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?!
Is anyone having issues with iOS 15?
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
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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.
I briefly had my 6s (which is fine for me) on 15 and then reverted it to 14.8 when I still could. It didn't cause me eye strain, but the screen did look dimmer at all brightness levels (if that makes any sense) and had sort of a green/grey hue to it. This went away when I went back to 14.8. I haven't tried any versions of 15 past 15.0 because I won't be able to switch back at this point. I switched back to 14 because of bugs and performance issues, not eye strain. The 6s supports 15, but it doesn't run as well as 14 in general on that hardware.
On 15, what was normally a white background seemed fuzzier, more grey, and not static.
Clokwork
I do understand that and I would love to help, but so far that was the only complaint about upgrade among the people who discuss eyestrain problems with me, so I can't propose them to join to A/B test. There's not enough tech for that.
Theoretically all the big changes in dimming algorithms should be visible on camera.
I feel like I spam this on a lot of these posts, but is everyone affecting making use of 'reduce white point' on their IOS devices?
I have an Iphone 8 and an Ipad 6 (? 2018 model I think) and I cannot use either unless I have reduce white point set to its first setting, 25% as it makes everything just slightly dimmer. (this has been on all Ios versions) - the SE2 I couldnt use at all and the XR I also couldnt use at all even with reduce white point.
Just reducing the brightness alone does not help me and without the reduce white point I'll get a 'migraine' (I dont think its a migraine but my doctors tell me this is a migraine) with symptoms starting with difficulty focussing on the screen, pain in my eyes that moves to the centre of my head (inside) and then pain, this takes a day or more to go away if I persist in use, I'll feel odd for a while even after a few seconds exposure without it set (I've just done it, my eyes feel weird and I can feel a slight pain in the middle of my head inisde) but with reduce white point I can use the devices all day on 14.8 and 13. something.
I;ve got an 8+ I'm going to test on ios 15 shortly once I've backed it up.
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HAL9000 'reduce white point'
This trick should help with my type of problem (it is connected to some sort of light quality) but not with any FRC/dithering related problems.
I doubt that they simply increased contrast or white brightness in iOS 15.
Reducing white point does not simply makes screen dimmer, it also decreases contrast.
Still worth trying, anyway, at least as some sort of test.
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Edit: I am one of the few that is affected by certain screens and certain devices flicker in whatever way they do it be it PWM or dithering or unknown, others are likely different but reduce white point helps me.
Yes, it likely wont affect any dithering etc but if you're affected by 'both' it can help as the brightness is quite bright, its hard for me to describe I perceive it as the colors are too bright even on the dimmest setting, however reduce white point makes the colors less intensive and easier on my eyes.
Personally I believe the CPU/GPU on the Iphone 8 / 8+ and older do not do any dithering / as much dithering but iphones from the XR onwards DO. (I say dithering but whatever it is doing that also casuses the migraine)
(but then again who's to say the screens are not different as well)
However the iphone SE2 is essentially an Iphone 8 with the insides of an Iphone 11 and it is not usable by myself as I believe the A13 chip is doing dithering / SOMETHING that causes me migraine when using, even on lowest brightness setting with reduce white point and other acessibility options it is not usable by myself.
Another thought I had, say dithering is essentially flickering /flashing a pixel color to simulate / trick the eyes/brain into seeing a different color, if this was very bright flashing would it be worse than if it was much dimmer but still flashing?
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HAL9000 its hard for me to describe I perceive it as the colors are too bright even on the dimmest setting, however reduce white point makes the colors less intensive and easier on my eyes.
Yep, the same for me. But it doesn't help completely and it seems that results of reducing white point differ from device to device. The same with reducing contrast.
I do not know if dithering have any influence on you, but I covered my Samsung S20 FE with 7 layers of screen protectors and I still see a white veil above it. Not even a brightness, or a piercing white, but a literal white veil. Doesn't seem to be connected to dithering, I also tried to look through the 2 and 10 centimeters of oil. The pressure is still there. (While the screen is hardly visible through the oil).
I do not know enough about dithering to tell if reducing white point can affect it. I doubt, but as I said, still worth a try.