When a smartphone display suddenly loses color and turns into an old newspaper, it often catches owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco by surprise. Especially unpleasant if it happens in the evening or at night, when you plan to watch a video or just browse the social network before bedtime.
This behavior is the result of built-in vision protection features or special energy saving modes that could be activated on a schedule. Modern shells MIUI and HyperOS are equipped with many smart algorithms that automatically change the display parameters depending on the time of day. However, sometimes these settings are confused or incorrectly activated, requiring manual intervention of the user to return the usual color scheme.
In this article, we will take a closer look at all the possible reasons why your device’s screen has become monochrome, and provide step-by-step instructions to fix this problem. We will look at both standard system settings and hidden features that not all smartphone owners of the Chinese brand know about.
Reading mode and blue light filter
The most common reason black and white images appear at night is the activated reading mode, designed specifically for those who like to read e-books or articles from a smartphone screen before bedtime, which not only reduces eye strain by removing the blue spectrum of radiation, but also turns the interface into shades of gray to minimize visual arousal.
To check the status of this feature, you need to go to the display settings. The path may vary slightly depending on the firmware version, but most often it is located at Settings → Screen → Read Mode. Here you will see a switch that may have been accidentally activated or turned on on on on on schedule.
If you look at the schedule tab, if you have a time set, like 22:00 to 7:00, it's this setting that makes your Xiaomi go black and white at night, turn off the switchboard or change the time slot to return the colors.
⚠️ Note: In some versions of the shell, the read mode may have multiple profiles. Make sure you do not activate the Books or Newspaper profile, which force monochrome mode to be enabled even when the main switch is off.
It is also worth mentioning that reading mode can conflict with other brightness settings. If the screen becomes too dim or bright after the monochrome has been turned off, check the autobrightness settings in the same menu.
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Use read mode only when you are actually reading the text. To view photos or videos, it is better to turn on color mode so that the color reproduction of the content is not distorted.
Digital Well-Being and Sleeping
Another powerful feature that has been introduced in Android and is used extensively in MIUI shells is the Digital Well-being section, which hides the Bedtime mode tool, which is designed to help users go to sleep, and one of the options of this mode is to convert the screen to black and white to make smartphone use less attractive.
This mode is often activated automatically on your "Do Not Disturb" schedule or a special sleep schedule, and if you notice that the screen is losing color at a certain time, it's likely that this system limiter is the problem.
To disable the function, perform the following actions:
- 📱 Open Settings and find the Digital Well-Being and Parental Controls section".
- 🌙 Select "Sleep Mode" or "Sleep Time".
- 🔘 Click on the settings gear or the "Change" button next to the schedule.
- 🚫 Find the option “Shades of gray” or “Black and white screen” and uncheck it.
It's important to understand the difference between Do Not Disturb and Sleep Mode. The former only blocks notifications and calls, while the latter changes the behavior of the device's interface itself. If you want silence but are not prepared for a monochrome picture, adjust these settings separately.
Special Opportunities and Monochrome
Deep in the Android system settings, there's a perceptual section that people can use, sometimes accidentally activating features from this menu in an attempt to quickly zoom in or change the contrast, and Monochrome Mode is here, and it's the top priority override theme and design.
To get to this section, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Special Features. In the category list, select Vision or Visual Effects. Here you will find the Monochrome Mode switch. If it's green, the problem is solved, just turn it off.
You can also quickly access these settings through the side menu of special features, so if there's a little person or a person's icon floating on the screen, click on it and check if it activates the "Monochrome Mode" option.
⚠️ Warning: Enabling monochrome mode through special features can make some interface elements unreadable, as color differentiation of buttons and statuses disappears.
It is worth noting that on some models of Poco and Redmi with a simplified shell, this item may be called simply "Improving visibility." Carefully study the description of each feature in the special features section, so you do not get confused.
Energy savings and productivity
HyperOS energy saving systems and MIUI Sometimes they suggest switching to black and white to save battery power. OLED-screens black really saves energy, in this case we are talking about software color restriction to reduce the load on the processor and GPU.
This usually happens when the battery goes below 20 or 10 percent and Ultra-Savings is activated, and in this state the phone becomes the basic device for calling and texting, and the entire interface turns black and white.
To check and disable this:
- ⚡ Go to Settings. → Battery.
- 🔋 Find the section "Energy Saving" or "Energy Saving Modes".
- 🛑 Make sure you do not select the Ultra or Maximum Savings mode".
There are also third-party memory cleaning and phone acceleration apps that may have their own savings features. Check installed utilities like Clean Master or analogues if system settings are in order.
Why does black and white save the battery?
Third-party themes and design
And visual design is also important. There are thousands of skins in the MIUI Themes store that are fundamentally changing the way you look, and some of them, especially those that are retro, E-Ink or minimalist, can force you to design a black and white color scheme for all applications.
If you recently installed a new theme and the screen turned gray immediately after that, that's where the problem lies, and even if the theme itself appears to be colored, it can have filters in its code for certain interface elements.
To verify, follow the following steps:
- 🎨 Open the "Themes" app on the desktop.
- 👤 Click on the profile icon in the lower right corner.
- 🖌 Select the item "My topics".
- 🔄 Click on a standard theme (usually called "Classic" or "Default") and apply it.
If you return to standard color after changing the theme, then the previous skin was incompatible with your Android version or contained errors in the code.
Comparison of causes and methods of decision
For ease of diagnosis, we have created a table that will help you quickly identify the source of the problem by the accompanying signs, which will save time to go through all possible settings.
| Symptoms. | Probable cause | Where to find a solution | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen gray only at night | Reading Mode / Sleep Mode | Settings → Screen / Digital Well-being | Low. |
| Always black and white. | Special facilities | Advanced settings → Special. capabilities | Low. |
| Gray on low charge | The ultra-economy regime | Settings → Battery | Low. |
| Icons and fonts have changed | A third-party topic | Annex “Themes” | Medium |
| Colors are distorted, but not gray | Color scheme / Calibration | Settings → Screen → Color scheme | Low. |
As you can see from the table, in the vast majority of cases, the problem is solved within two or three settings menus, you do not need to reset the phone to factory settings or carry it to the service center.
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90% of the black and white screen appearances on Xiaomi are due to the software settings of Read Mode or Digital Well-being, not a hardware malfunction.
Additional color rendering settings
Sometimes users customize the color scheme themselves, choosing the option of "No saturated colors" or "Standard", and forget about it. When combined with night lighting, this can have a close to monochrome effect, especially on cheap IPS matrices.
Check the Settings → Screen → Color scheme. You can choose the Saturated, Classic or Contrast modes. Try switching between them to find the most comfortable option for your eyes.
Also in this section, you might have a "Color Temperature" setting, and if you move the slider to the "Cold" hues, you might see a faded image and you might not see it, and you might return the balance to neutral.
⚠️ Note: Do not use third-party apps to calibrate the root-right screen unless you are sure that it is compatible with your model.