Colored conductive fluids for electrowetting or electrofluidic devices, and the devices themselves, are disclosed. The colored conductive fluid includes a polar solvent and a colorant selected from a pigment and/or a dye. The polar solvent has (a) a dynamic viscosity of 0.1 cP to 1000 cP at 25° C., (b) a surface tension of 25 dynes/cm to 90 dynes/cm at 25° C., and (c) an electrowetting relative response of 20% to 80%. The colored conductive fluid itself can have an electrical conductivity from 0.1 μS/cm to 3,000 μS/cm and can have no greater than 500 total ppm of monatomic ions with ionic radii smaller than 2.0 Å and polyatomic ions with ionic radii smaller than 1.45 Å. The colored conductive fluid should not cause electrical breakdown of a dielectric in the device in which it is employed. An agent for controlling electrical conductivity can optionally be added to the colored conductive fluid.