How Does The Apple Night Shift Blue Light Filter Work
To activate the Apple Night Shift feature on your device, the process is pretty simple:
- Access the Settings feature on the phone,
- Navigate to Display and Brightness
- Turn on the Night Shift mode
- Then, Shift the colors from less warm to warmer. The warmer the setting, the less blue light your device will emit resulting in less sleep interference.
Sounds plausible. However, when 12 young adults were recruited for a study to test it out, the results were less than promising.
The study examined three different settings on the iPad:
- Night Shift disable,
- Night Shift warmer,
- Night Shift less warm.
Although the Night shift mode did make some difference, the results showed that all three settings suppressed the melatonin production, rather than regulating it. No wonder it was causing such a buzz!
Why such disappointing results?
Its not the light’s color spectrum that affects sleep its its brightness. Although the Night Shift blue light filter was making the screen color warmer, it didn’t tone down its intensity, which was precisely the cause of sleep disruption. As a result, the blue light filter was virtually useless in helping users restore their natural sleep patterns.
The Apple Night Shift blue light filter is not the only blue light filter out there with questionable results in their effectiveness in blocking blue light. You might have heard of F.lux as well. You can discover more about its effectiveness here.
Turn Off iPhone Screen Zoom
Sometimes, the iPhone screen is dark, but the brightness is up. This can be due to an accessibility feature that zooms the entire iPhone display, and as a result, your screen brightness may be affected. To fix this, unzoom your iPhone screen or turn off this feature from Settings> Accessibility> Zoom.
Check iPhone Screen Brightness And Manually Adjust It
Here are three ways to increase your iPhone screen brightness:
I. Via the Control Center:
II. Via the Settings app:
III. Using Siri:
- Set screen brightness to 75%.
- Set screen brightness to maximum.
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Also Included: Apple’s Own iPhone Solutions Such As Nightshift Mode & True Mode
Apple has already incorporated methods to lower blue light exposure: 1) nightshift mode and 2) “true tone”. I will test both options in this blog post and observe whether they really lower blue light exposure significantly enough so that there’s no longer a health threat.
Now that I’ve told you about all of the basics and my testing methodology, let’s move on to the actual testing:
How To Turn Off Blue Light On iPhone And iPad With Night Shift
Like with many of the user-focused settings in iOS, the Night Shift setting is easy to find and use. Here’s the full procedure:
With this process completed, iPhone users should be able to see the colors of their device’s screen change at their specified times and hopefully have an easier time getting to sleep and staying asleep. We can’t personally attest to these types of results, but anything that’s meant to help smartphone or PC users stay rested and avoid fatigue is a win in our book.
For more tips on mobile phones, including iPhone and Android-specific guides, keep it tuned right here to Shacknews.
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What You Need To Know
- With Control Center: swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen > touch and hold Brightness > press night patrol.
- In the settings: Settings > screen and brightness > night patrol and select Program either Manually activate until tomorrow.
- Adjust the amount of blue light filtered with the color temperature slide.
iPhones have a built-in setting called Night Shift that lets you adjust the screen to be cooler or warmer. Heres how to access this feature and set automatic schedules so you dont have to make any manual changes.
My iPhone Screen Gets Dark In Sunlight How To Fix It
In bright sunlight, all displays struggle to offer a good viewing experience. But once you follow the above solutions and set the screen brightness to maximum, it should be viewable. Also, newer iPhone models have a higher peak brightness and better display quality, giving them an edge over older iPhones when used in sunlight.
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What Are The Blue Light Filter Options For An iPhone
There are two free software options available to help reduce the amount of artificial blue light emitted from your iPhone screen.
Using one of these iPhone settings will help to limit the amount of blue light emitted from your screen, which is a good idea to do to help protect your natural circadian rhythm .
However, I would use one of these iPhone settings in conjunction with also wearing a good pair of 100% blue light blocking glasses for adults or childrens glasses at night. .
True Tone Spectrometer Testing With 100% Brightness
Once again, I used my spectrometer against the iPhone to test the power output and wavelengths. I won’t show the pictures of that process anymore as you know the drill by now.
Here’s the outcome of that test:
As you can see, the blue light peak can still be found at 458.3 nm. Surprisingly, however, the power output is 3.9 microWatts/cm2 now, which is higher than normal full brightness!
There is a bit more light in the red and blue/yellow part of the spectrum though.
My view? You’re getting more blue light exposure, and also more green and red to compensate. For melatonin suppression purposes, however, this option isn’t optimal! Conclusion: True Tone is completely useless for lowering your exposure.
Then, there’s the famous night shift mode which Apple added a few years ago:
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What Is Blue Light
Sunlight consists of visible light our eyes interpret as colors and invisible ultraviolet rays that tan and burn the skin. The visible light emitted by the sun comprises a range of different-colored light rays that contain different amounts of energy. There is an inverse relationship between a light rays wavelength and energy. The smaller the wavelength, the higher the energy. Blue light has a wavelength between 400-490nm which is why the left one-third of the visible light spectrum is considered high-energy visible light. Excessive HEV exposure is dangerous to your health and can increase the risk for uveal melanoma, cancer within the eye.
How To Use Night Shift To Reduce Blue Light On Your iPhone
Follow this simple guide to reduce the blue light coming from your iPhone at different times of the day, or through the night.
Most electronic devices emit blue light and your iPhone is no exception. While blue light is hard to avoid, getting too much of it before going to bed can cause sleeplessness. This is why many people are looking for ways to reduce blue light on their iPhone, which Apple made easy to do with the Night Shift feature.
If youre looking to reduce blue light on your iPhone, this quick tutorial will show you how.
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Eliminating Blue Light On The Mac
Night Shift reduces blue light but doesnt eliminate it. To do that, you need a red filter, since red is the opposite of blue on the color wheel. Thankfully, the Mac has a built-in way to do that.
First, turn on Night Shift as described above, which removes some blue light but not all. Were going to add a toggleable color filter on top of Night Shift to eliminate even more:
Now we want to set the maximum shade of red:
Thats our initial setup. Now lets make it easy to turn on and off:
Now you have two ways to toggle the red color filter:
- Press Command-Option-F5 on your keyboard or press the Touch ID button three times. If you have more than one Accessibility shortcut enabled, it will present a menu that lets you turn accessibility features on and off. Otherwise, it instantly turns the screen red.
As you can see in the photo below, this provides a rather shockingly red screen thats appropriate for indicating your Evil Computer Hacker status or developing analog film in a darkroom.
How To Turn Night Shift On In Settings
Open Settings.
Scroll down to Display & Brightness.
Tap Night Shift.
Tap Manually Enable Until Tomorrow to turn the blue light filter on until sunrise tomorrow.
Alternatively, tap the toggle next to Scheduled and tap the From/To tab to set a custom timeframe.
On the Schedule screen, select Custom Schedule and pick a Turn On/Turn Off time. You can also select Sunset to Sunrise.
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How To Filter Blue Light On Other Android Phones
Different manufacturers have coined different names for their blue light filters, but the majority have one. Youll generally find a quick setting option in your notification shade and scheduling options in Settings > Display.
LG calls it Comfort View, HTC and OnePlus call it Night Mode, Huawei calls it Eye Care, Motorola calls it Night Display, and Xiaomi calls it Reading mode.
My iPhone Screen Is Black How Do I Make It Normal
Your iPhone screen can be black due to two settings Dark Mode or Color Invert. To make the screen normal, go to iPhone Settings > Display & Brightness and choose Light. Also, turn off the switch for Automatic. If the screen still stays dark, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn off Smart Invert or Classic Invert.
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How To Reduce Blue Light On Your iPhone
It’s easy to forget about the dangers of blue light. If you’re like most people, youre busy making money and living life. Who has time to figure out how to reduce blue light on your iPhone? Well, let us help!
Weve got you covered. In this article, well go over how to protect your eyes, and your overall health, by using an effective blue light filter on your iPhone. Well also talk about the benefits of using Ocushield to improve your sleep, overall health, and even your skin.
How To Turn Off The Blue Light On An iPhone With Night Shift
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap “Display and Brightness,” the third item on the third list of options.
3. Scroll down and tap “Night Shift.”
4. From here, you have two options.
- Tap “Manually Enable Until Tomorrow” to toggle the blue light filter to on until sunrise tomorrow morning.
- Option two: Tap the toggle switch next to “Scheduled” to turn it on. If you like the schedule that’s set automatically, which is from sunset to sunrise, leave it be. If not, tap it again and proceed to Step 5.
5. Tap the “From/To” tab to take yourself to the scheduling screen. If you want your phone to turn Night Shift on and off at the same times every day, set those parameters here.
6. Finally, if you’d like, return to the Night Shift menu and adjust your Night Shift coloring to your liking, from “Less Warm” to “More Warm.” The warmer your screen, the less blue light it gives off.
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Do You Have An Android Phone Test The Free Twilight App
I haven’t tested this option with my spectrometer because I don’t have any Android device, personally.
But, I’ve heard great things about the Twilight App for Android devices. That Twilight app allows you to turn your device extremely red and filter out a ton of the blue light, and also select the intensity of the filtering.
Bart from team Alexfergus uses this option to lower his exposure by 80-90% after sunset. We’ll probably do some spectrometer testing of this option in the future, once we meet again! For now, even Android users have a simple option to lower their blue light exposure, although it’s a bit more complicated than the few clicks on the iPhone once you set it up.
That’s it…
My iPhone blue light spectrometer testing review and the biohack to lower your exposure dramatically. Let’s conclude:
Does My iPhone Support The Blue Light Filter
The blue light filter on iPhone works on any relatively modern iPhone. Apple introduced the feature in iOS 9.4.
To enable the blue light filter on iPhone, you need iPhone 5S or newer and an iPad Air/mini 2 or newer. Although iPhone 5 and older models support iOS 9.4 Night Shift does not work on iPhones released before 5S and iPads before the first-gen Air. It is possible that the feature requires capabilities missing on devices with CPUs older than Apple A7.
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Reduce Blue Light Faq
What is Blue light?
Blue light is the light rays that can emit from various sources including the sun, Led lights, CFL bulbs, monitor screens, tablet screens, etc.
How does blue light affect your brain?
Blue light stops the release of melatonin in our brains, which results in lower quality sleep, which welcomes a variety of negative health effects.
Is blue light bad for the screen?
Long haul blue light exposure can cause skin harm, including color transformation, irritation, and flabby skin surface. Basically, blue light encourages stressors in the skin that cause photoaging that is, aging from exposure to light.
Why Reduce Blue Light
When you are protected from the impact of blue light on your health, your eyes are healthy, you sleep better, you feel better, and you get more done. By reducing blue light on your iPhone, you are taking care of so much more. Your eyes are everything, and they need taking care of! But dont forget all the other health benefits of reducing blue light.By now, most of us are aware of the damage blue light is doing to our eyes. It can cause eye strain, cataracts and can contribute to macular degeneration. Yikes! But it gets worse. The high-frequency waves coming from your device changes your circadian rhythm resulting in difficulty falling asleep and poor quality sleep. Your body interprets blue light as morning light and adjusts your hormones accordingly. Sleep gets disturbed and, over time, poor sleep leads to a host of health problems. The bottom line is that you wont be at your best. Your work and your play will suffer!
Blue light is there, every time you stare at your iPhone, its sending high-frequency waves into your eyes and skin and doing real damage. Yes! Throw in that blue light also prematurely ages your skin, causing age spots and wrinkles, and it starts to make sense how important it is to reduce the blue light from your iPhone.
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Blue Light From Phones
In todays world most of us are glued to our mobile phones and other digital platforms. It can be either for work, personal or just to kill time. But the ultimate truth is we cannot avoid these devices altogether. So here lets discuss one important setting that helps you filter out the blue light emissions from iPhones and Android Phones. This will help you get a good nights sleep.
How To Turn Off The Blue Light On My Windows 10 Device
In the event that you are using your laptop or tablet which features a Windows 10 operative system, you can also change the screen’s colour temperature at nighttime.
You just need to click on the Start button and go to Settings > System > Display. There, you can turn on Microsoft’s Night Light feature to enable this mode.
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Using Screen Shader: Blue Light Reduction Chrome Extension
Screen Shader allows you to change the screen color of google chrome only. Screen Shader is intended to tint your screen a comfortable orange shading to diminish eye-strain, eye tiredness, and reestablish day/night balance, while also providing a wide range of color settings for everyones mood.
Screen Shader features
- Very lightweight free google chrome extension
- Top-rated among google chrome extension store.
- The extension has five presets available to toggle, and a feature of single click disable button.
How to reduce computer blue light using a screen shader?
- Right-click on its extension display at the chrome extension bar and change color settings either by slider or available preset dropdown menu.
How To Use Night Light On Your Pixel Phone
On Googles Pixel phones and some other stock Android devices running Android 8.0 Oreo and later, you can find a blue light filter option by:
Step 1: Going to Settings > Display > Night Light.
Step 2: Tap on Schedule to specify your own hours and change the level of filtering with the Intensity slider.
Step 3: You can also tap Turns On from Sunset to Sunrise to turn it on automatically at night and off in the morning.
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