When two colors look alike
Shift the colors a screen draws, so that a red warning and a green check mark stop looking like the same gray.
A green check mark means it went through. A red cross means it did not. A small red dot means somebody is waiting for a reply. If red and green sit close together for you, a screen keeps a certain amount of its meaning to itself.
Around one man in twelve sees red and green closer together than most people do, and rather fewer women. It is there from birth and has nothing to do with getting older — though a change in how colors look later in life is worth mentioning to an optician, since some causes are worth catching.
Every phone and computer can shift the colors on their way to the screen. Reds move away from greens, or the whole thing goes to shades of gray, or the display takes on a tint that suits your eyes. It is a filter over the light, exactly like a lens.
Key points
- Shift the colors a screen draws, and pick the setting by eye rather than by name
- Know that a filter never touches a photograph, a file or anything you send
- Turn on the setting that makes apps stop relying on color alone
- Put a color filter on a keyboard shortcut, to compare in a second
What to remember
- On an iPhone, color filters live under Accessibility, then Display & Text Size. Android puts the same thing under Accessibility, then Color correction — Samsung words it differently again. The name to look for is Accessibility.
- A color filter changes what reaches your eye. It never changes a file, a photograph or anything you send.
- Windows can put color filters on a keyboard shortcut, so you can compare with and without in a second.
Try this
On your own phone, look for Differentiate without color under Accessibility and turn it on, whatever you decide about filters. It costs nothing, changes nothing you can see straight away, and it means an app can never tell you something using a color by itself.
Practice: When two colors look alike. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.