Ever since I discovered F.lux for my desktop computer (F.lux helps get rid of of blue screen light at night from your computer monitor), I've been waiting for Apple to enable this functionality on the iPhone screen. Staring into a computer/phone screen with its bright blue-white light is not good for your eyes and can affect your circadian rhythms and make it harder to fall asleep night.
So after years of waiting on Apple, they have finally came out with Night Shift with the release of iOS 9.3. Night Shift on the iPhone uses device’s clock and geolocation to determine when it’s sunset in your location (or allows you to schedule a time period to automatically shift the colors of your display), then it will automatically shift the colors in your display to the warmer end of the spectrum. Then at sunrise in the morning, it will return the display color to its regular settings.
Enabling Night Shift on your iPhone can help you get a better night's sleep, since computer screens are typically designed to be bright like the sun, which is something you don't want to be looking into while you're winding down for the night just before going to sleep.
Without Night Shift enabled even the dimmest setting on the iPhone can still be too bright in a blacked out room, especially if your prone to look at your iPhone while in bed. So by using Night Shift on the iPhone or iPad you can automate the schedule of when to warm the light on your device.
Unfortunately, to use Night Shift mode, your Apple device must be running a newer 64-bit processor that was introduced in 2013. So Night Shift mode will not be available to use on older generation devices even if your upgrade your device to iOS 9.3. So you're out of luck if you have an iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPad 2, iPad (3rd/4th Gen), or iPad Mini (1st Gen), or iPod Touch 5G.
Night Shift mode will work on the latest devices and above, such as: iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad Pro, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPod Touch 6G.
Here's how to enable Night Shift mode on a iPhone or iPad capable device with iOS 9.3 or higher:
- To turn on Night Shift go to: Settings -> Display & Brightness -> Night Shift
- In the Night Shift section, turn on Scheduled by taping on the ON / OFF slider.
- Now tap on the "From To 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM" section. This will let you set a schedule to automate the Night Shift light between Sunset to Sunrise or create a Custom Schedule between a particular time period (the Night Shift default schedule is to Turn On at 10:00 PM and Turn Off at 7:00 AM).
- That's it!
Night Shift includes two additional features:
- The ability to Manually Enable Night Shift Until Tomorrow morning.
- As well as the ability to adjust the Night Shift screen color temperature to be Less Warm or More Warm.
You can also now access Night Shift on the fly from the Night Shift button on the iPhone Control Center. To open Control Center -> Swipe up from the bottom edge of any screen on iPhone. The new Night Shift button (is the Sun / Moon button), which will allow you to Turn On (or Turn off) Night Shift until the next morning or night (depending on your Night Shift automated schedule).