Who knew a simple iPhone photo app could be so fun and actually produce something cool you can share with family and friends? It’s called ColorSplash ($1.99, iTunes link), and it’s currently one of the top selling apps. ColorSplash turns photographs into black & white pictures, which you then you use your finger to selectively reveal the color again.

For an example of how easy it is to use, I went from the black & white photo on the left to the result on the right in under 5 minutes:

You can zoom in and out of pictures using the typical pinch and reverse pinch gestures. Zooming will help color in those tricky areas. You trace your finger to bring color back to an area. If you mess up, you can either hit the undo button or switch to the black & white brush to tidy up.

Even though ColorSplash is easy to use, there are some powerful features underneath. For example, each photo is saved as a session, so you can come back later and finish a session you were working on. When you are done, you simply save the picture as an entirely new and separate photo in the Photo app. Your old photos are not changed or damaged in any way. From there, you can sync your new picture to your photo library via iTunes or email it to yourself and friends (you must use the iPhone’s default Photo app to email it).

An important tip is that there are additional settings for the app in the iPhone Settings menu. Yes, the dreaded hidden settings–Apple needs to find a way to avoid these. In those settings, you can change the brush size.

The app also features something called a red mode, which turns all color you’ve revealed into bright red. It’s a visual tool that allows you to clearly see the boundaries of the color areas you have revealed.

In addition to the pinching gestures, there is a pan & zoom button that will help prevent accidental coloring. There is also a help button in case you can’t figure out how to use a certain feature.

Conclusion

I have practically no visual talent whatsoever, but I found myself enjoying using this app as a sort of coloring book for grownups (although I think kids will playing love this app too). The resulting photos can be stunning and something you can actually share with friends and family. We highly recommend downloading this app if you like to share photos with friends.

ColorSplash is a $1.99 download in the iTunes App Store.