How to Make a Photo Black and White on iPhone

You have one color shot that would look better in black and white, and you would rather not install another app. In the Photos app, open the photo, tap the Edit button, tap the filters button, choose a black-and-white filter such as Mono, Silvertone or Noir, then tap Done. The original color version is kept, so you can switch back at any time. These steps cover current versions of iOS, with notes for newer iPhone models.

Before you start: filters or Photographic Styles

Apple’s photo editing tools changed with recent iPhones, so it helps to know which tools yours offers:

• Filters are preset looks you can apply to a photo after you take it. On most iPhones they are in the Edit screen of the Photos app.
• Photographic Styles adjust tone and color in a more detailed way. Apple’s current iPhone User Guide says that on iPhone 16 models or later, you use Photographic Styles instead of filters, and that filter effects are available on these models if you have not turned on Photographic Styles.

If you do not see a filters button while editing on a newer iPhone, you have two options. For a photo taken with a Photographic Style, Apple says you can open it in Photos, tap the Edit button, tap Styles and swipe through the style choices below the image to apply a different one (this needs photos captured with High Efficiency, set in Settings > Camera > Formats). Otherwise, skip ahead to the Saturation method below, which works with any photo you can edit. The edits in this guide are non-destructive: the Photos app keeps the original, and Revert to Original brings it back.

Turn a photo black and white with a filter

1. Open the Photos app.
   

   

2. Find the photo in your library and tap it to open it full screen. You can scroll the main photo grid, or search for it by date, place or a word that describes it. The old Albums and Camera Roll route shown in the next screenshot is no longer needed on current iOS.
   

   

3. Tap the Edit button.
   

   

4. Tap the filters button in the editing controls. Apple describes this button as the way to apply filter effects such as Vivid or Dramatic.
   

   

5. Swipe through the filter row to the black-and-white looks, commonly named Mono, Silvertone and Noir, and tap one. The preview changes right away.
   

   

6. Optional: drag the slider under the filter to make the effect stronger or weaker.
7. Tap Done to save. If you change your mind before saving, tap Cancel, then tap Discard Changes.

To confirm it worked, swipe away from the photo and back again: the thumbnail and the full-screen view should both be black and white. If the photo already had a filter applied when it was taken, Apple notes that tapping Original in the filter row removes that filter.

Which black-and-white filter to pick

Apple’s pages do not describe each filter, and exact names can differ by iOS version, so treat this as a starting point and compare the previews on your own photo. In general:

Filter	Typical look
Mono	Plain, even gray tones with moderate contrast
Silvertone	Softer, slightly cool or silvery tones
Noir	Strong contrast with deep blacks

Remove the color with Adjust instead

The Adjust tools give you more control than a filter, and they are the fallback when no filter fits or the filters button is missing.

1. Open the photo and tap the Edit button.
2. Tap Adjust. Apple says to swipe left under the photo to see the settings you can adjust, such as Exposure, Brilliance or Highlights.
3. Keep swiping until you reach the saturation control, then drag its slider all the way to the left. The color drains out of the photo, leaving a plain grayscale version.
4. Tap Done.

Removing saturation gives a neutral result that is close to a straight grayscale conversion. Once the color is gone, a few light controls go a long way:

• Contrast up for punch, down for a softer, film-like look.
• Exposure or Brilliance if the gray version looks darker than the color one did.
• Highlights down to bring back detail in a bright sky.
• Shadows up if a face or dark corner turns into a black patch.

You can also combine methods: apply Mono, then tap Adjust and tweak contrast before tapping Done. Some versions of iOS have offered a dedicated black-and-white adjustment in this list; if yours shows one, it is worth comparing with the saturation slider.

Convert several photos at once

Editing ten vacation shots one by one gets tedious. Photos can copy the edits from one picture and paste them onto others:

1. Edit one photo the way you want it and tap Done.
2. With that photo open, tap the more button (three dots), tap Copy Edits, then tap Copy.
3. Go back to the library, tap Select, and tap the thumbnails of the photos you want to change.
4. Tap the more button, then tap Paste Edits.

Each pasted photo keeps its own original, so you can still revert any of them on its own later.

Go back to the color version

Because the original is kept, undoing the change takes a few seconds:

1. Open the edited photo and tap the Edit button.
2. Tap Revert to Original.

This removes every edit on that photo, not just the black-and-white look, so any crop or straightening is undone too. If you only want to drop the filter, tapping Original in the filter row should remove just the filter while keeping other edits. To keep both versions side by side, duplicate the photo before you edit it.

Shoot in black and white from the start

If you already know you want a monochrome shot, you can choose the look in the Camera app before you take the picture, which lets you frame the scene while seeing it in gray.

1. Open Camera and make sure it is in Photo or Portrait mode.
2. Tap the arrow or swipe up from the camera modes at the bottom of the screen.
3. On iPhone 12 models or earlier, tap Filter and swipe left or right to preview the options, such as a black-and-white one. On models that support Photographic Styles, tap Styles and swipe left or right to preview the available styles instead.
4. Tap the Shutter button to take the photo.

To stop using a filter, repeat the steps and select Original. Layouts vary by model, so the full walkthrough on how to change the camera filter on iPhone covers the details.

Whether the camera remembers your choice next time depends on Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings. Apple says this setting can keep your last-used filter and lighting choices; on current iOS the related row is Creative Controls, alongside Photographic Style. There is more detail on how to keep your photo filter settings in the Camera app. A photo taken this way can still be turned back to color later with the same Edit tools.

When the photo will not turn black and white

• No filters button. On iPhone 16 models or later with Photographic Styles turned on, filters are replaced by styles. For a photo taken with a style, tap Edit, then Styles, to choose a different one; for any other photo, use the saturation method.
• Edit is grayed out or missing. Photos shared with you by someone else, or stored in a shared album, may not be editable in place. Save a copy to your library first, then edit the copy.
• The change disappeared. Edits are saved only when you tap Done. Tapping Cancel and Discard Changes throws them away.
• Video. Apple’s editing page covers videos as well as photos, so the same filter and Adjust steps apply to a clip you open from the library.

Black and white photo questions

Does making a photo black and white reduce its quality?

No pixels are thrown away permanently. Photos stores the edit separately from the original, which is why Revert to Original can restore the full color image.

Can I make the whole iPhone screen black and white instead?

Yes, but that is a display setting, not a photo edit: it changes how everything looks on your screen and leaves your photos in color. See how to make an iPhone black and white with the grayscale setting.

Will the photo still be black and white when I send it?

Yes. When you share an edited photo, the edited version is what gets sent. The person receiving it gets the black-and-white image, not your original.

Does this work on a Live Photo?

Apple’s editing page does not say how filters treat the motion part of a Live Photo, so check the result by pressing and holding the photo after you edit it. If you prefer still images for this kind of edit, here is how to turn Live Photos on or off.

Keep editing

A black-and-white conversion often pairs well with a tighter frame, so the next step might be to crop the photo on your iPhone. Apple’s own guide to editing photos and videos on iPhone lists every tool in the Edit screen for your iOS version.