If you run into this irritating problem, here are some tips and tricks that might help fix it.
Image retention, which is much more common and what many people experience, is less of a problem.
Heres how to sort out your image retention problems on whatever machine you have.
d3sign / Getty Images
Fix Screen Burn on Your TV
Adjust brightness controls.
Play a colorful video.
If not enabled automatically, you should be able to turn it on in the options menu.
Other options offer Refresh functions that can be manually run to try and clean out any image retention problems.
SamsungandSonyhave directions on their websites for how to do this.
It should work similarly on other TVs.
Get a replacement TV.Check your warrantyto see if youre covered for a replacement.
Turn off the display.
Run a white screensaver.
Set your screensaver to a pure white image and leave it running for a few hours.
If that doesn’t help, switch between white and black every hour or so.
This may not remove image retention entirely, but it should dampen how noticeable it is.
Fix Burn on Android or iOS
Even smartphones can sometimes experience screen burn or image retention.
Here are some things to try if you’re having this problem on your Android or iOS phone.
Turn the equipment off.
Play a colorful video.
Pick a fast-paced video with lots of color changes,such as this one on YouTube.
Try a burn-in fixer.
There are several burn-in fixer appson the Google Play Storeand Apple App Store.
Some will attempt to fix image retention and check for more permanent screen burn.
The most common form of such burn-in, though, is technically known as image retention.
While that might seem like a case of pedantic semantics, its an important distinction to make.
The result is a noticeable and often permanent impression on the display.
On a smartphone, screen burn presents as a discolored display with pink or gray tones.
On monitors and TVs, it looks like a “ghosting” of previous images remaining on the screen.
Screen burn happens so gradually that you may not notice it until using a white background.
