diff --git a/package/screen/screen.mk b/package/screen/screen.mk
index 84c3d75d1a..16a97cc759 100644
--- a/package/screen/screen.mk
+++ b/package/screen/screen.mk
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ SCREEN_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 SCREEN_DEPENDENCIES = ncurses
 SCREEN_AUTORECONF = YES
 SCREEN_CONF_ENV = CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS)"
+SCREEN_CONF_OPTS = --enable-colors256
 SCREEN_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS = DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) SCREEN=screen install_bin
 
 define SCREEN_INSTALL_SCREENRC