Surprisingly Useful
I often find myself reaching for my phone when there are many other things I know I ought to be doing. I could take a walk, I could go outside and play with my kids, I could prep some healthy lunches, or I could pick up a book. Instead, I end up scrolling my phone and getting a lot less done. I know many folks can relate. It takes discipline to confine the technology in our lives so we use it instead of it using us to sell our attention.
Tony Reinke, who has written extensively on technology, suggests changing the settings on your phone so it only displays in grayscale when you find yourself reaching for it too often. I tried it, and I love it! Everything about a phone is far less engaging without color. It’s also a constant reminder for me to use my phone as a tool but not as an escape.
This is by no means a silver bullet. Breaking bad habits requires a more comprehensive approach, but it can be a helpful strategy and may be a good place to start if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Obviously, we’re a playground company so it’s a little outside of our wheel house to write a tech post, but we talk about ways to be more disciplined with technology in the office all the time. Especially as it relates to spending more time with our families and getting outside to be active. So here goes… a tech post from a playground company!
We’ll take a look at how to set up grayscale on an iPhone. We’ll also go over ways you can use the Shortcuts app to apply grayscale based on a trigger so it can be applied only to certain apps, only at home, during certain times, etc.
Enabling Grayscale on an iPhone
This will enable grayscale for your whole phone. There won’t be any color anywhere.
- Open the Settings app on your device.
- Tap on "Accessibility."
- Tap on "Display & Text Size."
- Tap on "Color Filters."
- Toggle the switch to turn "Color Filters" on.
- “Grayscale” will be on because it is the first one selected.
Grayscale Toggle Shortcuts
Adding a Side Button Shortcut to Toggle Grayscale
If you’re looking for an easy way to switch grayscale on and off, you can setup an accessibility shortcut. This will toggle grayscale on and off with a triple click of the side button.
- Open the Settings app on your device.
- Tap on "Accessibility."
- Tap on "Accessibility Shortcut."
- Check the box next to "Color Filters.”
Now when you triple click the side button, you can turn grayscale on and off. If you have other accessibility shortcuts selected, it will bring up a menu to select the grayscale option from.
Adding a Home Screen Icon to Toggle Grayscale
Another option for quickly toggling grayscale is to add an icon to the home screen with this function through the Shortcuts app.
- Open the Shortcuts app and select the “Shortcuts" icon in the lower left corner.
- Tap the "+" icon at the top right.
- Tap "Add Action" and search for "color filters" in the search bar. Select "Set Color Filters."
- Tap the word "Turn" and select "Toggle," then tap "Done" at the top right.
- Tap the drop-down arrow next to the shortcut name at the top right.
- From the menu that appears, you can rename the shortcut, choose an icon, and add it to your home screen. Remember to go back to this menu for each of these steps.
Boom! Now there is an icon on your home screen that turns grayscale on and off.
Automations
If you use automations to toggle grayscale on and off it becomes quite a bit more flexible. Automations use a trigger to perform and action. In our case the action is turning grayscale on or off. The trigger could be opening a certain app, arriving at a location, leaving a location, during a certain time, etc. The options here are endless but here are a few ways you can use automations to create useful functionality around grayscale.
Grayscale Only For Selected Apps
This automation will turn grayscale on when selected apps are open and turn it off when they are closed. It’s great for apps that tend to be time wasters like Instagram or even your browser.
- Open the Shortcuts app and select the “Automation” icon at the bottom.
- Tap the "+" icon in the top right corner.
- Choose “Create Personal Automation”
- Select "App" from the menu.
- Tap “Choose” and select the apps you want the automation to apply to. Tap "Done."
- Make sure only “is Opened” is selected.
- Tap “Next” and then tap “Add Action”
- Toggle the slider to “Apps” then scroll down and choose the “Settings” app
- Choose "Set Color Filters" and make sure it says "Turn color filters on."
- Tap “Next” and make sure “Ask Before Running” is off.
- Tap “Done”.
Now we need to create another automation to turn grayscale off when selected apps are closed.
- Open the Shortcuts app and select the “Automation” icon at the bottom.
- Tap the "+" icon in the top right corner.
- Choose “Create Personal Automation”
- Select "App" from the menu.
- Tap “Choose” and select the same apps as the first automation. Tap "Done."
- Make sure only “Is Closed” is selected.
- Tap “Next” and then tap “Add Action”
- Toggle the slider to “Apps” then scroll down and choose the “Settings” app
- Choose "Set Color Filters" and tap the word “on” to change it to “off”. It should say “Turn color filters Off"
- Tap “Next” and make sure “Ask Before Running” is off.
- Tap “Done”.
Now when you close the selected apps, grayscale will be turned off and your phone will be back in color.
Grayscale When You’re at a Selected Location
This will turn grayscale on for your whole phone when you arrive at a certain location and will turn it off when you leave. This is a great option if need your phone in color for work but you want it in grayscale at home.
- Open the Shortcuts app and select the “Automation” icon at the bottom.
- Tap the "+" icon in the top right corner.
- Choose “Create Personal Automation”
- Select "Arrive" from the menu.
- Tap “Choose” and enter the address you want to be in grayscale at. You can also adjust the radius around the address. Tap “Done."
- If you would like you can select a time range or leave it on “Any Time”.
- Tap “Next” and then tap “Add Action”
- Toggle the slider to “Apps” then scroll down and choose the “Settings” app
- Choose "Set Color Filters" and make sure it says "Turn color filters on."
- Tap “Next” and then “Done”.
Now we need to make another automation to turn color back on when you leave the location you’ve selected.
- Open the Shortcuts app and select the “Automation” icon at the bottom.
- Tap the "+" icon in the top right corner.
- Choose “Create Personal Automation”
- Select "Leave" from the menu.
- Tap “Choose” and enter the same address. Tap “Done."
- If you would like you can select a time range or leave it on “Any Time”.
- Tap “Next” and then tap “Add Action”
- Toggle the slider to “Apps” then scroll down and choose the “Settings” app
- Choose "Set Color Filters" and tap the word “on” to change it to “off”. It should say “Turn color filters Off"
- Tap “Next” and then “Done”.
Now when you leave the selected address, your phone will be back in color.
Other Ideas for Automations
You can use the steps above as a guide to create other automations that may better fit your needs. Here are a few ideas:
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Time of Day: If you would like to discipline yourself to be off your phone during certain hours of the day, you could create an automation using the “Time of Day” trigger to help remind you to put down your phone.
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Driving: You could use the “Driving” trigger to put your phone in grayscale while you’re driving as a reminder to focus on the road. If your phone automatically connects to your car through CarPlay or Bluetooth you can use the “CarPlay” or “Bluetooth” triggers in a similar way.
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Sleep: If you have a sleep schedule set up in the Health app, you can use the “Sleep” trigger to put your phone in grayscale before you go to bed or when you wake up to help break the habit of reaching for your phone right before bed or first thing in the morning.
