How Effective Is The Apple Night Shift Feature?

Curious about whether blue light filters make a difference? 

We decided to dive into Apple's Night Shift feature and see how effective it is at reducing blue light exposure and protecting sleep.

Here's what we uncovered about its impact:

Apple Night Shift vs Blue Light

The negative effects of blue light on sleep have been well documented. At night, the electronic blue light from your devices switches the brain to daytime mode. Hence it causes the body to suppress its melatonin production - a key hormone that promotes sleep. As a result, our biological clocks are thrown off, which can lead to unhealthy consequences.

When Apple released the Night Shift feature with iOS 9.3, its goal was to reduce blue light from devices. This was intended to prevent disruptions to users' sleep patterns and protect their sleep quality.

However, recent research conducted by the Lighting Research Center shows the Night Shift blue light filter fell short of its expectations. Here is why:

How does the Apple Night Shift Blue Light Filter work?

To activate the Apple Night Shift feature on your device, the process is pretty simple:

• Access the “Settings” feature on the phone,
• Navigate to “Display and Brightness”
• Turn on the “Night Shift” mode
• Then, “Shift” the colors from less warm to warmer. The warmer the setting, the less blue light your device will emit resulting in less sleep interference.

Sounds plausible. However, when 12 young adults were recruited for a study to test it out, the results were less than promising.

The study examined three different settings on the iPad:

• Night Shift disabled,
• Night Shift set to a warmer tone,
• Night Shift set to a less warm tone.

Although the Night shift mode did make some difference, the results showed that all three settings suppressed the melatonin production, rather than regulating it. No wonder it was causing such a buzz!

What explains these disappointing results?

It’s not the light's color spectrum that affects sleep; it’s its brightness. Although the Night Shift blue light filter was making the screen color warmer, it didn't tone down its intensity, which was precisely the cause of sleep disruption. As a result, the blue light filter was virtually useless in helping users restore their natural sleep patterns.

The Apple Night Shift blue light filter is not the only blue light filter out there with questionable results in their effectiveness. You might have heard of F.lux as well. You can discover more about its effectiveness here.

How effective are blue light blocking apps?

Unfortunately, they don’t work as a proper filter. They can only reduce the blue light instead of filtering or blocking it.

Why do we need proper filters to protect our eyes from blue light exposure? Because ALL screens have this problem called backlight bleeding which means your monitor will still “bleed” light from the backlight and around the edges. That excess light isn’t picked up by f.lux, Night Shift or any other blue light apps as they are essentially offering a software solution to a hardware problem.

The problem is that these apps can’t eliminate but only reduce blue light exposure. Therefore, your eyes can still get strained when you use these blue light filtering apps.

Unfortunately, that’s not the only problem we’ve identified with blue light filter apps. Blue light is not only released by our smartphones and computers, but also by our TVs and all sources of artificial light.

While these apps are certainly a step in the right direction, it definitely falls short to solve the problem completely. In fact, this study indicates that “less than 1 lux of monochromatic light elicited a significant suppression of nocturnal melatonin”.

To reevaluate your lighting strategies is no longer an option but a necessity to ensure maximum health.

What is the optimal solution to blocking blue light?

At Swanwick, we focus on creating products that not only block harmful blue light but also support your overall well-being and performance.

The key to protecting your eyes lies in your eyewear. Swannies are the only blue light blocking glasses scientifically proven to improve sleep and boost productivity.

We offer a variety of styles for both day and night protection. See more here.

You might also want to read this helpful article about F.lux.