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GrayPause

Keep your phone in grayscale, take short color breaks that end by themselves
New in version 1.5
Smaller APK: release builds are now shrunk and optimized with R8.
Grayscale makes a phone much less tempting to pick up. The hard part is the moment you need color for a minute — a photo, a map, a chart — and then forget to turn grayscale back on.

GrayPause gives you color breaks: grayscale switches off for the time you choose and comes back on by itself.


  • One-tap timers — 1, 5, 10, 15, 30 min by default. Add your own with hours, minutes and seconds; delete any of them.

  • Quick Settings tile — starts a break of the last length you used; tap again to end it early.

  • App shortcuts — long-press the launcher icon to start a timer without opening the app.

  • Countdown notification with "Grayscale now" and "+5 min" buttons.

  • Color apps (optional) — pick apps such as your gallery or camera that are always shown in color. Grayscale switches off while one of them is open and back on when you leave it.

  • Survives reboots: a running break is resumed, or grayscale restored if the time is up.



One-time setup. Android only lets system apps switch grayscale, so GrayPause needs the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission. It cannot be granted from Settings, only once, either:

  • with Shizuku running: tap "Grant with Shizuku" in the app, or

  • over adb: adb shell pm grant com.lpw.graypause android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS


The permission is kept across reboots and updates; Shizuku is not needed afterwards.

Accessibility service. The optional "Color apps" feature uses an accessibility service only to learn which app is in the foreground. It does not read screen content, and nothing leaves your device: GrayPause has no internet permission.
  • app screenshot
  • app screenshot

Versions

Although APK downloads are available below to give you the choice, you should be aware that by installing that way you will not receive update notifications and it's a less secure way to download. We recommend that you install the F-Droid client and use that.

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  • Version 1.5 (6) suggested Added on Oct 15, 2026

    This version requires Android 13 or newer.

    It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.

    Permissions
    • show notifications
      Allows the app to show notifications
    • run at startup
      Allows the app to have itself started as soon as the system has finished booting. This can make it take longer to start the phone and allow the app to slow down the overall phone by always running.
    • Schedule alarms or event reminders
      This app can schedule actions like alarms and reminders to notify you at a desired time in the future.
    • android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
    • moe.shizuku.manager.permission.API_V23

    Download APK 52 KiB PGP Signature | Build Log

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