Comparison

Painter Values Check vs ChromaMagic

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Painter Values Check

Analyze the lightness and darkness of colors in your artwork or images in real-time using your device's camera. It generates simplified versions to help you assess contrast and focal points, and allows exporting results.

Highlights
  • Real-time value checking via camera
  • Analyze imported images
  • Generate simplified value versions
  • Export result images
  • Histogram-based value categorization
Features
Read full description

Values are the colors' relative lightness or darkness. They define the contrast and variety in a painting and create a focal point. If you want your painting to work and pop the main shapes should have different values. Painter Values Check allows you to check values in realtime through your device camera and also analyze it or any other image imported from Photo Gallery. The app will generates 3 versions from your original image: the values version and two more simplified values images in order to check if your painting or image is working. Also, you'll be able to export any of the result images :) How does it work? Painter Values Check calculates the histogram of every captured frame and reorganize the values into "Dark", "Middle dark", "Middle light" and "Light" categories in order to help you to check the variations in your painting, drawing or picture. In order to work properly the app needs camera permission — Subscription details 1 year without ads — US$9.99 per year, renewing automatically. Prices may vary by region. Cancel any time in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.pineappslab.com/privacy.html

About

ChromaMagic

This app helps artists identify and understand colors in reference images. It breaks down colors into hue, value, and chroma, offering multiple modes to analyze color relationships and value shapes. Enhance your painting by truly seeing and mixing colors accurately.

Highlights
  • Identify hue, value, and chroma
  • Munsell color mode
  • Value shape organization
  • Grayscale value analysis
  • Color saturation analysis
  • Color wheel distribution view
  • Zoomable and pannable images
Read full description

ChromaMagic - the magical color tool for artists - now with LIVE camera views. Have you ever been painting and said 'but what *is* that color?' Me too! ChromaMagic exists for one reason only. My paintings looked wrong. I just couldn't get the colors in my paintings to look convincing. Try as I might there was always something off. Too bright, too light, too gray, not gray enough. Too blue, too brown, too pink. Why oh why could I not make things work? Well it turned out it wasn't in the paint. It wasn't in the mixing. Special brushes didn't do the trick. Making those daft color charts didn't help either. And it wasn't even in the way I put the paint on the paper. The problem was in my brain. The problem was that I had no chance of mixing the right color. I was missing an essential part of the painting process. Something that would take years if not decades to figure out. And the reason was that I wasn't *seeing* the right color. Now I don't mean there was something wrong with my eyesight. What I mean that I was 'seeing' color but I wasn't really seeing *COLOR*. I didn't have the words or the means to really understand what I was looking at. And if we don't really know what we're looking at how on earth can we translate it into paint? Even if we don't want to represent what we see how do we know what to change to enhance the effect? Flip a coin? Trust chance and experimentation? Repeat for years and years until we stumble on something that works....? No. So what changed? Everything changed. I learned to forget about primaries, secondaries and tertiaries. I learned to ditch the traditional artists wheel. I learned to stop talking about 'warm' and 'cool'. I learned to see color the way it is and not the way I expect it to be. I had to forget everything I had been told. I learned about hue, value, and chroma. Munsell. With ChromaMagic you can load up any photo or reference and see at a glance what any color is. And the colors are described in a way that is most natural for artists. What is the hue (red, yellow, green etc)? Yes! And what is the value (very important)? Yes! And what is the chroma (how gray or saturated it is)? Yes!!! Color makes so much more sense now. But there's more! As well as the Munsell color mode (which is fabulous by itself!) there are 4 extra modes to help you really see what is before us. - Want to organize your reference into the major value shapes? Value mode will do that and you can change the number of value steps with a click of the mouse. - Want to reduce your reference to just grayscale to really see those fine-grained values? Yes! - Want to see how saturated or gray your colors are (this is always surprising!). Yes! - Want to see how your colors are distributed around the color wheel? Yes And yet there's still more: - No more clicking around - ChromaMagic has a fantastic new interface with buttery smooth zoomable, pannable images. - No more need to be tethered to wifi. Take ChromaMagic anywhere - even up a mountain! - Too many colors in your reference? Average your colors over multiple pixels - 2500 of them if you want to. - Want to know which paints are available for a certain color? ChromaMagic now has links to hundreds of top quality oil paints. - Want to use ChromaMagic at home? On the bus? On a tablet? Now you can run it on your iphone, ipad or mac. All for one price! - No more silly loading buttons. Drag and drop your files in one swish on the desktop (Bliss!!) - Use ChromaMagic next to the easel for mixing. Now with mixing swatches and calibration values (no need for $1500 Munsell chips)

Screenshots

Painter Values Check3 screens
ChromaMagic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ChromaMagic at 91% against Painter Values Check's 0%. ChromaMagic also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.1) and ads (none vs shown). Painter Values Check's advantage is price (Free vs $19.99) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months). On ratings volume and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Painter Values Check is free to download; ChromaMagic costs $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ChromaMagic holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 37 and 52 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Painter Values Check's written reviews are positive against 91% of ChromaMagic's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Painter Values Check ships an update every 2 months, ChromaMagic every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 7, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Painter Values Check versus ChromaMagic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPainter Values CheckChromaMagic
PriceFree — better$19.99
Rating3.1 (37 ratings)4.8 (52 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews90.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3752 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#13 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB125 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel LaoMichele Clamp

Customer experience

Painter Values Check

All ratings36 ratings
Positive52.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative47.2%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

ChromaMagic

All ratings52 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral3.8%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews33 reviews
Positive90.9%
Neutral6.1%
Negative3.0%

In-app purchases

None

Painter Values Check

No in-app purchases

None

ChromaMagic

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Painter Values Check free?
Painter Values Check is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChromaMagic free?
ChromaMagic costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Painter Values Check or ChromaMagic?
ChromaMagic is rated higher. Painter Values Check averages 3.1 out of 5 from 37 ratings, while ChromaMagic averages 4.8 from 52 ratings.
Do Painter Values Check or ChromaMagic have ads?
Painter Values Check shows ads; ChromaMagic does not.
Which is updated more often, Painter Values Check or ChromaMagic?
Painter Values Check ships an update every 2 months, and ChromaMagic every 7 months. Most recently, Painter Values Check was updated on September 7, 2026 and ChromaMagic on September 22, 2026.

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