Splat’s app uses AI to turn your photos into coloring pages for kids

The innovative team behind Retro, a photo-sharing platform designed for close friends and family, is exploring the creative potential of generative AI. Their latest venture, Splat, is an exciting app that converts any photo into a coloring book page tailored for children. Parents know that kids have an endless love for coloring, and while the internet offers a plethora of printable coloring pages, many options are cluttered with ads or come with hidden costs that some may wish to avoid. Recognizing this challenge, the Retro team has designed Splat to provide a seamless experience for parents looking to print coloring pages at home. Users can transform their own photos or select from a variety of kid-friendly, educational categories like animals, space, flowers, fairy tales, robots, and cars. Getting started with Splat is simple: snap a photo or select one from your Camera Roll. The app lets you choose from various artistic styles for your coloring page, including anime, 3D movie, manga, cartoon, or comic. Once you make your selections, the app utilizes AI technology to generate an on-screen or printable coloring page, allowing for quick access to creative activities. Splat streamlines the user experience by guiding you through customization options during your initial use, eliminating the need for a lengthy sign-up process. Parents can select their desired app icon and specify categories that interest their children. The app also allows kids to color on-screen, providing a quick solution for entertainment without resorting to television or video games. Users can try out one generative AI project for free, after which a subscription is available for $4.99 per week or $49.99 per year. The weekly plan offers up to 25 pages, while the annual subscription allows for a total of 500 pages. To protect young users, access to purchase settings requires parental verification through a birth year prompt. In preliminary tests, Splat performed effectively, delivering quick results that allow for immediate printing of coloring pages, ideal for cutouts or unique art projects. This app is part of a broader trend of using generative AI to spark creativity in children. Similar projects include Stickerbox, which provides AI-generated stickers for coloring, and Casio's Moflin, a fluffy robotic pet that evolves its personality with AI. Splat is now available for download on both iOS and Android platforms.