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Did iOS 15 UI cause anyone visual discomfort?

J

Jclok

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2021
44
22
I have 2 iPad Pro 10.5 (2nd gen). I updated one to iOS 15 when it was pushed and within a few minutes, I didn’t feel comfortable looking at the screen. I let my eyes rest and tried again with no luck. I went back to my other iPad on 14.7 and had no issues. Did anyone else have issues going to version 15? the 15.3.1 update didn’t help. It makes me feel the same way the iPhone 12 and 13 do in stores.

This is not a medical condition. Trust me, I’ve exhausted those resources.
 
Yeah, it looks a bit different. I have a feeling something has changed in True Tone and Auto Brightness settings.
 
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twdawson said:
I never mentioned iPads
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Not you, but OP.
Point is, his iPad Pro behaves strange and your X does, yet your SE doesn’t.
Well
Andrew73875 said:
Yeah, it looks a bit different. I have a feeling something has changed in True Tone and Auto Brightness settings.
Click to expand...
that seems to be what it is. True Tone and/or Autobrightness seem to mess with Promotion and OLED displays now to a point where they become uncomfortable to use.
I’d suggest writing letters to the software development department at Apple, that would be the best way to get attention, because the Feedback app doesn’t even cut it with bugs, let alone things like these.
I don’t think that what you’re experiencing is known in Cupertino and therefore won’t be fixed, but writing letters, hopefully at least 2 no less, shows that it is a serious issue for some people that need it taken care of.
If you do write letters, feel free to show them to us here, too. I myself have some things I’d like to let the folks in Cali know but never got around to send them anything. Maybe I’ll find the motivation then.
 
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Auto-brightness on my iPhone 13 Pro Max (iOS 15.3.1) and on my iPad Air 2020 (iPadOS 15.3.1) are both screwed up IMO. Auto-brightness is supposed to learn your preferences over time, but it seems to be learning absolutely nothing on my iPad Air 2020 and very little on my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I’m probably going to switch off Auto-brightness on both if it doesn’t improve soon.

On another note, the new changes to iPadOS in 15.x truly suck. Apple’s moronic programmers screwed up more than they fixed…
 
The fact that the iPad and iPhones don't have the same screen tech is what throws me off. I know Apple is really tied to the P3 color gamut. This exceeds what an 8 bit panel can show natively so there has to be some sort of FRC used to change colors quickly to fool the eyes. Maybe their algorithm changed for this? I have no idea. What I do know is that I can't use any of Apple's current devices.
 
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w5jck said:
Auto-brightness on my iPhone 13 Pro Max (iOS 15.3.1) and on my iPad Air 2020 (iPadOS 15.3.1) are both screwed up IMO. Auto-brightness is supposed to learn your preferences over time, but it seems to be learning absolutely nothing on my iPad Air 2020 and very little on my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I’m probably going to switch off Auto-brightness on both if it doesn’t improve soon.
Maybe try doing a auto-brightness calibration.
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Maybe try calibrating the auto-brightness.

wccftech.com

How to Calibrate Auto Brightness on iPhone and iPad

Here's how you can calibrate the Auto Brightness feature on your iPhone and iPad properly for the perfect display brightness.
wccftech.com wccftech.com
 
I wish auto brightness was my issue. I am trying to find what has changed, but it's something visual that my brain doesn't like.
 
Could it be related to ProMotion? Perhaps try disabling that to see if it has any effect. (Settings -> Accessibility -> Motion -> Limit Frame Rate)

Or maybe the parallax effect? (Settings -> Accessibility -> Motion -> Reduce Motion)

Also, have a look in the ‘Display & Text Size’ accessibility settings to see if there’s anything in there that might help you narrow down the cause. For example: Reduce Transparency, Color Filters (could make everything grayscale if you wanted to test your theory about the colors), or White Point (reduce the intensity of bright colors).
 
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Jclok said:
I have 2 iPad Pro 10.5 (2nd gen). I updated one to iOS 15 when it was pushed and within a few minutes, I didn’t feel comfortable looking at the screen. I let my eyes rest and tried again with no luck. I went back to my other iPad on 14.7 and had no issues. Did anyone else have issues going to version 15? the 15.3.1 update didn’t help. It makes me feel the same way the iPhone 12 and 13 do in stores.

This is not a medical condition. Trust me, I’ve exhausted those resources.
Click to expand...

Jclok said:
The fact that the iPad and iPhones don't have the same screen tech is what throws me off. I know Apple is really tied to the P3 color gamut. This exceeds what an 8 bit panel can show natively so there has to be some sort of FRC used to change colors quickly to fool the eyes. Maybe their algorithm changed for this? I have no idea. What I do know is that I can't use any of Apple's current devices.
Click to expand...
Yuppers. It’s the temporal dithering. It’s either PWM with OLED, or temporal dithering with LCD. Both cause eye strain/pain for people sensitive to it.

I’m guessing that they are attempting to address it with an update, but the tweak has affected you for the worse. Give em’ hell with an Apple Feedback.

I’ve had more luck with this 13 mini, than the 12 mini, so I’m one that thinks they’re testing things out to find what works… Using us as lab rats. But, it probably happens more often in life than anyone would care to know. ?‍♂️

(Check out “iPhone X causes eye strain” thread to dive down the rabbit hole to really understand all of the nonsense Apple is putting people through.)
TDDM said:
Keep in mind that this is just my personal theory, but it‘s the closest I’ve come to any kind of answer. I found a good general explanation of what temporal dithering is:

Temporal dithering (FRC – Frame Rate Control)
FRC (Frame Rate Control) or temporal dithering, as explored by Lagom, describes rapid alternation between a very slightly lighter and very slightly darker variant of a given shade. This is done where the shade itself can’t be displayed, for example if the monitor does not have the necessary bit-depth to display that shade. The GPU may also add its own dithering stage, so even if a monitor is free from dithering (e.g. ‘true 8-bit’ rather than 6-bit + 2-bit FRC) there may be some dithering visible. It is therefore very difficult to achieve a viewing experience entirely free from dithering, but it’s certainly minimised if the monitor itself doesn’t use dithering. This can be thought of as a form of flickering, although it is very different to the flickering you get from PWM whereby there are extreme brightness changes of the entire backlight. This is a minute luminance change that affects certain shades, so most users will not find this problematic even if they are sensitive to PWM usage. Some users still take issue with dithering usage and prefer that it is taken out of the equation, or at least minimised.
Click to expand...
 
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Jclok said:
I wish auto brightness was my issue. I am trying to find what has changed, but it's something visual that my brain doesn't like.
Click to expand...
Yep, I'm 100% sure that *something* changed graphics-wise between 14.6 and 14.8. I've been able to use my iPhone 8+ and iPad 7th Gen on 14.6 (and lower) for years now with no issues whatsoever. I updated them both to 14.8 and immediately started noticing the usual symptoms I get from flicker.

After this, I bought a replacement 8+ and iPad 7th Gen on eBay that were both on 14.6, they're totally fine to use.


JM said:
I’m guessing that they are attempting to address it with an update, but the tweak has affected you for the worse. Give em’ hell with an Apple Feedback.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

I would absolutely suggest that everyone with this issue should reach out to accessibility@apple.com or call them at 1-877-204-3930. I sent an email with details regarding my health issues (Binocular Vision Dysfunction), as well as specific information about what I was having trouble with (For me, it was the changes between the A11 and A12 chip as well as the changes from 14.6 to 14.8).

I've sent a few of these in the past, but for the first time ever, they actually responded and asked for more detail. I don't know if they're starting to pay more attention to flicker, but I think it's a good sign that they appear to be taking an interest in our issues.
 
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@TDDM our issues seem quite similar. I will have to remember to call that number. Regarding the changes, I was hopeful I could keep my current hardware and just update with newer features, but currently, they've made that a very bad decision for me. I truly wonder what they changed to cause issues.

@JM I have been following the possibility of either PWM or FRC being the issue for quite sometime (or both). I want to be able to quantify this somehow but I find detecting and measuring FRC to be tough. From my understanding, they have to be using temporal dithering to obtain P3 colors though. That said, my iPhone X claims the same color space and I have no issue with it (iOS 14.7).

Color Spaces

From what I read from different sources, P3 relates to 10-bit color. Unless iPhone X and succeeding OLED panels are natively 10-bit, they have to be dithering (FRC).

This leaves me leaning towards PWM or another source of low frequency flicker. I actually hope this is the issue as it seems easier and more likely something manufactures would be willing to change rather than giving us the option to downgrade their products color reproduction to sRGB.
 
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Jclok said:
@TDDM our issues seem quite similar. I will have to remember to call that number. Regarding the changes, I was hopeful I could keep my current hardware and just update with newer features, but currently, they've made that a very bad decision for me. I truly wonder what they changed to cause issues.

@JM I have been following the possibility of either PWM or FRC being the issue for quite sometime (or both). I want to be able to quantify this somehow but I find detecting and measuring FRC to be tough. From my understanding, they have to be using temporal dithering to obtain P3 colors though. That said, my iPhone X claims the same color space and I have no issue with it (iOS 14.7).

Color Spaces

From what I read from different sources, P3 relates to 10-bit color. Unless iPhone X and succeeding OLED panels are natively 10-bit, they have to be dithering (FRC).

This leaves me leaning towards PWM or another source of low frequency flicker. I actually hope this is the issue as it seems easier and more likely something manufactures would be willing to change rather than giving us the option to downgrade their products color reproduction to sRGB.
Click to expand...
I’ve seen old Dell’s from 10-15 years ago, and chromebooks from last three years, that certainly have LCD screens that have horrible flashing under slow-mo on my iPhone camera…. And they hurt my eyes the same way OLEDs do (and the current LCD screens on iPhone)
 
JM said:
I’ve seen old Dell’s from 10-15 years ago, and chromebooks from last three years, that certainly have LCD screens that have horrible flashing under slow-mo on my iPhone camera…. And they hurt my eyes the same way OLEDs do (and the current LCD screens on iPhone)
Click to expand...
To me that most definitely points to PWM (in my opinion).
 
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I had a slight issue with this with 60hz OLED screens, but not 90hz and 120hz.

I believe it has to do with the fact that LCD screens have a natural blur to them that hides the refreshes, but OLED, like old CRT monitors, does not.
 
no0nefamous said:
I had a slight issue with this with 60hz OLED screens, but not 90hz and 120hz.

I believe it has to do with the fact that LCD screens have a natural blur to them that hides the refreshes, but OLED, like old CRT monitors, does not.
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What's odd is I had zero issues with CRT or Plasma. My iPhone X is OLED as well and I can use it without issue (on version 14.7). According to RTINGS, the LG OLEDs have no PWM but just a very slight flicker at the refresh rate interval. I'd love to get to the bottom of this, but my issue may be split between separate issues since I feel discomfort in a similar fashion with one of my iPads that is updated to version 15.3.1.

I wish Plasmas didn't die out, but I can't change that. Looking to the future, it seems to push towards micro-LED which may or may not help with my issues. Supposedly they can turn on and off faster than current OLED implementations so with more definitive on/off and response times, this could worsen things. I'm not sure. I'm rambling at this point.
 
I bought an iPhone 11 to get rid of any PWM (using android device with cranked up brightness and Oled saver app before, as iPhones are completely out of question), but still getting eye strain (less than iPhone 13 pro, but eye strain nonetheless)…temporal dithering affects me too, apparently 😩
 
Mastrociambella said:
I bought an iPhone 11 to get rid of any PWM (using android device with cranked up brightness and Oled saver app before, as iPhones are completely out of question), but still getting eye strain (less than iPhone 13 pro, but eye strain nonetheless)…temporal dithering affects me too, apparently 😩
Click to expand...
I washed my X by mistake and it died. I got an Xs Max as a replacement and one thing I am finding is i get fatigue with this screen. They are both OLED and use the same if not similar display. Only main difference being the A1(whatever) silicon inside.

Display tech is being pushed too far currently IMO. I wonder what comes after OLED and mini LED? I miss CRT based tech. I miss Plasma heh.

Question, was bulb based backlighting ever easier on your eyes before LED backlighting was mainstream?
 
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