iPhone XR Eye Strain on iPhoneXR?

[I7guy]

Absolutely. You’re eyes are bombarded by the IR Flood Illuminator every second your looking at your phone. Face ID is a failed technology. I’m looking forward to Ultrasonic Touch ID Under Glass in 2020. If it doesn’t happen on the Low End 2020 Model then I’ll simply buy another 8+ next year. No Face ID for my eyes.

Face ID isn’t going away. It may be Apple offers under glass Touch ID, but I love Face ID...more convenient to me than Touch ID. (That’s not to say either tech is perfect.) I’ll risk the IR bombardment, similar to the way I risk brain cancer by using cell phones.

However I’m sure some people are sensitive to certain things emanating from electronic devices , just like things in nature such as hay fever or gluten or dairy etc. those people have to find a way to go about their lives in the best way possible.

 

[Lankyman]

You’re Ophthalmologist thanks you.

That would be my wife then.

 

[humble turnip]

So recently my eyes have been hurting like crazy. I saw the optician who said I have dry eyes and I should take eye drops every hour. I did (and still am). And everything was well again. But then this morning, it started again. And then I realized: The eye pain only started when I recently got my iPhone XR and it settled down when I stopped using it and it only started this morning when I used it again.

I haven't got FaceID set up yet, so I know it's not that. And I have the white point reduced and Nightshift set up.
It seems to trigger when scrolling web pages that have a white background. Like some of the people in this thread said, it feels like my eyes are going out of focus and it lasts for a few hours after using the phone. Turning off true tone makes it less painful, but it still hurts.

Could it just be that the phone is faulty? I can't see anything logical that would trigger this reaction.
I don't want to send it back (and I am not sure if I can now anyway), but I don't want this pain either.

Before getting an iPhone XR, my previous phone was an Android from 2013 and I had no pain with that. I also have a Nintendo Switch and several other LCD devices which are painless.
I've never had an iPhone before, but I did use my sister's iPhone 7 extensively over Xmas and had no problems with that (she doesn't even use night shift).
Would love to hear some opinions.

 

[Lankyman]

Could it just be that the phone is faulty? I can't see anything logical that would trigger this reaction.
I don't want to send it back (and I am not sure if I can now anyway), but I don't want this pain either.

No the phone is not faulty. It's simply a case of reading about a condition then believing you too have the same illness. The symptoms can feel very real but in truth are simply psychosomatic. Enjoy the XR and it's excellent screen.

 

[Shirasaki]

Could it just be that the phone is faulty? I can't see anything logical that would trigger this reaction.
I don't want to send it back (and I am not sure if I can now anyway), but I don't want this pain either.

The phone could be faulty, but I suspect this reaction is more on user side than “this phone is faulty”. Very few people would got what you are talking about, let alone understanding the seriousness of this eye fatigue.

You might have used LED lights at some point, and they are terrible as reading lights, because they blink rapidly when being turned on. When driver is failing, the light will blink slower, lowering the brightness and causing dizziness for some people because of the visible blink. I am not sure why iPhone backlight works the same way as LED light, but if you scroll this webpage (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/lic...windows10?activetab=windows10-pivot:primaryr3), you will see a long trail behind “Unique software assurance benefits”, pretty scary. I think Apple drives iPhone (O)LED the same way lighting company drive LED lights, otherwise there should be no trail. And no, 120Hz won’t help.

As for disbelievers, just ignore them.

 

[humble turnip]

You might have used LED lights at some point, and they are terrible as reading lights, because they blink rapidly when being turned on. When driver is failing, the light will blink slower, lowering the brightness and causing dizziness for some people because of the visible blink. I am not sure why iPhone backlight works the same way as LED light, but if you scroll this webpage (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/windows10?activetab=windows10-pivotrimaryr3), you will see a long trail behind “Unique software assurance benefits”, pretty scary. I think Apple drives iPhone (O)LED the same way lighting company drive LED lights, otherwise there should be no trail. And no, 120Hz won’t help.

Out of interest, is the LCD screen in the XR different from other LCD screens. I thought it was exactly the same.

No the phone is not faulty. It's simply a case of reading about a condition then believing you too have the same illness. The symptoms can feel very real but in truth are simply psychosomatic. Enjoy the XR and it's excellent screen.

I'm not sure about this, as I had the pain first and read about them. But, like I said in my original post, I can't see any reason why the LCD screen in the XR would cause this, but the LCD in my Switch, 2013 Android phone and so on wouldn't....

 

[Shirasaki]

Out of interest, is the LCD screen in the XR different from other LCD screens. I thought it was exactly the same.

It could be different, as who knows where Apple sources those screens and how Apple designs the driver. However, as soon as the underlying technology (PWM) remains the same, the effect will remain similar across the board.

You can Google search a bit “how modern smartphone LCD works” and see if anything interesting can be found. My suspicion is Apple uses a different way to drive LCD or OLED, which is susceptible to eye strain.

 

[humble turnip]

Hmmm... I tried dropping the white point and it's much better. I think it's too early to say for sure, but it seems to be working.

 

[TDDM]

So recently my eyes have been hurting like crazy. I saw the optician who said I have dry eyes and I should take eye drops every hour. I did (and still am). And everything was well again. But then this morning, it started again. And then I realized: The eye pain only started when I recently got my iPhone XR and it settled down when I stopped using it and it only started this morning when I used it again.

Sounds like you may be having the same issue as some of us. Our theory is that the liquid retina display is different than the previous Apple LCD displays in some way, and a small percentage of people are sensitive to the new screen. We unfortunately haven’t been able to find a cause or way to mitigate the symptoms.

Hmmm... I tried dropping the white point and it's much better. I think it's too early to say for sure, but it seems to be working.

That’s good to hear, what % did you set the white point to? Does that help with the eye dryness?

No the phone is not faulty. It's simply a case of reading about a condition then believing you too have the same illness. The symptoms can feel very real but in truth are simply psychosomatic. Enjoy the XR and it's excellent screen.

You have *zero* evidence that the new screens aren’t the cause of our issue.

 

[now i see it]

number one and two causes of eye strain on any electronic display is:

1. Low resolution - makes your eyes constantly search for sharp focus that doesn't exist and eventually the eye muscles fatigue and ache. The effect can be cumulative where the eyes can no longer tolerate looking at any low resolution screen anymore without eye strain

2. High frequency flickering - this is the number one cause of headaches, eyestrain and blurry vision after prolonged use. The nervous system never evolved to to see things under a rapidly flashing strobe light (which a flickering screen essentially is). It can cause nervous system fatigue through the optic nerve.

Flickering screens are a dirty secret cheap shot workaround. Why electrical engineers deem them as acceptable is beyond me.

 

[TDDM]

number one and two causes of eye strain on any electronic display is:

1. Low resolution - makes your eyes constantly search for sharp focus that doesn't exist and eventually the eye muscles fatigue and ache. The effect can be cumulative where the eyes can no longer tolerate looking at any low resolution screen anymore without eye strain

2. High frequency flickering - this is the number one cause of headaches, eyestrain and blurry vision after prolonged use. The nervous system never evolved to to see things under a rapidly flashing strobe light (which a flickering screen essentially is). It can cause nervous system fatigue through the optic nerve.

Flickering screens are a dirty secret cheap shot workaround. Why electrical engineers deem them as acceptable is beyond me.

Unfortunately, I don’t think those apply to the liquid retina displays (At least on my end)

I can use any other low resolution device with no issues (The new iPad Mini, my old iPhone, etc). As for the flickering, there’s no PWM (thankfully) on these screens, and there shouldn’t be any other flickering involved AFAIK. At least in my case, it seems to be something specific to the liquid retina display.

 

[LizKat]

LOL I don't have any problems whatsoever with the XR display. I find the thing too heavy and big for use as my regular cellphone so I swapped the SIM back into my SE, but I turn to the XR exclusively now to read news or books when my other devices make me start squinting. The clarity of the fonts in presentation of text is outstanding.

 

[Lankyman]

You have *zero* evidence that the new screens aren’t the cause of our issue.

I'm simply adding balance to an unbalanced argument.

 

[TDDM]

I'm simply adding balance to an unbalanced argument.

And that would be totally fine if you had any kind of evidence that the screens are the exact same. You aren’t adding balance by telling us it’s all in our heads, that’s just being rude and stifling discussion.

There’s no harm in talking about our experience with this issue, I don’t see why you need to keep repeating the same thing.

 

[Lankyman]

And that would be totally fine if you had any kind of evidence that the screens are the exact same. You aren’t adding balance by telling us it’s all in our heads, that’s just being rude and stifling discussion.

There’s no harm in talking about our experience with this issue, I don’t see why you need to keep repeating the same thing.

And yet you have no evidence to the contrary? Even if the screens are different it doesn't follow that they are causing issues of any kind.

 

[humble turnip]

Out of interest, I gave my iPhone XR to my mom whos in her late 60s. She normally uses a Nokia LCD phone that is the same screen size as the XR. I didn't tell her I was having eye trouble. (I just told her that Apple give you reward points if you let a friend use your phone).

She didn't have eye strain, but after 20 minutes she did say her right was watering. Although she does have dry eye and doesn't use her drops often enough. She also likes a bright screen (I can't use her Nokia because she has the brightness all the way up). I'll try giving her the XR again but lowering the brightness.

After reading around, I don't think there is anything in the XR hardware that could cause problems, at least for me. But I do think the settings of things like White Point and Brightness may be an issue. I will try experimenting. FaceID might be irritating dry eyes, so I'll try covering that, but I don't have it set up, so I doubt that's an issue.

That’s good to hear, what % did you set the white point to? Does that help with the eye dryness?

I dropped it down to 50%. But I will drop it further. It helped greatly with the eye strain.
I am actually slightly colour blind and I just found out that iPhone has settings for this, so I will experiment with that.
I also have a habit of overusing nightshift, so I'll see if fiddling with that will help.

Flickering screens are a dirty secret cheap shot workaround. Why electrical engineers deem them as acceptable is beyond me.

Out of interest, is the XR screen a good quality one?

 

[TDDM]

And yet you have no evidence to the contrary? Even if the screens are different it doesn't follow that they are causing issues of any kind.

Nope, I have no evidence of the screens being different, and have never claimed so either. That's exactly why we're all having a discussion and trying out different theories, I don't get why you feel the need to stay in this thread and repeat the same useless statements about how "it's all in our heads" over and over.

I dropped it down to 50%. But I will drop it further. It helped greatly with the eye strain.
I am actually slightly colour blind and I just found out that iPhone has settings for this, so I will experiment with that.
I also have a habit of overusing nightshift, so I'll see if fiddling with that will help.


Out of interest, is the XR screen a good quality one?

Good luck with the white point, I hope that solves the issue for you.

& as far as the XR screen goes (aside from the fact that it potentially affects a small minority of people), it's pretty great. The only real downside is that the resolution isn't the best and it's quite noticeable IMO compared to the Plus/XS models. Aside from that, it's really solid.

 

[humble turnip]

& as far as the XR screen goes (aside from the fact that it potentially affects a small minority of people), it's pretty great. The only real downside is that the resolution isn't the best and it's quite noticeable IMO compared to the Plus/XS models. Aside from that, it's really solid.

That's interesting that the resolution isn't as strong as the plus models. Could that cause eye issues?
(Then again, I am upgrading from an Android phone from 2013, so the resolution must be better than that!).

 

[Lankyman]

Nope, I have no evidence of the screens being different, and have never claimed so either. That's exactly why we're all having a discussion and trying out different theories, I don't get why you feel the need to stay in this thread and repeat the same useless statements about how "it's all in our heads" over and over.

I simply find it fascinating how the Internet can start and then run with mad cap ideas. It shows you should never trust anything that you read on the Internet. Well that's my take away from all this anyway.

 

[timeconsumer]

I simply find it fascinating how the Internet can start and then run with mad cap ideas. It shows you should never trust anything that you read on the Internet. Well that's my take away from all this anyway.

So, we shouldn’t trust anything that you post since it’s also on the Internet. Got it.

 

[Shirasaki]

Flickering screens are a dirty secret cheap shot workaround. Why electrical engineers deem them as acceptable is beyond me.

It’s mainly because we use AC instead of DC to transfer electricity over great distances. And this flickering happens very often in LED lights. I just replaced a few flickering LED lights two days ago.
If we deliver power using DC, flickering might no longer be a problem.
Also, thanks for telling me the word “flickering”.

I'm simply adding balance to an unbalanced argument.

There is no “Balanced argument”. I don’t know what you are doing here.

I simply find it fascinating how the Internet can start and then run with mad cap ideas. It shows you should never trust anything that you read on the Internet. Well that's my take away from all this anyway.

Glad you have figured out this Internet 101. The beauty is, it can also be applied to all your comments out here.

 

[Lankyman]

So, we shouldn’t trust anything that you post since it’s also on the Internet. Got it.

Along with the whole of this thread - that's fair then surely?

 

[Shirasaki]

Along with the whole of this thread - that's fair then surely?

Feel free to choose believing nothing we have mentioned in the thread.
Just don’t keep fuelling the same narrative over and over.

 

[TDDM]

That's interesting that the resolution isn't as strong as the plus models. Could that cause eye issues?
(Then again, I am upgrading from an Android phone from 2013, so the resolution must be better than that!).

It could be, but at least for me, I can use other devices with low PPI like this with no issues (My old iPhone, iPad Mini, etc)

Along with the whole of this thread - that's fair then surely?

For the millionth time, no one is claiming that the XR screens have a major issue or that there’s some secret conspiracy going on with the liquid retina display. No one is trash talking Apple, no one is saying it’s their fault and they need to provide a solution. There is no argument to be had here.

The entire point of the thread is that *SOME* people are having issues with these types of screens and we’re simply having a discussion on what the potential causes and fixes could be. It’s literally the most harmless kind of thread out there, I don’t know why you’re so hellbent on derailing the thread over and over.

 

[humble turnip]

An update on this: After using the XR for a longer period most of my issues have drastically reduced away. I wonder if it was just my eyes not being used to such a large screen (as my old screen was only 4.3 inch with a low 250ppi)? When I look at my old phone, it gives me eye strain now! I saw an optician and an eye specialist who both said my eyes were fine. The eye specialist wondered if I was getting migraines. I've never had these before. I've read that the flood illuminator pulses invisible light, so I am covering that up to see if it makes a difference. However, my doctor says I am low in VitD and that's more likely to be the cause than the phone. Low VitD can also cause eye problems too.

At the end of the day, everyone's bodies are different. So if you are having problems, it could be because of the phone, or some other condition. I guess all you can do is experimenting and try and see if it is the phone or something else.

My mom's issues with the XR improved when she started taking her eye drops regularly. She likes the XR more than her own phone. However, again, every body's bodies are different: I wouldn't use my or my mom's experiences to discount other people's problems. Like I said, all you can do is experiment and see what works for you.