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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
Not for me. My eyes just feel tired and gritty when I’m looking at the display on the Xr. I can switch to my 8 Plus and it’s better.

But I am having to experiment a bit with using the phone to find the optimum comfort. I did that a couple of years ago on the 7 Plus and 8 Plus displays. It complicates matters that with my 8 Plus I need to take my progressive lenses off. I’m starting to think with the Xr I need to leave them on and hold the phone further away from my eyes than I’m used to doing.

I’m both nearsighted (since my teens) and farsighted (since my late 40’s).

Interesting. Could you do a favor for science and try blocking your FaceID for a day or so?
[doublepost=1540849688][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1540849273][/doublepost]Weirdly I'm finding eye strain on the XR when I had no problem with either the X or the XS.

I wear contact lenses and for each of the last 3 days my eyes are in agony by the afternoon.

Never had this issue before with the OLED screens.

Welp, might be just time for me to give up this post and wear a tin foil hat. You, sir, have complicated things.
 
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Interesting. Could you do a favor for science and try blocking your FaceID for a day or so?
[doublepost=1540849688][/doublepost]

Welp, might be just time for me to give up this post and wear a tin foil hat. You, sir, have complicated things.
You mean just turning it off or is it necessary to put tape over it? I am a bit confused about that due to some other people’s comments.
 
I upgraded from my 6 to the XR and have had some eye strain on the XR that I didn't have with the 6. I haven't yet tried experimenting with the notch covered. I'll do that to rule out screen vs FaceID.

I've always been hypersensitive to bulbs flickering and bad screens....but this is the first Apple product I've had trouble with (various iPads, MacBook Pro, etc). I haven't tried an OLED phone, so this is the first I'm reading about PWM.



Thats a decent point and I'm considering that as well...but I feel the strain almost right away.

I have an Iphone 6 I still use, I got the Iphone 7 as an upgrade 2 years ago and started getting migraines straight away, but I decided to give it a week, see if I'd get used to it.
The 7 has been in the box ever since.

Thinking of getting the XR and hoping I can actually use it.
 
So far it looks like I just needed to turn off True Tone and I need to wear my progressive lens glasses and hold the iPhone at a distance greater than I’m used to. The way I use my iPhone 8 Plus is to take my glasses off and hold the phone pretty close to my eyes. So I just need to change my behavior.

I’m not completely sure True Tone will always need to be off. But it was something I’d decided to try after another forum mentioned it bothering their eyes. The display already looked a bit golden.

There’s different settings I’d like to try before I tape over the illuminator or turn off Face ID entirely. Because I would actually like to use Face ID. It’s a convenience. I don’t believe it’s going to fry my eyeballs. I do think it could make them feel bad if I overuse the illuminator like playing around with Animoji or using attention awareness.

But so far I’ve turned off raise to wake (which automatically makes it try to unlock using Face ID just because I picked the phone up). I need to just take some steps to minimize triggering the great dotting of my face.

I really like this display. It is a relief to look at the letters and not see them look like they’re vibrating the way the text on OLED looked.
 
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So far it looks like I just needed to turn off True Tone and I need to wear my progressive lens glasses and hold the iPhone at a distance greater than I’m used to. The way I use my iPhone 8 Plus is to take my glasses off and hold the phone pretty close to my eyes. So I just need to change my behavior.

I’m not completely sure True Tone will always need to be off. But it was something I’d decided to try after another forum mentioned it bothering their eyes. The display already looked a bit golden.

Have you tried display zoom? I am extremely nearsighted (as well as monocular) and found myself holding my 6s close to my eye. I suspect that can’t be optically healthy. Display zoom on the XR does not make displayed content as large as is sometimes rendered on the 6-8 or Plus-sized phones. It’s kind of a pleasant moderate size to me.

My XR was delivered today, and I’ve had display zoom enabled as well as TT. It seems to be easier on my eye with TT on, but I’ll play around with it more.
 
Have you tried display zoom? I am extremely nearsighted (as well as monocular) and found myself holding my 6s close to my eye. I suspect that can’t be optically healthy. Display zoom on the XR does not make displayed content as large as is sometimes rendered on the 6-8 or Plus-sized phones. It’s kind of a pleasant moderate size to me.

My XR was delivered today, and I’ve had display zoom enabled as well as TT. It seems to be easier on my eye with TT on, but I’ll play around with it more.
No I don’t really have a problem with the size of text. It’s the clarity. On the 8 Plus I could never see text as clearly as with my glasses off and the phone closer to my face.

Now with the Xr I can keep my glasses on again.
 
No I don’t really have a problem with the size of text. It’s the clarity. On the 8 Plus I could never see text as clearly as with my glasses off and the phone closer to my face.

Now with the Xr I can keep my glasses on again.

I'm sure I'm missing something (and I apologize if you explained it above though I didn't see it), but I would have thought that text on the 8 Plus, with its higher ppi and larger fonts, would have been easier to see with your glasses on.

I'm sensitive to others who have eye issues (my first eye surgery was at 6 mos.), so I'm not questioning what you're seeing or what works for you. My vision issue is more of size and clarity of fonts, and if I had an 8 Plus, I would probably not have upgraded to the XR. Coming from a 6s and keeping a phone for several years, I wanted to go with a fuller-screen design at a price I could justify. I'm still tempted to exchange my XR for an 8 Plus but doubt over the long haul that it would make much difference in reading text, and I do like the smaller size of the XR.
 
I'm sure I'm missing something (and I apologize if you explained it above though I didn't see it), but I would have thought that text on the 8 Plus, with its higher ppi and larger fonts, would have been easier to see with your glasses on.

I'm sensitive to others who have eye issues (my first eye surgery was at 6 mos.), so I'm not questioning what you're seeing or what works for you. My vision issue is more of size and clarity of fonts, and if I had an 8 Plus, I would probably not have upgraded to the XR. Coming from a 6s and keeping a phone for several years, I wanted to go with a fuller-screen design at a price I could justify. I'm still tempted to exchange my XR for an 8 Plus but doubt over the long haul that it would make much difference in reading text, and I do like the smaller size of the XR.
I’m nearsighted so my glasses help me see things far away. When I want to see up close I have to take them off, thanks to age, even though they’re supposed to be progressive lenses that let me view things up close. It just hasn’t worked out.

And when I leave my glasses on and hold the 8 Plus at a distance it just doesn’t look clear and comfortable for me.

I’ve had to adjust the white point on my Xr, which is something I have never done on the 8 Plus. It’s hard to describe but it’s probably due to the difference in how the text looks against the backlit display. I’m not really sure myself. I’m just trying to maximize my comfort.

Also maybe I need to hold the Xr further away so my eyes don’t register the grainy quality of the letters. And once I have to hold my phone a certain point away, I need my distance glasses.

I’m sorry if that all sounds even more confusing. Trust me, it IS confusing to actually live it.

I have a very logical mind but my eyeballs are insane.

I love my 8 Plus. It’s a Product Red and so gorgeous. I didn’t really want to upgrade from most aspects of it but the camera improvements the Xr offers are significant to me. Especially stereo audio recording. The Xr also just a little bit easier to pocket.

The 8 Plus isn’t going to get ignored though. At home on WiFi it will continue to get plenty of use. I’m typing on it right now. I just set the Xr on the charger for the night. I’ve played around with a lot of different phones in the last 3 years and kept many of them. I’m finally slowing down though. I canceled a preorder on an upgrade to my Android line. As long as I make sure in the next week that the new phone is compatible with my vision and migraine disorder, I’m probably going to settle down with the Xr.

And I gotta run and deal with a raccoon outside. Sorry

Edit...was skunk and foxes :confused::eek: I’m starting to regret country life.
 
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I’m nearsighted so my glasses help me see things far away. When I want to see up close I have to take them off, thanks to age, even though they’re supposed to be progressive lenses that let me view things up close. It just hasn’t worked out.

And when I leave my glasses on and hold the 8 Plus at a distance it just doesn’t look clear and comfortable for me.

I’ve had to adjust the white point on my Xr, which is something I have never done on the 8 Plus. It’s hard to describe but it’s probably due to the difference in how the text looks against the backlit display. I’m not really sure myself. I’m just trying to maximize my comfort.

Also maybe I need to hold the Xr further away so my eyes don’t register the grainy quality of the letters. And once I have to hold my phone a certain point away, I need my distance glasses.

I’m sorry if that all sounds even more confusing. Trust me, it IS confusing to actually live it.

I have a very logical mind but my eyeballs are insane.

I love my 8 Plus. It’s a Product Red and so gorgeous. I didn’t really want to upgrade from most aspects of it but the camera improvements the Xr offers are significant to me. Especially stereo audio recording. The Xr also just a little bit easier to pocket.

The 8 Plus isn’t going to get ignored though. At home on WiFi it will continue to get plenty of use. I’m typing on it right now. I just set the Xr on the charger for the night. I’ve played around with a lot of different phones in the last 3 years and kept many of them. I’m finally slowing down though. I canceled a preorder on an upgrade to my Android line. As long as I make sure in the next week that the new phone is compatible with my vision and migraine disorder, I’m probably going to settle down with the Xr.

And I gotta run and deal with a raccoon outside. Sorry

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the detailed explanation. I’m also very nearsighted, and at 63 I, too, held my 6s close to my eye. I wanted to get away from doing that but didn’t realize the standard display renders text the same size on both the 6s and the XR, but display zoom makes the 6s text a little larger than the XR with display zoom.

I may not have ordered the XR had I known that but will probably keep it anyway, leave it on display zoom, and try to read at a regular distance with my progressive lenses on. One reason for upgrading was to replace my wife’s 4S, that we’ve had since 2011, with the 6s. Hers is giving a bit of trouble and she couldn’t care less about technology as long as it works. The 6s will still do that and do it well.
 
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That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the detailed explanation. I’m also very nearsighted, and at 63 I, too, held my 6s close to my eye. I wanted to get away from doing that but didn’t realize the standard display renders text the same size on both the 6s and the XR, but display zoom makes the 6s text a little larger than the XR with display zoom.

I may not have ordered the XR had I known that but will probably keep it anyway, leave it on display zoom, and try to read at a regular distance with my progressive lenses on. One reason for upgrading was to replace my wife’s 4S, that we’ve had since 2011, with the 6s. Hers is giving a bit of trouble and she couldn’t care less about technology as long as it works. The 6s will still do that and do it well.
The 4S was my favorite iPhone and the one I used for 3 years. I regret letting my husband talk me into upgrading to a 5s. Had I not done that I likely would have had it for 4 or 5 years. I kept upgrading annually because I just haven’t found the iPhone I wanted to keep. I thought it would be my 7 Plus but that started having problems after the warranty was out so I traded it in.

My 8Plus is here to stay. I bought the Apple Care Plus for it. If I ever stop using it, it will go to a parent or child in the family. My 6S Plus is with a sister-in-law. We were going to buy her a new iPhone but she wanted to wait awhile longer. She loves the 6S plus. The 6S and 6S Plus are solid phones.
 
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My 8Plus is here to stay. I bought the Apple Care Plus for it. If I ever stop using it, it will go to a parent or child in the family. My 6S Plus is with a sister-in-law. We were going to buy her a new iPhone but she wanted to wait awhile longer. She loves the 6S plus. The 6S and 6S Plus are solid phones.


I have an 8+ for work and it is a fantastic phone! I originally bought a Xs Max and returned it in favor of the Xr. Though I had really bought the Xr for my son. He was gone on Friday when it came in and told me to go ahead and use to see if I wanted to get an Xr. I did make that decision to go with the Xr, but something strange happened. My son returned on Saturday and he took possession of the Xr and by Sunday he returned it to me and said. Don't order one, just keep this one I'll keep my iPhone 6s Plus I prefer it. So Yes the 6s Plus is also a great phone and he just had the battery changed in it for $29, put on a new screen protector and bought a new speck case. He said I will pass on a new phone this year.

The days of upgrading every year or two has now turned into 3 or 4 years for many people! I am using the Xr in Zoom mode as it does make the text a bit bigger and easier on this old mans eyes.
 
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The only real way to determine this is to remove the placebo effect, which would require you to use two identical phones - one missing the features you believe to cause issues. Otherwise go to an optician, or don't sit all day staring at the phone like a loon. I get headaches looking at sharper displays with increased resolution if I don't wear my glasses... So you need to rule that out.
 
The only real way to determine this is to remove the placebo effect, which would require you to use two identical phones - one missing the features you believe to cause issues. Otherwise go to an optician, or don't sit all day staring at the phone like a loon. I get headaches looking at sharper displays with increased resolution if I don't wear my glasses... So you need to rule that out.

People have been calling placebo or psychological, issues they couldn't explain since the start of time. And they have been proven wrong again and again.

Just because you don't experience something yourself, you shouldn't be quick to call it placebo.

I've been having new iPhones every year since iPhone 3G. I never had a problem with eye-strain. When I got the X, I haven't heard anything about headache and my daily routine didn't change and yet day after day I would wake up with the feeling of beaten eyes.

One day I used my old phone and next morning I woke up and the pain was gone. Only then I put two and two together.

So don't give me the "placebo" effect story.

But I am more than willing to participate in a double-blind study.
 
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People have been calling placebo or psychological, issues they couldn't explain since the start of time. And they have been proven wrong again and again.

Just because you don't experience something yourself, you shouldn't be quick to call it placebo.

I've been having new iPhones every year since iPhone 3G. I never had a problem with eye-strain. When I got the X, I haven't heard anything about headache and my daily routine didn't change and yet day after day I would wake up with the feeling of beaten eyes.

One day I used my old phone and next morning I woke up and the pain was gone. Only then I put two and two together.

So don't give me the "placebo" effect story.

But I am more than willing to participate in a double-blind study.

Do you know what placebo is? Did I call this a placebo effect? Did you just jump to a defensive position because you read something you felt was attacking you?

I think you'll find I said "The only real way to determine this is to remove the placebo effect". And then you said you'd be willing to do a double-blind, so?
 
Do you know what placebo is? Did I call this a placebo effect? Did you just jump to a defensive position because you read something you felt was attacking you?

I think you'll find I said "The only real way to determine this is to remove the placebo effect". And then you said you'd be willing to do a double-blind, so?

You literally named the "placebo effect". Would you tell someone who has an injured leg, let's remove the placebo effect?

Btw, asking me if I felt attacked or asking me if I know what a placebo is, is patronizing and a good way to show you don't care to have a decent conversation. Enjoy
 
You literally named the "placebo effect". Would you tell someone who has an injured leg, let's remove the placebo effect?

Btw, asking me if I felt attacked or asking me if I know what a placebo is, is patronizing and a good way to show you don't care to have a decent conversation. Enjoy

No because an injured leg would normally have an easily identifiable source, i.e. a bone sticking out. However if there are no underlying injuries, then yes it can be caused by a placebo effect.

In this case, you're trying to rule out various different factors, and there are so many variations to consider. So you need to rule out the placebo effect as you can quickly determine a lot of these variations. This is really basic methodology and not something to be upset about. I'm sorry if the word 'Placebo' has negative connotations to you, but it's a simple technique to diagnose a problem such as this.

Again, at no point did I say this was a placebo effect CAUSING the issue. Really not sure how you're reading this any other way.
 
No because an injured leg would normally have an easily identifiable source, i.e. a bone sticking out. However if there are no underlying injuries, then yes it can be caused by a placebo effect.

In this case, you're trying to rule out various different factors, and there are so many variations to consider. So you need to rule out the placebo effect as you can quickly determine a lot of these variations. This is really basic methodology and not something to be upset about. I'm sorry if the word 'Placebo' has negative connotations to you, but it's a simple technique to diagnose a problem such as this.

Again, at no point did I say this was a placebo effect CAUSING the issue. Really not sure how you're reading this any other way.

You continue patronizing.

But I guess you are right. If you go to ER with chest pain, the first thing they say is "hey, let's make sure it is not a placebo effect".
 
Wouldn't that be the same for basically most iPhones prior to XR, like iPhone 8, 7, 6, etc.?
Not the plus phones
[doublepost=1540966273][/doublepost]
Interesting results thus far! As the OP, I have not actually received the XR yet. I had issues with the XS Max, it was a noticeable pressure behind the eyes. When I would press on the top of my eye, it would momentarily go away. Sent the phone back and a day later my eyes were back to normal. Never had glasses or contacts, so the only thing I can relate the pressure to was when you are really, really tired and driving for a long period of time, requiring you to keep your eyes open.. I tend to get pressure behind my eyes when that happens.

I went to Best Buy to check out the XR, to try out FaceID to see if that caused any issue... but of course I had to explain to the Apple Rep my issue, so I ended up looking at all 3 phones and doing the PWM slo-mo test. Noticed the strain came back ever so slightly for the 15 minutes I was there.. but was it FaceID or was it the PWM from XS/XS-Max.. unsure?

So as the OP, I have not yet voted, but saw a number of folks discussing and wanted to get a poll going. Will post my feedback when the XR arrives.
What is an OP?
 
Could not use the OLED X models for more than 5 minutes without discomfort.

I am still evaluating my Xr, but so far so good.

Spent 3 days using it with no pain.

I also enabled reduce motion and increase contrast to make things easier on my eyes.
I returned both the xs max and XR. The XS Max is waterboarding for the eyes. Coming from 4 years of plus phones, currently the 8 plus, text clarity was inferior on the XR and the narrower aspect ratio and width vs the 8 plus made reading less satisfying with more words wrapping. 326 ppi just doesn’t cut it for me. The blurrier text on the XR was bound to lead to eye strain which is why it went back to t-Mobile the same day it arrived.
 
Not the plus phones
[doublepost=1540966273][/doublepost]
What is an OP?
Right, not the Plus versions, but the regular ones that millions upon millions of people have been using over the years.

(As for OP, that generally refers to the original post or poster--basically the post or poster that stated the thread.)
 
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Right, no the Plus versions, but the regular ones that millions upon millions of people have been using over the years.

(As for OP, that generally refers to the original post or poster--basically the post or poster that stated the thread.)

In 2014, Apple introduced the first big iPhone, the iPhone 6 Plus. Since then, the company has offered a phablet version for each new incarnation of its hugely successful device. While Apple doesn’t say how many buyers prefer it over the standard model, reports show that it accounts for a significant portion of sales.

In US, the Plus models have gained considerable traction, with Consumer Intelligence Research Partners saying that they made up 35 percent of the iPhone installed base as of 31 December 2016. And their popularity is growing, as a year prior that figure stood at 25 percent.

The installed base for iPhones in US is 132 million units, which means there are about 46.2 million iPhone Plus units — iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 7 Plus — in use. That’s pretty impressive for what was once believed to be a niche smartphone genre. “It appears to have overcome initial doubts about their appeal. And given their premium prices and a trend toward purchasing greater storage capacity among all iPhone buyers, this added meaningfully to revenues and gross margin,” says CIRP co-founder and partner Mike Levin.
 
In 2014, Apple introduced the first big iPhone, the iPhone 6 Plus. Since then, the company has offered a phablet version for each new incarnation of its hugely successful device. While Apple doesn’t say how many buyers prefer it over the standard model, reports show that it accounts for a significant portion of sales.

In US, the Plus models have gained considerable traction, with Consumer Intelligence Research Partners saying that they made up 35 percent of the iPhone installed base as of 31 December 2016. And their popularity is growing, as a year prior that figure stood at 25 percent.

The installed base for iPhones in US is 132 million units, which means there are about 46.2 million iPhone Plus units — iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 7 Plus — in use. That’s pretty impressive for what was once believed to be a niche smartphone genre. “It appears to have overcome initial doubts about their appeal. And given their premium prices and a trend toward purchasing greater storage capacity among all iPhone buyers, this added meaningfully to revenues and gross margin,” says CIRP co-founder and partner Mike Levin.
Nor sure how that relates to what I was commenting on.
 
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