Little-known iPhone setting that could dramatically drop your screen-time

A little-known iPhone setting has been put in the spotlight after one Instagram user claimed it helped dramatically reduce the amount of time she spends on her phone.

This reminder has exceptional timing, since concerns around screen time have continued to grow as smartphones become increasingly difficult to avoid in everyday life — with many people relying on them for work, banking, travel, messaging, and entertainment.

While Apple already offers features designed to help users monitor and limit their usage, including Screen Time reports and app restrictions, some users are turning to a more basic change that makes the device itself feel less appealing.

The best part of this setting is that it does not stop apps from working, block notifications, or require users to delete social media; its aim is more to drop your screentime on a more subtle, instinctive, or even subconscious level.

Instead, it involves using the iPhone’s ‘Accessibility’ menu to switch on ‘Colour Filters’ and reduce the display to greyscale.

By removing the bright colours from the screen, apps and images appear in black and white, potentially making platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and messaging apps less visually stimulating.

Instagram user Marawa shared the method in a recent gallery post, saying it had been ‘six months’ since she stopped using emojis and removed the colour from her phone.

In the caption, she clarified: “Actually, more like 7 months, I just haven’t wanted to spend the time to make this post bc I hate my phone now!”

She added: “You can dial the colour back in your iPhone via [the ‘Accessibility’ menu], and you can create a shortcut to bring it back to full colour anytime [with three] side button clicks.”

The post claimed that the change had a major impact on her phone habits, with one slide stating: “My screen time is down 40%!”

Explaining why she believes the setting made such a difference, Marawa wrote: “I think it’s the colour. The colour is like sugar for your eyes. Turn the colour off or down, and you don’t want to look at it anymore. My screen time dropped so fast, but the scariest thing was real-world colour looking so much juicier within about a week.”

The post also said she removed a family photo from her screensaver after seeing her child tap the phone to make the picture appear.

She said the lock screen now reads: “If found, please call <kevin>”.

The greyscale method has been discussed online before, including the r/nosurf community on Reddit, where users have shared similar experiences with turning off colour on their phones.

One Reddit user wrote: “I have been doing this the last few months. Can confirm, it's great.”

Another said: “Same here. I turned on color last week just to show a few pictures, and the colors felt exaggerated. It was like sugar candy after eating only vegetables for months.”

However, not everyone was convinced it was a complete solution.

Some users said maps, websites, and images can be harder to use without colour, while others argued that greyscale does not address the wider issue of self-control.