Is your color picker extension safe?
In July 2025 a popular color picker for Chrome turned out to be spying on its users. Here is what happened, what the well-known pickers are allowed to do, and what to check before you install one.
| Pigmo | ColorZilla | Color Picker for Chrome | ColorPick Eyedropper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Users | New | 4,000,000 | 800,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Site access at install | None. Reads a tab only after your click | All websites | All websites | All websites |
| Warning in Chrome's install dialog | None about your data | Read and change all your data on all websites | Read and change all your data on all websites | Read and change all your data on all websites |
| Its code runs on every page you open | No. Only in the tab you click it in | Not by default | Yes | Yes |
From each extension's Chrome Web Store page and the manifest of the version Google served on 12 October 2026: ColorZilla 4.1, Color Picker for Chrome 4.0.2, ColorPick Eyedropper 0.0.3.3. Access to all websites is something an extension may use, not proof that it misuses it.
The color picker that turned into spyware
"Color Picker, Eyedropper — Geco colorpick" had more than 100,000 users, over 800 reviews at 4.2 stars and Google's Featured badge. It picked colors as promised. In July 2025, researchers at Koi Security found that it also recorded every site its users visited, sent that to a server, and could send their browser to other pages.
It had not started out that way. The extension was clean for a long time. The spying came with a later update, which Chrome installed by itself, without asking anyone. Geco was one of 18 extensions in the same campaign, with 2.3 million users between them. Microsoft removed them from Edge within days. The Geco picker is no longer in the Chrome Web Store either.
Why an update can do this
An extension that may read all websites can change what it does with that access in any update, and Chrome does not ask you again. The install dialog is the one moment you decide. It is different for an extension without that access: if a later version wants it, Chrome turns the extension off until you agree to the new warning.
So the question is not only whether a picker is safe today, but what it could do after its next update.
What the big pickers can access
The table above comes from each extension's manifest, the file where it lists what it may do. ColorZilla, Color Picker for Chrome and ColorPick Eyedropper all ask for access to every website, and Chrome warns about it at install. Two of them run their code on every page you open, whether you pick a color or not.
That is not a sign that they misuse it. These are long-standing tools with millions of users between them. It means they could, and that you trust every future update to them.
Five things to check before you install
- Read Chrome's install dialog. If it says "Read and change all your data on all websites", ask whether a color picker needs that. Cancelling costs nothing.
- Don't count on users, stars or badges. The Geco picker had all three.
- Look at Privacy practices on the store page. It shows what the developer says the extension collects. The developer fills it in, so it is a promise, not a check.
- Limit the ones you keep. In chrome://extensions, open Details and set Site access to On click. The extension then gets a page only when you click its button.
- Remove the ones you no longer use. An extension you forgot about still gets every update.
Where Pigmo stands
- Its whole permission list is activeTab, storage and scripting. None of them shows a warning at install.
- It has no access to any website until you click its button. Then Chrome gives it that one tab, until you close it or go to another site.
- It makes no network requests at all, not even to check your licence. Your colors stay in your browser.
- If a future version ever wanted access to all websites, Chrome would turn Pigmo off and ask you first.
If you already use a picker
No need to panic. Open chrome://extensions, see which extensions can read all sites, and set the ones you keep to On click. If you want a picker that never needs that access, Pigmo is free to try next to the one you have.