ColorWise

After much searching, I found a paid app to sample color from the iPhone. As a professional, I require a L*a*b* readout, and there aren't many out there that do L*a*b*. And, many apps don’t work at all, or are poorly written.

ColorWise costs $2.99 and will allow you to sample live, from a captured image, or from an existing one. It displays the samples in the following color spaces: RGB, HSB, CMYK, CMY, Lab, hLab, and XYZ. It allows you to save your samples as swatches, and arrange them in any order you choose.

I gave it a try in a real world situation, and it worked like a charm. Of course, I was using it under ideal, calibrated lighting conditions, but it put me in the ballpark far quicker and more accurately than guessing would have. Of course, it doesn’t replace a real colorimeter, but just like any tool, if you learn to work around its shortcomings, you can get surprising results.

This app is now a staple in my collection of color tools.