
Show HN: An iPhone app that lets you pick colors and identify PANTONE colors - _kush
https://cone.app
======
_kush
Hi HN,

A couple of years back, I posted the initial version of Cone on HN
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14254357](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14254357))
and had received a great response. Cone is a smart color picker tool for the
iPhone, which is delightful and very easy-to-use. Not only that, but it also
lets you organize colors into buckets and identify PANTONE colors of the
object around you (super helpful for interior, graphic, or package designers).

Cone is licensed by PANTONE, so it stays updated with all the new colors they
release on time.

Another feature I'd like to highlight is the ability to identify hues of the
colors around you. As a colorblind designer, it's super helpful for me to know
whether a color is red or green just by pointing my phone's camera at it.

Since the initial version, a lot has changed and here's what the new version
brings:

    
    
      - Ability to identify PANTONE colors
      - Pick colors from the images in the photo gallery
      - Collect and organize colors into buckets
      - Adjust the color temperature with a neutral grey card for improved accuracy
      - New design
      - Apple Watch companion app
      - and many under the hood improvements.
    

I would love to hear what everyone thinks about it!

~~~
michaelt
How do you compensate for lighting conditions and differences between
different phones' cameras when identifying pantone colours?

I'd expect Pantone to be precious about that sort of thing, as accurate
reproduction is important to them - right?

~~~
bastijn
User of initial version of the app here. This was my main issue with the app.
Lighting conditions influenced the shot color significantly. Curious to learn
from the author if the app tries to compensate in any way, and if that has
been improved in V2.

------
fwr
Nice! Interesting you were able to agree on licensing with PANTONE®,
considering they sell a (very underwhelming) hardware device called CAPSURE™
that has a similar premise: [https://www.pantone.com/products/color-control-
tools/capsure](https://www.pantone.com/products/color-control-tools/capsure)

------
bakli
Been using this for a month, the app is very well designed, and $5 is nothing
compared to joy I get by collecting colours during commute and sharing the
exact code when I am trying to design with physical world as an inspiration.

~~~
_kush
Thank you!

------
systemvoltage
We need an open-source color standard. PANTONE has virtually no competition
(RAL, etc are a minuscule % of the market share) and they charge exorbitant
prices for their color chips. Standard should be open and anyone can make and
sell color chips.

------
tpetry
What i hate about every color picker is that its picking one exact color. If
your‘re looking at a gradient every pixel will be different, but i want
sometimes get an average of the color.

~~~
_kush
I faced the same problem, and hence Cone averages out the color inside the
inner circle of the picker.

~~~
DagAgren
Doesn't that tend to give you washed out colours, though?

~~~
_kush
If there's a significant variation in the colors in that small area, then yes,
the averaged out color will look washed out. In that case, you can simply
pinch-to-zoom into the image for more accuracy.

------
anfractuosity
That sounds neat! I'm just wondering how much lighting affects its decision?

Edit: just saw you mention about a grey card too, for calibration which sounds
cool

~~~
rathel
This doesn't solve the issue of metamerism, though.

------
wdb
Sounds like a great app, if it would also map PANTONe colors with RAL colours
and we are done :)

~~~
_kush
Nice suggestion. Seems like RAL is equivalent to Pantone but in Europe. I’ll
look into its licensing and implement it if it’s not much of a headache :)

~~~
jschwartzi
RAL is often used in manufacturing. Our powder coater used RAL colors for
example.

------
jamil7
Well done, website looks great! I will check out the app when I get a chance

------
tpowell
Just playing with it for 2min I can already tell it’s easily worth $3.99 for
me. I love the UI—well done.

------
justusthane
Super cool! Purchased. This may be beyond the scope of the project, but it
would be cool if it could create buckets from a photo by automatically pulling
out complementary and contrasting colors.

~~~
_kush
Thank you. I had actually implemented this feature (which worked by extracting
5 dominant colors from an image or the camera feed) but I couldn't figure out
the best experience for it to go with the manual picking of colors. I am
working on redesigning it and I'll add it as soon as I perfect the experience.

------
beobab
The website says: "accurately identifies upto ten Pantone® colors"

What is the ten referring to? Total times you can use it?

~~~
_kush
When you see the color details, it will show ten Pantone colors (five from the
Coated and Uncoated guides each) matching that color, in the order of their
match %.

~~~
derflipster
I also didn’t understand while reading it on the website. Probably worth
rephrasing in order to make it clear.

~~~
_kush
Updated the copy to make it clear.

------
KMnO4
It’s $5 for the app, which the website fails to mention.

~~~
cschmidt
I see $3.99, not $5.

~~~
colejohnson66
OP didn’t mention what country they’re in. Maybe their dollar is slightly less
valuable (like the Canadian dollar)? Cause it’s $3.99 in the US, so CAD$4.99
would make sense (USD$4.99 is CAD$5.60)

------
gnicholas
Is it common for Show HN posts to be for paid products? I’ve not seen any/many
of these in the years I’ve been on here, but I wonder what others think. I’ve
seen waitlists before, but paid apps seem like a different thing.

~~~
wilg
Where are you coming up with Show HN is not for paid products? It's not
against the rules
([https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html))
and HN is run by a VC firm...

~~~
gnicholas
Actually, the rules say that Show HN is for things that “other people can play
with”. You can’t exactly play with an app that is paid, and you also can’t
“try it out, ask questions, and then give feedback”.

> _Show HN is for something you 've made that other people can play with. HN
> users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread._

~~~
wilg
Why can't you play with an app that is paid?

