Why has the Android screen turned black and white?

If color disappears around the same time each evening and returns later, check scheduled display features first. Android’s Bedtime mode can deliberately turn the screen grayscale on a schedule or while charging during selected hours.

When the display stays black and white all day, the more relevant place to look is Color correction. Before changing anything, open a photo that you know contains color and compare it with the phone’s menus. A dark theme is not the same thing as grayscale across the whole display.

When grayscale follows a bedtime routine

Open Settings > Digital Wellbeing > Bedtime mode and look at the Bedtime routine. Check both the scheduled hours and any charging-based trigger. Under the screen options for bedtime, find Grayscale.

Google lists Grayscale separately from Do Not Disturb, wallpaper dimming and the other bedtime options. If the rest of the routine is useful, leave it in place and change only the display effect you do not want.

Galaxy phones offer a similar possibility through Settings > Modes and Routines > Sleep. Under Other actions, look for a grayscale action. Samsung’s grayscale guide describes this separately from accessibility color correction. Names and available actions vary by model and software version.

After changing the relevant option, return to the same photo. If the color returns, check the routine again at its next scheduled time rather than assuming that ending one session changed the schedule itself.

When the screen stays black and white

Search Settings for Color correction. Google’s display-accessibility guide uses Accessibility > Color and motion > Color correction. On the Galaxy layout described by Samsung, the route is Accessibility > Vision enhancements > Color correction.

Look at the selected mode before turning anything off. If grayscale was enabled unintentionally, disable that correction and compare the same photo again.

Color correction can also be an accessibility feature someone depends on. If you use it to distinguish colors or read more comfortably, keep the setting you need and investigate the unwanted change without removing an essential aid.

If grayscale keeps returning unexpectedly, check whether an accessibility shortcut is assigned to Color correction. Android supports accessibility shortcuts, and Google’s color-correction guide explains how that feature can be assigned to one. Leave unrelated shortcuts alone and note when the change recurs.

If the colors are reversed rather than missing

Color inversion is separate from grayscale. It reverses colors, including colors in media. Google’s explanation of inversion and dark theme describes that distinction. If the screen looks inverted rather than gray, check Color inversion instead of continuing to change bedtime settings.

If one app or one image is colorless while other content on the same screen still has color, begin with that app or file. A saved photo that also looks wrong on another device calls for camera image checks instead. Phone-wide display settings are unlikely to be the most useful first change in that situation.

When the whole display remains unexpectedly colorless with the relevant grayscale settings off, contact the manufacturer and describe whether the change follows a schedule, affects every app or began after a particular software or settings change. Once an unwanted grayscale setting has been identified and the display behaves normally again, there is no reason to reset unrelated settings.