One touch monochrome mode on Android - no app required
Most of the time, I like running my phone in monochrome - only black and white. This reduces visual noise and makes everything less "attention grabby", making phone use ultimately less interesting.
For the longest time swapping between this and the normal display mode required a lot of menu navigation, which was not without merit, but there's a way to make it literally a one touch operation on any screen.
Enabling monochrome mode
To start with, you need to become a Developer. Only in name, though, so don't quit just yet.
- Go to Settings > About phone (or Settings > System > About phone)
- Tap the Build number field seven times rapidly
- In some cases, you may need to navigate to Software information within the About phone section to find the Build number
- After spamming it for a bit, you should see a message indicating that you are now a Developer. Congrats! 🥳 You can now access the developer options.
Now in the Settings menu you can search for "simulate colour space" (or color, or whatever language you're using), which brings you to this menu, where you can select the monochromatic style:
And you can stop there - now to switch between modes you navigate back to that setting and toggle it the way you want. Having this friction can be something you want, but it can be simplified
Accessibility shortcut
For this next step we'll go over to the accessibility settings. First, open the advanced settings
Configure the button
Choose the action and positioning
And now you should have an icon in the bottom of your display for toggling monochromatic view.
And while you're there, I recommend giving the developer settings a look. For example, I like disabling all animations to make the phone feel more snappy.
Thoughts, comments? Send me an email!