Sticker by number alternatives: an honest list

Q: Are the Paint by Sticker books available as an app?

No. As of August 2026 there is no official app for Workman's Paint by Sticker book series. The books remain physical-only. Digital apps like Sticker By Number: Puzzle Game and Pentire offer the same numbered-slot, sticker-tray mechanic on a screen, but none of them are affiliated with Workman or Hachette.

Every real option for the numbered-slot, sticker-tray hobby in 2026 — the big apps, the original books, the adjacent coloring apps, and our own — with the trade-offs stated plainly.

Updated August 2026 · A Pentire guide

"Sticker by number" is the digital paint-by-stickers mechanic: a picture becomes a set of numbered outline slots and a tray of sticker pieces, and you peel and place until the image assembles itself. If you already like that loop but want something a little different — fewer ads, fresh pictures once you've finished a catalog, or the ability to puzzle your own photos — these are the real alternatives. One of them is ours, and we'll say so plainly when we get there.

The options, fairly stated

1. Sticker By Number: Puzzle Game

The popular direct take on the mechanic, and a reasonable place to start: it has a big catalog of curated pictures across lots of themes, the core peel-and-place loop is done well, and it's free to download. The trade-off is the business model. User reviews as of August 2026 frequently report interstitial ads between puzzles and a recurring purchase to remove them, and the catalog is fixed — you play the pictures the developer publishes, and there's no way to bring in a photo of your own. Check the current App Store listing and recent reviews before you commit an evening to it.

2. Sticker Book: Color By Number (Lion Studios Plus)

The big-publisher version of the same idea. Lion Studios Plus knows how to make a polished free-to-play game, and this one has plenty of content and a pleasant presentation. Like most titles from large mobile publishers, it's ad-funded — expect ads in the free experience — and the catalog is fixed, with no photo import. If you don't mind ads as the price of free, it's a competent pick; as always, the current listing and reviews will tell you what today's ad load looks like.

3. Workman's "Paint by Sticker" books

The analog original, and still the thing every app in this list is descended from. The physical books are screen-free, genuinely giftable, and satisfying in a way a touchscreen can't quite replicate — real stickers, real pages, no battery. The trade-offs are the flip side of the same coin: each book has a finite set of pages, each page has one fixed difficulty, a mistake is a peeled-and-wrinkled sticker, and a new book costs the price of a book. As of August 2026 there's no official app for the series, so if you finish a book and want more tonight, you're back to the digital options. (Pentire has no affiliation with Workman or Hachette.)

4. Color-by-number apps (Happy Color and friends)

An adjacent hobby rather than a true substitute: in color-by-number apps you tap numbered regions to fill them with color, instead of physically placing a sticker piece. If what you love is watching a picture emerge region by region, these scratch a very similar itch, and the catalogs are enormous, with the big names adding new pages frequently. They're typically ad-funded; in Happy Color's case, user reviews as of August 2026 document a heavy ad load, with some reviewers reporting ads persisting even after paying for removal. As of August 2026, none of the big ones we checked turn your own photos into playable pages.

5. Pentire — full disclosure: this one is ours

Pentire is our app, so weigh this paragraph accordingly. It's the same numbered-slot, sticker-tray mechanic, built around three things none of the options above do. First, it turns your own photos into sticker puzzles, and the cutting happens entirely on your iPhone or iPad — the photo is never uploaded, and import works in airplane mode. Second, it generates endless original art on demand across six scene styles, so there's no catalog to run out of, alongside a built-in library of 60 original puzzles. Third, there are no ads at all — no ad SDK is in the app — and everything works fully offline. The free tier includes all 60 built-in puzzles at three of the five difficulties, unlimited art generation, and your first photo puzzles; one optional upgrade, Pentire Plus (a one-time lifetime purchase or a monthly subscription), unlocks the rest.

Side by side

Option	Sticker mechanic	Your own photos	Works offline	Ads in free version	Price model
Sticker By Number: Puzzle Game	✓	✕	— varies	Reviews report frequent ads	Varies — check the current listing
Sticker Book: Color By Number	✓	✕	— varies	Ad-funded	Varies — check the current listing
Workman "Paint by Sticker" books	✓ physical	✕	✓ no screen at all	✕ none	The price of a book, per book
Color-by-number apps (Happy Color et al.)	✕ tap-to-fill coloring	✕	— varies	Reviews report heavy ads	Varies — check the current listing
Pentire (ours)	✓	✓ on-device	✓ fully	✕ no ads anywhere	Free tier + one optional upgrade

Which one should you pick

Match the option to the itch. If you want a screen-free gift or the tactile original, get one of the Workman books — nothing digital replaces peeling a real sticker. If you want the biggest catalog of curated pages and don't mind ads funding it, the big apps like Sticker By Number: Puzzle Game or Happy Color have the most content. If you want to puzzle your own photos, avoid ads entirely, or play somewhere with no signal — a flight, a waiting room, a cabin — that combination is what Pentire exists for.

The sticker-by-number mechanic, minus the ads: 60 built-in puzzles free at three difficulties, unlimited generated art, and your first photo puzzles — cut entirely on your phone.

Get Pentire on the App Store

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Sticker by Number?

It depends on what you want more of. For a screen-free gift, the Workman Paint by Sticker books are the original and still the best physical version. For the biggest catalogs of curated pages, the major ad-funded apps like Sticker By Number: Puzzle Game have the most pictures. If what you want is the sticker mechanic with your own photos, no ads, and offline play, that's what Pentire (our app) was built for.

Is there a sticker by number app without ads?

Yes. Pentire has no ads of any kind in the free tier or the paid one — no banners, no interstitials, no rewarded video, and no ad SDK in the app at all. It's funded by one optional upgrade instead. Most other sticker-by-number apps are ad-funded in their free versions; user reviews as of August 2026 commonly report frequent interstitial ads, so check each app's current listing and recent reviews.

Can any sticker by number app use my own photos?

As of August 2026, Pentire is the one we know of that turns your own photos into sticker puzzles, and it does the cutting entirely on your iPhone or iPad — the photo is never uploaded. The major sticker-by-number apps ship fixed catalogs of curated pictures with no photo import. Some photo-to-paint-by-number web generators exist for coloring, but they require uploading your photo to a server and aren't sticker puzzles.

Are the Paint by Sticker books available as an app?

No. As of August 2026 there's no official app for Workman's Paint by Sticker book series. The books remain physical-only. Digital apps like Sticker By Number: Puzzle Game and Pentire offer the same numbered-slot, sticker-tray mechanic on a screen, but none of them are affiliated with Workman or Hachette.

Do sticker by number apps work offline?

It varies. Many ad-funded apps need a connection to load new pictures or serve ads, so check the listing and reviews for the one you're considering. Pentire works fully offline, including in airplane mode: its 60-puzzle library ships inside the app, art generation runs on the device, and photo import is processed locally. The physical books, of course, need no battery at all.