Owners of Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro sometimes face an unexpected problem: the screen of the smartphone suddenly loses saturation and becomes completely or partially black and white. This can be caused by the accidental activation of the “Electronic Ink” function, activation of the charge saving mode or a failure in the graphics driver. For many users, this change in the display comes as a surprise, since there is no one obvious “Color Mode” button in the settings menu.
Returning the full color spectrum to your device’s display is a solvable task, but one that requires understanding the structure of the MIUI and HyperOS shells. In this article, we will explore all possible causes of monochrome image and provide detailed instructions for restoring normal color reproduction. You will learn to manage hidden display parameters and avoid common customization errors.
Before you start to make complex manipulations, it’s important to understand what exactly led to the change in the image. Xiaomi’s system settings often offer features to reduce eye fatigue or save energy that visually turn the interface into an e-book-like experience. However, if the screen has become black and white on its own, without your input, it can signal a software failure.
The main reasons for the monochrome screen on the Poco X3 Pro
The first thing to rule out is activating the "Electronic Ink" mode, which is designed to make text reading more comfortable and reduces the visual burden by removing the color. On the Poco X3 Pro, this mode can be activated for individual applications or for the entire system, often by accident, users turn it on through the quick access panel or hotkeys.
The second common reason is to save energy: When the battery power drops below a critical level (usually 10-15%), the system can automatically limit background processes and translate the interface to grayscale to minimize the resource consumption of the display. This is a standard behavior, but it can remain active even after the charger is connected if there is a failure to switch profiles.
⚠️ Note: If the screen turns black and white after a smartphone crash or impact, the problem may be hardware-based, and in such cases, software methods may not help, and a diagnosis of the display plume will be required.
The third reason is accessibility. Android has features for people with visual impairments, such as Color Correction or Color Inversion. Accidental clicking of a button combination or activation through a voice assistant can change the color gamut of the entire interface, and it's worth checking if third-party themes or launchers are installed that forcefully change the palette.
Disabling the “Electronic Ink” mode in the settings
The most likely culprit for color loss is the Electronic Paper Display (EPD) feature, which is implemented deep enough in the MIUI shell. To check its status, you need to go to the settings menu, open Settings and find the Special Features section (or Advanced Settings depending on the firmware version).
Inside the menu, find E-Ink Mode. If the switch is active, the system compulsorily translates all applications or selected programs into a monochrome view. Here you can configure a list of applications for which this mode is applied. Often, a user activates a mode for one application, and due to a bug, it spreads to the entire interface.
To return flowers, do the following:
- 🔘 Open the Settings. → Special facilities → Electronic ink regime.
- 🔘 Transfer the main switch to the position Off.
- 🔘 Check the list of apps below and make sure none of them are ticked.
☑️ Checking the reading mode
After these steps are done, the screen should blink and return to normal color display. If this does not happen, try restarting the device by pressing Power and selecting Reboot. This is necessary to reset the GUI cache.
Setting up the color scheme and saturation
If the e-ink mode is off but the colors still look faded or unnatural, it’s worth checking the color scheme settings. In Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro, the Colors and Contrast menu answers for this. Here, the user can choose a profile that subjectively seems more pleasant, but sometimes choosing a “Standard” or “Saturated” profile solves the problem of fading.
Go to Settings → Screen → Colors and contrast. You'll see several display options: saturated, standard and colorful. Try switching between them. Sometimes the system gets stuck in an intermediate state or uses calibration that makes the picture gray.
| Colour mode | Description | Influence on perception |
|---|---|---|
| Saturated | Increases the saturation of all colors | A bright but sometimes unnatural picture |
| Standard. | Balance between saturation and realism | Natural colors close to sRGB |
| Colorful. | Maximum brightness and contrast | Very bright, can tire the eyes |
| Monochrome | Shades of Grey (Grayscale) | Black and white image (saving mode) |
Also in this section, there may be a color temperature slider, if it is moved to the extreme position towards the "Cold" or "Warm" shades, the picture may appear faded, return the slider to the center position or select the default value.
Secret screen calibration
Energy saving mode and its effect on the display
The MIUI energy-saving system is quite aggressive. When ultra-savings or standard low-charge savings are turned on, the phone limits not only background activity, but also visual effects. The screen can become less bright and the colors dim or completely gray to reduce the power consumption of the matrix.
To check if the battery is blocking color, go to Settings → Battery. If you activate the Saving mode, turn it off. It is also worth checking the settings of the mode itself: sometimes there is a tick “Monochrome interface” or similar option, which persists even after you leave the Saving mode.
There is also a hidden mechanism that turns on at a critically low charge (less than 5%), in which the phone can force the screen to black and white, ignoring other settings. The only way to get out of this state is to plug in the original charger and charge the battery to at least 10-15%, after which the colors must be restored automatically.
⚠️ Note: Using non-original low-current chargers may not let the system know that active charging is underway and the savings mode will remain active.
Checking availability and inversion settings
The Accessibility section hides features that are designed for people with color perception, one of which is Color Correction or Color Inversion, and if this feature is activated, the screen may display colors incorrectly, creating a negative or total color loss effect.
To check, go to Settings → Additional → Special Options (or Advanced Settings → Special Options) Find the section related to vision. Make sure Color Inversion, Color Correction, and Shades of Grey are turned off.
Often users accidentally activate these functions using hotkeys, for example, a five-time press of the power or volume button can toggle (switch) availability modes, to avoid this in the future:
- 🔍 Go to the settings of special opportunities.
- 🔍 Find the item “Special Opportunities Label».
- 🔍 Turn off the ability to call the menu buttons or reduce sensitivity.
If you use third-party launchers or themes from GetThemes, try temporarily disabling them and returning the standard Classic theme. Some custom themes have their own color correction algorithms that may conflict with system settings.
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If you use your phone frequently at night, turn on Night Light, but don’t confuse it with monochrome mode, which only adds a warm yellow tint, but retains all the colors of the rainbow.
Resetting settings and diagnosing problems
If none of the software methods helped bring the colors back to the Poco X3 Pro screen, there may have been a deep system failure, in which case a reset of the display settings or a complete system reboot may help. Before radical measures, try Safe Mode.
Safe Mode allows you to start a phone with third-party apps disabled. If the colors are normal in safe mode, then the problem is caused by some application you installed (for example, a reading app or a blue light filter). To enter Safe Mode, press the turn off button and then (hold for a long time) the "Stop" option on the screen until the prompt to switch to Safe Mode appears.
As a last resort, if the problem persists even in safe mode, a full data reset may be required.Be sure to back up important data to the cloud or computer before doing so.
Path to reset: Settings → About phone → Resetting → Erase all dataIf the screen remains black and white after reset, the hardware is likely to be the problem: the display plume is damaged, the screen power controller is out of order, or the matrix itself needs to be replaced.
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If the factory reset didn’t eliminate the black and white mode, the problem is almost certainly hardware and requires a call to a service center.