Grayscale Curse
The colour leaves at dusk.
Download shortcut⏱ 1m setup
Open this page in Safari on an iPhone. The file goes straight into Shortcuts.
What happens
At sunset their phone drains to black and white, with one notification: “The colour leaves at dusk.” At sunrise the colour comes back, as if nothing happened.
Setup
- Check Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters is set to Grayscale (the default), then switch it back off.
- Open the download on their phone (or AirDrop it over) and tap Add Shortcut.
- Long-press it in Shortcuts → All Shortcuts → Rename and call it Dusk, so it doesn’t give itself away.
- Shortcuts → Automation → + → Sunset, select Run Immediately, tap Next and choose the shortcut.
- Make a second automation the same way with Sunrise. It’s the same shortcut, which works out from the time whether to drain or restore.
- Run it once now and tap Always Allow on every prompt, or the prank fizzles on a permission dialog later.
Undo
Delete both automations and the shortcut. If it’s stuck grey: Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → Off.