This morning while chatting with James I asked him about his grayscale setup and why. He pointed out it’s less distracting, a calmer experience, and helps him stay focused when he uses his iPhone for specific tasks.

I decided to give it another try. The setting is quite buried. Here are the items to tap, starting from your home screen, or wherever you moved your Settings app:

• Settings
• Accessibility >
• Display & Text Size >
• Color Filters >
• Color Filters (️__) [slide this toggle to the right to turn it on]
• Greyscale [tap this and you should see it checked]

James said one more setting has helped him stick with grayscale for years now. Triple-press the side button to toggle color/grayscale modes helps quickly switch to color to view a photo or a video, actual color content, then triple-press-side-button to return to a calmer UI.

• Settings
• ⏺ Accessibility >
• ⏺ Accessibility Shortcut >
• Color Filters [tap this and you should see it checked]

In addition, I have found the back-tap feature handy and personally more memorable. Double (or triple) back-tap to toggle color/grayscale mode and toggle back.

• Settings
• ⏺ Accessibility >
• Touch >
• Back Tap >
• Double-tap >
• Color Filters [tap this and you should see it checked]

When using my phone outside in the sun, I noticed the absence of color made it hard to distinguish or even read some things. I changed a few more settings to improve sunlight readability/usability.

• Settings
• ⏺ Accessibility >
• ⏺ Display & Text Size >
• Bold Text (️__) [tap/slide this toggle to the right to turn it on]
• Increase Contrast (️__) [tap/slide this too]
• Differentiate Without Color (️__) [tap/slide this too]

In the absence of color on my iPhone, I have spent less time using it today, felt more focused when I used it for a specific task, and have started to feel both less compelled to check things, and less of a “rush” when interacting with iPhone apps and their user interfaces.

Color saturated apps stripped of their color are starting to feel like older apps or appliances. Switching Spotify playlists felt a bit like pressing station presets on a car radio. Discord felt like an enhanced IRC client. Even some of my rotating lock screen landscape photos have strong Ansel Adams vibes, while my urban lockscreen photos have a calmer dreamlike quality.

Perhaps the use of color in modern mobile app user interfaces is the new chartjunk, extraneous and distracting from the task at hand, just as classic chartjunk is extraneous and distracting from the information being presented. Most mobile apps seem to be in an attention-seeking arms race against each other, ever more saturated colors to draw you in like a casino.

Using a grayscale iPhone user interface for most of the day has felt noticeably calmer. Enough for me to try it again for at least a few days and see how it goes.

Thanks again to James for his explanations and encouragement. See his write-up: Using greyscale, when he started, why, why he continues to use it, and instructions for his setup.

Try it for yourself and see how it feels.

May the Force of your will be with you, free of distractions and dopamine conditioned impulses.

Further Reading

• 2018-01-12 The New York Times: Is the Answer to Phone Addiction a Worse Phone? / I’ve gone gray, and it’s great.
• 2018-05-03 The Observer: Grayscale Is a Quick Cure to Smartphone Addiction—And Here’s How to Use It
• 2019-12-01 WIRED: Try Grayscale Mode to Curb Your Phone Addiction