iOS 17 Default Contact Screen Difficult to Read

Latest update to iOS 17 put a big gray poster background with white font on each of my contacts. Unless they used a custom photo, it is nearly impossible to read.


For clarification, I’m an older adult and my eyes aren’t what they used to be so most of my settings are set to a black background with a gray font.


Has anyone figured out how to change that gray poster box without having to do it on each contact one at a time?

Posted on Sep 19, 2023 3:41 PM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 25, 2023 3:08 AM

I found you can select a background color instead of that light gray. Black is not available but I did choose a darker gray, which helps me see the white writing:


Go to Contacts on your iPhone. Select the person whose contact page you want to change. (I guess we need to do each one individually, maybe someone can show us how to change it for every contact at once? )


At your contact's page, select 'Contact Photo & Poster.' Select 'Customize' and a choice pops up. Select 'Poster.'


Now, at the bottom left, select that circle O. And up pops Background Colors. I chose the dark gray all the way at the bottom right. And then below that is a slide bar where you can make the gray lighter or even darker. I slid that right to maximum dark. Then I hit the X to close the background color popup. Finally, at the very top right I selected 'Done.'


Hope this helps!

177 replies

Nov 24, 2023 1:28 PM in response to Checksonce

Checksonce wrote:

Apple seems to be from another planet or another time.
I find this change extremely inconvenient and unnecessary.

Tell Apple:


Product Feedback - Apple

A contact in my experience is viewed to access his contact details ex phone no etc and I have checked with a few other users. 99% do not bother to add a photograph to a contact.

That is not necessarily are representative sample of iPhone users.


Nov 25, 2023 9:57 AM in response to Wendola99

Wendola99 wrote:

Would be interesting to hear from Apple why they made this change.

Apple very rarely comments on such things and they certainly don't do so in this user-to-user technical support forum.

Also would be interesting to hear if they include seniors in their beta testing of new products.

Anyone can participate in the public beta as long as they are over 18. But I don't think that liking or not liking this isn't necessarily age related. I like it and I'm over sixty.

Nov 26, 2023 4:26 AM in response to Dostoyevsky2001

Since I’m around Steve’s age the profanities he would divulge are censored and removed here, I’ll share something more delicate for these punks.


Most people don’t care about aesthetic like the California punks care about. Most and even Steve care about functionality. Our precious time is being held hostage to track and learn every change that affects us and we don’t want that.


Please use your god given brain to understand the meaning of your placement in life. Become something meaningful, and not another pet for an employer that will replace you at any given point in your life no matter how great your contributions may had been to the company.


Your parents advise would be don’t do stoopid 💩

Nov 26, 2023 4:37 AM in response to helayne07

No one has time for these meaningless changes. They hold our time hostage. I was hesitant in downloading it. I have turned off automatic updates. I’m not doing this again. This is a ridiculous waste of time and resources. Phones will be going out of business within the next 10 years. There’s now a clip )god help us) that will replace phones. I’m reverting back to a rotary and touch home phone. My MacBook also has been compromised with all these updates which were less frequent and the reason I bought a Mac. It is extremely slow loading and I’m keeping it until it is no longer functional. I’m from the dial up age so I won’t let all this nonsense bother me. I just stop purchasing.

Nov 26, 2023 4:54 AM in response to dezinrtom

I guess my comment was a little more colorful and it was removed. I just got email from Apple as there’s rules and etiquette. Now it appears I have some sort of ban because the useful button is greyed out. I can’t see the less colorful comments either.

I don’t understand the waste of resources in meaningless changes that they later undo or fix. Is insanity.

Nov 26, 2023 6:19 PM in response to carmel221

New update well the contacts are terrible what they done to them messed up a few of my friends photos I have photos with every contact person on my iPhone. I hate the new look the change that removed picture that covered in gray color. Why did they even bother


Now more news from the police 👮 department about the update for parents to change a setting in AIRDROP cause people can get close to their phone or your own phone and they get your name email address photos this is scary 😱 I checked mine of course in setting mine was turned OFF

This 17 up date has been the worst ever marking people upset and not liking it at all

if it was not broke they should have left it alone. Now a second update that’s not good it’s was in the news APPLE 🍎 IOS 17

update not good.


Apple needs to fix all these problems put it back like it was


check your phones on the AIRDROP

not good either WHRN you hear it from the police department on the news.



Nov 27, 2023 7:19 AM in response to Rebbie7069

Rebbie7069 wrote:


Now more news from the police 👮 department about the update for parents to change a setting in AIRDROP cause people can get close to their phone or your own phone and they get your name email address photos this is scary 😱 I checked mine of course in setting mine was turned OFF
This 17 up date has been the worst ever marking people upset and not liking it at all
if it was not broke they should have left it alone. Now a second update that’s not good it’s was in the news APPLE 🍎 IOS 17
update not good.

From "the police department"? Which police department? There is more than one. It sounds like you've fallen victim to some scaremongering. The feature you're talking about, NameDrop, requires that the phones be practically touching.


Use NameDrop on iPhone to share your contact info - Apple Support

Apple needs to fix all these problems put it back like it was

Tell Apple:


Product Feedback - Apple

check your phones on the AIRDROP
not good either WHRN you hear it from the police department on the news.

You may not be old enough to remember, but we used to have this thing called a "Phone Book". The name, address and phone number of almost everyone who had a phone number was in it. And we survived.


The media wants you to be afraid so their advertisers can sell you stuff.




Nov 28, 2023 4:33 AM in response to azakreder131

With this change, the safari settings to clear history is also messed up. It has to be done manually to clear all cookies and close all tabs because the default is one hour and the slider to close all tabs is off. This is intentional.


I turned off update, and the sliders on all options that I’m not clear on are off as well as Siri. I am not going to make it easy to give my data and neither should you.

Nov 28, 2023 7:03 AM in response to azakreder131

bunchofcrapthisis wrote:

I’m interested in ability to bulk change all contacts, too. Preferably to the view they were before. Sheesh - what a mess. It would be nice if apple gave a check list so we could indicate, Don’t Want, before appearance changes were deployed

You have the option of joining the public beta so that you can give Apple feedback while the new versions are being developed.

Nov 29, 2023 6:24 AM in response to Community User

How soon will Apple fully respond with actual programming to this negative feedback regarding IOS 17 Contacts graphics and features? Days? Weeks? Months? Is there a genuine possibility of very quickly and temporarily reverting iPhone programming to the previous Contacts programming, roughly matching IOS 16 features, and then after that slowly and carefully releasing any further changes to contacts? It's not just older people complaining. People who work outdoors, executives moving fast who do not want to scroll more than necessary, people with large numbers of contacts, people who rarely if ever use photos on contacts, so many categories....

iOS 17 Default Contact Screen Difficult to Read

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