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Apple Introduces New 'Night Shift' Feature in iOS 9.3

ApfelKuchen said:
Further, reducing blue in my display would totally disrupt the color rendition of my photos, and I certainly couldn't edit photos effectively if I changed the color balance of the display.

Hey, if it makes you feel better to enable this feature, go for it. The placebo effect is real, after all.
Click to expand...

It's not a placebo effect, but f.lux was not meant to be used for people who need to do color accurate work.

Now try coding for hours straight and see if you don't need it.
 
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Clearly they were inspired by f.lux and the Mac app, but anyone who thinks Apple only added this after f.lux released their iOS version is delusional. Apple works on things for a long time before they see the light of day.

I'm glad they finally did this. I wanted to load the app before it disappeared and didn't get around to it. As I said previously on this topic, Apple should do this for accessibility and health reasons. Anything that can reduce eye strain is good for users. Specifically I have a lot of trouble falling asleep after using my iPhone before bed. But it also helps me to wind down by catching up on some of the things I missed during the day on Twitter.

I'm really looking forward to trying this out. I'm also really surprised that Apple didn't wait until WWDC to show off a major feature like this. Especially since the education stuff would get more play in the media then. But perhaps they wanted to beat the purchasing cycle for schools? I can only think of a few other times that Apple has released major features outside of a major point release. Ok so I decided to skim the Wikipedia page on iOS releases and it was more than I thought:
  • iTunes Store in 1.1 (getting a new app icon blew my mind back then)
  • Maps cellular triangulation in 1.1
  • Home screen web clips in 1.1
  • Multi-touch keyboard in 1.1.3.
  • Google Street View in 2.2 (which we still don't have in iOS 9)
  • iPad Support in 3.2
  • Game Center/Ping in 4.1
  • HDR photos in 4.1
  • Airplay/Airprint in 4.2
  • WiFi hotspot in 4.3
  • Lock screen camera shortcut in 5.1
  • Carplay in 7.1
  • iTunes Radio in 7.1
  • Apple Pay in 8.1
  • Apple Watch/Activity in 8.2
  • Apple Music in 8.4
  • Night Shift and education/login overhaul in 9.3
 
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BiAry said:
why f.lux didn't patent the idea is beyond me ?
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Because they didn't originate the idea in the first place?

Adjusting the color balance of displays (and room lighting) is an age-old practice. The only thing f.lux did was play off some publicity for some recent "blue light is bad for you at night" research. On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Displays > Color. Select a Display profile, click Open Profile, and adjust to your hearts' content.
 
ApfelKuchen said:
So, the amount of light that emanates from a smartphone display is sufficient to significantly disrupt human sleep patterns?

Truthfully, according to that oft-visited Harvard web page (isn't that the same school that gave us Facebook?), as little as 8 Lux can have a measurable effect.

Hint: "Measurable" is not the same as "materially significant."

The Harvard article focuses on workplace and household illumination, which is generally far more pervasive and powerful than any TV, computer, or smartphone screen. If you use a computer/tablet/smartphone in a darkened room and dim/auto-adjust the brightness accordingly (after all, when there's little or no ambient lighting, your screens don't have to be as bright), we're not talking about a whole lot of light. If you use them in a well-illuminated room... first job is to attend to the rest of the room's illumination.

However, the Harvard article has spawned more than a few pseudo-news reports that, in more than a few cases, used it to advance the "Using computers and smart phones is bad for you" narrative. Why don't we do a better job of filtering out the blue light of bias when we read stuff on the web?

What keeps me up at night is musing (or fuming) over the folly of my fellow humans. Eliminating the local TV news from my evening diet was very helpful. It's probably also helpful to only draft replies to threads like this during the daylight hours.

Further, reducing blue in my display would totally disrupt the color rendition of my photos, and I certainly couldn't edit photos effectively if I changed the color balance of the display.

Hey, if it makes you feel better to enable this feature, go for it. The placebo effect is real, after all.
Click to expand...
Or perhaps everyone is different and for some people some things have more of an effect than others?
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Apple didn't create the first personal computer.
Apple didn't create the first MP3 player.
Apple didn't create the first smartphone.
Apple didn't create the first tablet.
Apple didn't create the first smartwatch.

Ford didn't create the first automobile.
Microsoft didn't create the first computer operating system.
Google didn't create the first search engine.
Tesla didn't create the first electric car.

It's not about being the first or coming up with an original idea. It's about implementing it best. That's what all of those above have done.

This isn't about Apple coming up with an original idea, it's about implementing f.lux-like functionality in a better way than f.lux does. Having the functionality built-in to the operating system is far better than anything f.lux could do. It means less system resource requirements and better integration. And that's why their implementation is superior to f.lux.
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I'm very happy about the feature...I was just being sarcastic lol. Some Apple rip-offs are just more blatant then others, doesn't mean I'm not happy about the outcome.
 
absolutely GREAT news! I'll update my iPad Pro ASAP! Currently, the only problem I have with it is the bluish screen.
 
BiAry said:
why f.lux didn't patent the idea is beyond me ?
Click to expand...

Can't patent an idea. Just the implementation. In this case, the code that F.lux uses for their app can be copyrighted, but the idea of shifting color temperature of a display can't be patented or copyrighted.
 
Can someone please post a couple compare/contrast screenshots of a—say a home screen— of what Night Shift looks like when it is:

1) Off
2) On (50% warmth)
3) On (100% warmth)

Maybe do screenshots on a primarily white-dominated screen too?
 
kkamann said:
Can someone please post a couple compare/contrast screenshots of a—say a home screen— of what Night Shift looks like when it is:

1) Off
2) On (50% warmth)
3) On (100% warmth)

Maybe do screenshots on a primarily white-dominated screen too?
Click to expand...
Given it's how screen displays color temperature, I could be off on this, but I don't think it's really something that can actually be captured by a screen capture.
 
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ApfelKuchen said:
So, the amount of light that emanates from a smartphone display is sufficient to significantly disrupt human sleep patterns?
Click to expand...

My question exactly. As well as the opposite question, that is, even with the color temperature adjusted, if one is reading on a smartphone or tablet at night, one is still staring at a bright display close to the face. How much effect does using f.lux have on the quality of one's sleep, as opposed to not using a smartphone/tablet at all for thirty minutes before going to bed, as often recommended? Has any studies been done to find out?
 
Pilgrim1099 said:
F.lux already beat Apple to the punch for several years with this. Nothing innovative about Apple implementing it. They waited until the last minute.
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He's quite obviously being sarcastic about Apple yet again consuming a 3rd party dev's idea. At least F.lux weren't earning money from it.
 
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Night Spring said:
My question exactly. As well as the opposite question, that is, even with the color temperature adjusted, if one is reading on a smartphone or tablet at night, one is still staring at a bright display close to the face. How much effect does using f.lux have on the quality of one's sleep, as opposed to not using a smartphone/tablet at all for thirty minutes before going to bed, as often recommended? Has any studies been done to find out?
Click to expand...
Well, not doing something like that is still likely better than doing it at all, but if you were to do it then doing it in an improved form (with the color temperature adjustments) is better than doing it without any of those improvements.
 
C DM said:
Probably, but with f.lux already available there for a long time, it's not really something all that asked about or awaited.
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Yes, it is, at least for some. f.lux doesn't work on the iPad Pro, even when side loaded...
 
Paradoxally said:
It's not a placebo effect, but f.lux was not meant to be used for people who need to do color accurate work.

Now try coding for hours straight and see if you don't need it.
Click to expand...

I am a night worker (at a computer screen). I'm just not coding.

I'll wait and see if insurance companies start charging higher premiums to employers of workers who must do color-accurate work at their computer screens.

Prove it's not a placebo effect for those who consciously use this feature (or f.lux). Even if the effect is real (and there's no reason to think the overall principle is invalid - I just have doubts as to how material the effect is as it relates to relatively dim smart phone and computer screen illumination), the only way to eliminate placebo effect is through a double-blind study.

It's very common for people to feel healthier when doing things they believe are good for them. I feel healthier today simply because I walked four blocks (round-trip) to the mailbox. But even if I walked that extra distance on a daily basis, the overall impact on my health is likely to take a back seat to many other factors.

It doesn't seem the creators of f.lux are going out of their way to warn people who do color-accurate work that f.lux isn't for them. It's more of an assumption that they will know. Their only FAQ that touches on this is way at the bottom of the list. It's nice that they've included a setting that temporarily disables the app (for image editing). I think I might be annoyed that it returns automatically after just an hour.

Whether Apple or f.lux, changing the color profile undoubtedly has an effect on color rendition, and "the masses" are not going to know why their edited photos don't look quite the same when printed, viewed on other computers, or viewed during the daylight hours (f.lux is just one of a number of contributing factors). It's a small thing in the big scheme, but I'm sure someday we'll see a few "evil Apple" threads related to this.
 
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