Xiaomi Black and White Screen: How to Remove and Return Colors

The sudden disappearance of colors on the display of a Xiaomi, Redmi or Poco smartphone can cause panic in any user.The screen becomes gray, dull and unnatural, which is often perceived as a critical breakdown of the matrix. However, in the vast majority of cases it is not a hardware defect, but an activated software function or a glitch in the display settings.

MIUI and its newer version of HyperOS have a wide range of tools for controlling vision and power consumption, which are the most common causes of color reproduction changes, and understanding which mechanism is activated will allow you to quickly return to the usual brightness and saturation of the picture without going to the service center.

In this article, we will go into detail about all possible causes, from simple eye settings to complex system errors, you will learn to diagnose a problem in a few minutes and fix it with effective methods. 95% of the time, the problem is solved by switching one switch to the settings menu or restarting the device.

Reading and vision protection: the main reason

The most common reason Xiaomi’s screen has turned black and white is its activated read mode, which is designed to reduce eye strain when watching long-term text or books, and automatically turns the interface into shades of gray, removing color stimuli.

Users often turn on this mode randomly, for example, through the Quick Access Panel, or adjust its activation on a schedule, forgetting about it. To check the status of the function, you need to go to the display settings. Find the Settings section → Screen → Read Mode (or Settings → Screen and Brightness → Read Mode).

Inside this menu, you'll see a switch that turns the screen into monochrome mode. If it's active, just turn it off. You should also pay attention to your schedule settings, and it's possible that your phone automatically switches to that mode at certain times of the day or when you launch specific apps.

• 📖 Classic mode: completely discolor the interface, imitating electronic paper.
• 🎨 Color mode: reduces saturation, but retains shades, which may look like fading.
• ⏰ Planner: Automatically enable the function by time or sunrise/sunset.

⚠️ Note: If you use third-party book reading apps (e.g. Moon)+ Reader or Kindle, check their internal settings. Some of them may force monochrome mode on top of Android system settings.

Turning off this feature instantly puts the colors back in place, and if the screen is black and white after turning off the read mode, then the reason lies deeper in the system or other visualization settings.

Energy savings and system constraints

The second most popular cause of color reproduction changes is aggressive energy saving mode: When the battery power drops below a critical level (usually 10% or 20%), the MIUI system can offer or automatically turn on the ultra-saving mode.

In this state, the smartphone limits background processes, reduces brightness and, importantly for our theme, translates the color scheme into black and white, this is done to minimize the power consumption of the display, which is one of the main consumers of charge, to get out of this mode, just plug the charger or manually turn off the savings.

Find the Safety app on your desktop (green lightning icon). Select Battery on the inside. There's a mode switch on the top right or center of the screen. Make sure you select Balanced or Performance mode, but not Economy mode.

Sometimes users customize automation scenarios themselves, such as when you start the navigator, the phone goes into saving mode. Check Settings → Battery → Automation scenarios (if available in your firmware version) and make sure there are no rules that change the color scheme.

Special Opportunities and Monochrome Mode

And underneath the Android settings, there's a perceptual section, which is called Monochrome Mode or Color Correction, which can also be the culprit, and it's designed for color blind or color sensitive users.

You can activate this mode by accident, especially if you have enabled the quick settings function in the special options menu. The path to settings usually looks like this: Settings → Advanced Settings → Special Options → Vision tab (or simply Vision in the general list).

In this section, look for Color Correction or Monochrome Mode. If the switch is active, the system forcibly filters colors. Turn off this option to restore a normal picture. Also check if color inversion is enabled, which makes the image look like a negative.

Note that in some versions of HyperOS, the path to these settings may vary slightly. Use the settings search (laptop of the screen), type in the word "Color" or "Mono" to quickly find the right switch.

Failures in the Camera application

If the entire interface of the phone is colored, and the image only becomes black and white when the Camera app is launched, the problem is localized inside that app. This is a frequent failure associated with filter or driver settings.

First of all, check if the built-in filter is "BB" or "Noir." The camera interface usually has an icon with three intersecting circles or the inscription "Filters." Make sure you select "Original" or "Normal" mode.

If the filters are disabled but the problem persists, try clearing the app's cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps → Camera → Memory and click Clear cache (not data unless you want to reset the camera settings, although a full reset is sometimes required).

It could also be a conflict with third-party apps that have access to the camera (Snapchat, Instagram) and try to start the camera in Safe Mode or after rebooting without opening other apps.

Hardware problems and display plumes

And you can't rule out a physical breakdown, because if the screen turns black and white after falling, hitting, or getting moisture, there's a high probability that the plume of the display or the matrix itself will be damaged, and then software won't help.

Damage to the plume often results not only in color changes, but also in stripes, flickering, or incomplete display of the image. If you notice that when you bending the body (which is not recommended) or pressing on the screen, colors change or artifacts appear, this is a clear sign of hardware malfunction.

⚠️ Attention: Attempts to "design" the plume by pressing or bending can finally finish the contact. If there is a suspicion of a physical breakdown, it is better to contact the specialists immediately.

You can diagnose the problem by connecting your phone to your computer or TV via HDMI (if the model supports image output). If the external screen is colored and the phone is black and white, the problem is exactly in your Xiaomi display or plume.

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Take a screenshot of the screen and send it to another device or PC. If the other device has a color screenshot, it's a problem in the phone's matrix. If the screenshot is also black and white, it's a software problem.

Resetting and system update

When a software failure is systemic and simple switching of switches does not help, deeper intervention may be required, often errors after updating the firmware or conflicts of the system cache are to blame.

The first step is to update the system to the latest available version. Go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI/HyperOS version and press the update check button. Developers often release patches that fix display bugs.

If the update doesn't help or isn't possible, try resetting all settings to factory. Importantly, make sure to make a full backup before you do so, as all files will be deleted. Way: Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data.

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Wipe Data is a radical, but often the only way to fix deep color rendering software errors that are not related to hardware.

Once reset, the phone will return to the out-of-the-box state. If even in this state, before installing any applications, the screen remains black and white, the probability of a hardware problem is close to 100%.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions