Get the colors back when your Mac screen is grey or tinted

Why it happens

Color filters is an accessibility feature that can make the screen greyscale or tint it for color blindness. It's often turned on by accident with the Accessibility Shortcut, which is Option-Command-F5, or pressing Touch ID three times quickly. Nothing is broken, it's just a setting.

How to fix it

1. Open the Apple menu, choose System Settings, and click Accessibility in the sidebar.

2. Click Display, scroll down and turn off Color filters.

   Accessibility›Display›Color filters

3. If you want a filter on purpose, for example for color blindness, leave Color filters on and choose the one that suits you in Filter type.

   Accessibility›Display›Color filters

4. While you're there, check Invert colors is off too. It swaps light and dark and can look like a strange tint.

   Accessibility›Display›Invert colors

Still not fixed?

1. To stop the filter switching on by accident again, open Accessibility, then Shortcut, and untick Color Filters. Leave all items unticked if you don't use the shortcut.

   Accessibility›Shortcut

2. If the screen looks orange or yellow rather than grey, it's probably Night Shift or True Tone. Check both in Displays.

   Displays›Night Shift…

3. If colors look washed out or wrong in every app, check Color profile in Displays and pick the one named after your display.

   Displays

4. On an external monitor, check the monitor's own menu for a color, picture or reading mode.

5. Take a screenshot with Shift-Command-3 and open it on another device. If the screenshot looks right but your screen doesn't, or the colors are wrong on the startup screen too, the display is likely faulty. Contact Apple Support or a repair shop.