Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[now i see it]

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.

Classic eye strain symptoms from using any monitor including the old school CRT monitors. I used to live behind a computer for work during the CRT monitors era and my eyestrain got worse and worse as the years went by.
The number one cause is fatigued eye muscles including the forehead muscles. Basically from struggling to see things clearly where clarity does not exist. They get weak and fatigued and sensitive.

Its a MUST to wear proper prescription eyeglasses for computer use even if you think your vision is pretty good. They let the eyes relax.

But the only way I could get rid of the pain long term was to not look at computer screen.

 

[Heman87]

Classic eye strain symptoms from using any monitor including the old school CRT monitors. I used to live behind a computer for work during the CRT monitors era and my eyestrain got worse and worse as the years went by.
The number one cause is fatigued eye muscles including the forehead muscles. Basically from struggling to see things clearly where clarity does not exist. They get weak and fatigued and sensitive.

Its a MUST to wear proper prescription eyeglasses for computer use even if you think your vision is pretty good. They let the eyes relax.

But the only way I could get rid of the pain long term was to not look at computer screen.

Yes, yesterday I watched lot of videos on my phone. It’s nice finally watch videos on a OLED phone without getting eyestrain. The screen is so much better. But I did felt a weird feeling on top of my head in the night. And that’s not good.

AndI tried so many phones. All of them gave me issues. Only one 16 was good, but unfortunately I send that one back to Apple to try the 16 pro. After that no other 16 worked for me.

Today I will test the 15pro whole day. And decide which one to keep or send them both back.

I am thinking to use one of these devices as my daily driver with limited time. and use my 11 or another lcd phone for videos and games. So I don’t **** my brain.

 

[ultravegeta1981]

Still having watery eyes but with less strain this time. I might go back to a 16 pro but their screens are the same so scared it might not help.

Waiting for apple to update their pwm toggle for ALL brightness levels,might help.

 

[Corncab44]

Has anyone run opple tests with reduced white point in any of the 17 models?

 

[VadimVV]

.

 

[du57in]

Still having watery eyes but with less strain this time. I might go back to a 16 pro but their screens are the same so scared it might not help.

Waiting for apple to update their pwm toggle for ALL brightness levels,might help.

I keep wondering if Apple will do this. With every new beta, I am hoping there are more options regarding this setting.

 

[ultravegeta1981]

I keep wondering if Apple will do this. With every new beta, I am hoping there are more options regarding this setting.

I dont know if they will,but it must be possible as the hardware is there. I dont even know if it will help at all so we have to see.

 

[du57in]

I dont know if they will,but it must be possible as the hardware is there. I dont even know if it will help at all so we have to see.

Still don't get why Apple can't throw all the warnings, disclaimers, recommendations, whatever it wants and introduce a TRUE flicker free option. Even something like a refresh rate flicker option, like OLED TVs.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Are you aware of which company this is? I'd love to hear more information about this.

This company’s X07 Soft aftermarket OLED panels are marketed as using DC dimming. Measurements have shown that modulations are much lower than typical PWM dimming.

https://www.mobilesentrix.com/oled-assembly-compatible-for-iphone-16-pro-max-aftermarket-pro-xo7-soft

Here are the good ol’ Opple measurements from Reddit:

From the ScreenSensitive community on Reddit: iPhone 15 Pro Max DC dimmed OLED replacement "Mobile sentrix 120hz oled"

Explore this post and more from the ScreenSensitive community

www.reddit.com

 

[CocoPlops999]

Unfortunately after 5 days I had to send my 17 pro back, looks like I’ll get a replacement battery for my iPhone 11.

Any ideas if they will try to update me to iOS 26?

 

[Ledsteplin]

Unfortunately after 5 days I had to send my 17 pro back, looks like I’ll get a replacement battery for my iPhone 11.

Any ideas if they will try to update me to iOS 26?

They might if you don't ask them not to. Seven years ago I took my old 6s Plus in for a battery. Told them I wanted to keep it on iOS 10.1.1. They said ok. But they broke the flashlight and camera. So they gave me a brand new 6s Plus, but it was on iOS 11.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Still having watery eyes but with less strain this time. I might go back to a 16 pro but their screens are the same so scared it might not help.

Waiting for apple to update their pwm toggle for ALL brightness levels,might help.

I use Night Shift and Reduce White Point. Seems to help me.
I set Night shift at about 33% from 8 am to 7:59 am.
I set Reduce White Point at 44%.

 

[ultravegeta1981]

I use Night Shift and Reduce White Point. Seems to help me.
I set Night shift at about 33% from 8 am to 7:59 am.
I set Reduce White Point at 44%.

I see. Well thats a bit too yellow for me,im already using truetone which maes it yellow. Also have anti blue light coating on my glasses lol.

My only hope is of the somehow update pwm option.

 

[Abiyork]

Unfortunately after 5 days I had to send my 17 pro back, looks like I’ll get a replacement battery for my iPhone 11.

Any ideas if they will try to update me to iOS 26?

I had my battery replaced last year but they said it needed to be IOS17 at the time or it wouldnt link up to their recovery system.

I told them it couldnt increase and they said they would attempt it but if it went wrong it wouldnt be covered.

All went well though, just make sure you insist.

 

[Uncohtwo]

Update: I stuck with the Air (LG panel). After using the Air, I went back to the 16 pro that I’ve been tolerating and realized how much of a headache it was giving me. The Air is near perfect for me (PWM toggle on), though after long periods of use I start to feel something creeping in. Nevertheless, good ending here; I’ve been on the Air for 3 weeks and feel good about the decision (not to mention the Air is fantastic, IMHO).

 

[DJTaurus]

For some unexpected weird reason LOW POWER MODE makes my iPhone 16e A LOT MORE comfortable. I ll keep using it always on and report back.

 

[now i see it]

For some unexpected weird reason LOW POWER MODE makes my iPhone 16e A LOT MORE comfortable. I ll keep using it always on and report back.

yes Low Power mode downclocks the CPU AND the GPU. Dithering requires the GPU to do more work, so its likely Low Power mode influences dithering (or maybe disables it). Users have reported that the SE3 with its LCD screen is a lot easier to look at when Low Power mode is enabled too (but of course the phone then isn't as snappy - turning it into a 4 year old phone performance wise.

 

[dstow]

Has anyone here gone from a 16PM to the 17PM and experienced any issues? - I've moved from the 16PM and I'm experiencing PWM symptoms on the 17PM despite having NO issues with the 16PM at all.

I've enabled the PWM Setting in Accessibility/RWP 50% and still getting mild symptoms, mainly neck tension.

Not sure if this is simply down to the 17PM Screen being a different panel capable of 3000 Nits vs 2000 on the 16PM, but it's a incredible pain in the ass, anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[cgolca]

Has anyone here gone from a 16PM to the 17PM and experienced any issues? - I've moved from the 16PM and I'm experiencing PWM symptoms on the 17PM despite having NO issues with the 16PM at all.

I've enabled the PWM Setting in Accessibility/RWP 50% and still getting mild symptoms, mainly neck tension.

Not sure if this is simply down to the 17PM Screen being a different panel capable of 3000 Nits vs 2000 on the 16PM, but it's a incredible pain in the ass, anyone else had a similar experience?

I tried two different 17 Pro Max’s, one with a Samsung G9N panel and the other with an LG GVC panel, so I got to test both. Unfortunately, after just a few minutes of use, both made me very dizzy, just like the base 17. The 17 Pro was a bit better, but the Air has definitely been the best OLED iPhone I’ve ever tried.

 

[JurgenV]

For some unexpected weird reason LOW POWER MODE makes my iPhone 16e A LOT MORE comfortable. I ll keep using it always on and report back.

Would be interesting if more people could try this. Sure you'll have a slower phone, but at this point I'll take an ugly screen and slow iPhone as I really don't want to switch to Android in the future.

 

[QuattroRS6]

Has anyone here gone from a 16PM to the 17PM and experienced any issues? - I've moved from the 16PM and I'm experiencing PWM symptoms on the 17PM despite having NO issues with the 16PM at all.

The 15 Pro and 16 Pro have nearly the same PWM, i have no Problems with both.
After the first power on of the 17 Pro in the Setup Screen i had instant nausea and dizziness Feeling. I bet Apple will use in the iPhone 18 Series the same Displays, so i have no hope for the next Generation of iPhone.

I think Apple does not care about this Problems, look how many People wrote them and what happend... we see the new iPad Pro with M5 again with 240 Hz PWM and we see again a MBP with a Display that kills my eyes. I have on all new Apple Products this dizziness Feeling, tried MBA M4 also MBP M3,M4,M5. With my old Intel MBP from 2020 absolute calm working and my Eyes are happy.

 

[Ninnie7]

I tried two different 17 Pro Max’s, one with a Samsung G9N panel and the other with an LG GVC panel, so I got to test both. Unfortunately, after just a few minutes of use, both made me very dizzy, just like the base 17. The 17 Pro was a bit better, but the Air has definitely been the best OLED iPhone I’ve ever tried.

Do you know which panel your Air has? I tried an Air with a GVC panel, unfortunately my eyes couldn‘t take it, they even were red the next morning… Wondering if I should try my luck with another one… Thank you!

 

[DJTaurus]

Would be interesting if more people could try this. Sure you'll have a slower phone, but at this point I'll take an ugly screen and slow iPhone as I really don't want to switch to Android in the future.

It’s only minor improvement. Not sth ground breaking. Still using the phone with very fast actions no more than 30-60secs continuously.

 

[pwm away]

So it's been 3 months with the 16e as my daily driver. 95% no issues, with default settings (e.g. auto brightness, true tone, no RWP, night shift at nights). I do have Reduce Motion on (but that has been the case since LCD iPhones). Since iOS 26, I also have Reduce Transparency on.

I say 95%, as the other 5% are the outliers; essentially, when I use the phone too long in very dimly lit environments. It doesn't happen often.
Outside of that, I can read on it for hours, and not come away feeling bad.

I wonder why that is; presumably there's some correlation with the 16e being one of the few iPhones that NBC marks as 60Hz (see screenshot).

Side note: I factory reset the 16e the other day (I do this often for a new major iOS version), and decided to do a manual setup, following the onboarding screens. I did this in the evening. During that onboarding, I also decided to spend some time setting up my Memoji, as well as leave iOS 26 Liquid Glass transparency on.
The next day, I had a somewhat bad headache. Maybe related, maybe not. Either it was the constant spray of IR over 10 minutes, while setting up my Memoji, or Liquid Glass has some serious TD going on. Or both ...
In any case, I turned on Reduce Transparency, and things are going well again.

Side note 2: How the hell did Liquid Glass get approved? I noticed that with the default theme, after a new setup, with Liquid Glass, most of the PIN entry digits on the lock screen are not legible. How did anyone at Apple do any type of testing, look at the PIN entry, think to themselves "Oh, I can't see the digits with the Liquid Glass transparency; but no bother!", and then proceed to release this 🤬 ... 🤦‍♂️

 

[johhno140]

The 15 Pro and 16 Pro have nearly the same PWM, i have no Problems with both.
After the first power on of the 17 Pro in the Setup Screen i had instant nausea and dizziness Feeling. I bet Apple will use in the iPhone 18 Series the same Displays, so i have no hope for the next Generation of iPhone.

I think Apple does not care about this Problems, look how many People wrote them and what happend... we see the new iPad Pro with M5 again with 240 Hz PWM and we see again a MBP with a Display that kills my eyes. I have on all new Apple Products this dizziness Feeling, tried MBA M4 also MBP M3,M4,M5. With my old Intel MBP from 2020 absolute calm working and my Eyes are happy.

Count yourself lucky you can use something as new as the 16 Pro, some of us have been unable to use any generation of OLED iPhone.