A Color Blind Test You Can Take Every Day

The standard screening is a plate test: numbers or shapes hidden in dot patterns that separate typical color vision from red-green deficiency. HueLens puts an Ishihara-style version of this on your iPhone, takes about two minutes a day, and scores each run. A formal diagnosis still requires an eye doctor, and HueLens is built to prepare you for that visit, not replace it.

It is the classic screening test made of circular plates filled with colored dots, where a number is visible to some kinds of color vision and invisible to others. HueLens draws its plates procedurally in the same style, so each day's test is fresh and cannot be memorized. You answer what you see and the app scores the pattern of your responses.

They are the three axes of color vision deficiency: protan affects the red-sensing cones, deutan the green-sensing cones, and tritan the blue-sensing ones. Real vision often sits between textbook types, which is why HueLens uses a three-axis severity slider that tunes all three together instead of forcing you into one rigid label.

A phone can screen it usefully: modern iPhone displays render the color differences plate tests depend on, and an app can track results far more consistently than a one-off chart on a wall. HueLens is honest about the limits — it is a self-screening and tracking tool, and it tells you plainly that it does not diagnose.

They vary widely — many are single-shot, unscored, and rendered without care for color accuracy. A better signal comes from repeated, consistent testing over time, which is what HueLens is designed around: the same style of test, scored the same way, charted over months. For a definitive answer, see an eye care professional.

Inherited red-green deficiency is generally stable, but acquired changes can happen with age, medication, or certain eye conditions — and those changes are worth catching. Because HueLens charts your daily results over months, a drift in your scores becomes visible instead of anecdotal, and the export gives your doctor the history.

Yes. HueLens turns the iPhone camera into a color reader: point it at a sweater, a cable, or a paint sample, tap, and it names the color and gives the exact hex value. It measures a small area under your finger, compensates for the light, and adds an honest confidence note — when it is unsure, it says so instead of guessing.

Most people with red-green deficiency see plenty of color — but certain pairs, like red versus brown or green versus orange, collapse toward each other. HueLens can show this in both directions: a live preview displays the same scene the way full-color vision sees it, right next to your own view, which is also a powerful way to show family and friends what the difference actually is.

A record of what you have noticed and when helps a lot, since an exam is a single point in time. HueLens builds that record for you: months of scored self-tests in a chart, exportable as a clean PDF or CSV made to be handed over at an appointment.

No. HueLens is an everyday accessibility aid and a personal screening tool — it scores plate-style self-tests and tracks trends, but a diagnosis of color vision deficiency requires a professional eye exam. The app states this honestly and is designed to make that professional visit more productive.

Yes. Everything runs on your iPhone — the tests, the scoring, the charts, and the camera color reading. Nothing is uploaded anywhere, and there is no account. The only way your results leave the device is when you choose to export them.

The test itself tells you where your color vision is weakest, and that knowledge alone prevents many mismatches. For day-to-day decisions, HueLens's camera reader is the practical tool: tap the shirt and the trousers, read both color names, and know whether they match before you leave the house.