Apple's White is #FBFBFD #F5F5F7
Apple's Black is #1D1D1F.
For a while now, I’ve been curious about Apple’s approach to black and white as interface colors. To my eyes, Apple’s whites and blacks have a certain personality. They feel distinct from the stark black-and-white of, say, Google’s Material Design.
So pulled up the color pickers for the various whites and blacks used throughout Apple’s various operating systems and hardware products. Here’s what I found:
| Name | Hex | RGB | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | #ffffff | 255,255,255 | Xcode |
| White | #F5F5F7 | 245,245,247 | iOS 10, macOS Mojave |
| White | #F8F8F8 | 248, 248, 248 | watchOS, tvOS |
| White | #FBFBFD | 251,251,253 | iOS 11 |
As you can see, Apple has historically used two shades of white: #ffffff and the slightly warmer #F5F5F7. Beginning with iOS 11, however, Apple began introducing yet another shade: #FBFBFD. This new white has a slightly blue cast as compared to #F5F5F7, but in practice, this difference is quite subtle.
There may be slight variations in Apple’s white color across their range of products and system versions, but these differences would be nearly imperceptible during everyday use of Apple devices.
As for blacks… well, Apple’s blacks have always kind of fascinated me. They’re not as profoundly dark as, say, the blacks used by Google, Microsoft, or Samsung. On a properly calibrated display, Apple’s blacks have a slightly warm, deep gray quality.
As you can see from the table below, Apple currently uses at least three different shades of black:
| Name | Hex | RGB | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | #00000 | 0,0,0 | Xcode, watchOS 1 |
| Black | #080808 | 8,8,8 | Xcode |
| Black | #1C1C1E | 28,28,30 | iOS 9 |
| Black | #1D1D1F | 29,29,31 | iOS 11, watchOS 4, tvOS 11 |
Apple’s black appears to have undergone a series of subtle changes over the years. The original iPhone OS used a true black (#000000), but all subsequent iOS releases bumped the black up to #080808 for a slightly warmer look. In later versions of iOS and other operating systems, the blacks continue to get progressively lighter. These days, most of Apple’s black interfaces use what appears to be #1D1D1F.
I was curious as to what color Apple calls their black, so I turned to Apple’s surprisingly comprehensive list of Human Interface Guidelines. In the Dark Mode section of the guidelines, Apple refers to their standard Dark Mode black interface elements as “dark gray.”
I find Apple’s choice of the name “dark gray” to refer to their various blacks to be a bit odd. My eyes would more naturally call the color “black” or, on a particularly bright day, “very very dark gray.” In any case, Apple’s dark gray is a signature interface color that unmistakably says “This is an Apple product.” It’s instantly recognizable, but just different enough to give Apple’s UIs their own unique personality.
Conclusion
As I said above, I think the shades of black and white employed in Apple’s various interfaces and products have a certain personality. They feel distinct from the blacks and whites of other operating systems.
And although subtle, these small differences add up over time. Even for the casual observer, a glance at a screenshot of an iPhone or a MacBook is instantly recognizable.