What Is iPhone Night Shift
Fortunately, there is a way you can reduce blue light exposure on your iPhone. Apple recently introduced a feature called Night Shift that changes the colors on your screen towards a warmer hue.
When Night Shift turns on, the screen noticeably becomes more orange, kind of like a sunset on a nice summer evening. This reduces blue light exposure and means looking at your phone won’t affect your melatonin production as much.
What Is Night Shift
Night Shift, which reduced the level of blue light being emitted by the iPad and iPhone, arrived with the iOS 9.3 update. It’s a colour-shifting technology that reduces emissions of blue light, which is said to keep us awake and cause eye-strain and headaches, and makes screen colours appear warmer and more yellowy.
It’s hard to say if Night Shift will help you sleep if you have difficulty dropping off. And as for reducing eye strain, it’s probably just as bad that we read tiny text on our iPhones. The surest way to improve sleep is probably to leave your device in another room – but Night Shift is worth a try.
Night Mode On iPhone: Everything You Need To Know
Apple’s newest iPhones, the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, are equipped with a new feature called Night mode, which is designed to take crisp, clear photos even when lighting conditions are poor, such as at night.
Unfortunately, Night mode is not supported on the iPhone SE or iPhone XR. It remains an exclusive feature for the iPhone 11 line of phones.
Night mode, as the name suggests, lets you take photos in the evening, with lighting that has never before been possible on an iPhone thanks to new hardware and new machine learning algorithms. Though Night mode brightens photos, it also preserves the night time feeling, balancing the light and dark elements of an image.
Android smartphone makers like Google and Samsung have had special modes for brightening up evening shots for a while now, and with the 2019 iPhones, Apple is on equal footing with these other smartphone cameras.
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How To Use Night Shift Mode On Your iPhone
When your iPhone is in Night Shift mode, the display emits light from the warmer end of the spectrum rather than the default blue light, which can interfere with sleep and strain the eyes. You can manually enable Night Shift mode or set a daily schedule for the feature. Heres how to use Night Shift:
- To adjust your Night Shift mode settings or set a schedule, open your Settings app.
- Tap Display & Brightness.
- To set a schedule, toggle on Scheduled.
- Then tap the Time bar to customize.
- Here, you can set a Custom Schedule by Tapping on Turn On At and Turn Off At.
- Or you can set Night Shift to automate by selecting Sunset to Sunrise.
- Back on the previous screen, you can select Manually Enable Until Tomorrow, which is the same as turning Night Shift on from Control Center.
- You can also set your preferred Color Temperature to be Less Warm or More Warm.
- You can access Night Shift from Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of your screen.
- Tap the icon to turn Night Shift on and off.
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How To Use Night Shift On Your iPhone Or iPad

Cooler blue light typically given off by the displays on our iPhones and iPads interferes with the natural processes that help us fall and stay asleep. To reduce that interference, Apple has built in Night Shift. It lets you manually or automatically move the display towards the warmer, yellower part of the color spectrum at night. And that can help you get to sleep and stay asleep better.
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Keep Night Shift Mode Turned On All The Time
If you want Night Shift to stay on during the day, as well, youll need to set custom hours for the feature. Unfortunately, you cant set the start and stop times the same that results in the mode never activating. Instead, decide on a one-minute time of the day when its okay for the mode to briefly deactivate.
For example, in my friends case, she decided that it was acceptable for Night Shift to temporarily stop at 1:59 a.m. Then, the mode turns back on at 2 a.m. With Night Shift scheduled that way, she enjoys the warm display throughout the day. The mode turns itself off briefly while shes asleep, turning back on again a minute later.
What Does A Night Shift Look Like
The animated gif below shows how the iPhone screen switches between Night Shift and Normal mode, making the Night Shift version significantly warmer and a shade of orange / sepia brown for white and screen colors.
To turn Night Shit on and off on iPhone:
Night shift on:
Night shift off:
To adjust the night shift heat, go to Settings> Display & Brightness> Night Shift. In general, the stronger the thermal setting, the better the properties for reducing blue light are believed to be, although the display clearly changes its color profile to be quite different from the default setting when in use.
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Use iPhone Night Shift All Day To Reduce Blue Light
We are exposed to more artificial light sources than ever, and the most ubiquitous of them all is the phone we carry around in our pockets.
We have to be careful of the unnatural brightness and timing of light exposure in our modern lives. Before the advent of electricity, when the sun set in the evening it was dark, and if we did have light it was either fires or lanterns both of which have low brightness and a “warm” color temperature made up of red and orange hues, similar to a sunset.
All Ios Users: Schedule Night Shift Settings
You can access Night Shift settings by heading to Settings > Display & Brightness > Night Shift.
Here, you can select Scheduled to pick your schedule or Manually Enabled to toggle it on and off. To set a schedule, turn on the Scheduled toggle.
A pre-populated schedule pops out under the toggle. Tap it to make changes.
Here you can set Night Shift to automatically turn on when the sun sets, and turn off when the sun rises. If that doesnt work for you, you can set a custom schedule based on the time of day. Note that even if you dont use a schedule, whatever you set for the Turn Off At value is when iOS will turn off Night Shift, even if you enable it manually.
When youre done, tap the blue Night Shift link in the upper left corner to return the main settings menu.
One final trick to highlight before were done. You can adjust the warmth of the screen by using the slider at the bottom of the Night Shift menu. Less Warm means youll get less of a red tint when Night Shift is on, while More Warm means the screen will look redder. If you tap on the Night Shift slider, it show you how that level of warmth will look when Night Shift turns on.
While we really should just be putting our gadgets down and getting a good nights sleep, when we dont features like Apples Night Shift are just the ticket for minimizing the impact of late night gadget benders.
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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.
How To Automatically Set Night Shift On A Custom Schedule
If sunrise and sunset feel too early and too late in the day for you, you can also pick any other static times you like.
Tap Custom Schedule.
“Spin” the selector vertically to choose your on time. You can spin hours, minutes, and AM/PM separately.
“Spin” the selector vertically to choose your off time. You can spin hours, minutes, and AM/PM separately.
There’s no “done” button. Whatever you set last will be the time Night Shift uses. If you later decide the timing still isn’t right, and you want to tweak it, simply repeat the steps and choose a different time.
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Improve Your Sleep Patterns With The iPhone’s Night Shift Feature Which Reduces Blue Light Emissions
These days nobody seems to get enough sleep. One possible reason for this is screen use: using a screen emitting a lot of blue light close to bedtime disrupts your circadian rhythms and makes your brain think it’s still daytime.
Apple thinks it has a solution to this, and it’s called Night Shift. In this article we explain how to switch on Night Shift on your iPhone , and how it proposes to improve your twilight habits.
Night Shift has also been available on macOS since the Sierra update. Here’s how to turn on Night Shift on Mac. And if you’re interested in how this differs from related screen tech, see True Tone vs Night Shift.
Night Shift Not Working On Your Mac How To Fix It

Note. Make sure your Mac supports Night Shift using the list above.
The first thing to try is a simple restart. Disable night shift mode using one of the methods described above . After turning it off, turn it back on and see if your problems are fixed.
If not, the next step is to restart your Mac. Click the Apple logo in the menu bar, then choose Restart
Once your Mac starts up again, try Night Shift again.
If you are using a schedule such as sunset to sunrise, you will need to turn on location services so your Mac knows when to turn the night shift on or off, depending on your region.
One of these methods should solve your problem. If it doesnt, you have a narrower problem. Ask us in the comments below and well do our best to find a solution for you.
Completion
Night Shift is a useful feature that first appeared in iOS 9.3 for iPhone and iPad. If you use your Mac a lot at night, it is definitely worth taking a look at. What do you think about this? We want to know!
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Why It’s Worth Customizing Night Shift
For swing-shift and night-shift workers, having the screen tint to sunset colors in the evening won’t suit their lifestyle. When traveling, a similar situation might happen where a layover will cause the automatic schedule to match the current location instead of the final destination. Adjusting the iPhone’s Night Shift to a custom schedule allows the user to take control. Dark Mode, the feature that changes between a dark and light theme for the iPhone user interface and wallpaper, has a similar custom schedule option which can also be found in the display settings menu.
Several studies have shown that shifting color temperature has a limited effect on the user, with the brightness of the screen and the amount of interest in the content playing a larger role in keeping the mind active and making it harder to fall asleep. That means brightness should be lowered manually when nearing bedtime and finding something a bit less entertaining might help as well.
When using an iPhone camera or taking a screenshot with Night Shift active, the image will not be tinted orange, even though it will appear that way when the mode is enabled. The color settings of an iPhone’s screen do not change any of the content and everything will reveal the true color when Night Shift is turned off again. Using Night Shift on an iPhone is easy, and it can even be set to a custom schedule that matches the Apple user’s needs.
Requirements For Night Shift
This feature works on all iPhone models running iOS 9.3 or newer. However, we suggest making sure you that you’re at least to patch up any security vulnerabilities and bugs that have been around over the years. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to get that out of the way. Furthermore, Night Shift mode is only available on iPhones with a 64-bit processor, so any iPhones that worked on iOS 9.3 will also work on iOS 12.
- iPhone 5s
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Manually Enabling Night Shift
You can also manually enable Night Shift, which is sure to be a popular option for many. Manually enabling Night Shift is easy to do via the dedicated Control Center toggle, but as mentioned, it can also be done via Settings Display & Brightness Night Shift and using the Manually Enable Until Tomorrow switch.
What Is Night Shift Mode Anyways
Both iOS and macOS have the feature, but what does it do? This is a display-based setting that makes your screen warmer, usually at night, to cut down on blue light exposure. It reduces the blue wavelengths in the display, leaving behind a warm yellowish image thats easier on your eyes and your circadian rhythm.
This feature is normally most useful at night when youre winding down your day and preparing for bed. However, it can also be useful throughout the day to reduce eye strain.
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What Is Blue Light
During the day, the iPhone screen emits strong blue light waves in order to help you see it under bright sunlight. Even in the absence of sunlight, your iPhone emits blue light.
While blue light primarily has an impact on your sleep, it can have other negative health consequences. A lack of melatonin and sleep can lead to dysfunctional hormones, like those that are responsible for hunger. This can lead to eating disorders, including binge eating, night eating syndrome, and others. A lack of sleep can also lead to depression, damaged vision, decline of academic performance, and a higher risk of cancer.
We can go on and on about the adverse effects of blue light, but that won’t get us anywhere. Instead, letâs learn about how to filter out blue light on an iPhone.
Ios: Tricking Night Shift Mode Into Staying On All The Time
Lets look at how you can have Night Shift on iOS stay enabled all the time. A very dear friend recently asked me how to do this, and it got me thinking. Id never really thought about it, but I realized many folks might prefer the softer lighting of Night Shift mode throughout the day as well as the night.
When Night Shift first came out in the iOS 9.3 public beta, we showed you how to enable it. Now were going to demonstrate how to trick the operating system into leaving Night Shift mode enabled all the time.
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Turn On And Off Night Shift On Your iPhone iPad Or Ipod Touch
Follow the steps below. There are two ways to do this. Please also note that this feature is available on iPhone 5s or later, iPad Pro, iPad , iPad Air or later, iPad mini 2 or later, and iPod touch .
In Control Center
This is probably the easiest way. Follow the steps below:
- On your device, open Control Center:
- iPhone X and later iPad with iOS 12 or later, or iPadOS: You can swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen.
- Other iPhone or iPad models: You can swipe up from the bottom of your screen.
In Settings
You can also turn on and off Night Shift and adjust your settings in Settings. Here is how:
- On your device, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Night Shift.
- To turn off or on Night Shift toggle the Scheduled option.
- You can also change the Night Shift schedule: Sunset to Sunrise or Custom Schedule.
- You can also adjust the color temperature. Simply drag the Color Temperature slider to the left for Less Warm and right for More Warm spectrum.
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Enabling Night Shift Mode

To enable Night Shift Mode on iPhone 8 first go to Settings on your device.
- On this screen tap on Night Shift
- Toggle the Scheduled to ON
- Next tap on From/To and then select Sunset to Sunrise
- In this step, you have the option to set your own static time if you like. Instead of tapping on Sunset to Sunrise option you need to select Custom Schedule.
- Now tap on Turn On At and select your choice of time when you want the Night Shift Mode feature to turn on
- Next tap on Turn Off At and select the time when the feature should be disabled
There is no option to confirm the action you can just exit the screen and the device will consider the time that you have last mentioned.
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