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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/

Apple in late January unveiled a new generation of AirTag, the popular item tracker, featuring expanded range, enhanced Precision Finding capabilities, and a significantly louder speaker to make lost belongings easier to locate.

The updated AirTag builds on the original model launched in 2021, leveraging Apple’s vast Find My network to help users track everyday items like keys, wallets, backpacks, luggage, and more.

Chris Welch for Bloomberg News:
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The AirTag is the rare Apple item that you’re never supposed to think about. Having been an early adopter of the original $29 device, I’ve kept the tiny circular tracker on my keychain, tucked it away in my backpack, and hidden it in my guitar case. And for most of that time, the AirTag has dutifully (and uneventfully) served its purpose, continually pinging nearby iPhones, Macs and other devices in Apple’s vast Find My network to report its whereabouts.

That location is almost always right where I expect it to be. But as someone with an unfortunate history of losing wallets and keys, I’ve found the AirTag invaluable on multiple occasions.

The new device’s improved loudness — an increase of 50%, according to Apple — is the biggest improvement. Whereas I sometimes struggled to hear the original AirTag emit its location in a crowded restaurant or on a city street, this one cuts through clearly in those environments. If someone were to covertly plant one of Apple’s trackers on me for nefarious purposes, the louder chime makes it easier to pinpoint and disable.

Under the hood, one new feature is the ability to use Precision Finding — a feature where on-screen arrows guide you to an AirTag’s exact spot — on an Apple Watch. I no longer need to bother with the intermediary step of finding my iPhone all so that I can use it to locate another object. So if I’m out for a phone-free walk and somehow misplace my keys, my watch can bring me right to them.

Unless you’re really sold on the idea of a slightly louder chime, there’s no reason to run out and replace all of the AirTags you already own that are likely serving their purpose just fine… But for a gadget that’s meant to attach to something and (mostly) be forgotten about, the second-generation AirTag still gets the job done and is an affordable way to locate whatever it’s tethered to, or at least get you pretty close.

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Precision Finding on Apple Watch just works so well; it’s quintessential Apple!

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Source link: https://macdailynews.com/2026/02/03/apples-new-airtag-2-gets-the-job-done-and-affordably-too/