Check whether two colors match

Updated

Compare tells you whether two things are the same color, without relying on names. It's useful for matching socks, paint, thread or cables.

Compare two colors

  1. Point the crosshair at the first color.
  2. Tap Compare colors in the top bar, just left of the Settings gear. Its symbol is two squares side by side.
  3. A note appears just below the crosshair: Reference: followed by the color's name, for example Reference: Navy. With Announce Colors or VoiceOver on, you hear Reference set: Navy. Point at the second color.
  4. Point the crosshair at the second color.
  5. The note below the crosshair now gives the verdict:
    • Same
    • Close, with how it differs, for example Close — a bit redder
    • Different, with how it differs, for example Different — much darker and bluer

The verdict says whether the second color is lighter, darker, more vivid, more muted, redder, greener, yellower or bluer than the first, and whether by a bit or much.

Hear and feel the result

  • With Announce Colors or VoiceOver on, the verdict is spoken once it has held for about a second, so sweeping past things doesn't chatter. On a frozen picture it's spoken when the picture stops moving.
  • Color names aren't spoken while you compare. You hear the verdict instead.
  • Your device also gives a tap you can feel: one kind for Same, a light tap for Close, and a warning buzz for Different.
  • VoiceOver reads the note as, for example, Compared with Navy: Close — a bit redder. While comparing, the Compare colors button's state is On.

Stop comparing

Tap Compare colors again. You hear Compare off.

Compare also stops on its own when the light changes, because the first color was measured in different light: when you flip the camera, turn the camera light on or off, or change the white balance. You hear Compare stopped because the light changed. Starting Find stops it too.

Tips for a fair comparison

  • Compare works on the live camera, on frozen pictures and on photos. You can set the first color on the live camera, then freeze, or compare two spots in one photo.
  • On the live camera, ColoredEye locks the camera's exposure and white balance while you compare, so both colors are measured the same way. Keep both objects in the same light.
  • While comparing, each reading averages at least a 9 × 9 pixel area, so a single thread or speck doesn't sway the verdict.
  • If you tap Compare colors before there's a reading, VoiceOver says Point the crosshair at a color first.