A few months ago I got into miniature painting, and almost immediately ran into a wall: I'd find a reference image I loved, but had no idea which paints would actually match what I was looking at.
So I did what any reasonable person would do — I spent way too many evenings building an app instead of actually painting.
What TinPot does
You load any reference photo, tap a point on it, and the app tells you which paints from your favorite brands are the closest match. It uses Delta-E color science (the same math used in professional color calibration) to compare against a database of 6,600+ paints across 19+ brands: Vallejo, Citadel, Army Painter, AK Interactive, Scale75, Reaper, P3, Turbo Dork, and more.
There's also inventory tracking so you know what you already own, and a barcode scanner to add paints quickly (still expanding coverage, more brands coming).
It's completely free on iOS right now. No subscriptions, no paywalls on the core features.
Why I'm here
I'm a solo developer building this in my spare time.
If TinPot has saved you time, helped you match a tricky color, or just seemed like something worth existing in the world — a pizza goes a long way. It helps me keep the App Store account active, and carve out more weekend hours to build the features I have planned:
"Which of my paints is closest?" filter (inventory-only matches)
Shareable palette images for Reddit and Discord posts
Shadow and highlight layer suggestions from any base color
Cross-brand paint conversions
Android build (in internal testing now)
Thanks for checking it out.
— Esteban
TinPot is available free on the App Store and Google Play.
https://apps.apple.com/bo/app/tinpot/id6771974865
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stbndev.paintrack