside the app. You can set your finished art as a wallpaper, which turns each completed piece into something you actually see during the day. You can also share your work with friends and on social networks, so the app doubles as a way of showing off what you have made.

The library and what arrives each day

The catalog is the strongest argument for Dazzly. More than 20,000 pictures are available to color, spanning mandalas, animals and jewels, and hundreds of gems can be added to your own book as you work. That volume means you are unlikely to run out of material quickly, and it gives the app a long shelf life compared with smaller coloring titles.

Fresh images are added every day, according to the developer, and the October 2026 update specifically mentions new daily images and themed banners. A daily drop is a useful habit hook: it gives you a reason to open the app even when you have a half-finished picture waiting, and it keeps the library from feeling static.

The themed banners are a smaller touch, but they suggest the app is being actively dressed up around occasions rather than left alone. Between the size of the catalog and the steady additions, the content side of Dazzly looks well maintained for a free app.

Free to download, with ads and a Premium tier

Dazzly is free to download and contains ads. It also offers in-app purchases, and the developer describes a subscription called Dazzly Premium. Those three facts are worth separating, because they shape how the app feels over time.

Premium removes ads, opens up all 20,000+ pictures and the daily updates, and adds a "Choose your own Colors" mode. The wording suggests the subscription adds more on top of the core coloring experience.

I would treat Premium as the question to answer before committing long term. If you color often and find the ads disruptive, the subscription is the route the developer offers; if you only dip in occasionally, the free version still gives you the numbered-gem activity. The app does not hide that it is a free, ad-supported product with an upsell, and that is a fair arrangement to weigh.

How it compares with other ways to unwind

The nearest alternatives are traditional color-by-number apps, where you tap regions to fill them with flat color. Dazzly's difference is the gem layer: matching stones to numbers gives each finished image a textured, jewel-like look rather than a flat illustration. If you have tried standard coloring apps and found them a little plain, that extra dimension is the reason to look here.

Physical diamond painting kits are the other comparison. They offer the same satisfaction of placing tiny pieces, but they involve buying canvases, storing trays of gems and finding a table to work on. Dazzly puts that process on a phone, which makes it easier to pick up for ten minutes without any setup or materials.

General meditation and mindfulness apps are a different kind of alternative. They aim to calm you through audio or breathing exercises, while Dazzly does it through a task with a visible result. Neither replaces the other, and the choice comes down to whether you relax better by making something or by sitting still.

A patient hobby that fits in your pocket

Dazzly is a well-established, free coloring app with a large catalog, a daily stream of new images and a gem-matching twist that sets it apart from ordinary color-by-number titles. The 4.6 average from a large body of ratings suggests it has kept people coming back since 2021, and the recent update shows it is still being worked on.

It suits anyone who wants a calm, family-friendly creative routine and does not mind ads or the option of a subscription for the full library. I would point to it for people who enjoy diamond painting or coloring books and want that hobby available whenever they have a few spare minutes.

The main things to accept are the advertising, the presence of in-app purchases and a Premium tier that the developer ties to the complete picture library and the custom-color mode. If those terms sit comfortably with you, Dazzly is an easy app to try and a hard one to outgrow.

What's new in version 26.10.1

The new Dazzly update has arrived, along with new daily images and new themed banners! - Multiple bug fixes. Feel free to share your feedback and your suggestions with our team: [email protected]