Reflextry’s color vision tool uses Ishihara-style plates: a digit (or path) formed by dots of one hue inside a field of other hues. People with typical red-green discrimination usually read the figure; many with red-green deficiency see a different figure or none.
That is useful. It is not a medical diagnosis.
What classic plates were designed for
Printed Ishihara plates primarily screen red-green issues (protan and deutan patterns). They are less informative for blue-yellow (tritan) problems and do not replace a full clinical battery (anomaloscope, formal charts, occupational certification).
Why your phone and laptop disagree
Self-emissive OLED phones, cheap TN panels, Night Shift / blue-light filters, True Tone, low brightness, and warm room lighting all shift perceived hue. A “fail” on one device and “pass” on another often measures displays, not a sudden change in your cones.
Before trusting a surprising result:
- Disable night filters and aggressive accessibility color remaps.
- Raise brightness.
- Retest in daylight-balanced light on a second device.
- Avoid tinted glasses.
How to read Reflextry results
Treat a session as plate-by-plate accuracy under current settings. Consistent misses on red-green style plates across good lighting is a signal to book a professional exam—especially for careers with color vision requirements (aviation, some maritime and electrical roles, certain design/print workflows).
Hard or Professional difficulty reduces contrast to make discrimination tougher. Failing only the hardest plates is not the same as failing a clinical screen.
Design and accessibility takeaways
If red-green plates are hard for you—or for users you build for:
- Do not encode critical status as red vs green alone.
- Add icons, labels, patterns, and sufficient luminance contrast.
- Check UI with grayscale and colorblind simulation tools, not vibes.
Children and anxiety
Kids can try educational plates, but interpret gently. Anxiety and rushing cause careless entries. If a parent is worried, skip internet rabbit holes and schedule an optometrist visit.
What practice does—and does not—do
Practice may help you notice textures or shapes in a plate. It does not restore missing photopigment function. Be wary of apps that imply “training away” colorblindness.
Bottom line
Use Reflextry’s color tool for curiosity, accessibility empathy, and informal self-checks. Use a clinic for diagnosis, documentation, and occupational clearance. When in doubt, email is not a substitute for an eye exam—but our About and Contact pages explain how to reach us about the product itself.
Occupational and legal contexts
Some employers and licensing bodies require specific clinical color vision documentation. A browser session—even a careful one—will not satisfy those rules. If your job depends on color discrimination, ask which test they accept and schedule it through an authorized provider.
Sharing results responsibly
If you post a Reflextry plate score online, include device and filter settings. Without that context, comments turn into unhelpful debates. For personal decisions (buying design monitors, choosing UI themes), treat the tool as one input among contrast checkers and real-user feedback.