Pika Overview
Pika for Mac is a free, open-source color picker for macOS, built by designer and developer Charlie Gleason under the Superhighfives label. Version 1.8.0 added a menu bar popover mode, contrast checking against both WCAG and APCA standards, and OKLCH as a seventh supported color format. Designers use it to pick colors from anywhere on screen and instantly get values in Hex, RGB, HSB, HSL, LAB, OpenGL, or OKLCH. It integrates directly with macOS through keyboard shortcuts and a custom pika:// URL scheme, so other apps and scripts can trigger picks automatically. Built natively with SwiftUI, it's a small, focused tool rather than a bloated utility suite.
Why Choose Pika for Mac
A lot of listings for Pika online still describe an old, stripped-down version of the app with just basic color picking. That's outdated. The current 1.8.0 release adds real workflow features: a menu bar popover mode that skips the floating window entirely, side-by-side WCAG and APCA contrast checking, and a visual overlay that confirms exactly which color you picked after the fact.
It's also genuinely open source, not just free. The core code sits on GitHub under the MIT license, so you can inspect exactly what it does, install it through Homebrew, or build it yourself in Xcode if you want to contribute. That's a meaningfully different trust model than most closed-source "free" utilities, and it's part of why designers who prioritize accessibility keep coming back to it for contrast work specifically.
Key Features
- Quick color picking from anywhere on your screen
- Seven color format outputs: Hex, RGB, HSB, HSL, LAB, OpenGL, and OKLCH
- Menu bar popover mode for picking without a floating window or Dock icon
- Contrast picking with both WCAG and APCA standards shown together
- Custom pika:// URL scheme for automation from other apps or scripts
- Keyboard shortcuts for picking foreground and background colors
- Undo and redo support for color picks
- Color swapping between foreground and background
- Visual overlay confirming the exact color after each pick
- Open-source codebase available for review or contribution on GitHub
What's New
Pika 1.8.0 focuses on faster access and more precise color work. Recent improvements include:
- A new menu bar popover mode for quick access without opening a full window
- Contrast picking that shows WCAG and APCA ratings in one flow
- OKLCH added as a seventh color format, with a full conversion pipeline
- A redesigned app icon built with Apple's Icon Composer
- A more compact format picker menu to accommodate the extra format
- Smaller minimum window width for a more compact interface
- Improved color space accuracy across OKLCH and LAB conversions
These changes make Pika noticeably faster to access day-to-day, while adding real accessibility value for anyone checking color contrast.
Supported macOS Versions
Pika requires macOS 14 or later. It's built natively with SwiftUI, so it runs smoothly on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs without needing separate builds. If you're relying on an older download listing that references a much earlier version number, it's worth grabbing the current release directly, since older builds lack the popover mode and contrast tools described above.
How to Install Pika on MacOS?
Getting Pika running on your Mac takes only a few steps.
- Download the latest version of Pika for Mac.
- Open the downloaded installer or disk image.
- Drag the Pika icon into your Applications folder if prompted.
- Launch Pika from your Applications folder.
- Grant any screen-recording or accessibility permissions macOS requests.
Once installed, you can start picking colors from anywhere on your screen right away.
How to Use Pika Mac App?
- Open Pika and use the keyboard shortcut to start picking a foreground color.
- Click anywhere on screen to sample that color.
- Choose your preferred format, such as Hex, RGB, or OKLCH, from the picker.
- Use the contrast tool to check a foreground and background pair together.
- Copy the value directly, or trigger a pick automatically using the pika:// URL scheme.
