How to keep your iPhone screen black and white except when in Photos and Camera

In this step-by-step tutorial, we’ll explain how to keep your iPhone or iPad display permanently in grayscale color filter mode to reduce usage while ensuring you see full colors when using the Camera and Photos apps.

Smartphone addiction is widespread among kids, teens, and adults alike. One way to bring down usage is to remove the sensory “hooks” (like screen colors) and make the apps less engaging.

Now, you can always enable the Grayscale filter from iOS Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. But this will keep your iPhone or iPad screen black and white at all times. As a result, you may not be able to capture beautiful, color-accurate pictures, and also fail to view your photo library as it’s intended to.

Therefore, we’ll show you how to use the built-in iOS automation feature to keep your iPhone or iPad screen in black and white mode except when you’re using the Camera or Photos app. Of course, you can also add some other essential work apps to this excluded list if you want.

Step 1: Create an automation to activate grayscale when you close Camera or Photos

1) Open the Apple Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad and go to the Automation tab.

2) Tap New Automation or the plus button and select App.

3) Tap Choose in the App field. Then, select Camera, Photos, or other apps that you want to use in color mode, and tap the checkmark icon.

4) Unselect “Is Opened” and select “Is Closed.” Then, tap Run Immediately, followed by Next.

5) Tap Create New Shortcut.

6) Use the Search Actions bar to find and add the “Set Color Filters” action. Leave everything as it is (i.e., “Turn color filters On”) and tap the checkmark.

You have successfully created an automation that will turn your iPhone or iPad display black and white when you close the Camera or Photos app.

Test it out by opening one of these apps and exiting it. You’ll notice that your device display is in grayscale mode now. If it’s red/green, green/red, blue/yellow, or a color tint filter, head to iOS Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters and set it to Grayscale.

With the first leg done, move to step 2 below.

Step 2: Create another automation to deactivate grayscale when you open Camera or Photos

1) Open the Shortcuts app, go to the Automation tab, tap the plus button, and select App.

2) Tap Choose and select the same apps (i.e., Camera and Photos) that you picked earlier.

3) Leave “Is Opened” as checked and make sure “Is Closed” is unchecked. Then, select Run Immediately and tap Next.

4) Tap Create New Shortcut and add the Set Color Filters action. Then, tap “On” to change it to “Off” and save everything by tapping the checkmark icon.

You have now set up another automation that will turn off the black-and-white screen and restore full-screen color when you open the Camera or Photos app.

With both automations built, open the Camera or Photos app, and your iPhone screen will be in its normal color mode. Then, go out of the app, and the iPhone screen will convert to black and white. You get the idea…

Try these automations on your or your kid’s device and report back to us if your smartphone usage reduces. By the way, Apple makes it really easy to find out how much time you spend in iPhone and iPad apps.

Also, check out:

• 20 simple yet effective tips to reduce your iPhone usage
• How to reduce your child’s Screen Time on iPhone and iPad
• Other automation tips

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/02/03/use-grayscale-smartly-on-iphone/