How to Fix It When Your Phone Screen Turns Black and White (2024)

Mobile Phones > Android

This article explains what symptoms you might be seeing when your phone's screen turns black and white. We'll discuss possible causes and how to fix the problem on your Android.

Why Your Phone Is Black and White

The most likely reason is that an accessibility or power-saving option is turned on. If it's not software-related, the phone could be damaged and you'll need to send it off for repair.

How to Fix a Black and White Phone Screen

The following troubleshooting will start with the most straightforward fix for a phone not displaying color before moving to more advanced or complex solutions.

1. Restart your phone or tablet. If your screen isn't in color before of a temporary issue with the OS or an app, a simple restart will put the color back on your phone.

2. If you've recently installed some apps, uninstall them. Deleting apps from your Android phone will often reverse the black and white screen if it just started after installing a new app. Don't forget to check for and remove any hidden apps on Android.

   Some users have had app color issues with Google's Digital Wellbeing app, so you might start your investigation there.

   To verify that an app is causing the black and white screen issue, start Android in Safe Mode. If you see normal color in Safe Mode, then one of your apps is to blame.

3. Turn off the battery saver feature. This is intended to save power by making changes to your phone's theme and visual effects. If this is why your phone screen is black and white, then disabling it is the fix.

4. Disable Dark Mode, which reduces or eliminates the amount of blue light coming from the screen. This feature may make the display appear black and white.

5. Check the Grayscale option in the Android Accessibility settings. In Settings > Accessibility > Color and motion > Color correction is an option to turn on Grayscale, which makes the phone black and white. If this is enabled, disable it to see if it fixes your screen color issue.

   See Also

   How to Invert Colors in a Picture on iPhone & Android

6. Switch off color inversion. This is another option in the Color and motion settings. Inverting colors may not make the screen appear black and white on all apps, but if you've accidentally enabled this feature, some screens can appear black and white or otherwise unusual to you.

7. Unpause the app. If the app icon is the only part of the screen that's black and white, then the app must be paused. Tap it and choose Unpause app to fix the color.

8. If you've enabled developer mode on your Android, an option called Color space can switch your screen to black and white. Search for that in Settings, then tap it and choose Disabled to get the color back.

9. If none of the fixes above have worked, you may need to send your phone to the manufacturer or a local repair shop for servicing.