MacOS Catalina Bug

Tourdi

@testesttest8889 I confirm, Flux doesn't work correctly on my MacBook Pro 13-inch 2019 with Catalina OS. It flash and look very weird... Closing flux and everything return to normal...

herf

Can someone also test turning off True Tone? A conflict there would make sense, since it's only on the newer models.

bnodvin

2018 MacBook Pro 13-inch with Catalina OS and True Tone off still causes the flashing and colors/temp to look off

_Paul

Yep, True Tone is disabled.

mallardduck

Same issue here. Flux also causes OSX to prompt to grant screen recording permissions. I suspect the latter is just due to the API it uses, but perhaps failing to grant it is what's causing the problem?

herf

This should only be in the about box, which we use to estimate screen brightness. Could add a button you'd have to push if it's too alarming.

makkesebbe

F.lux didn't work for me either when I installed Catalina, but when I ticked "true tone" box it started working normally again.

herf

Anyone with "Feedback Assistant" please send a note to Apple for us?

Has to be done on a machine that's affected, and we haven't bought a new MBP yet. :)

_Paul

Just a small report from me - everything works now. I haven't changed anything nor updated something, yet it started to work normally again. Maybe this is only in the first few hours after upgrading?

herf

@_paul Okay so maybe this is a True tone conflict, it just takes some time to actually turn off?

testesttest8889

Still experiencing same problem, turning of True Tone/Auto Brightness didn't help

arthurio

For me it works when my external display is plugged in. As soon as I unplug it everything starts flickering and the color filter is only showing around the UI elements, on and off.

As other mentioned, True tone and auto brightness don't change a thing.

ssully

Same issue on MBP 15,4. Haven't yet noticed the problem on iMac 18,3 with additional external display.

For what it's worth, a system restart fixes this bug for me, at least until a subsequent sleep/wake cycle. (Merely restarting f.lux does not fix the bug, though obviously the flashing effect ceases when f.lux is disabled.)

NYCortex

In case it helps this is happening on my macbook pro since installing Catalina. It also happens with another similar app called Iris.

mallardduck

Have true tone disabled, have night shift disabled, and no external monitor. With flux running the screen flickers and changes color on a regular/random basis.

Have the issue with both stock and custom profiles. It's definitely a flux/catalina incompatibility. Now, on who's end I can't say :-).

bnodvin

any update on whether this will be fixed?

herf

@bnodvin we do not have a workaround.

As above, anyone with "Feedback Assistant" please send a note to Apple for us?

_Paul

And it's back again after installing the latest update. :-(

herf: Any way to get that feedback app without being a developer?

xstfc

I'm seeing this issue as well. In case it's helpful, here's a short (1 min.) video to give you an idea what's happening. As you can see onscreen in the video, both True Tone and automatic brightness are already disabled.

https://imgur.com/a/EMWNknw

herf

Two things:

How many of you have a dual-GPU mac, vs. integrated only?
Does it help (in either case) to enable writeProfile using these instructions?
https://justgetflux.com/news/2014/10/28/profile.html

defaults write org.herf.Flux writeProfile 1

If this is happening mostly on discrete GPU macs, it's possible that the new security parameters in Catalina are preventing f.lux from noticing it's a dual GPU machine (which I had not considered before).