Find everywhere a color appears in a picture

Updated

Find picks out every part of a picture that matches the color under the crosshair, and takes you to each one in turn. Use it to match a chart or map to its legend, find all the wires of one color, or check that pieces belong together.

Find works on frozen pictures and photos, not on the live camera.

Find a color

  1. Freeze the camera or open a photo.
  2. Drag the picture so the color you want to find is under the crosshair, for example the swatch next to a legend entry.
  3. Tap the magnifying glass at the right end of the color card. VoiceOver reads it as Find matches.

ColoredEye then:

  • Keeps the color on every matching area and outlines each one in white. Everything else turns gray, so the matches stand out by brightness and outline, not by color alone.
  • Shows Finding and the color's name on the card, with the number of matches and the match level, for example 7 matches · Close.
  • Announces the same, for example Finding Navy. 7 matches., with Announce Colors or VoiceOver on.
  • Replaces the bottom bar with Previous match, the match level, and Next match.

Go from one match to the next

Tap Next match or Previous match, the arrow buttons at each end of the bottom bar. The picture moves so the next match is under the crosshair. You hear, for example, Match 2 of 7.

Matches are numbered in reading order: row by row from the top, each row from the left. A chart's bars come left to right, then a legend below them.

The note just below the crosshair says which match you're on, such as Match 3 of 7. If you drag the crosshair onto something that isn't a match, the note says how it differs from the color you're finding, for example Different — much redder.

You can still drag and zoom the picture while finding.

Choose how closely colors must match

Pick Exact, Close or Loose in the middle of the bottom bar. VoiceOver reads this control as How closely to match. On an iPhone held sideways, it's a button that opens a menu of the three levels.

The levels use the same limits as Compare:

  • Exact finds only colors Compare would call Same. It finds the fewest areas.
  • Close also finds colors Compare would call Close. Find starts at this level each time.
  • Loose finds more: anything short of the point where Compare would say much different.

If there are too many matches to step through, the card says 50+ matches and the arrows are unavailable. Try Exact. If there's one match or none, you hear Try Loose for more.

Stop finding

Tap the X at the right end of the card. VoiceOver reads it as Stop finding, and you hear Find off. Going back to the live camera, opening another photo, or tapping Compare colors also stops Find.

If the color is shown in the top bar

With Show Color in Navigation Bar turned on in Settings › Display, the card is hidden. Tap the color strip in the top bar and choose Find Matches from its menu. The card comes back while you're finding.