How to use it
- Click the black box above, or press F.
- The whole screen turns black. Move the mouse or press an arrow key to see the controls hint.
- Click anywhere or press Esc to go back.
On an iPhone the browser keeps its address bar, so the color fills the page but not the very top strip. Turn the phone sideways or scroll a little to hide the bar.
What a black screen is for
- Cleaning. Dust and lint show up clearly on black, smears show better on white. Check both.
- Backlight bleed and glow. In a dark room with brightness up, light leaking in from the edges or corners of an LCD shows as lighter patches.
- Stuck bright pixels. A pixel that stays lit shows as a bright dot on black.
- A dark room. Keep a video call, music or a download running with the screen dark, or cut the glare in a bedroom or at the cinema.
- OLED screens. On OLED, black pixels are switched off, so a black screen gives off almost no light.
Pure black or soft black
Pure black (#000000) is what you want for bleed tests and on OLED. The softer blacks are for when pure black looks too harsh next to other screens, or you want a dark screen that is still just visible.
Questions
Does a black screen turn my screen off?
No. The screen stays on and shows black. On an OLED screen black pixels give off no light, so it looks off. On an LCD the backlight is still on, so it looks dark gray in a dark room.
Does a black screen save battery?
On OLED screens, yes: black pixels use almost no power. On LCD screens the backlight uses the same power whatever the color, so the saving is small.
How do I exit the black screen?
Click anywhere, tap the screen, or press Esc.
Will my computer lock while the black screen is open?
Keep the screen awake is on by default, so in most current browsers it will not dim or lock. Turn that option off if you want it to sleep as usual.
Is a black screen the same as a dark screen or a blank screen?
Yes, people search for all three. This page gives you a completely black, blank screen. For a dark screen that is not pure black, pick Soft black, Charcoal or Graphite, or lower the brightness slider.