The sudden disappearance of colors from the screen of a Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO smartphone can be an unpleasant surprise for any user. Instead of the usual bright icons and photos, you see only shades of gray, which makes navigation and perception of content much more difficult, most often due to the accidental activation of special accessibility features or reading modes that are designed to help people with visual impairments or protect their eyes.
Don't panic and think that your device's matrix is out of order. In the vast majority of cases, it's a software setting that can be changed in seconds. The black and white mode (Grayscale) is often turned on by a combination of buttons or through the quick settings menu, which is easy to get into your pocket or when carrying your phone in your bag.
In this article, we will take a closer look at all possible causes of monochrome imagery and provide clear algorithms for returning paints to the display, we will look at the standard MIUI and HyperOS settings, and we will also touch on specific cases with electronic ink.
Recovery doesn't require root rights or complex software, but it's done with the system's regular tools to ensure your data is secure, and it's important to know exactly which mechanism is blocking colors in your particular case.
Function "Electronic ink" in read mode
One of the most common reasons for black and white is the activated Read Mode function with the option “Electronic Ink”, which mimics the appearance of paper, removing the blue spectrum and saturated colors to reduce eye strain during long-term reading.
Usually, this mode is turned on through the notification curtain or in the screen settings. If you see that the entire interface has turned gray, but when you open certain applications (for example, a browser or a book), colors may come back or disappear completely, then this is the problem, and the system can be configured to apply this effect to all running applications.
To turn off, you have to go to the settings menu. The path may vary slightly depending on the version of the MIUI shell or HyperOS, but the logic remains the same. You have to find the section responsible for protecting vision and color temperature.
- 📱 Open Settings and go to the Screen section.
- 📚 Find the reading mode and click on it.
- 🎨 Switch the electronic ink to the inactive position.
- ✅ Make sure that the Read Mode itself is also turned off if you don’t need it right now.
⚠️ Note: If the E-Ink slider is inactive (gray), check if the main Read Mode switch is on. On some firmware versions, you first need to activate the mode to access its sub-items, and then turn off specific effects.
It's worth noting that newer versions of the operating system can integrate color algorithms more deeply, sometimes the system itself suggests that you turn on this mode at certain times of the day, check your schedule settings so that the screen doesn't turn black and white automatically in the evening.
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Use Classic mode instead of Electronic Ink if you want to just lower the brightness of the blue spectrum but keep the interface colors. This is a gentler option for the eyes during the day.
Special Opportunities and Monochrome Mode
The second key source of the problem is in the Special Opportunities section, which is designed to help people with visual impairment, but its functions are often activated by accident, in particular, the Monochrome or Shades of Grey mode completely discolor the image at the system level.
This mode is sometimes activated by repeatedly pressing the power button or a combination of volume keys if the corresponding shortcut has been added to the quick access menu. This is a common situation when the phone is lying in a bag with tightly attached walls.
To return a color image, you have to go deep into the system settings. The interface may seem overloaded, but we only need one specific section to improve visibility.
Settings → Additional settings → Special features → Vision tab → Color correctionIn the menu that opens, you'll see a list of color correction modes, if you select Monochrome or Shades of Grey, the screen will be devoid of color, and you can also have a "Use Color Correction" switch that forcefully applies the selected filter.
- 👁️ Go to Special Opportunities section through the main settings.
- 🔍 Select the Vision tab (or “Improving Visibility” tab»).
- 🚫 Find the Color Correction and turn it off completely.
- 🌈 If the Monochrome mode is active, switch to No or Off setting.
After these actions, the colors should return instantly. If this does not happen, try rebooting the device, as some system processes may have stuck in the old state.
☑️ Checking availability settings
Digital Well-Being and Sleeping
Xiaomi’s modern smartphones are equipped with powerful digital well-being tools that help control time spent on the phone. One feature that helps reduce digital dependency is to turn the screen into black and white at certain hours or when you reach limits.
Sleep Time or Rest Mode is often set by default with the monochrome option enabled, and the purpose of this mechanism is to make smartphone use less attractive to the brain at night by depriving it of bright stimuli.
If your phone turns black and white at a certain time (like after 23:00), it’s likely that it’s a digital well-being schedule, so check the settings in this section to see if the lack of color is a planned event.
| Function | Where to find out. | Reason for activation | How to turn off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep time. | Digital well-being | The time of the predetermined | Change the schedule or remove the monochrome |
| Resting regimen | Alarm clock/timer | Manual activation or timer | Turn off the alarm clock menu |
| Application limits | Digital well-being | Exceeding the time of use | Reset the timer or increase the limit |
You should also look at the alarm settings. The Watch app often has a separate sleep mode switch that can block the colors of the screen. Open the watch app, click three dots in the corner, or go to the settings, and find the appropriate item there.
Why does the phone turn black and white at night?
Problems with the developer mode and debugging
For advanced users who are experimenting with system settings, there is a risk of activating the monochrome mode through the developer menu, a hidden section designed to debug applications and test interfaces.
One of the features there is Simulate color space, where if you select Monochromia, the entire screen is forced to black and white, ignoring all other color settings, which is often the case when developers are testing what their app looks like for people with color blindness.
To check and fix this setting, you need to go to the hidden menu. If you have previously enabled the developer mode (usually by clicking 7 times on the build number), then the item will appear in the main settings.
- Go to Settings. → Additionally. → For developers.
- Scroll down to the Hardware Acceleration or Drawing section.
- Find the item Simulation of anomalies (or “Imitation of color scheme”).
- Make sure that there is a value of No (or “Disconnected”).
If you don’t remember how the developer mode was turned on and don’t use these features, it’s best to turn it off completely, which will increase the security of the device and eliminate accidental changes in system parameters.
⚠️ Warning: Be careful in the Developer menu. Changing other parameters, such as interface scale or animation speed, can lead to unstable system operation.
Third-party annexes and design themes
Some battery-saving applications, “optimizers” or e-reader programs may have their own filters overlaid on top of the system.
In addition, users often install third-party themes from the GetThemes store, some of which may be poorly optimized or contain bugs that cause incorrect color displays, especially those that change the system interface.
If the problem occurs immediately after you install a new theme or app, try removing it, and it’s also worth checking if there’s a screen filter or eye protection app running in the background.
- 🧹 Think about what apps were installed before the problem occurred.
- 🎨 Try to temporarily return a standard theme in the Topics app.
- 📉 Disable or remove battery applications and optimizers.
- 🔄 Restart your smartphone in safe mode to check.
To enter Safe Mode, you usually need to press the turn off button on your desktop and then press and hold the "Stop" (or "Reboot") option on the screen. The system will ask for confirmation of the transition to Safe Mode. If there are colors in this mode, the third-party application is to blame.
Diagnostics of hardware faults
If none of the software methods worked, and the screen remains black and white even after a full Hard Reset, there is a possibility of hardware failure, which may be due to damage to the display plume, image controller or matrix itself.
Often these problems occur after falls, bumps or moisture gets inside the case, even a micro-crack in the board can disrupt color transmission, and it is worth checking whether the plume will be compressed if the phone has recently been opened to replace the battery.
There's a simple test to check the matrix, you can run a special engineering code or use online services to check the screen, but if all the menus on the phone are gray and the colors only appear when the video is launched (and then not always), this is a worrying sign.
##64663##Entering this code in the Phone app (on some models) opens up an engineering menu where you can select a display test, and if the test pictures are not colored, the problem is physical.
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If after resetting to factory settings and checking in safe mode, the screen remains black and white, the problem most likely lies in the “iron” and requires a visit to the service center.
⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to disassemble your phone yourself if it is warranty-free. Opening the case will result in loss of warranty service.