Night Shift: preventing eye strain and sleepless nights

Most of us are familiar with the jolt of turning your phone on in the middle of the night. That piercing ray of light, destroying your pupils and any chance of quickly falling back to sleep. There are even studies that show that most lighting with an abundance of blue tones (like the one emitting from your screen) can inhibit the production of melatonin and increase alerting effects; bad news for those with high anxiety, sensitive eyes or who already have trouble falling asleep.

Night Shift, a technology being integrated into iOS’s forthcoming software update, will allow you to control the temperature settings on your mobile device. Essentially, the color temperature of your phone, tablet or computer screen automatically adjusts to match the position of the sun in your location. In the daytime, your screen will be its bright, normal self as it competes with the sun. As the day progresses and the sun begins to set, blue tones will be replaced with those of redder hues to match the natural, fading light, similar to candlelight, fireplaces or that “mood” lighting intimate restaurants often employ. By eliminating the blue hues, the light your screen emits is more natural, easing some of those sleepless nights.

If you’re an early adopter, Night Shift is available in public beta and will be released officially in the iOS 9.3 update — your eyes will thank you.