Purple Screen

How to use the purple screen

1. Press Open full purple screen. The whole screen turns purple and the mouse pointer hides after a moment.
2. Pick a shade: Bright purple or Blue violet for a vivid mood light, Lavender for a soft light, Night purple for a very dim glow.
3. Set Auto close if you leave the screen on in the background.
4. Press Esc, or tap the screen on a phone, to come back to this page.

What the results mean

Purple (#800080) is red and blue at half power with green off. Because it mixes two channels at a middle level, purple shows how evenly the panel handles colour, and stuck green subpixels stand out against it:

• A green or white dot: a green subpixel is stuck on. Try the stuck pixel fixer.
• Areas that look more blue or more pink: colour shift across the panel, often worse at the edges or from an angle.
• Banding in large dark purple areas: low colour depth or an image "enhancement" mode. Turn off dynamic contrast.

For a complete pixel check, run the dead pixel test.

What a purple screen is used for

Gaming and streaming mood light. Purple is a favourite backlight colour for desks, streams and photos. An old tablet or second monitor showing bright purple behind you adds a coloured rim of light without any extra lamps. Pair it with the blue or pink screen on another device for a two-colour look.

Soft calm light. Lavender is a pale, gentle purple that works as a quiet night light or a relaxing background while music plays. Keep the brightness low in the evening.

Not ultraviolet. A purple screen looks a little like a black light, but screens cannot produce UV. It will not make fluorescent paint glow or check banknotes.

Colour check. Purple tests the mix of red and blue at partial levels, a combination that pure single-colour screens do not cover.

Common problems and fixes

The purple looks blue or pink

Turn off night mode and blue light filters, which turn purple pink, and set the monitor to its standard or sRGB mode. A vivid mode can push purple towards blue.

The purple is very dark

Purple uses red and blue at half power, and blue looks dark to the eye. Choose Bright purple or Medium purple, or raise the screen brightness.

Full screen does not work on my iPhone

iPhone Safari does not let websites go fully full screen, so the purple fills the browser window instead. Rotate to landscape or add the page to your home screen.