I updated my 10.5 iPad Pro to version 15 and I feel like I can barely use the iPad anymore due to fatigue. I’ve tried to power through thinking it’s all in my head, but I go back to my other iPad still on 14.x and I’m fine. I can’t find anything in the change logs that mention color or PWM updates.
Has anyone else noticed anything similar?
Yep, I instantly noticed eye strain and fatigue when I went from 14.6 to 14.7 and beyond, iOS 15 included. I have no idea what they did, but there's definitely something different flicker-wise. I was unable to use my 8+ and iPad 7th Gen without these issues.
My solution was to go on eBay and buy an iPhone 8+ and iPad 7th Gen on 14.6 or lower, that's unfortunately the only answer right now.
Yep, it's incredibly frustrating. I resigned myself to being stuck on the outdated 8+ and iPad 7th gen, and now even those are going to be unusable, lol.
That's interesting though, I specifically noticed eye strain when I went to 14.8, I wonder why that version isn't giving you issues. I guess there really is just a range of flicker tolerance and it differs between all of us 
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I am attempting to rollback though it is not supported and unfortunately the 14.x versions are unsigned by apple, so I will see if this works. I called support and they are only tier 1. They were unhelpful unfortunately. I would really like to find a way to open a discussion with someone higher up.
I had the same, that was the moment i stopped using the 8, which was the only usable device for me. Unfortunatly there is no way to go back to older unsigned versions without saved blobs. Forget about that…
Using a poco m3 pro which is the only phone i found that is not giving me any problems.
Another misfortunate report in Russian (original post)
Just the other day I accidentally updated my ipad 5th gen to the latest ios 15.1 or 15.2 (thanks to Appple for the small non-swipeable banners with the early morning update). Before that, it was 14.1 for a long time. Now I feel mild discomfort.
And update in few days:
Feeling discomfort, don't want to use it and can't use it now.
Did anyone try "differentiate without color" as recommended in this post?
Clokwork Yup, exactly the same for me. My iPad Pro 12.9 was pretty good on all iPad Os’s prior to 15, but 15 causes me eyestrain/ cloudy head/ headache fairly quickly. Unexpected and unwelcome! Have tried various different setting including differentiate without colour, but no improvement for me. What ‘improvement’ did Apple make here?!
FNP7 Highly suggest calling Apple Accessibility! You speak to an actual human about this and the more noise we make, the more Apple will be inclined to do something.
Please call them!
I was starting to wonder if it was the newer hardware causing the issue, but the way I feel looking at my iPad Pro on iOS 15 is the exact same way I feel when I look at any current I-device. It was almost instantly familiar once the update was complete.
That said, I don't believe it to be specific to newer apple hardware. I truly believe it is all software related at this point.
ryans I’ve tried calling Apple on this a few years ago, without success. The support people have a script and generally seem to know far less about the specific problem here than we will, based on individual research, not helped by the facts that a) there is no accepted diagnosis for the issue and b) tens of millions of Apple users have a problem-free experience with its products and c) this isn’t an Apple-specific problem. If someone on here reports success from calling Apple, though, I’ll definitely try that again, but otherwise wouldn’t waste my time.
FNP7 @bkdo seems to have been taken seriously, see here. Worth a try.
upgraded to ios15 and felt the same. switching to dark mode and moving brightness to around 40% seems better
Mrak0020 I am trying to figure out what could have changed in the software that causes issues with some of us. I thought I was safe with my old device but apparently not.
I would love to A/B devices before and after iOS 15 with respect to PWM and FRC.
the iPhone 12 was known for low PWM frequency.
Pure speculation alert! Apple could have changed the dimming algorithms
Clokwork I thought I was safe with my old device but apparently not.
I remember back in 2014 when I upgraded iOS to 7.1 on my iPhone 4S. Before I could use it for an hour without problem, after I could use it some seconds. If I used it 30 seconds my eyes was hurting so much, and I had to rest my eyes. I found some more users on the Apples forum with same device and iOS that had same problem. Some months later when I updated iOS I could use it again, and their was some more users on the Apple forum that reported the same.
