iPhone's Screen Distance Feature on iOS 17 Can Help Reduce Eye Strain

[wesley96]

RE: Comments vis-à-vis Vision Pro, this may not be as it seems. I understand it’s the focal length that is the driving factor, not the distance to the actual screen/s power se. This is evidenced by near sighted people still needing to wear their prescription when using VR/AR.

Yep, it's all about how near or far your eye tries to focus on. Even if the display element is an inch away from you, the optics in a VR/AR headset makes it as if it's several inches to a few feet away and your eyes focus accordingly. That's what the lenses in the smartphone VR goggles like Google Cardboard does as well.

That being said, the timing of the availability of this feature is still amusing.

 

[t0rqx]

Lol, I thought the same thing. Your phone is too close to your face, but let’s strap a 4K screen to each eyeball. Normal!

with 5000 nits.

 

[kkee]

The irony of introducing this feature alongside the Vision Pro is astonishing.

I know you just joking. But for those who don't know, there is a big difference focal length between looking at the iPhone screen and at the Vision Pro (hint: you can't focus something right in front of your eyes =) it's way further away.

 

[svish]

Great feature. Looking forward to trying this out.

 

[Tagbert]

The irony of introducing this feature alongside the Vision Pro is astonishing.

It sounds funny if you know nothing about the products but one had nothing to with the other.

Your eyes are not focusing on a close screen in the VP the way they are on a screen held to closely to your face. Your eyes are aimed and focused on a virtual image that appears much further from your face. Of course you could zoom in on things in the VP and look closely at them but that‘s not how you are likely use it On a regular basis.

 

[Maven1975]

How about Flicker / PWM free displays?

There’s a free piece of valuable advice.

This reminder solution is blatant nonsense

 

[Jim Lahey]

Yep, it's all about how near or far your eye tries to focus on. Even if the display element is an inch away from you, the optics in a VR/AR headset makes it as if it's several inches to a few feet away and your eyes focus accordingly. That's what the lenses in the smartphone VR goggles like Google Cardboard does as well.

That being said, the timing of the availability of this feature is still amusing.

Mirrors also come to mind. Reflections of far away objects are out of focus for short sighted eyes, even if the mirror itself is right in front of you.

 

[RickDEGH]

I like the concept but in practice the full screen notification that won’t go away until you hold the phone further gets annoying really quickly. Wish it was just a pop up or something, not a full screen thing.

That’s why it’s optional. We’ve all used our phones the way we want to, without this. I don’t understand why knowing exactly what the feature does and yet choosing to enable it, and the feature working exactly as it is written it would makes it annoying.

 

[Séamus Boyle]

What about near sighted people? I take my glasses off to read and bring the phone towards my face. It got annoying and it was wrong after about 5 minutes.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Will be interesting to see if it makes a difference

 

[wanha]

Apple: Don't hold this device close to your face
Apple: Here's a device you can strap to your face

Isn't it great how both facts can be true at the same time? Different devices, different use cases, different instructions.

 

[wanha]

A "protect eyesight" warning could also be displayed every time the user watches porn 😜

 

[kerplunknet]

‎

 

[jimmy_uk]

If Apple really cared about our eyes, they would stop using PWM in their displays.

It's a shame MacRumors won't even acknowledge PWM and the eye-strain issues it causes.

Amen 👏👏👏👏👏👏

After reading this article it feels like Apple is rubbing salt in the wound. Perhaps they do care about our health, just not quite enough.....

Me: Hey, MacRumours. PWM and dithering is a debilitating issue for some users.
MacRumours: NEWS. Apple brings out another new iPhone/iPad/Macbook colour.......

 

[PassiveSmoking]

I was born with congenital eye defects that make me severely short-sighted. I have no choice but to hold the phone close to my face.

This better not become something you can't turn off otherwise I'm sudeenly going to find using an iPhone far too annoying, and ironically I prefer iPhones because they have had good accessibility support up to this point.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Screen Distance can be turned on in the Settings app under Screen Time

This better not become something you can't turn off otherwise

If you can turn it on, it can reasonable be assumed that you can turn it off.

 

[frou]

It's honestly too late for me.

Time to sue them for not adding this sooner

 

[ds2000]

RE: Comments vis-à-vis Vision Pro, this may not be as it seems. I understand it’s the focal length that is the driving factor, not the distance to the actual screen/s per se. This is evidenced by near sighted people still needing to wear their prescription when using VR/AR, despite the source of the image being inches from their eyes.

Leave the discussion o voice of reason
Anyone who has used AR and VR knows you're eyes are focussed well into the distance for a lot of it

 

[Jim Lahey]

Leave the discussion o voice of reason
Anyone who has used AR and VR knows you're eyes are focussed well into the distance for a lot of it

In fairness it’s pretty easy to erroneously draw the false equivalence between this and Vision Pro. Just thought it worthwhile pointing out, as many respondents understandably aren‘t aware 👍

 

[viktorhun]

Mit szólnál a Flicker / PWM mentes kijelzőkhöz?

Van egy ingyenes értékes tanács.

Ez az emlékeztető megoldás nyilvánvaló ostobaság

Buy Iphone SE3

 

[klasma]

how are they going to spin this with the Vision Pro?

The Vision Pro is different because there your eyes don’t focus on the displays, they focus on a point far behind the displays (the point you’re looking at in virtual 3D space). Your eyes effectively look through the displays, not at the display as with the iPhone, or any other single 2D display you look at with both eyes simultaneously.

It’s still funny they introduce that feature the same year as the headset.

 

[ItsMeMicke]

Great feature!

 

[downpour]

My eyesight is so bad that my comfortable reading distance for the iPhone is too close for FaceID to actually function lol.
I have to hold the phone further away where I can't actually read the screen for it to log me in, then move it closer.

As for Vision Pro messing up your eyesight... I believe research suggests a lack of sunlight (Vitamin D etc) causes myopia... bookish people tend to need glasses, not because of reading close, but because they aren't going outside enough. Vision Pro will definitely make this worse.

 

[aldo82]

As someone who is visually impaired and needs to hold my iPhone close to see it, I hope this is only ever an option that I can leave off and does not become default. I am sure it would be on constantly for me making my phone unusable as I have no choice but to hole my phone ‘too close’!

 

[downpour]

The Vision Pro is different because there your eyes don’t focus on the displays, they focus on a point far behind the displays (the point you’re looking at in virtual 3D space). Your eyes effectively look through the displays, not at the display as with the iPhone, or any other single 2D display you look at with both eyes simultaneously.

This is interesting. Does Vision Pro somehow simulate depth of field using 2D screens and eye-tracking?
If you look at a 'real' object close to you on the screen, will it come into focus? ...but then become blurry when you look at a distant object?

This seems like quite a complex trick to pull off perfectly as the speed at which people's eyes naturally refocus varies depending on age etc.

If you don't know what I mean try pointing an iPhone camera at a close object and notice how the background doesn't refocus just because you look at it (like it does in real life).