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Abrupt color/tint temperature change MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2017
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I have also noticed this on my 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro (still using Mojave). It always happens around the same time of day, only when the weather is relatively sunny but with clouds often obscuring the sun, which causes varying light to come in through windows. The display will then suddenly change its hue to something unexpected (pink, green) in a split second, then slowly return to normal. This looks like a bug in the True Tone feature, causing an inappropriate reaction to the varying light. It should never change this abruptly.
Given my experience with Apple's history of fixing bugs and especially regressions, it seems that when accurate colour reproduction is crucial, your best option is to just close all curtains and provide stable artificial lighting… Otherwise just turn off True Tone.
Given my experience with Apple's history of fixing bugs and especially regressions, it seems that when accurate colour reproduction is crucial, your best option is to just close all curtains and provide stable artificial lighting… Otherwise just turn off True Tone.
I experience this with TrueTone on the 16" MacBook Pro and I can reproduce it consistently.
Where I usually sit while working, there's a window off to the side of the room. If I move my arm so that it obscures the diffused light from the window, instead of there being a smooth transition from cool to warm, the screen shifts instantly/abruptly. Looks like a bug to me.
Where I usually sit while working, there's a window off to the side of the room. If I move my arm so that it obscures the diffused light from the window, instead of there being a smooth transition from cool to warm, the screen shifts instantly/abruptly. Looks like a bug to me.
Here's the solution that worked for me:
Settings > Energy Saver > Battery > Uncheck "Automatic Graphics Switching" in the top left
I had this same problem and it would make me nauseated every time it switched from warm to cool. I'm a graphic designer and have to zoom in a lot and this was seriously affecting my work.
Settings > Energy Saver > Battery > Uncheck "Automatic Graphics Switching" in the top left
I had this same problem and it would make me nauseated every time it switched from warm to cool. I'm a graphic designer and have to zoom in a lot and this was seriously affecting my work.
Just noticed this behaviour as well on my Macbook Pro 15.4" from 2017, running latest High Sierra macOS. Thought it was my eyes for a split second, but it happens at times, really strange behaviour and sounds like widgetball's hint that it could be due to the graphic card switching. BUT I only experience it on the Macbook Pro's display, not on the external ones.
It is the true tone sensor trying to adjust the screen color to your environment, the problem is that sometimes we move, the light hits the true tone sensor in a different intensity and the sensor tries to adjust the screen color to make it looks more real to your eyes according to the environment it is seeing. You can disable it in Display > True tone and the screen will stop to change the tint randomly.
@Rimom Aguiar 2017 MacBook Pro's don't have True Tone, so that doesn't explain or solve the issue, unfortunately.
So this is it, We sit almost 3 years later and NOTHING.
with all the inquiry no news.
I am writing it off to Graphic Card Switching for reasons of sanity
Except I dibbled switching
with all the inquiry no news.
I am writing it off to Graphic Card Switching for reasons of sanity
Except I dibbled switching
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Finding this thread after 3 long years, with 2 Macbook Pro's and 1 recurring sanity check to make sure I was not imagining this flicker is like finding the promised land. This unresolved, apparently unacknowledged by Apple, defect/issue/bug/feature(?) has been driving me to the edge of those sanity checks exactly because of the reasons everyone has documented. It isn't remotely consistent, I can't reproduce it on demand, nearly impossible to catch on video and as I found out much to my shagrin after thinking I had a concrete plan to document it, does not come through on a screen capture all of which make it incredibly challenging to convince anyone that it is a real problem.
I have had this problem in a 15-inch Macbook Pro 2018 which had the keyboard and ultimately logic board replaced as well as this 16-inch Macbook Pro 2019 I am currently typing on as recent as today while I was coding. I thought I was the only one who couldn't figure it out going back and forth between Hardware and then Software and then back to Hardware and down the rabbit hole.
I am trying every single one of these recommendations because nothing I have tried prior to this has worked. First up turning off Graphics Card Switching.
Will let you know how it works
I have had this problem in a 15-inch Macbook Pro 2018 which had the keyboard and ultimately logic board replaced as well as this 16-inch Macbook Pro 2019 I am currently typing on as recent as today while I was coding. I thought I was the only one who couldn't figure it out going back and forth between Hardware and then Software and then back to Hardware and down the rabbit hole.
I am trying every single one of these recommendations because nothing I have tried prior to this has worked. First up turning off Graphics Card Switching.
Will let you know how it works
I don’t know how helpful this is to you but I had a 2018 MacBook Pro 15” that had many issues (but not the broken tint switching though I had a different display issue, which was random flicker for no conceivable reason). I finally had enough leeway in my work that I was able to take it in in January. They replaced the keyboard, logic board, display, and virtually every other part except the bottom case. Now, with the all-but-new unit, I have this display tint switching issue.
So this demonstrates that the display tint issue is not always there, as my previous display/logic board did not showcase this problem.
I will add to it that the tint issue is not tied to switching as I too keep it turned off.
I came here, regarding the same issue. I can reproduce it every time. I have a lens cover on my rMBP 2019... From a conference. However this is not the source. Today is cloudy, and windy. So there's constant change in light, from outside. I have two windows behind me. As the clouds change, I noticed the change on the screen. Instead of it being slow, like, the clouds, it shifts.
I put the palm of my hand over the entire sensor array at the top of my display, and it immediately shifts towards pink. Remove my hands, the screen blues up. Turn off True Tone, and this doesn't happen anymore, but the screen shifted towards blue and has stayed there.
I guess I don't care about True Tone, so I will leave it off for now.
This is not a defect, this is by design. It works best in a windowless environment or at night.
Thanks.
I put the palm of my hand over the entire sensor array at the top of my display, and it immediately shifts towards pink. Remove my hands, the screen blues up. Turn off True Tone, and this doesn't happen anymore, but the screen shifted towards blue and has stayed there.
I guess I don't care about True Tone, so I will leave it off for now.
This is not a defect, this is by design. It works best in a windowless environment or at night.
Thanks.
i'd argue this is a defective design.
the auto-brightness and true tone features of my macbook pro 2018 are poorly implemented to the point of being useless. if either is used, the screen flickers suddenly and frequently, either in brightness or colour temperature. one would expect these type of adjustments to happen gradually over several seconds, but nobody seems to be at the wheel anymore for good UX.
companies care more about selling the "idea" of a feature rather than, you know, actually implementing that feature well.
the auto-brightness and true tone features of my macbook pro 2018 are poorly implemented to the point of being useless. if either is used, the screen flickers suddenly and frequently, either in brightness or colour temperature. one would expect these type of adjustments to happen gradually over several seconds, but nobody seems to be at the wheel anymore for good UX.
companies care more about selling the "idea" of a feature rather than, you know, actually implementing that feature well.
I'm facing a similar issue with an external display. The builtin Retina display is OK (bright white) but the external HP monitor has this pinkish hue ALL the time (it doesn't change). I know this is not a hardware issue because the white contour in the pointer is still PURE white nonetheless. One might not notice the white contour, but I also use Citrix to connect to my Windows machine at the office, so the pointer changes to white with black contour, and the white is also true white. Just the pointer is unaffected, go figure! If this was a hardware issue, it would be impossible to see any white accents in the pointer. I have already ruled out True Tone and Night Shift. My MBP 2018 model doesn't have the graphics switching option.
Have a 2019 Macbook Pro, this fix worked for me!!! Hooray!! This was so annoying.
I'm on a 2016 MBP 15", and I've seen this a couple of times in the last month (never noticed it before). There is no True Tone setting on this machine, I have automatic brightness turned off, and I can say for certain that it is not related to graphics card switching - I have a utility that tells me when it switches, and it didn't.
Yup it's true tone. It was driving me nuts on my 16inch MBP. I sit in a very bright room with windows on 3 sides and true tone would just go crazy adjusting the color temp constantly and very abruptly.
I'm having same problem on my macbook pro 15 2017. I did clean clean install, reset nvram and smc. Night Shift option is always off mode. I brought to Apple store. They changed my screen. But nothing changed. I called Apple Customer Care.
They're telling to me: "this is a software problem, please wait new mac os updates".
But i think this is a hardware problem. Apple didn't accept my problem.
I don't know what i do.
(Sorry for my english)
Screenshots:
Screenshot 1 (Normal Screen): Screenshot 2 (After Pink Screen):
This problem is not the same as your problem. Because there is no true tone feature on my computer.
I found something. when wake the computer and change the brightness setting a little bit, screen turns same pinkish color.
Now I use mac os catalina, last days i tried downgrade mojave. Same problem happened on Mojave.
It's been established that this isn't a matter of graphics card switching, but I wonder if it happens with both cards. At least one user said it doesn't happen with an external monitor, which would be using the dGPU. I didn't notice anyone saying it happens when the dGPU is active. It may be why one user says turning off graphics switching eliminated the problem.
I used gfxcardtatus 2 app, and tried both gpus (intel and amd). But I had this problem both of them.
