Painting Mirror is an iOS camera app that transforms your phone into a studio mirror and observation tool for painters, offering free mirror and composition guides with optional paid studio modes for deeper critique.
What is Painting Mirror?
Painting Mirror is a camera app for iPhone that helps painters observe their work more clearly. It uses the phone's camera as a mirror to check proportions, blur detail to judge value masses, and apply grayscale to strip color distraction. The app runs entirely on-device with no analytics or ads, developed by Nice Software.
Key Features
- Mirror mode — Flips the camera view horizontally to see your painting as a mirror reflection, helping spot proportion drift.
- Composition guides — Overlays rule of thirds, golden ratio, diagonal armature, and crop frame on the camera feed.
- Grayscale — Converts the live view to black-and-white to assess value without color (Full Studio).
- Blur — Applies variable blur to the camera feed to simplify detail and see large shapes (Full Studio).
- Step Back — Shrinks the feed to simulate viewing from a distance (Full Studio).
- Black Mirror — Shows a reversed black silhouette to check contrast and composition (Full Studio).
- Critique Delay — Captures a photo and displays it after a set delay for a fresh perspective (Full Studio).
- Privacy by design — No camera feed recording, no remote storage, no tracking SDKs, no analytics, no ads.
Who is it for?
- Oil and acrylic painters who need quick mirror checks while at the easel to catch proportion errors.
- Watercolor artists who want to squint at value masses without physically stepping back.
- Art students learning to see proportion and color relationships through guided observation tools.
- Studio hobbyists seeking a lightweight, focused utility over a general camera app.
Use cases
- Mirror check during a session: Flip the view to catch symmetry errors without leaving your canvas.
- Value study: Switch to grayscale and blur to evaluate light-dark structure of a setup.
- Composition planning: Frame a scene using golden ratio or diagonal guides before starting.
- Critique with fresh eyes: Use Critique Delay to review a captured photo after a few minutes.
Pricing
Freemium model. Mirror and Composition guides are free forever. Full Studio (Grayscale, Blur, Step Back, Black Mirror, Critique Delay) unlocks via App Store trial eligibility or purchase: monthly, yearly, or one-time permanent access.
FAQ
Does Painting Mirror upload my camera feed?
No. The feed is processed on device and never transmitted or stored remotely.
What is free forever?
Mirror and Composition guides remain free in every session, no purchase required.
What does Full Studio include?
Full Studio adds Grayscale, Blur, Step Back, Black Mirror, and Critique Delay.
Can I restore purchases?
Yes, purchases restore across devices through your Apple Account using standard App Store restore.
