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Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.

Are you experiencing this issue?

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DJTaurus said:
You can follow my example. iPhone 16e outdoors and iPhone 11 indoors. It’s going fine no issues. Tomorrow i ll try the soft oled from mobile sentrix.
Click to expand...

Not for me. I use my phone a lot, especially since I don’t have a tablet or laptop, so I want a modern device that can handle everything I need, whenever I need it. My iPhone 11 is starting to feel slow, and that feeling only gets worse after trying out the latest iPhones.

Although in the past, whenever I tried Android, I immediately felt like, “this just isn’t the same” as my iPhone and wanted to switch back right away, these days Android and iOS seem to operate much more similarly. I’m planning to ease myself into Android and eventually move up to the flagship models. But I have to be realistic — a £200 Moto phone isn’t exactly going to wow me. I’ve heard that some Honor phones are supposed to be more eye-friendly even though they use OLED screens, but I’m still skeptical — so for now, I’ll stick with an LCD display.

I don’t actually want to switch — I value the security and reliability of Apple devices — but there just doesn’t seem to be a future with them for me anymore. That said, I’ll never get rid of my iPhone 11.
 
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jimmy_uk said:
Not for me. I use my phone a lot, especially since I don’t have a tablet or laptop, so I want a modern device that can handle everything I need, whenever I need it. My iPhone 11 is starting to feel slow, and that feeling only gets worse after trying out the latest iPhones.

Although in the past, whenever I tried Android, I immediately felt like, “this just isn’t the same” as my iPhone and wanted to switch back right away, these days Android and iOS seem to operate much more similarly. I’m planning to ease myself into Android and eventually move up to the flagship models. But I have to be realistic — a £200 Moto phone isn’t exactly going to wow me. I’ve heard that some Honor phones are supposed to be more eye-friendly even though they use OLED screens, but I’m still skeptical — so for now, I’ll stick with an LCD display.

I don’t actually want to switch — I value the security and reliability of Apple devices — but there just doesn’t seem to be a future with them for me anymore. That said, I’ll never get rid of my iPhone 11.
Click to expand...
I tried both the Honor Magic Pro 6 and Honor Magic Pro 7 upon release as I wanted a flagship phone but both unfortunately gave me a slight nauseous dizzy feeling so were returned.
Don’t discount the wow factor of a £200 Moto though. Having been stuck using an iPhone 8 on iOS 15 for years, after many unsuccessful attempts with various OLED phones, my main banking app required updating to iOS 16 which made the 8 unusable as the update gave me similar nauseous dizzy feelings. I got myself a Moto G75 and there was a pleasant wow factor in the sense there was a phone out there I could use out of the box with no discomfort.
I’d also say the differences between Apple and Android are nowhere near as pronounced as they once were, I was actually pleasantly surprised. There are also various options/elements I prefer on the Moto that Apple don’t offer.
 
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MICHAELSD said:
Once we have to resort to more extreme measures, there is also apparently a company that sells aftermarket OLED panels that use DC dimming which measures at around 120Hz and 4% modulation.
Click to expand...

Are you aware of which company this is? I'd love to hear more information about this.
 
jimmy_uk said:
Not for me. I use my phone a lot, especially since I don’t have a tablet or laptop, so I want a modern device that can handle everything I need, whenever I need it. My iPhone 11 is starting to feel slow, and that feeling only gets worse after trying out the latest iPhones.

Although in the past, whenever I tried Android, I immediately felt like, “this just isn’t the same” as my iPhone and wanted to switch back right away, these days Android and iOS seem to operate much more similarly. I’m planning to ease myself into Android and eventually move up to the flagship models. But I have to be realistic — a £200 Moto phone isn’t exactly going to wow me. I’ve heard that some Honor phones are supposed to be more eye-friendly even though they use OLED screens, but I’m still skeptical — so for now, I’ll stick with an LCD display.

I don’t actually want to switch — I value the security and reliability of Apple devices — but there just doesn’t seem to be a future with them for me anymore. That said, I’ll never get rid of my iPhone 11.
Click to expand...

My TCL NXTPAPER 60 Ultra arrives in a few days and I am more optimistic with it than I was when I ordered the 17pro.
 
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jimmy_uk said:
Not for me. I use my phone a lot, especially since I don’t have a tablet or laptop, so I want a modern device that can handle everything I need, whenever I need it. My iPhone 11 is starting to feel slow, and that feeling only gets worse after trying out the latest iPhones.

Although in the past, whenever I tried Android, I immediately felt like, “this just isn’t the same” as my iPhone and wanted to switch back right away, these days Android and iOS seem to operate much more similarly. I’m planning to ease myself into Android and eventually move up to the flagship models. But I have to be realistic — a £200 Moto phone isn’t exactly going to wow me. I’ve heard that some Honor phones are supposed to be more eye-friendly even though they use OLED screens, but I’m still skeptical — so for now, I’ll stick with an LCD display.

I don’t actually want to switch — I value the security and reliability of Apple devices — but there just doesn’t seem to be a future with them for me anymore. That said, I’ll never get rid of my iPhone 11.
Click to expand...
I went to the store and played with iPad Air and MBAair….. still big devices to work with. I still prefer iPhone for typing faster and holding essier. If I would purchase a second device it would only be an iPad mini which is really compact. So i am staying with 16e for now and i ordered an ultra too :p
 
super chimp said:
I wonder if this screen will be better or worse for people?

m.gsmarena.com

OnePlus 15's display specs are now official

It's a great panel with downgraded resolution. The OnePlus 15's launch in China is imminent, and it's been rumored to get its global unveiling in...
m.gsmarena.com m.gsmarena.com
Click to expand...
That’s the phone I’m waiting for, at this point waiting another whole year to use a new iPhone has become tiring, it might be refreshing to try something else for a year at least
 
Double invert (zoom, zoom invert, then classic invert to cancel out) brings relief on 17pm. Still don’t understand what this does but it clearly helps… basically fine using it but have to turn it off if I need to take a screenshot or screen record. Anyone understand why is actually going on when you do this?
 
Corncab44 said:
Double invert (zoom, zoom invert, then classic invert to cancel out) brings relief on 17pm. Still don’t understand what this does but it clearly helps… basically fine using it but have to turn it off if I need to take a screenshot or screen record. Anyone understand why is actually going on when you do this?
Click to expand...
turn on the option "Show while Mirroring" in Zoom section and then you won't need to turn it off when recording screen.
 

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Heman87 said:
I have tried 3 iPhones 16 in the last year.
- the first one was pretty good with RWP
- the second one gave me headaches
- the third one made my eyes burn.

I don’t know what kind of screen they had. I’m just amazed how different these individual panels can be. So I just want to say the screen lottery is real!
Click to expand...
So I decided to order a refurbished iPhone 15, 15 pro and 16. Because the screen lottery is real. I can return the devices If I don’t like it so I wanted to give it a chance. Lucky me the supplier sended me 2 iPhone 15 pro and 2 16 to try. Now I can try more screens out and hope one works.

In the past I tried several 16 with mixed results. See above. I tried 1 iPhone 15 pro and got headaches within 5 minutes

Here is my verdict after 2 days.

- first iPhone 16. Right away headaches. I sended this one back.
- second iPhone 16. Pretty good actually. Both 16 are open boxes and aren’t used before. So I think the screens are original.
- first iPhone 15 pro pretty ok result. But slight migraine after a while. I probably send this one also back
- second 15 pro bit better than the first one. In the night my eyes really didn’t like this phone. I do want to point out I tried this phone with 120hz and no RWP on and also on lower brightness. Somehow this is better than turned the RWP on. It look like the PWM is worse with RWP on these devices. Does anyone know how this works?
- 15. I haven’t tried this one yet.

So for now I’ll try the second 16 and second 15 pro little bit more. Not at the same day of course. Otherwise I won’t understand which one makes my eyes hurt and gives me headaches 😜

The 16 is little bit cheaper and new and 100% battery. The ultra marine color is also nice.
The 15 pro is a bit more expensive, furthermore it’s been used and it has 88% battery. However the pro model looks more luxurious and has 3 cameras and 120hz screen with always on screen. So hard choice.

I’m willing to use this phones outside door and my old 11 for YouTube, Instagram and games.

Later I will also try the 15. This is obviously the cheapest one. This one is also just an opened box.
 
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So I got a 17 the day after launch day and immediately noticed eye strain symptoms. I had 2 weeks to try it, towards the end of that period I bought a 16 Plus to compare as I read on this thread that that one wasn't too bad for some people. Towards the very end of the 2 week period, I felt the symptoms were less severe, and I really didn't want to have to revert to last year's model as good as it is, so I returned the 16 Plus and stuck with the 17, thinking worst comes to worst I will sell it and go back to my 14.

I recalled that I had eye strain with my 14 at first but that it quickly vanished and I have used that phone symptom free for 2 years now.

Anyway the long and short of it is that as of the last few days I have again zero symptoms be it night or day, I guess my eyes do not react well to any kind of change in OLED screen..?! But accept it after a while..?!
 
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Just adding my own experience. I went to the American Dream Mall in NJ and checked out the new phones. These are the worst OLED iPhones I have ever used. Usually I can make it though a few minutes of use, but I could visibly see the screen pulsing in and out of focus. The PWM toggle did absolutely nothing. Honestly I am shocked how bad it was, and I use an iPhone 13 daily with no problems on iOS 15.

I also checked out the M4 MacBook Pros and the Studio Displays connected to a Mac Mini - all on MacOS Tahoe. This OS is the most unreadable, strange OS I have ever used. The font smoothing and dithering makes everything look like you’re staring at the screen through a paper with pinholes, and the text is blurry. It’s much worse than Sequoia.

Ironically the 13” OLED iPad was the most tolerable. At least I could navigate menus with it. The OLED iPhones and iPad definitely have sharper text. It’s unfortunate the PWM is so awful that it doesn’t matter.

I’m really, really disappointed. I was going to wait for the M5 MBP 14-inch to see if any improvement was made to the PWM modulation, but unless there’s some significant hardware changes (there’s not) then MacOS Tahoe is going be unusable for me.

After 15 years of using Macs in my professional life as a music producer and audio engineer, my time as a customer and user may be coming to an end. I’m going to try to find an M1 or M2 Machine on Monterey or Ventura, but that will only buy me time. Maybe it’s time to make a trip to the Microsoft store for the first time since the 2000s.
 
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martin2345uk said:
So I got a 17 the day after launch day and immediately noticed eye strain symptoms. I had 2 weeks to try it, towards the end of that period I bought a 16 Plus to compare as I read on this thread that that one wasn't too bad for some people. Towards the very end of the 2 week period, I felt the symptoms were less severe, and I really didn't want to have to revert to last year's model as good as it is, so I returned the 16 Plus and stuck with the 17, thinking worst comes to worst I will sell it and go back to my 14.

I recalled that I had eye strain with my 14 at first but that it quickly vanished and I have used that phone symptom free for 2 years now.

Anyway the long and short of it is that as of the last few days I have again zero symptoms be it night or day, I guess my eyes do not react well to any kind of change in OLED screen..?! But accept it after a while..?!
Click to expand...
I got a 14 a few months after launch and used it for quite a while and still use it as my work phone. I do remember at first it gave me a little bit of trouble and then it really did seem like I got used to it. Now I use a 16e which essentially is a similar if not identical screen and I have zero problems with it. I recently tried out the 17 Pro and it did OK but at the end of the two week return period I returned it because I didn't want to get stuck if things didn't improve or if they got worse.
I may give it another go during the extended holiday return as I really liked the phone and loved the cameras.
Hope the 17 works out for you!
 
AshX said:
The font smoothing and dithering makes everything look like you’re staring at the screen through a paper with pinholes, and the text is blurry. It’s much worse than Sequoia.
Click to expand...
Try another mac connected to a good display in the store again and this time, check system settings to make sure the screen resolution is where you want it. Typically a scaled resolution isn't as sharp as native.
 
now i see it said:
Try another mac connected to a good display in the store again and this time, check system settings to make sure the screen resolution is where you want it. Typically a scaled resolution isn't as sharp as native.
Click to expand...

What display would you recommend? They had two 27” Studio Displays - one with a Mac Mini one with a Mac Studio. I tried a 16” MBP and a 14” MBP and both made me dizzy. Tried locking the refresh rate to 60Hz on the 16” but I’m not sure it worked, since they’re in store mode. I think the LED lighting in the store is making it difficult, too, because as I was walking out I looked up at the LEDs and instantly got dizzy.

The only time I’ve ever somewhat tolerated the external Apple displays was using a Mac Studio M3 Ultra connected to a Pro Display XDR in another store. But that store’s LEDs are even worse. I’m not sure why Apple chooses LED’s to light their stores that have pretty bad PWM.

When I last tried MBA’s and MBP’s in April, they were on Sequoia and I at least made it far enough to download Stillcolor. I have no idea if it actually worked, again given store mode is enabled. I bought a 13” MBA that I couldn’t tolerate even with Stillcolor and a 15” MBA that gave me a seizure while setting it up. The most tolerable Silicon Macs I’ve been able to use is the 13” Touchbar M2 Pro. I’ve been trying to find one with the alleged good screen that worked for some super sensitive folks, but they’re hard to track down.

My guess is that whatever happened with the shift from the older Retina screens to Liquid Retina has really affected me. I don’t know whether it’s because they’re using fewer diffusers (3 compared to 5, from what I’ve seen on teardowns), the thinner screen, the new LED bottom lit arrangement, or just something else. It’s weird because I had a 14” M1 Pro MBP in 2022 on Monterey v12.1 and it was comfortable. But everything I’ve tried since 2023 I can’t tolerate.
 
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AshX said:
What display would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Since Apple does honor a 14 day return with no questions asked... maybe buy a MacMini to experiment with (outside of their flicker hell stores) and then a different LCD monitor from a different manufacturer - who honors returns. Maybe choose a monitor that's popular with Windows business users. Plain Jane.
I haven't paid attention to new monitors in years, so I cant offer any suggestions about any one in particular.
 
DJTaurus said:
I went to the store and played with iPad Air and MBAair….. still big devices to work with. I still prefer iPhone for typing faster and holding essier. If I would purchase a second device it would only be an iPad mini which is really compact. So i am staying with 16e for now and i ordered an ultra too :p
Click to expand...
Ultra?
 
martin2345uk said:
So I got a 17 the day after launch day and immediately noticed eye strain symptoms. I had 2 weeks to try it, towards the end of that period I bought a 16 Plus to compare as I read on this thread that that one wasn't too bad for some people. Towards the very end of the 2 week period, I felt the symptoms were less severe, and I really didn't want to have to revert to last year's model as good as it is, so I returned the 16 Plus and stuck with the 17, thinking worst comes to worst I will sell it and go back to my 14.

I recalled that I had eye strain with my 14 at first but that it quickly vanished and I have used that phone symptom free for 2 years now.

Anyway the long and short of it is that as of the last few days I have again zero symptoms be it night or day, I guess my eyes do not react well to any kind of change in OLED screen..?! But accept it after a while..?!
Click to expand...

That’s my experience as well when I changed from the 11 Pro to the 13 Pro.

Can I ask is the current iPad mini considered an ok screen, I know it’s not OLED, but you never know these days.
 
Heman87 said:
So I decided to order a refurbished iPhone 15, 15 pro and 16. Because the screen lottery is real. I can return the devices If I don’t like it so I wanted to give it a chance. Lucky me the supplier sended me 2 iPhone 15 pro and 2 16 to try. Now I can try more screens out and hope one works.

In the past I tried several 16 with mixed results. See above. I tried 1 iPhone 15 pro and got headaches within 5 minutes

Here is my verdict after 2 days.

- first iPhone 16. Right away headaches. I sended this one back.
- second iPhone 16. Pretty good actually. Both 16 are open boxes and aren’t used before. So I think the screens are original.
- first iPhone 15 pro pretty ok result. But slight migraine after a while. I probably send this one also back
- second 15 pro bit better than the first one. In the night my eyes really didn’t like this phone. I do want to point out I tried this phone with 120hz and no RWP on and also on lower brightness. Somehow this is better than turned the RWP on. It look like the PWM is worse with RWP on these devices. Does anyone know how this works?
- 15. I haven’t tried this one yet.

So for now I’ll try the second 16 and second 15 pro little bit more. Not at the same day of course. Otherwise I won’t understand which one makes my eyes hurt and gives me headaches 😜

The 16 is little bit cheaper and new and 100% battery. The ultra marine color is also nice.
The 15 pro is a bit more expensive, furthermore it’s been used and it has 88% battery. However the pro model looks more luxurious and has 3 cameras and 120hz screen with always on screen. So hard choice.

I’m willing to use this phones outside door and my old 11 for YouTube, Instagram and games.

Later I will also try the 15. This is obviously the cheapest one. This one is also just an opened box.
Click to expand...
So I kept a iPhone 15 and 15 pro for now.
The regular 15 doesn’t hurt my eyes at all even if I watch videos for 1 hour. I’m so glad that I finally can use a OLED phone without eyestrain. However I do get a pressure on my forehead after a while. Does anyone have experience like this ? Does it get worse after a while? Or can I get used to it? I’m afraid this will chance to heavy migraines.

The 15 pro is also pretty ok. Little eye strain after a while and also a little pressure on my forehead. But I tried so many different iPhones these days. Maybe it’s a result of this testing.
 
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