PDF colors wrong on ipad/iphone HELP!

Report · Jun 28, 2011

When exporting PDFs from InDesign they look great on the computere but there is a HUGE color shift on the Ipad/Iphone. The main color is a rich purple which turns into neon blue on the iphone/Ipad.

Through research I have found that iphones/ipads show RGB color. I have tried ALL RGB settings in InDesign and the best that I get is a dark blue.

Has anyone been able to solve this???

HELP!

Report · Jun 28, 2011

Short and blunt, it's Apple's fault. Their own PDF viewer has lots of problems on Mac OS X, and for me at least it's no surprise you get the occasional suprise on the iPlatforms as well.

The fault is in the viewing application, but maybe (maybe) it's possible to circumvent these color shifts by experimenting with color profiles, i.e., including or excluding them and whatnot.

Report · Jun 28, 2011

Actually, to expand upon Jongware's response, the iPad/iPhone are not in any way color-managed. The color profiles in any content, PDF or otherwise, are totally ignored in that environment. Bottom line, though, request Apple to implement color management on their "i" devices and to respect embedded profiles.

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

Report · Jun 28, 2011

Surely it's not as hopeless as that? If there is no color management support, that probably means the device uses sRGB. So simply target sRGB as your profile.

Report · Jun 28, 2011

Sorry, but make no assumption that it is somehow natively sRGB. It is what is called device RGB. It isn't!!! Whatever the screen displays for RGB with its LED lighting is directly what you get from the RGB values you provide. No conversions are made and no provisions are made for color calibration. None of us like that, but that's the way it is.

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

Report · Mar 20, 2013

Here is my solution to Apple's garish PDF color problem.

My clients and I use iDevices like the iPad, for quickly communicating the progress of graphic work. The last thing you want is for the colors to be "off" (it just creates a lot of unnecessary conversations :-).

I needed a quick solution for showing iOS-friendly proofs from Adobe Illustrator or InDesign and here is how I solved it:

From the Save Adobe PDF window, choose the Output option in the left column.
Under Output, Color section Color Conversion: dropdown list, choose Convert to Destination (not Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers).
Under the Destination dropdown list, choose Apple RGB (Note: CIE RGB worked better in some cases for some colors)
Go back to the General option in the left column.
Save Preset as "Apple RGB iOS Compatible", or something like that.
Save/Export the PDF and observe the result!

Now you have a quick selection preset output so you can manage your choices at the export level. Handy and easy to choose your output options here. Once your design gets to print ready, you can simply choose your final print profile instead, no confusing adjustments to the document color mode or anything else.

I hope that helps folks who have been struggling with this...

Dave.

Report · Mar 20, 2013

Generally speaking, converting all color to RGB when creating a PDF file isn't going to hack it either in terms of how transparency is interpreted.

Also understand that Apple's PDF previewer doesn't implement anywhere near the full PDF specification and is especially problematic with color and transparency.

The free alternative is to use the Adobe Reader on both iOS and Android devices. CMYK is reasonably displayed with Adobe Reader (no garish colors and overly high contrast from CMYK or grayscale) and if you print from those devices, you don't have problems of messed up CMYK values, rich black, etc.

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

Report · Mar 20, 2013

Thanks for the extra notes, Dov.

For those who are using the standard PDF viewer and tools like Goodreader, my solution should make it less garish, maybe not perfect.

Report · Feb 20, 2013

A little late to the party but I thought i'd post a reply incase this solves anyone elses issue.

I was experiencing the exact same with a CMYK InDesign doc when viewed on either an iPad or iPhone my Cyan was sooo bright my eyes bled!

I applied the settings described here http://indesignsecrets.com/converting-cmyk-to-rgb-with-indesign.php#comment-476634

Color Conversion > Convert to destination (preservce numbers)

Destination > Document RGB

(I also had "Use standard Lab Values for Spots" ticked in Ink Manager although I don't think this was important, certainly not in my doc anyway!)

The output PDF was fractionally different but that was expected going from a CMYK doc for printing to an RGB web PDF.

My eyes are now safe

Report · Nov 02, 2015

Perfect, just by using Convert to Destination and switching Destination to RGB.

Report · Jan 08, 2016

Had a fact sheet with a text box with 10% blue shading -- but the box rendered on an iPhone as a solid black blob with no text. Another text box on the same fact sheet with light blue shading showed up just fine. Both used CMYK (have changed that now), but the black blob's Swatch Option showed "Solid, uncoated" -- the blue text box that rendered correctly used a different swatch which did not have either words in its swatch options.

95% of my work gets printed on either a customer's inkjet or laser color printer -- or put on the Internet, so I went into my template and converted all CMYK swatches to RGB. If I know a job is going out to a commercial printing firm, can always convert the swatches back (after learning their desired specs).

Report · Jan 08, 2016

Was the problem swatch a spot colour? If so, the obvious answer is only to use spot colours when they'll actually be printed as spot inks, or set All Spots to Overprint in the Ink Manager. The iPhone PDF reader probably can't render them, especially if transparency is involved.

Report · Jan 08, 2016

The vendors we use all specify Process. Am redoing PDF export presets and

color swatches for the 21st century, as 90% of my projects are viewed

online or printed out on a simple multifunction machine.

On Friday, January 8, 2016, Danny Whitehead. <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

Report · Jan 08, 2016

Rendered with what? The iOS native Preview application doesn't properly support any colors other than sRGB and is somewhat wonky with transparency. If you open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat for iOS, you should be successful in terms of color rendering.

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

Report · Jan 08, 2016

As previously stated am eliminating CMYK from

anything not specifically intended for a commercial printer who requires

CMYK

Report · Feb 20, 2013

Here´s icc profile that has been made by measuring iPad´s screen with colorimeter... it may be a bit outdated already, it was made with iPad1 but feel free to test it.

http://www.edocker.com/iOS_screen.icc.zip

I don´t remeber who gave this to me couple of years ago, probably a color management expert in our organisation, but I will share it with everyone who thinks it may be usefull...

Report · Feb 20, 2013

@Petteri – I think that icc profile is by Christian Albrecht from Serum Network GmbH in Munich.
Maybe it was pulled from the download link over there (February 8-2011):

http://indesignsecrets.com/digital-publishing-suite-freebies-to-make-ipad-publishing-a-bit-easier.ph...

Uwe

Report · Feb 20, 2013

That´s very possible. I just found it from my harddrive.... our color management guy did some icc profiles himself but that one could be from Christian as well... I have a faint recall that Christian was participating same DPS prerelease program with me and my collagues few years ago... that profile may have been downloaded from that prerelease forum as well....

Report · Sep 23, 2014

I FIGURED IT OUT!!!

I tried everything and no matter what my PDF looked neon! I googled it and nobody had an answer and I finally figured it out after downloading many different apps.

Download the Adobe Reader app (its free) and then open up your PDF from there. Voila! It looks normal.

It is a beautifully designed app and it's easy to use and easy to present a PDF from on an iPhone or iPad!

Report · Sep 23, 2014

The “native” PDF display capability under iOS has absolutely no support for color management and is very problematic with transparency. Grayscale and CMYK colors are displayed using a 1980's era conversion algorithm similar to what the original version of PostScript used for CMYK=>RGB conversions. Uggh!

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

Report · Oct 08, 2014

I can't even believe this is a problem. I created a PDF through WORD and the colors are so terrible on IPADS and IPhones, I almost had a heartattack! I haven't had any recent problems with this, now all of a sudden my document looks like a neon green monster! There is also a lack of color depth - black has taken over where there use to be gradation of color.

The kicker is that graphics work is my livelihood - I shouldn't need to download Adobe Reader on all my devices all of a sudden to ensure correct viewing, mainly because I know my clients will not be doing that on their end, they will still view it as is.

My question is, did something change in a recent iOS update? I have an IPad Air and a 4S IPhone which is where I'm seeing the worst imaging. From the amount of views on this post and the fact that it is exactly what I'm experiencing, there needs to be a better solution!!

- AC

graphiclark@yahoo.com

http://bit.ly/ConnectWithMe_OnLinkedIn

Screenshots of the difference:

Report · Oct 08, 2014

graphiclark wrote:

I can't even believe this is a problem.

Really? Why? Contrary to popular misconception, Apple products don't run on magic. iOS (a Cisco product, by the way) is comprised of code...as ordinary (in a present-day sense) as any. Furthermore, the Volkwagon-like customer-isolation scheme practiced by Apple severely limits what can be done with content targeted for their mobile products to produce any result that could be considered universal, or even controllable.

The kicker is that graphics work is my livelihood - I shouldn't need to download Adobe Reader on all my devices all of a sudden to ensure correct viewing, mainly because I know my clients will not be doing that on their end, they will still view it as is.

Wait. What? On any platform, Adobe Reader is the only way to ensure dependable PDF viewing. Have you tried educating your clients in that regard, or do you just assume? If they/you are routinely deploying content into the world-at-large for the purpose of viewing on mobile devices, I'd advise you to seek out a format that is better supported on under iOS than PDF.

...there needs to be a better solution!!

There may be, but you haven't really provided specific context about your objectives. Why are your clients viewing your print-targeted PDF's on Apple mobile devices? What's the scenario?

Report · Oct 08, 2014

John Mensinger wrote:

Really? Why?

...

Wait. What?

...

Why ..? What.. ?

John, you are suprised about this poster's PDF workflow, while he may well have more pressing problems:

[...] I created a PDF through WORD [...] graphics work is my livelihood ..

Maybe he just didn't care to notice on which forum he was posting.

Report · Oct 08, 2014

I agree with Dov that this is an Apple iOS problem—there's no color management. But the problem is exacerbated if the PDF contains CMYK of any flavor—the further removed from device RGB the color is the worse the result.

You can see this if you make a document with a mix of CMYK and RGB and export it to PDF/X-4 where there are no color conversions and everything is profiled, vs. the same document converted and flattened to sRGB on export.

So here's an example showing why John Hawkinson's #3 suggestion is actually the best approach.

An InDesign page with SWOP CMYK and Adobe RGB objects. The Transparency Blend Space is RGB.

And the PDF/X-4 on an iPad where the CMYK objects completely fall apart because their profiles can't be used.

And the sRGB export, which isn't perfect but is considerably better, because sRGB is closer to the iOS device RGB than SWOP CMYK. The conversion to sRGB using an RGB Transparency Blend Space simply produces a better result: