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m1ngw thanks for the suggestion. I’m trying greyscale now to see how it turns out. It’s ironic that the damn billion-color technology thing is forcing us to reduce colors as much as possible.
Eye strain with iOS 16 and iOS 17 - do NOT update iOS
4 days later
[deleted] I updated my iPad to iOS 17. At first it felt better than ios16.5 but I felt The Eye fatigue after prolonged usage. Guess I’m probably gonna keep my phone on iOS 15. Sucks that we’re stuck on older firmware :/
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You should feel lucky that you still have a device on iOS 15 to use. Many already updated and there are no going back now.
I don't believe any IOS moving forward is going to work well. Until they change screen technology to something more eye friendly, I don't think we really have a chance unfortunately.
6 days later
Can anyone with an iPhone SE 2020 confirm the gray-scale trick above has made the phone usable again?
I tried reducing the colour saturation using the greyscale option and it seems to help. unfortunately I need give the 13 mini back so I can't use it for much longer. I've never had a problem with the SE 2020 or SE 2022 phones though I still prefer the screen of the original SE. will see if I can get another mini
My 15 pro arrived yesterday. Desaturated the colours - no luck. Eyes felt like they were burning. Sorry Apple it’s going back. I will stick with the SE2022. Maybe I will try a 13 mini again with the return policy.
6 days later
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I’m on the ios 17.0.3 with iphone SE now. With ios 17, Apple seem to have already lost their mind in chasing billions of colors that they cranked up the color saturation all the way up and fked the color accuracy. The whole display and interface looks like cheap mobile phones for the poor people with no taste now.
And of couse it is still dithering like hell.
[deleted] changed the title to Having issues with iOS 16 and iOS 17 .
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Cozzyb The popular tricks that people use - greyscale and reduce white point - help to ease the discomfort a bit. Essentially what these tricks do are reducing the amplitude of light modulation (dithering of all phones, and PWM of those with OLED screens) so that we perceive less flickering.
Unfortunately it is not enough to make the problem go away because the dithering and PWM are still there. So if you are on iOS 15 backwards, just hold on to it. Don’t update.
[deleted] changed the title to Eye strain with iOS 16 and iOS 17 - do NOT update iOS .
5 months later
Anyone on iOS 16.2? I feel like that's at least useable for me on the iPhone XR. I don't really get eye discomfort using it. My iPhone 8 is still on iOS 14 though, and I feel like it's superior in terms of eye comfort. Just a shame a lot of apps don't even work on iOS 14 anymore.
I'm on 16.1.1 on my SE 2022
Take a look at my post here:
Based on testing quite a few devices it seems that something changed between iOS 16.1.1 and iOS 16.3.1. (but to be fair I didn't test an XR)
- Edited
Right from what you wrote, seems like something took a wrong turn between 16.1.1 and 16.3.1, but the problem update could've been 16.3 and not 16.2
Is it temporal dithering that's added?
Well, for better or worse, I can use my iPhone XR with 16.2 indefinitely. But I don't know if I have really bad eyestrain compared to everyone here. I mainly suffer from PWM; I might be able to tolerate dithering to some extent.
I think my wife's laptop is on the latest version of windows 11 (I guess since it automatically updates) and I can use it without issues. I heard that dithering was added at some point.
sakraycore the temporal dithering was added in iOS 17.1.2(i have some proof IMO)
it seems its another effect which cause your eye strain.
- Edited
I don't have eyestrain with 16.2 and iPhone XR.
Edit: Can I please see the proof that temporal dithering was added in iOS 17.1.2 though?
sakraycore flickersense.org has testing data with a iPhone SE with dithering esp with using dark mode, night shift or reduce white point. I'm sure it's the same on every other device. Apple uses dcip3 and I'm sure these panels are cheap ones
Yep. I suppose it could have changed at different points for different phones as well. I haven't tried an XR in a long time but weirdly I seem to remember that when it came out I tried it and I was not comfortable with the screen. It wasn't the severe symptoms I got when I tried the first OLED iPhone X but it wasn't comfortable either. Back then I kept my iPhone 7 and then eventually upgraded to the SE 2020 which was perfect for my eyes.
This is all super confusing.
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It feels like the colors are more vibrant. Maybe that's why.
To be fair, I mostly use my iPhone XR just to play Genshin Impact and watch anime though. And for those purposes it's okay.
I do remember my iPhone XR being slightly more comfortable while on iOS 15 though. Made the mistake of upgrading to iOS 16 one day. And while it's still fine, there is some difference. It's the sort of thing I can adapt to and doesn't make me feel bad at the end though.