There is no excuse for Apple's behavior here. It is wrong and disgusting. Regardless of how much I enjoy their products I find this whole thing unacceptable on Apple's part. This app should have been allowed and it if there was reason it was not safe now that they have stolen the intellectual property they should license it or provide compensation to the developer. Users have asked for this to no avail for years and have been ignored.
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Developers Behind F.lux Call on Apple to Allow F.lux App for iOS Devices
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No. We don't need this crap ruining the UI of our phones. And I better be able to turn off Apple's stupid version.
Apple has a long storied history of "borrowing" ideas from originators, and then disallowing those originators from doing what they want to do -- on Apple platforms. Happened with Alfred. And it's happening with Flu.x now.
Glad at least the flux team is being cool about this and taking it in a positive direction.
Personally, I'd probably lose my **** and say things I'd regret.
Personally, I'd probably lose my **** and say things I'd regret.
It's beyond disgusting how Apple just outright stole the idea from a developer created an innovative and extremely app, but then again that's how Apple got to where they are today.
To all the people ripping on Apple....
1- F.lux didn't invent this. The concept of reducing blue light in the evenings has been extensively researched. Their own website explains this.
2- F.lux is free. Why are they so hot and bothered about getting into the AppStore?
3- The APIs they want access to are not allowed for any developers. I'm sure Apple has good reason for this.
4- With Night Shift being built into 9.3, and yes it's freakin awesome, what is the point of having F.lux? Apples implementation is stupid simple and 'just works'. F.lux is way over complicated. And if you look at their FAQ on their website you'll the large cluster F it is.
1- F.lux didn't invent this. The concept of reducing blue light in the evenings has been extensively researched. Their own website explains this.
2- F.lux is free. Why are they so hot and bothered about getting into the AppStore?
3- The APIs they want access to are not allowed for any developers. I'm sure Apple has good reason for this.
4- With Night Shift being built into 9.3, and yes it's freakin awesome, what is the point of having F.lux? Apples implementation is stupid simple and 'just works'. F.lux is way over complicated. And if you look at their FAQ on their website you'll the large cluster F it is.
They should be sued for implementing the "Night Shift Mode" which is a clear blatant rip off of F.Lux. Honestly this is such BS and of course all the ignorant MacRumors posters are like "BWAH HAHA APPLE STOLE IT LOL SUX TO BE U" and ignorant people on Facebook are going to be like "OMG It's so INNOVATIVE".
- They cannot patent changing the color temp of an iPhone display. I know they're trying to, but it's way too general. They could patent the algorithm deciding the color temperature, but anyone can write a script that gradually shifts a value over time.
- They didn't fund or conduct the research that went into this. In fact, the original research is openly available for anybody.
Not sure what high ground they stand, for providing a feature that is already available on any TV, phone or computer. All they did was wrap it in a GUI tied to a sundial.
Neither. I'd expect Apple to do what they usually do—grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis for developers who have specific reasons to need to do those things.
So here's the thing. I understand that f.lux has patents on their way through the patent system. Chances are, Apple is infringing them. My advice would be to try to work with the f.lux people now to get their product in the App Store and keep them happy.
It sounds like a token amount of effort (an API usage exemption—probably little more than a custom provisioning profile) would satisfy them and keep this out of court. If that's the case, then Apple's management would have to be utterly stupid to not do so.
The longer they are blocked from selling their app while Apple uses potentially infringing copies of their technology as part of the OS, the bigger the potential damages if this ends up going to court later, and the more likely they are to be awarded treble damages for willful infringement.
And even if it later comes to light that any patents f.lux holds would not be infringed by Apple's implementation, they still haven't lost anything, and they've gained a fair amount of good will with the developer community.
You just install f.lux and that's it. It uses a learning algorithm to set the brightness and hue based on your time zone and day. It's one of the best implementations of blue hue reduction that's ever been used. 100%. And it's 100% the better implementation than Apple's bogus version on iOS 9.3.
Apple's version of anything software side is always (N-1) in goodness compared to what it's trying to replace. Maps, Mail, Voice Control, this feature... All of it is NEVER as good as their competitors and as a software developer, I know why that happens.
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F.lux sees themselves about to become obsolete and is using the media attention to try one last thing to remain relevant. I've been in that position with Apple building one of our best selling product features into the OS. It sucks but it's not likely to work.
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Why spend the money when they can just build in the same functionality themselves without having to spend money on a buyout or bringing in an external team which generally poorly integrate? It'd be a waste. They've already done it themselves.
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It's very clear from your comments that you have no experience with 9.3 and how it operates. It does just as you stated f.lux does and uses a learning algorithm to set the brightness and hue based on your time zone and day.
Stop trying to pretend 9.3 is somehow inferior just because you have a crush on f.lux.
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Why spend the money when they can just build in the same functionality themselves without having to spend money on a buyout or bringing in an external team which generally poorly integrate? It'd be a waste. They've already done it themselves.
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It's very clear from your comments that you have no experience with 9.3 and how it operates. It does just as you stated f.lux does and uses a learning algorithm to set the brightness and hue based on your time zone and day.
Stop trying to pretend 9.3 is somehow inferior just because you have a crush on f.lux.
I like how f.lux is taking a health and research angle in their letter. With all the promotion Apple has done around HealthKit and ResearchKit over the past year, it seems it would increasingly difficult for Apple to deny them this without being hypocrites.
Apple has just about the best legal team of any company out there. Do you seriously believe that they didn't bother looking into the current patent application that f.lux has filed?
Their patent isn't overly specific and will be hard to enforce even if it's ever granted.
And even if they did get a patent granted and Apple was infringing on it, the payout wouldn't be much. How much is their monetary loss, based on the fact that they don't charge for the product? Apple would make a payout and move on.
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9.3 hasn't been released. Apple could simply take the health angle themselves.
And why would that angle matter at all? Just because a company cares about health and wellness doesn't mean they should be allowed special privileges. The company I just made up cares about your health and will turn your phone off at night to keep from waking you. I demand Apple give us root access to do so! That claim is just as valid as the one f.lux is making.
Did someone at MR just tell the world where they live?
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Android does the same. This is how these devices become better and better for the consumer. It's great.
With respect, Apple has never allowed anyone access to the display APIs and for good reason. They don't want people or apps jacking with the display.
F.lux's so called patents are a joke and worthless. The whole idea of making the display cooler during sundown was extensively researched and published by many other scientists and doctors, not F.lux.
You can't patent changing the colors and color temp of a display. Every TV in existance, every monitor or lcd display for a computer can do this.
Apple's implementation is simple. You turn it on if you want it, use a slider to make it warmer or cooler to your preference. And either select sundown to sunup or define your own schedule. I can literally do he same thing on my tv... Minus the scheduling part.
Problem there is that it would make your shows look all kinds of unnatural and crummy. It's fine when the background of the forum you're browsing turns yellow at night instead of white but it looks horrid when it happens to people and motion graphics. Even watching YouTube with f.lux on is a poor experience.
Well said and spot on. TVs have had these features since the '80s. Computer monitors have for more than 20 years too.
Seems many take "patent pending" as meaning something. Anyone can apply for a patent. Doesn't mean it'll be approved. Until it's not only approved but successfully enforced against Apple or others, it's totally meaningless.
I have F.lux on both of my machines. I've had it for years. I'm also a developer and running iOS 9.3 on an iPhone and iPad. F.lux has infinitely more customization options, and I can never quite get everything the way I want it, but it's good enough. The problem is every display is different and you have to manually mess with it differently on every display. It's even worse if you run 2-3 displays... Each one will look different. Get one looking right and the other is balls.
I like Apples implementation better because of its utter simplicity. Apple knows it's displays better than anyone else and by extension how best to calibrate this feature. Within minutes of making a couple of adjustments with the slider not only was it perfect for my tastes, but it also looks better than what I have on my Macs with F.lux. Again, that's because Apple's display engineers are better than you or me at calibrating their displays.
This isn't a product it's an OS level feature. F.lux had to know eventually Apple would implement it.
I do like the way f.lux transitions as it gets later.