Apple purchased a small, one-person company called Patchflyer back in January, according to new acquisition disclosures provided by the European Union. Patchflyer was owned by Jonathan Ochmann, who created Color.io, a web-based color grading tool popular with photographers and filmmakers.
Apple purchased Color.io and is employing Ochmann. Last year, Ochmann announced Color.io's impending closure in November, and said that he was joining a company that will let him work at a scale he could not reach on his own. "After 10+ years of running everything alone, I've reached a point where I need to grow in ways that aren't possible as a solo builder," he wrote.
Color.io was known for an easy-to-use but powerful tool for adding film-like color and texture to images. It used a custom color engine and custom color models, and it had a rich library of tools for manipulating color. Ochmann also designed the popular VisionColor LUTs prior to creating Color.io.
Color.io went offline on December 31, 2025, with about five weeks of warning for the app's 200,000+ users. Now that Ochmann is employed at Apple, Color.io capabilities could come to Apple software in the future. Ochmann's expertise and Color.io's features would be useful for Final Cut Pro or Pixelmator Pro.
Apple also acquired PromptAI during the same timeframe, according to the EU filing, but the PromptAI purchase was already known. PromptAI was a startup focusing on computer vision, and it had an app called Seemour. The app augmented home security cameras and detected people, pets, animals, and other objects.
Article Link: Apple Bought Color Grading Tool Color.io in January
