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Moved to XR from X/XS/XS Max due to Eye Strain. Do you still have eye strain on the XR?

  • No, believe the no-PWM from the LCD screen solved my issue

    Votes: 109 34.9%
  • Yes, still have eye strain.

    Votes: 44 14.1%
  • Yes, still have eye strain. However, the strain stopped once I covered the 'Notch' FaceID

    Votes: 9 2.9%
  • No, you guys are crazy!

    Votes: 150 48.1%

  • Total voters
    312
Yep, I thought I'd avoid PWM issues altogether by going with the 11 especially when I had PWM issues with the Galaxy Tab S6 I had for a while.

However, it could be FaceID for me as that's something my still-PWM-but-not-as-large-as-the-Tab-S6 S10+ doesn't have. Maybe I'd need to try disabling FaceID and maybe covering the front cameras with a piece of tape, but in that case I wouldn't be using the phone that much when I know it'll be a passcode/password hell for whatever I do.

Try turning off attentention aware features in the FaceID settings if you haven’t already. It significantly cuts down on FaceID activity. It is then only used when absolutely necessary like when unlocking or using Animoji.
 
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Try turning off attentention aware features in the FaceID settings if you haven’t already. It significantly cuts down on FaceID activity. It is then only used when absolutely necessary like when unlocking or using Animoji.

I did and it seems like I’m having less strain now. Have to test a bit more, but so far it’s looking positive. However, if it’s FaceID indeed, I can’t help but wonder if there will be any accumulated effects from all the unlockings.
 
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I did and it seems like I’m having less strain now. Have to test a bit more, but so far it’s looking positive. However, if it’s FaceID indeed, I can’t help but wonder if there will be any accumulated effects from all the unlockings.

I have used my XR release over a year ago and what I can say is that I don’t feel any symptoms from accumulated unlockings. And I unlock a lot every day. The only time I get symptoms is when playing with Animojis for a while. If it has other effects that I can’t feel I can’t tell, obvisously. The level of IR radiation should be safe but I guess time will tell.
 
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Face ID: Beside unlocking and Animoji, I think the Dot projector also turns on if you're trying to take a portrait selfie.
 
I have yet to see 1 documented case where the eyestrain and headaches ended up being face id. Usually people disable them and feel "better" for a bit, but the issues always return. I wish I knew what it was myself.
 
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I have yet to see 1 documented case where the eyestrain and headaches ended up being face id. Usually people disable them and feel "better" for a bit, but the issues always return. I wish I knew what it was myself.

Don't see what else it can be honestly, I had problems with all the FaceID devices I tried out (Iphone XS Max, XR, 11, Ipad Pro 2018). But I can use just fine my 8 Plus and my new iPad Air 2019.
 
I think even iPhones since 7 & 8 are using a Laser Proximity sensor(Tof vcsel) ( the iPhone manual says, its a laser class 1). It is really strange, maybe some of you guys are noticing the IR Face id sensor(X,XS,11) flickering indirectly ? Sorry for you guys, hopefully Apple has an alternative in the future.
 
I did and it seems like I’m having less strain now. Have to test a bit more, but so far it’s looking positive. However, if it’s FaceID indeed, I can’t help but wonder if there will be any accumulated effects from all the unlockings.

Unfortunately things quickly went downhill again and today I moved my SIM back to my S10+. I’ll have to figure out what to do with the 11. I liked and wanted to like it otherwise, but the headaches are occurring too often for me to keep using that phone regularly.
 
Unfortunately things quickly went downhill again and today I moved my SIM back to my S10+. I’ll have to figure out what to do with the 11. I liked and wanted to like it otherwise, but the headaches are occurring too often for me to keep using that phone regularly.

Reduce motion & transparency under accessibility settings and see if the problem persists
 
So i had the 8, never ever a problem. Than i bought the 11pro, got headaches and eye pain / dry eyes everything. Now bought the 11, the problem is a little beter but still not without pain or uncomfort. I also use a Samsung tv with PWM (no oled) but i manged to get used to the TV. I have it for about 1 year and i rarely have any issues with the flickering, and if i have issues it's not as bad as with the 11 and 11pro. I might be thinking that there is something very different that is affecting us, but what?

If i read all the topics it is not likely that Face id is causing the issue, it also doesn't make sense as it is just IR...

I will try to let my eyes adjust, not focus on the fact if i feel anything or not... just enjoy my 11 and see if i can get used to the screen.

What do you guys experience? anyone who did get used to the screen over time?
 
What do you guys experience? anyone who did get used to the screen over time?
I was never able to get used to it, unfortunately.


Anyway, I’ve been doing some reading on a forum for people with eye strain from screens, and I think the cause may be related to something called temporal dithering.

Basically, dithering can produce a color not available in the color palette by constantly flickering between two nearby colors quickly. This allows for more color, but results in flickering. I’ll preface this with a warning for people with epilepsy, the link I’m about to post has pretty heavy flickering - For an example of what this looks like on a larger scale, someone made an example here. See how flickering between blue and red creates the purple color?

I don’t have any evidence that this is cause of our issues on the XR, but this seems to be causing eye strain on MacOS for some people and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Liquid Retina screens are utilizing some form of this. This also makes sense because (I’m assuming) the majority of us here are also sensitive to PWM flicker, so it would naturally follow that dithering flicker would affect us as well.
 
I never got used to my 11, so I returned it for my third 8+. Really too bad, because the 11 pro max is my ideal phone and I can't use it. The 11 was a compromise, and I couldn't use that either.
 
I also got rid of my 11. Currently I'm back on my S10+ (somehow the Samsung implementation of PWM isn't THAT hard on my eyes), but I might be tempted by the forthcoming OnePlus 8 as they offer also the DC Dimming option.
 
If it helps anyone, I have been using the XR since the release and it has worked great for me. Now I also have had an 11 as a work phone since early January. I don’t feel any difference between the two. They both work equally well for me, as they should because they most likely have the exact same panel and backlight driver.
 
I got an iPhone 11 Pro & could not look at it for more than 5-10 minutes at a time without getting forehead pressure headaches/eye strain/etc. At one point I looked in the mirror after using it for about 15 minutes and both my eyes were BLOOD red. It looked like I popped every blood vessel in both my eyes. I returned it & went with the 11 instead, have not had a single problem since. OLED is poison for the eyes.
 
Good evening my fellow Flickering sensitive brothers and sisters. I am one of those lucky bastards that is extremely sensitive to flickering. House lights, Car lights, street lights, supermarket lights... well almost all light exept the sun and the moon✌. Do not expect medical help in any form. The doctors do not know what to say or what to do about this exceptional phenomenon. There are medical studies that have acknowledged that a lot of people worldwide suffer from this. A lot of medical problems are getting tied to this Beautiful Flickering method. The problem is, the variable levels of suffering that each individual person experiences (like low-medium-high-extreme-influences your way of living heavily). The last one, thats me😎.

Yes, I changed all the lights in my house, my tv is a 😉“Flicker free” Sony bravia, my PC monitor is 😉“Flicker free” from ASUS, my wife uses my old Razer Phone 1 and i deny my two 12 year olds from using a phone (for now while i still can😬). It feels alright, it is better than nothing if you keep in consideration the damage already given. I have a little bit of control at home (at home). Several disastrous health issues, but the worst one is the loss of eyesight in my left eye (🤔always the left side). Partially blind now.

I am sorry, i am wondering off. I have owned an XS Max, now i use an Iphone 11 lcd. The XR and the 11 lcd are not really PWM free. The PWM frequency is just so ridiculously high, that there is no need to put a number on it. It is called infinite... but it is still there👀. This is the iphone 8 plus. (It almost has a flat line).
1582145478904.png

The Iphone XR. Not so flat anymore.

1582145714463.png

The Iphone 11 is even worse. Look at all those little super high frequency spikes.
1582146292298.png


This is probably one of the main reasons why the Iphone 8 plus feels so 😋delicious to look at.
People like us do not need super high frequency’s. We cannot have it AT ALL. S**t, we aren’t transformers.
One person on this site recommends putting your brightness on minimal 40 percent and night shift on 75 percent or above. He got that right. Less strain👍, less battery🥳.

🧐One more thing, and this is very important. Do not, i say, do not let others tell you otherwise! Yes, there are really people breathing the same O2 like us walking on earth that roam the internet to tell you that you are looney, it is all in your imagination, it will go away, you are the only one. No, your experience is legit, otherwise you wouldn’t be searching for answers.
Those people serve their own agenda.

Good luck to all of ya. Take good care of yourself, your children and everybody else you love. Knowledge. Maybe 2020 will be a good year for a lot of people. For us, not so much.
 
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Good evening my fellow Flickering sensitive brothers and sisters. I am one of those lucky bastards that is extremely sensitive to flickering. House lights, Car lights, street lights, supermarket lights... well almost all light exept the sun and the moon✌. Do not expect medical help in any form. The doctors do not know what to say or what to do about this exceptional phenomenon. Medical studies have acknowledged that a lot of people worldwide suffer from this. A lot of medical problems are getting tied to this Beautiful Flickering method. The problem is, the variable levels of suffering that each individual person experiences (like low-medium-high-extreme-influences your way of living heavily). The last one, thats me😎.

I am sorry, i am wondering off. I have owned an XS Max, now i use an Iphone 11 lcd. The XR and the 11 lcd are not really PWM free. The PWM frequency is just so ridiculously high, that there is no need to put a number on it. It is called infinite... but it is still there👀. This is the iphone 8 plus. (It almost has a flat line).View attachment 895141
The Iphone XR. Not so flat anymore.

View attachment 895142
The Iphone 11 is even worse. Look at all those little super high frequency spikes.View attachment 895143

This is probably one of the main reasons why the Iphone 8 plus feels so 😋delicious to look at.
People like us do not need super high frequency’s. We cannot have it AT ALL. S**t, we aren’t transformers.
Good luck to all of ya. 2020 will be a good year for a lot of people. For us, not so much.

Thanks for sharing! What kind of probe was used, and how does its voltage relate to light intensity? Trying to figure out the flicker percentage but there’s not enough data.
 
I don't own an OLED phone but I believe what people are saying is likely real for a few reasons - the amount of people reporting this across the web and also because I suffer from eye strain from time-to-time (for me it seems to be something to do with florescent lighting compounded by dry-eye from AirConditioning), and that it is fairly well known from many studies that artificial light (including from displays) effects peoples vision ; some of the research is not fully understood yet since some people are more sensitive to others from it and I haven't seen an explanation for that yet.

by the way, presumably the OLED displays on Samsung phones have the same issue ? or it something to do with the way Apple is driving the display ?
 
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Good evening my fellow Flickering sensitive brothers and sisters. I am one of those lucky bastards that is extremely sensitive to flickering. House lights, Car lights, street lights, supermarket lights... well almost all light exept the sun and the moon✌. Do not expect medical help in any form. The doctors do not know what to say or what to do about this exceptional phenomenon. There are medical studies that have acknowledged that a lot of people worldwide suffer from this. A lot of medical problems are getting tied to this Beautiful Flickering method. The problem is, the variable levels of suffering that each individual person experiences (like low-medium-high-extreme-influences your way of living heavily). The last one, thats me😎.

Yes, I changed all the lights in my house, my tv is a 😉“Flicker free” Sony bravia, my PC monitor is 😉“Flicker free” from ASUS, my wife uses my old Razer Phone 1 and i deny my two 12 year olds from using a phone (for now while i still can😬). It feels alright, it is better than nothing if you keep in consideration the damage already given. I have a little bit of control at home (at home). Several disastrous health issues, but the worst one is the loss of eyesight in my left eye (🤔always the left side). Partially blind now.

I am sorry, i am wondering off. I have owned an XS Max, now i use an Iphone 11 lcd. The XR and the 11 lcd are not really PWM free. The PWM frequency is just so ridiculously high, that there is no need to put a number on it. It is called infinite... but it is still there👀. This is the iphone 8 plus. (It almost has a flat line).View attachment 895141
The Iphone XR. Not so flat anymore.

View attachment 895142
The Iphone 11 is even worse. Look at all those little super high frequency spikes.View attachment 895143

This is probably one of the main reasons why the Iphone 8 plus feels so 😋delicious to look at.
People like us do not need super high frequency’s. We cannot have it AT ALL. S**t, we aren’t transformers.
One person on this site recommends putting your brightness on minimal 40 percent and night shift on 75 percent or above. He got that right. Less strain👍, less battery🥳.

🧐One more thing, and this is very important. Do not, i say, do not let others tell you otherwise! Yes, there are really people breathing the same O2 like us walking on earth that roam the internet to tell you that you are looney, it is all in your imagination, it will go away, you are the only one. No, your experience is legit, otherwise you wouldn’t be searching for answers.
Those people serve their own agenda.

Good luck to all of ya. Take good care of yourself, your children and everybody else you love. Knowledge. Maybe 2020 will be a good year for a lot of people. For us, not so much.

Thanks for sharing this useful information. How do you measure this? And why would apple use this kind of tech? I think that dimming of the XR and 11 are DC dimming right?
 
Is there a difference between the 8 and the 8+? After reading this thread, I returned my XR which caused eye strain and bought an 8. It wasn't as bad, but still caused eye strain. I am back to my 6, but it isn't working as well as it used to, and I just cracked the screen. Is the 8+ better than the 8 for eye strain and headaches? If so, how and why? Thank you all. I am so glad for this thread because most people think my problems are psychosomatic.
 
Is the 8+ better than the 8 for eye strain and headaches? If so, how and why? Thank you all. I am so glad for this thread because most people think my problems are psychosomatic.
For the type of strain we’re talking about, no, there should be no difference between the 8 and 8+. In my experience, if you get eye strain from just the XR, you should only have issues with the 11 and iPad Pro 2018 models (This isn’t including eyes strain due to other causes, like PWM). If you have eye strain on anything earlier, your issue could be caused by something else. For example, the 8 could be giving you trouble due to the smaller screen or something like that.
 
It's not the text size, because looking at the screen without reading is also painful. I had thought the 8+ might be different because people here keep specifying defaulting to the 8+, not the 8. I know I have issues with PWM, which the XR does not have, and with temporal dithering, which it might.
 
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