Fix iPad Washed Out HDMI Output with Reduced White Point Accessibility Setting.

If you have been sharing your iPad screen using HDMI and have been seeing washed out output, this post may for you. Check out the screenshot below where I’m sharing my screen to Zoom using an Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro. There’s low contrast, and you can’t even see the light gray background of the Settings app.

iPad HDMI with no changes.

Now, check out the screenshot below. The difference is immediately noticeable. The gray background between the Settings categories and sections is now plainly visible.

iPad HDMI output after setting Reduce White Point.

The trick is to enable the Reduce White Point setting in Accessibility.

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Accessibility.
  • Tap Display & Text Size.
  • Enable Reduce White Point.

Adjust the intensity slider to be how you want it to look. I have found the minimum 25% level to be sufficient.

Unfortunately, this technique does not work when outputting the iPad’s screen using the NDI HX Capture app. Enabling Reduce White Point does not seem to affect what’s displayed in the screen capture.

On the flip side, if your iPad is exclusively run in Dark Mode, you may want to disable Reduce White Point and enable the Increase Contrast setting in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size to be better see the dark gray section and field backgrounds. I find this look to be less faithful, but it still may be of use in how your screen share looks.

And, while this technique works on my iPad Pro using its USB-C to HDMI connection, I am unable to get the Reduce White Point technique work on a Lightning-equipped iOS device such as an iPad mini 5 or iPhone. Your mileage may vary.

4 thoughts on “Fix iPad Washed Out HDMI Output with Reduced White Point Accessibility Setting.

  1. Louis

    Nice. And super this web page still exist!

  2. itwasntme

    Good job. Happy that I found this. You should post this on reddit videoengineering… I will do it for you ;)

  3. Excellent tip Adam! I do iPad classes online and will definitely check this out.

  4. […] Estaba tratando de averiguar por qué mi ipad no se veía bien en mi ATEM cuando lo usaba para presentaciones, y aquí está la solución. https://tow.com/2020/06/22/fix-ipad-washed-out-hdmi-output-with-reduced-white-point-accessibility-se… […]

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