Watercolor Effect Makes Masterpieces Quick and Easy

The app is definitely easy to use. Launch it, give it access to your camera and photo library, and away you go. Watercolor Effect also asks permission to send you notifications, presumably to let you know when new filters are available.

Once you've finished the initial setup, you can tap on Import or Camera to get started. Use a photograph already stored in your Photo Library, or snap a new one with the built-in camera.

Choose your filter, and the app takes just a few seconds to render your painting from that photograph. It's very simple and effective, and the results are beautiful. You can even adjust the intensity of the filter using the slider.

There are several filters for both oil-based painting and watercolors available in the free version, so feel free to browse them and see what the effects look like.

A few of the filters are locked behind an in-app purchase, but you do get almost 15 filters to use free of charge. When you save your image, it will have a watermark on it with the name of the filter.

Speaking of saving, you can export your image to your Photo Library or share it with others. Watercolor Effect supports sharing to Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. It doesn't use the Share Sheet extensions, though, which is a bit peculiar to me.

With that said, once you save an image to your Photo Library, you're free to share it via Messages, Facebook Messenger, email, or anything else supported by Share Sheet extensions.

Watercolor Effect advertises that you get 15 different filters to use free of charge, but I found that not to be the case. In my browsing, I found nine filters that either required an in-app purchase to access or leaving a five-star review of the app.

So let me rant about that for a moment. The app's description says "15+ watercolor filters to choose from." In reality, the free download provides you with six different filters you can use without any additional payment, either in the form of money or a review.

If you leave the app a five-star review, it unlocks five more filters for you to use. That brings the total up to 11 free filters to use, with a watermark applied to them.

Two different in-app purchases all you to either unlock all the filters, bringing the total options to more than 30, or unlock all of the features of the app. The second, more expensive, option gives you more than 30 filters and removes the watermark.

I have no problem with an app being monetized, but be honest about it. If the app description says you get 15+ filters for free, it should provide those without any additional payment or effort.

Will I keep Watercolor Effect on my iPhone? Most likely, and I'll probably even spring for the in-app purchase to unlock all of the filters and remove the watermark. It just leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth when I read an app description, download the app, and find out the developers aren't true to their word.

Watercolor Effects is a cool app for turning your photograph into something more artistic. It could use a bit more honesty in its app description, but other than that is a very useful app for creating art from the photographs you take or already have stored in your library.