Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[MICHAELSD]

First two and half weeks with iPhone 13 Pro was fine. But the last two or three days have been a nightmare of bad eye strain and muscle spasms on right eye as well as a lot of muscle pain around eyes onto head. Not sure how much is due to the phone and how much is due to me being past due on my eye test for reading glasses and distance due to the pandemic. Thinking of swapping back to my iPhone 11 Pro to see if that helps. Be a shame as that has a failing battery and this is a good phone which I am still paying for.

Any suggestions anyone on this?

I had a similar experience with iPhone 13 Mini. First two weeks using it mostly at night were okay, then eventually it started hitting me with the usual PWM symptoms. My only tangible suggestion would be to think about if your use or environment changed in the past few days, and if that would affect the brightness level or eye strain. I’ve also found caffeine can temporarily mitigate headaches.

 

[m4chin3]

I got an iPhone 13 Pro a couple weeks ago and immediately was thrown off as I had eye strain/trouble focusing/nausea/headaches. This has never happened to me with any phone so I searched online if anyone else was having this issue. Stumbled across this forum a few days ago and the topic of PWM sensitivity. Never even knew this was a thing but I guess that explains it..

What I am confused about is that my last phone, a Galaxy S9, gave me no trouble whatsoever. Any idea why this may be?

Anyways, I returned the Pro and got a regular 13 to test out a few days ago. Definitely much better than the Pro for me but I am still getting some bad eyestrain after some extended use. Not sure if I should even bother testing the Mini or going up to a Pro Max but I would love to stay with a new iOS phone. The consensus seems like the only fairly new option would be an 11.

Anyone have any luck with the 12 line-up or the 11 Pro's?

 

[super chimp]

I got an iPhone 13 Pro a couple weeks ago and immediately was thrown off as I had eye strain/trouble focusing/nausea/headaches. This has never happened to me with any phone so I searched online if anyone else was having this issue. Stumbled across this forum a few days ago and the topic of PWM sensitivity. Never even knew this was a thing but I guess that explains it..

What I am confused about is that my last phone, a Galaxy S9, gave me no trouble whatsoever. Any idea why this may be?

Anyways, I returned the Pro and got a regular 13 to test out a few days ago. Definitely much better than the Pro for me but I am still getting some bad eyestrain after some extended use. Not sure if I should even bother testing the Mini or going up to a Pro Max but I would love to stay with a new iOS phone. The consensus seems like the only fairly new option would be an 11.

Anyone have any luck with the 12 line-up or the 11 Pro's?

I had an 11 Pro for over two years with very little issue. Hence why I am thinking of going back to it.

 

[super chimp]

I had a similar experience with iPhone 13 Mini. First two weeks using it mostly at night were okay, then eventually it started hitting me with the usual PWM symptoms. My only tangible suggestion would be to think about if your use or environment changed in the past few days, and if that would affect the brightness level or eye strain. I’ve also found caffeine can temporarily mitigate headaches.

What confused me is I thought these kind of issue hit pretty quickly not with this kind of delay in the issue.

 

[super chimp]

Do Android phones suffer from this issue less?

 

[Newjack171]

Do Android phones suffer from this issue less?

Maybe. I've never had a problem with their AMOLED screens. It's just iphone oleds that seem to cause me some discomfort.

 

[jimmy_uk]

What confused me is I thought these kind of issue hit pretty quickly not with this kind of delay in the issue.

On all previous OLED iphones I would feel eye strain within an hour of use. The 13 series didn't do this but the effects would creep up eventually. When the brain starts to give you pain it is your warning systems letting you know something is wrong/something needs to be addressed - physically or environmentally.

The negative effects from OLED are still present on the 13 series but the PWM rates are higher this time which might explain the delayed physical response from some (ie eye strain is less severe but still straining eye muscles which will lead to a headache/pain).

 

[super chimp]

It seems very much a one side effect really mostly impacting one eye, my right one, anyone else get this where it’s far more one sided that generally in both?

 

[user1234]

That’s surprising since another user measured amplitudes with a Radex at launch and came away with the impression that Reduce White Point only makes a minor impact on amplitude relative to perceived brightness. Also odd that the rate changes throughout—there’s more going on with the brightness controller than we realize. It’s like trying to figure out which settings and brightness levels cause the least amount of issues.

If I had the same device I’d likely be driving myself crazy, which would at least yield a comprehensive amount of scientific information.

Frankly it seems like amateur YouTubers are purchasing the entire iPhone lineup for the purposes of unboxing/reviewing then returning at least two or three of them. Not explicitly prohibited by Apple. Morally questionable at best. I suppose the bottom line is it’s not affecting Apple’s bottom line so it doesn’t truly matter, especially for somebody producing content or providing feedback such as us here desperately trying to use a current-generation iPhone…

It may be that it even differs between models. I must admit that I haven't kept up with the display suppliers for the iPhone 12 but it's possible that different display suppliers have different controller behavior.

It is for sure a good device to have. I'm testing all the stuff I can, I just wish I could test and share the results for everything. I know first hand how difficult it is to find flicker free products and I want to help make it easier. I have a plan for how to finance this but it will take some time to get it going.

This is the equipment by the way. Here getting ready to measure my MacBook Air M1. It is flicker free above 50% brightness but not below.

I'm going to consider getting an iPhone 13 to test, but I'd really like to test them all, and I hope to be able to test all or at least one of the iPhone 14 models on day 1, so my main focus is there right now.

 

[squimmy_squimmy]

@user1234 I'd be very keen to know the true PWM rate of the iPhone 13! I'm not sure I trust notebookbookcheck - at what brightness level is it 610Hz?!

Really keen to update from my 8 Plus but am desperately trying to find a device that I can have confidence won't trigger my epilepsy

Also what device is that that you're using to measure?

 

[Mastrociambella]

Do Android phones suffer from this issue less?

Yes, but my experience suggests they have it way less...nonetheless Samsung Galaxy phones have got worse every year for me, from no issue on Galaxy S10+ to mild discomfort with S21 Ultra.
There is one great help on Android tho, and it's the app Oled Saver, it creates a dim layout over your display (therefore you can keep 80% brightness or more to "trick" display controller, but a correct brightness seen by your eyes). It's not possible on iPhone as far as i know (and white point reduction doesn't work the same way)

 

[MICHAELSD]

Yes, but my experience suggests they have it way less...nonetheless Samsung Galaxy phones have got worse every year for me, from no issue on Galaxy S10+ to mild discomfort with S21 Ultra.
There is one great help on Android tho, and it's the app Oled Saver, it creates a dim layout over your display (therefore you can keep 80% brightness or more to "trick" display controller, but a correct brightness seen by your eyes). It's not possible on iPhone as far as i know (and white point reduction doesn't work the same way)

I haven’t done extensive research into this topic but I presume there may be some Android phones that allow users to access the true max brightness of the display which theoretically wouldn’t have visible flicker.

As one of the most sensitive users I am slightly curious how I would respond to an Android smartphone, or another device with an OLED display such as Nintendo Switch OLED.

What’s odd is that I’m finding I’m able to use my iPhone 13 Mini at night at just about any brightness level with little fatigue, whereas during the day I’m currently getting a tension headache. I even watched an episode of Ted Lasso. If persistent headaches after use weren’t still an issue I’d probably go ahead and keep this. I may very well order an iPhone 13 for a comparison before shipping iPhone 13 Mini back.

@user1234 I'd be very keen to know the true PWM rate of the iPhone 13! I'm not sure I trust notebookbookcheck - at what brightness level is it 610Hz?!

Really keen to update from my 8 Plus but am desperately trying to find a device that I can have confidence won't trigger my epilepsy

Also what device is that that you're using to measure?

More specific measurements would be helpful.

They’re the only publication that claims a 610Hz rate, although they’re also one of the premier sources for PWM measurements so I see no reason no to trust that Apple put the highest rate on the standard iPhone 13 which will be used by the most people. It also seems that per YouTube amplitudes on the standard iPhone 13 are significantly lower compared to iPhone 13 Pro, which should reduce the potential for eye strain.

 

[jaapnl]

@user1234 I'd be very keen to know the true PWM rate of the iPhone 13! I'm not sure I trust notebookbookcheck - at what brightness level is it 610Hz?!

Yeah I don't know about the iPhone 13. I tested both the 13 regular and 13 Pro, and personally the regular 13 gave me more problems. They both went back though, and I'm happily back to using an iPhone 11.

As a side note, it's interesting how this thread is always at the top of this forum. Do you reckon anyone at Apple is actually paying attention? Can't wait for them to actually do something about this issue, if that day ever comes.

 

[user1234]

@user1234 I'd be very keen to know the true PWM rate of the iPhone 13! I'm not sure I trust notebookbookcheck - at what brightness level is it 610Hz?!

Really keen to update from my 8 Plus but am desperately trying to find a device that I can have confidence won't trigger my epilepsy

Also what device is that that you're using to measure?

I'm going to see if anyone I know has an iPhone 13 that I can test. Otherwise I'll consider ordering one for testing.

Have you had your epilepsy triggered from displays? I thought lower frequencies more in the visible range was the main issue with epilepsy? Have you tried the XR or 11? They don't use PWM and are flicker free as far as the backlight goes but some are sensitive to them probably due to dithering. I'm fine with both thankfully.

The devices I use are both a Siglent SDS 1202X-E oscilloscope and a Thorlabs PDA100A2 amplified photodetector.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Edit:

I love this little phone and don’t want to get rid of it, although I felt the same way about past OLED iPhones.

There are no suitable current-generation options for us beyond iPhone SE. I suppose it won’t be terrible to upgrade to a third-generation SE for 5G as it’s a significant upgrade alone. It’s simply not practical to keep a phone that causes persistent tension headaches.

 

[MICHAELSD]

This is the answer to our issue:

Apple Watch.

The OLED display flickers at 60Hz without using PWM and I’ve seen amplitudes being measured at under 1%.

So, why not put the same brightness controller on iPhone or at least an Accessibility option to replicate it?

I’ve said it before. It’s odd they can put an essentially perfect flicker implementation on Apple Watch and iPhone gets overlooked. The main differences are of course size and brightness levels as Apple Watch only has 3-4. I’ve suggested this to Apple during iPhone X days and we apparently still don’t have the option.

 

[PwmMen]

Good morning,
I am now testing an iPhone 13 Pro again because I would like to use the camera a lot. And since a user wrote that the problems were gone after a few weeks, I wanted to try again. My eyes feel good, so no worse than the iPhone 12 Pro. I'm just a little queasy in the stomach. But I'll be able to bear it for the next few days and hope that it will get better then. The brain should probably get used to it. I'm curious and will report.

 

[user1234]

This is the answer to our issue:

Apple Watch.

The OLED display flickers at 60Hz without using PWM and I’ve seen amplitudes being measured at under 1%.

So, why not put the same brightness controller on iPhone or at least an Accessibility option to replicate it?

I’ve said it before. It’s odd they can put an essentially perfect flicker implementation on Apple Watch and iPhone gets overlooked. The main differences are of course size and brightness levels as Apple Watch only has 3-4. I’ve suggested this to Apple during iPhone X days and we apparently still don’t have the option.

View attachment 1944443

I think it has to do with color accuracy. I don't think Apple makes as big of a deal about it on the watch but they don't the iPhone. DC dimming tends to lead to color shifts at low brightness levels, something that should be possible to adjust for to some extent with a dynamic calibration profile.

 

[jimmy_uk]

Good morning,
I am now testing an iPhone 13 Pro again because I would like to use the camera a lot. And since a user wrote that the problems were gone after a few weeks, I wanted to try again. My eyes feel good, so no worse than the iPhone 12 Pro. I'm just a little queasy in the stomach. But I'll be able to bear it for the next few days and hope that it will get better then. The brain should probably get used to it. I'm curious and will report.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Sadly I couldn't get passed the queasy/burping feeling. ?

 

[now i see it]

For those of you determined to use an OLED iPhone that makes you feel nauseous, there’s an electric wrist band that sends a little zapping current on your wrist that DEFINITELY works for eliminating or greatly reducing nausea due to motion sickness or even radiation therapy to the abdomen (which is gnarly).

I used one for years to ward off seasickness and it absolutely works. They’re kinda expensive (over $100) but they definitely work. No drugs. No side effects. Totally harmless. Awesome device.

Reliefband®

Reliefband® is drug free, non-drowsy, FDA cleared wearable technology for the prevention and treatment of nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness, morning sickness, chemotherapy and as an adjunct to antiemetics in post surgery.

www.reliefband.com

 

[MICHAELSD]

I think it has to do with color accuracy. I don't think Apple makes as big of a deal about it on the watch but they don't the iPhone. DC dimming tends to lead to color shifts at low brightness levels, something that should be possible to adjust for to some extent with a dynamic calibration profile.

What’s interesting to me is that Notebookcheck references Apple’s addition of DC dimming on multiple iPhone 13 models, including iPhone 13 Pro Max which has the worst PWM curve yet apparently uses DC dimming at lower unspecified brightness levels:

“As usual for OLED displays, we notice a flickering. However, at the same time the amplitude flattens and the frequency drops at low brightness. This means that Apple probably integrated DC Dimming, which becomes effective at a low brightness, into its panel control.”

 

[jimmy_uk]

For those of you determined to use an OLED iPhone that makes you feel nauseous, there’s an electric wrist band that sends a little zapping current on your wrist that DEFINITELY works for eliminating or greatly reducing nausea due to motion sickness or even radiation therapy to the abdomen (which is gnarly).

I used one for years to ward off seasickness and it absolutely works. They’re kinda expensive (over $100) but they definitely work. No drugs. No side effects. Totally harmless. Awesome device.

Reliefband®

Reliefband® is drug free, non-drowsy, FDA cleared wearable technology for the prevention and treatment of nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness, morning sickness, chemotherapy and as an adjunct to antiemetics in post surgery.

www.reliefband.com

Thanks for sharing. This has peaked my interest, maybe not for £119.99. But it might help some.

UK store https://reliefband.co.uk/collections/reliefband/products/reliefband-classic

 

[dimitricook]

This is the answer to our issue:

Apple Watch.

The OLED display flickers at 60Hz without using PWM and I’ve seen amplitudes being measured at under 1%.

So, why not put the same brightness controller on iPhone or at least an Accessibility option to replicate it?

I’ve said it before. It’s odd they can put an essentially perfect flicker implementation on Apple Watch and iPhone gets overlooked. The main differences are of course size and brightness levels as Apple Watch only has 3-4. I’ve suggested this to Apple during iPhone X days and we apparently still don’t have the option.

View attachment 1944443

Yes indeed, the apple watch series 4 are giving me no problem at all, perfect screen!!

 

[Dejected]

I had a bad headache with the IPhone 13 mini .. went back to 11 and immediately felt relieved .. I wish apple make an LCD edition every year

 

[MICHAELSD]

I had a bad headache with the IPhone 13 mini .. went back to 11 and immediately felt relieved .. I wish apple make an LCD edition every year

At this point I’d be okay with that if we could get a LCD with a 458ppi resolution.