Yes! PaintPal is completely free to download and use. You can draw, color, and collaborate with friends at no cost. There's an optional one-time $2.99 purchase to unlock extra coloring pages, but the core experience is 100% free with no ads or subscriptions.
Absolutely. PaintPal is designed with child safety as a priority. There are no public chat rooms, no social feeds, and no way for strangers to contact your child. Drawing rooms use private codes that you share only with people you trust. We collect minimal data and never sell personal information.
One person creates a drawing room and shares the room link or code with a friend or family member. Everyone who joins sees the same canvas and can draw on it at the same time. Strokes appear in real time, so it feels like drawing together at the same table, even when you're apart.
PaintPal is available as a free app on iPhone and iPad from the App Store. You can also use it on any device with a web browser by visiting paintpal.fun. This means kids on different devices (for example, one on an iPad and one on a laptop) can still draw together.
You need a free account to create or join drawing rooms. Sign-up is quick and only requires an email address. This helps keep rooms private and secure.
Both! PaintPal includes a gallery of coloring book pages that kids can color together in real time. There's also a free drawing mode for open-ended creativity. An optional $2.99 one-time purchase unlocks additional coloring pages.
PaintPal was built by Elisa Heiken, a mom and maker of things for kids, with a doctorate in psychology. She created PaintPal after noticing her own kids struggled to connect with friends over video calls but thrived when drawing together at the kitchen table. Read more on the About page at paintpal.fun/about.