iPhone X OLED = less intense blue light?
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Hi all. :)
I originally posted on these forums a couple of years ago:
https://forum.justgetflux.com/topic/2674/iphone-6-macular-deg
I was having problems with my sight. My vision still continues to get worse. Recently in the news I saw that studies have finally confirmed that prolonged exposure to blue light does indeed destroy cells in the body, including cells in the eye, potentially leading to sight loss.
I was wondering if the new OLED screens (particularly in the iPhone X) were less blue light intensive than the old iPhone LED screens?
I saw a post from LG saying that their OLED screens cut blue light emissions by 2/3. However, I also saw that the iPhone X pushes out way more light that any previous iPhone LED screens (ultimately counteracting the effect).
Any thoughts or evidence on the web to expand on this?
Thanks everyone. :)
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Have you tried the iPhone iOS12 in-built feature Night Shit?
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Hi. Yes. I am running iOS 11 on an iPhone 8. I have night shift set to maximum and switched on all the time. I am jailbroken and was going to install f.lux via cydia but f.lux doesn’t appear to be compatible with iOS 11.
I just wondered if the new OLED screens were any better at cutting down blue light. I would swap to an iPhone X if so. :]
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I recommend that you set your brightness to something extremely low (along with using Night Shift), and you should also enable the setting called "Reduce White Point". This setting is in General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations. I recommend a much higher setting for this than the default of 25%. Even so, the default setting does reduce the White Point quite nicely.
In addition, keep Auto-Brightness disabled.
On the general Accessibility settings, you can also enable the setting called "Increase Contrast". This can help slightly counteract the decreased visibility that can be created when using a super low brightness with the White Point reduced and Night Shift enabled and set as warm as it goes.
If all of this seems like too much work to do every day, then ask Siri to do it for you. For example:
- "Hey Siri, enable Night Shift"
- "Hey Siri, set the brightness to 0%" (by the way, you can state brightness increments as small as 0.1%)
- "Hey Siri, open the Accessibility settings" (but you must set the settings)
- "Hey Siri, open Display Accommodations" (to which Siri will begin to state that this can't be done, but it's immediately interrupted by the action being taken correctly - I guess it's a small bug) - again, you must set the settings. These are settings that Siri can't configure for you on command.
Note: I'm using iOS 12.0 and I haven't used any previous version of iOS (I got my first iPhone 2 weeks ago), so I don't know if what I"m describing above is only possible in iOS 12.
Another note: I have an iPhone 6s. To explain why I didn't get a higher model, I got it for free from my parents thanks to an awesome upgrade deal they took advantage of through Xfinity Mobile.
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We think they are a lot brighter, see this article:
https://justgetflux.com/news/2018/02/16/OLED.htmlAnd absolutely keep automatic brightness turned on.
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Thank you all for your responses.
I had not changed the white point intensity in my options before. I have switched it on now and will play about with its slider setting over time.
So basically, the answer I am looking for is, DO NOT change to an OLED iPhone, as it kicks out an even higher amount of light energy (including the blue light section of the spectrum). This is disappointing for me. I had hoped the newer/different technology might have been a healthier option. Oh well. I am going to have to be very strict from now on and drastically reduce my device screen time.... until, that is, a new safer technology comes about.
Thanks again everyone. :)
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@herf said in iPhone X OLED = less intense blue light?:
We think they are a lot brighter, see this article:
https://justgetflux.com/news/2018/02/16/OLED.htmlAnd absolutely keep automatic brightness turned on.
There are 3 problems that are created when Automatic Brightness is enabled:
- The brightness can become higher than you'd like it to be if you are trying to keep a low brightness 24/7. This is especially important for people who are extra sensitive.
- Similarly, the brightness can become lower than you'd like it to be at times, and this can become quite irritating. I mean, it can become quite irritating to have the brightness changing at times when you'd rather it stayed bright or stayed dim. I personally hate how Automatic Brightness will give me the opposite kind of brightness levels that I want sometimes. It's not that I don't understand the reason for the change, it's that it's sometimes not the brightness I want.
- Automatic Brightness also uses battery power every single time it's activated by changes in detected light levels. I think it's also reasonable to assume that it's constantly using battery power in order to be constantly detecting the ambient light level.
I fully understand why you recommend keeping it enabled though because it's probably best for most people, but I would strongly disagree that it's best for everyone to keep it enabled.
@c-t-e said in iPhone X OLED = less intense blue light?:
Thank you all for your responses.
I had not changed the white point intensity in my options before. I have switched it on now and will play about with its slider setting over time.
So basically, the answer I am looking for is, DO NOT change to an OLED iPhone, as it kicks out an even higher amount of light energy (including the blue light section of the spectrum). This is disappointing for me. I had hoped the newer/different technology might have been a healthier option. Oh well. I am going to have to be very strict from now on and drastically reduce my device screen time.... until, that is, a new safer technology comes about.
Thanks again everyone. :)
Don't worry about any problems from getting the iPhone X because you can keep the brightness set low, keep Night Shift enabled (and set it to the warmest color temperature), and enable "Reduce White Point".
Automatic Brightness can be nice, but not if you want a nice low unchanging brightness 24/7 (that is, a nice "safe" brightness 24/7). It also uses more battery power. Think about it: it has to use battery power in order to adjust the brightness. Not only that, but I think it's reasonable to assume there's battery power constantly being used in order to constantly detect the ambient light level.
You can also invert the colors at night in addition to all of the other adjustments, using either the Smart Invert or Classic Invert (in General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Invert Colors).
If you do end up getting an iPhone X, I recommend getting in the habit of holding it further away from your eyes. After all, it's a bigger and much more 'alerting' display. Not only that, but you can change settings to make text larger or to make everything larger. I understand though that the only reason you asked about it was in hopes that OLED might be a 'safer' display technology. Even so, with how awesome the iPhone X looks to be, I think it would be worth it. After all, it's not like you have to have alerting display settings! Right?
So, I see nothing wrong with the iPhone X as long as you use "safe" display settings (and it sounds to me like you would personally need to). And, again, you can also keep 'Reduce White Point' enabled, and you can also keep Night Shift enabled. I will say it again and again though: Automatic Brightness should be disabled if you want a nice low 'safe' brightness 24/7 - or if you want to stay in control over the brightness level. With how extremely easy it is to adjust the brightness with Siri's help, and with the fact that disabling Automatic Brightness will result in a longer battery life (in between charges), I see nothing wrong with disabling it.
When I have Automatic Brightness enabled, I find it to be quite irritating because sometimes it sets the brightness to a level that I don't want or like for whatever I'm doing at that exact moment! So, I find it to be MUCH better to keep it disabled so that I have full control over my display's brightness. It kind of reminds me of the way my car will automatically change the speaker volume depending on my current speed. I hate that, so I have it turned off.
You might have noticed that iOS says that leaving Automatic Brightness disabled might use more battery power. That can only be true if you prefer to use a very high brightness setting (and many people do). After all, Automatic Brightness tries to give you the lowest brightness setting that's needed based on the currently detected ambient light level. However, for someone who wants or needs a very low brightness setting 24/7, all the automatic adjusting of the brightness and constant detection of the ambient light level is just an unnecessary drain on the battery.
For everyone else, maybe Automatic Brightness is a good thing. Personally, I keep Automatic Brightness disabled because I prefer to be in control over what the brightness is, and I never forget to use a lower brightness when it's time to begin avoiding alerting light. So for me, it's not an issue to leave it disabled.
One last thing: if I could afford to buy an iPhone X, then I would, even though it has a much more 'alerting' display because I know how to (and I prefer to) control my brightness manually. Even with the "less alerting" or "safer" display of the iPhone 6s, I can still easily feel in my eyes and my body how important it is for me to use a much lower brightness and warmer color temperature during the last few hours of my day before going to sleep. Not only does the display actually seem to be too bright during this time, but I can feel it. I get an almost overwhelming desire to either turn it off or reduce the brightness and set a warm color temperature. I don't need iOS to do any of the thinking for me when it comes to my display brightness. I know what brightness I want and/or what brightness is best for me at any given time. Therefore, my battery drain is lower than it would be if I had Automatic Brightness enabled.
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Hi....I was having issues with my sight. My vision actually keeps on deteriorating. As of late in the news I saw that reviews have at long last affirmed that drawn out presentation to blue light does without a doubt devastate cells in the body, remembering cells for the eye, conceivably prompting sight misfortune.
I was contemplating whether the new OLED screens (especially in the iPhone X) were less blue light serious than the old iPhone LED screens?
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I would recommend seeing an eye doctor if it's been a while - there is no substitute for being properly corrected (glasses or contacts), and you can perhaps use a bigger screen with better lighting in the room.
We are not sure that any light from screens has a permanent effect on the retina, at least in the ways reported in the news. But even if so, OLED is not that much different - so you should use whatever is more comfortable.
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Old post but yes. OLED displays on average produce 50-70% less blue light than LCD panels because it's not backlit by LEDs. The new Samsung Galaxy OLED displays produce only 6.5% blue light. I'm not sure about the Apple iPhone displays. However OLED displays are also known to flicker more and especially those made by Samsung. The catch22 is that this flicker of OLED is more noticeable at lower brightness levels, which have been reported to cause eyestrain and headaches to sensitive users. So you have to keep the screen close to full brightness at all times for it to look good which is also not great for your eyes. MicroLED is the next technology that is said to replace OLED and it could produce even better results.
If you are concerned about eye sensitivity, I would get a blue light blocking screen protector. The Night Shift mode used by Apple doesn't actually reduce blue light which gives users the false sense of security at night which may actually be worse. I keep a plastic shield in front of my computer screen and use a screen protector that blocks out blue light. Just read the reviews to make sure it's legit. The ironic part is, CRT's still produce the least amount of blue light with least amount of flicker.
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Hi @BenKlesc - thanks for the post. You are correct about flicker, since most OLED panels today flicker at around 240Hz. I also appreciate the comment about brightness, since this is perhaps the biggest factor that determines how much light people see.
However, the information you're posting about blue light is not correct. A few years ago, several companies would pick a range of wavelengths and see how much power was in a particular range, but there is no agreed-upon range like this used in the scientific literature, or in an international standard. Numbers like "6.5% blue light" do not have a "standard" meaning - this is mainly marketing that does not have a physiological basis.
That leaves three metrics to consider: s-cone activation, melanopsin activation, and a purported "blue light hazard":
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Any screen (and especially one with a wide color gamut) can produce intense blue, and this is just a fact about univariance in the cones. So if you are talking about the visual sensation of "blue" there is no difference in which wavelength is used: the s-cones will see this light the same way.
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On a melanopic level, OLEDs today make about 23% more blue-green light than do LED backlights. So there is no advantage to OLED in this regard.
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Some people are using the IEC-62471 "blue light hazard" factor, but these hazards are intended for use with extremely bright lights (like lasers) above about 10,000 cd/m2 (more than any screen today), so I think the methodology is improperly used. Still, even on this level, OLED is only about 10-15% lower "hazard factor" - a very small number, since these effects happen over orders of magnitude. If you think there is a blue light hazard due to screens, you'd want to change it by 90% or more (f.lux does). In contrast, most of the filters using this metric today make very minor changes (5-15%). But it's important to say that currently, we think even the use of this metric is inappropriate, given what it was designed to measure, which is extremely high levels of light.
We have some measurements of various devices online here:
https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPhone X/6500K-iPhone X -
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@herf That's a much better explanation than I have ever read. Thank you. When you mention, "most of the filters using this metric today make very minor changes (5-15%)" are you referring to physical filters that are placed in front of screens?
I'm not sure how accurate this is below. Would you also suggest that changing the color temperature of your screen in software like f.lux would reduces blue light? You mention that f.lux reduces blue light spectrum by 90%. It's that simple to mitigate exposure that you really don't need to purchase any external filter?
This was the confusing text I read...
Does Apple’s Night Shift feature block blue light?
"While it’s a significant step in the right direction, Apple’s feature doesn’t efficiently block all blue light. While any reduction in the intensity or duration of blue light is helpful, it’s important that people look to other means to protect their baby blues."
Then they resort to going on a pitch about the wonders of blue light blocking glasses. In regards to 380-420 nm. Of course whether blue light is harmful for your vision at these levels or not is another debate I won't claim to have done much research about. It is nice though to consider the options out there and if these options are actually doing what they say they do.
This is also the article I read on Samsung where the company is touting what you mention as marketing sales pitch because there is no standard?
Samsung Says New OLEDs Emit Less Blue Light, Are ‘5G-Optimized’
"Still, most smartphone makers are still in the “blue light bad” mindset, and Samsung says its new OLED panels emit 70 percent less blue light than the previous ones. The new OLED panel technology emits just 6.5 percent blue light versus 7.5 percent in the last-gen models. That’s also about 70 percent less than current LCD panels, which emit more blue light as a consequence of their backlight technology. Samsung says the panel has earned a certification of “Eye Care Display” from SGS in Switzerland."
It is all very confusing like you say if you say there is no standard out there.
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Yes really there are two markets: eyewear manufacturers (including BluTech, from your link) have started filtering a little bit of light, but usually these wavelengths really don't make a big difference for computer screens. BluTech is unique because you can see the difference, so it does more than most.
Also, there are efforts to make screen covers, or to move the blue primary over a bit or to change screen spectrum by a tiny amount. There you find some self-described "standards" (no consensus standard) for blue-light safety in screens, with a ton of press about it. I like what they are doing for flicker, but the spectral changes cannot make much difference, and so the press around it seems very disingenuous:
Here are some examples:
- https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=filter/BluTech - this one makes a visible change
- https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=filter/ZAGG Visionguard - this one claims to help your eyes without making a visible change
Based on the numbers, changing the brightness of your screen by any amount at all will make a bigger difference than this kind of filter.
