Performing visual search tasks on a mobile device while walking can affect users’ performance, while proper color design can help users quickly identify search targets. However, research on the differences in color utilization under various user states is inadequate. To address this, we used a treadmill to simulate walking and investigated the impact of colors on visual search performance in different states. In the experiment, participants, equipped with an eye tracker, completed search tasks for target color blocks on mobile interfaces in both walking and stationary states, with their search time, accuracy rate, gaze duration, and gaze count being recorded. The research findings indicate that under walking conditions, users’ visual search behavior undergoes significant changes: not only does search time and fixation duration decrease notably, but the number of fixations also diminishes markedly, suggesting improved visual processing efficiency while walking. We speculate that the walking state may enhance search efficiency due to the increased attractiveness of color. When comparing walking and static states, we observe a certain degree of stability in the color categories that exhibit superior and inferior visual search performance across both contexts: green, blue, and red particularly stand out during walking, whereas blue, red, green, and purple exhibit optimal effects in static states.