How to Activate “Night Shift” and Apple’s “Inverted Colors” Secret Mode in IOS 11
In iOS 11, Apple changed the way you activate Night Mode on your phone. The company originally introduced Night Shift in iOS 9.3 as a way to make the screen a bit easier at night (and help you get some sleep in the process).
There are now two options for your iPhone: that night shift mode and the new Intelligent Color Inversion mode, which expands the accessibility capabilities of iOS and provides a fairly robust nighttime display option.
This is how they both work:
Night shift
If you, like me, are a fan of night modes, then you have probably already used Night Shift. The position of the function has been slightly changed in iOS 11. Instead of a separate button on the control panel, it is now hidden in the brightness slider.
To activate it, swipe up from the bottom of the iPhone screen to open the control panel, and then select the brightness slider from the launch icons. When the slider moves to full screen mode, you will see a Night Shift button at the bottom of the page.
Unlike some other night modes, which invert colors, Night Shift simply adjusts the amount of blue light your phone emits. Some of the things you look at may even look the same to you without the night shift. The idea behind this feature is that you get less blue light, which in turn helps you sleep better.
If you want your screen to be dark, this next function is for you.
Smart color inversion
Apple previously offered the option to invert colors in iOS. Designed as an accessibility feature for those who might have problems with a traditional screen, it inverted the colors of everything on the screen. For some people this might be great (I definitely used this), but if you want to keep a few things in full color then the new Smart Invert Colors option can be a great solution.
Unlike the traditional Invert Colors option, it keeps things like photos and graphics in their original format and with their original colors, while inverting the UI colors. This is the best of both worlds. Many things on the page will be darker, but you can still look at things like Instagram photos and app icons in their original form.
It seems to me closer to the “night” mode than Night Shift.
You can activate the mode by going to the Settings menu on your phone, choosing General, then Accessibility, then Display Adaptation, and then Invert Colors. From there, you will have the option to choose Smart Invert or Classic Invert.
I find the phone not only makes it easy to look at, but it looks pretty cool and you can probably just leave it if you like.