Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[matthijst]

If I set the display to 100% brightness I'll have a headache within the hour 😂

I think screen brightness was a big part of my issues when the X first came out: I was trying to match the "white" of the 8 Plus, for instance the background of this page, or the settings menu. To do so I'd turn up the brightness very high.

I'm using the pro max 14 now, indoors evening. Brightness set to around 20%.

 

[john g.]

If I set the display to 100% brightness I'll have a headache within the hour 😂

I think screen brightness was a big part of my issues when the X first came out: I was trying to match the "white" of the 8 Plus, for instance the background of this page, or the settings menu. To do so I'd turn up the brightness very high.

I'm using the pro max 14 now, indoors evening. Brightness set to around 20%.

No kidding! As these are the brightest screens ever on an iPhone, I can’t even imagine cranking up the brightness all the way. If I try to compensate with reduce white point it just doesn’t look right. Indoors, I’m running the brightness at just over 50% with reduce white point set at 25%. Subject to change of course 🤪

 

[matthijst]

I notice that once my eyes get irritated by the phonescreen, "all" light sources seem to irritate for a while after that.
So far it seems I'm getting used to the 14 Pro Max, but I have to keep that display not too bright.

For all the 8 Plus or other old phone users here's a thing to test: open a white page on both the 8+ and your 14 phone. Close both eyes, and hold 1 screen up to your left eye and one to your right eye. You will still notice the brightness, and I was surprised how much more light the OLED still emits even when looking at it it looks similar to the 8. So I turned it down more until it resembled the 8+ with eyes closed.

 

[happy orchard]

Okay instead of doing what I'm "supposed" to be doing, I'm perusing online about the 14 Plus. Now I'm thinking of going to get that.

Still, my big concern is the screen hurting my eyes and having to return another phone. But I keep thinking this has my beloved 8+vibes.

Hmmm...

 

[john g.]

Okay instead of doing what I'm "supposed" to be doing, I'm perusing online about the 14 Plus. Now I'm thinking of going to get that.

Still, my big concern is the screen hurting my eyes and having to return another phone. But I keep thinking this has my beloved 8+vibes.

Hmmm...

Think of it as investigative reporting

 

[Chrispy]

Okay instead of doing what I'm "supposed" to be doing, I'm perusing online about the 14 Plus. Now I'm thinking of going to get that.

Still, my big concern is the screen hurting my eyes and having to return another phone. But I keep thinking this has my beloved 8+vibes.

Hmmm...

I've stopped worrying about the returns thing. I figure if you take care of the device while you have it and return it promptly, Apple isn't going to hassle you. Considering there are YouTube channels out there that purchase one of every color just to unbox it and return all of them, I think we are fine. And if they did question it, I'm sure a simple explanation to a manager would sort things out. It's more a question of do you want to deal with another possible return. I need at least a few weeks between each attempt as a palate cleanser, haha.

 

[jm31828]

I've stopped worrying about the returns thing. I figure if you take care of the device while you have it and return it promptly, Apple isn't going to hassle you. Considering there are YouTube channels out there that purchase one of every color just to unbox it and return all of them, I think we are fine. And if they did question it, I'm sure a simple explanation to a manager would sort things out. It's more a question of do you want to deal with another possible return. I need at least a few weeks between each attempt as a palate cleanser, haha.

Great advice! I am almost at the end of my return window for the SE3 I bought, and I am wondering if I may be able to get along well with a 13 Mini (the form factor I absolutely love, and it has a better camera system than the SE) due to the seemingly positive news out there on its PWM vs the others in the 13 series. But, I, too, am worried about sort of being seen as gaming the system if I initiate a return on the SE to buy more time- buy the 13 Mini- and then end up returning one of them in the next couple of weeks.

My wife of course thinks I'm crazy going through all of this. haha

 

[DJTaurus]

14 plus also didn’t work out for me. It gave me less head pressure/irritations than normal 14 but in general it was worse. 2 days in a row i wake up with eye gum but the worse thing was that on second day i had watery eyes….. it affected my eyesight…. for example after evening I couldn’t see clear like having myopia. I believe this is because our eyes are overworking to cope with flicker. And also unlike normal 14, 14 plus gave me a little bit of dizziness. For sure a worse experience. So for this year i am gonna try 14 pro next month and it’s over! F you Apple and thanks for nothing. I don’t understand why those cheap oled androids like Poco X3 Pro and Samsung A52s don’t affect me at all.

 

[happy orchard]

14 plus also didn’t work out for me. It gave me less head pressure/irritations than normal 14 but in general it was worse. 2 days in a row i wake up with eye gum but the worse thing was that on second day i had watery eyes….. it affected my eyesight…. for example after evening I couldn’t see clear like having myopia. I believe this is because our eyes are overworking to cope with flicker. And also unlike normal 14, 14 plus gave me a little bit of dizziness. For sure a worse experience. So for this year i am gonna try 14 pro next month and it’s over! F you Apple and thanks for nothing. I don’t understand why those cheap oled androids like Poco X3 Pro and Samsung A52s don’t affect me at all.

And have you been able to use any of the OLED iPhones in the past?

I'm curious about the 'flicker'. Phones got better for me when the flicker on slo-mo was less apparent. Wondering if that was the case for you...? Or something else?

 

[DJTaurus]

And have you been able to use any of the OLED iPhones in the past?

I'm curious about the 'flicker'. Phones got better for me when the flicker on slo-mo was less apparent. Wondering if that was the case for you...? Or something else?

Yeah i used iPhone X for one year. It only got my eyes tired after long screen time but it was usable. Problems started with XS….. which i also used it for one year but my eyes were getting tired even more quickly. Serious stuff happened with iPhone 12 and after….. nausea and dizziness….. couldn’t use them at all!

 

[happy orchard]

Yeah i used iPhone X for one year. It only got my eyes tired after long screen time but it was usable. Problems started with XS….. which i also used it for one year but my eyes were getting tired even more quickly. Serious stuff happened with iPhone 12 and after….. nausea and dizziness….. couldn’t use them at all!

Wow, that's interesting that your experience seemed to get worse with generations. Interesting because it seems it would improve as Apple improved (?) the technology. Also interesting because I had the complete opposite experience.

This would be such a cool mystery if it wasn't badly affecting so many of us.

 

[fel10]

Do you all think all these issues people are having could be resolved with a software update?

 

[happy orchard]

Do you all think all these issues people are having could be resolved with a software update?

Hard to say given that we don't seem to entirely know the cause(s). But it would be brilliant if a software update could fix things.

 

[francerex]

14 plus also didn’t work out for me. It gave me less head pressure/irritations than normal 14 but in general it was worse. 2 days in a row i wake up with eye gum but the worse thing was that on second day i had watery eyes….. it affected my eyesight…. for example after evening I couldn’t see clear like having myopia. I believe this is because our eyes are overworking to cope with flicker. And also unlike normal 14, 14 plus gave me a little bit of dizziness. For sure a worse experience. So for this year i am gonna try 14 pro next month and it’s over! F you Apple and thanks for nothing. I don’t understand why those cheap oled androids like Poco X3 Pro and Samsung A52s don’t affect me at all.

Yeah i used iPhone X for one year. It only got my eyes tired after long screen time but it was usable. Problems started with XS….. which i also used it for one year but my eyes were getting tired even more quickly. Serious stuff happened with iPhone 12 and after….. nausea and dizziness….. couldn’t use them at all!

What if it is your eyes and not the phones that are getting worse?

The pwm profile of the iPhones seems to have improved over the years, and some report better experiences. On the other hand, many reported here of higher sensitivity and strain for several days after being exposed to pwm, some lasting hours, some lasting even months. Plus, you are also getting older.

What if in those years of using iPhone X you strained your eyes to a point were you are not able to tolerate the flickering?

The same reasoning can be also applied to the iPhone 14 plus. From measurements, it looks like it might have the same flickering profile as the regular. But you have still not recovered from the regular 14, and you kind of pickup up from where you left, hence getting the worse symptoms much faster this time.

Would this make sense? Comments?

 

[jimmy_uk]

What if it is your eyes and not the phones that are getting worse?

The pwm profile of the iPhones seems to have improved over the years, and some report better experiences. On the other hand, many reported here of higher sensitivity and strain for several days after being exposed to pwm, some lasting hours, some lasting even months. Plus, you are also getting older.

What if in those years of using iPhone X you strained your eyes to a point were you are not able to tolerate the flickering?

The same reasoning can be also applied to the iPhone 14 plus. From measurements, it looks like it might have the same flickering profile as the regular. But you have still not recovered from the regular 14, and you kind of pickup up from where you left, hence getting the worse symptoms much faster this time.

Would this make sense? Comments?

I've haven't been able to use any OLED iphone since the X. I'm short sighted with Astigmatism (oval shaped eyes). I'm of an age where my eye sight is actually improving very slightly, don't ask me how this works, but I get eye tests done every 2 years to keep up my contact lens delivery contract. With my corrective lenses my vision is excellent and I have to stare at screens all day for my graphic work.

While people think Apple (Samsung) are "improving" the tech, they also keep changing things in hardware and software. So this year's iPhones are as bad as previous years in my opinion.

 

[DJTaurus]

What if it is your eyes and not the phones that are getting worse?

The pwm profile of the iPhones seems to have improved over the years, and some report better experiences. On the other hand, many reported here of higher sensitivity and strain for several days after being exposed to pwm, some lasting hours, some lasting even months. Plus, you are also getting older.

What if in those years of using iPhone X you strained your eyes to a point were you are not able to tolerate the flickering?

The same reasoning can be also applied to the iPhone 14 plus. From measurements, it looks like it might have the same flickering profile as the regular. But you have still not recovered from the regular 14, and you kind of pickup up from where you left, hence getting the worse symptoms much faster this time.

Would this make sense? Comments?

6 months ago i did an eye test and my eyesight results were flawless…. same results in 2 different doctors. I didn’t move to 14 plus from 14 instantly but after one week were i calmed down my nervous system

 

[pwm away]

Looking around the web for some more PWM information on the Pixel 7 range, I came across this: PWM patent

It relates to using PWM for modulating brightness on glasses/headsets; I've only skimmed this, but I couldn't find any reference to a particular frequency

The future may be bleak ...

 

[francerex]

6 months ago i did an eye test and my eyesight results were flawless…. same results in 2 different doctors. I didn’t move to 14 plus from 14 instantly but after one week were i calmed down my nervous system

Yeah same, but that does not mean that our eyes are flawless 😉 I have ibs and it’s the same thing there, all the tests are perfectly fine, but I am still sick. Medicine does not know enough about PWM and eye strain.

Who knows if 1 week is sufficient? Who knows if your years of using a flickering phone did not cause “damages” that are not visible to current state of the art eye testing techniques?

As far as I can see, there is no way to tell, but we all get to a point after sustained use that makes using the device unbearable.There is therefore some tolerance build-up mechanism at play

I've haven't been able to use any OLED iphone since the X. I'm short sighted with Astigmatism (oval shaped eyes). I'm of an age where my eye sight is actually improving very slightly, don't ask me how this works, but I get eye tests done every 2 years to keep up my contact lens delivery contract. With my corrective lenses my vision is excellent and I have to stare at screens all day for my graphic work.

While people think Apple (Samsung) are "improving" the tech, they also keep changing things in hardware and software. So this year's iPhones are as bad as previous years in my opinion.

Never been able to tolerate them either, nor I can use any of the new se/iPads/MacBooks. I am not defending the new iPhones by any means 😬

 

[Chrispy]

14 Plus arrived and I've been using it for about 20 mins so far with no issues. Of course, it's still too early to tell. It's absolutely better than the 14 Pro 6.1 on first impression. No immediate dizzy feeling or trouble focusing. The only things I changed were disabling auto brightness, no True Tone (just looks too yellow on OLED for me), no attention aware and then set font size to 110 and 115% zoom in Safari. I have to admit that I probably should have moved to the larger screen iPhone sooner. I tried the 12 Pro Max when that came out and it just felt like too much phone for my needs. I never considered the big size again after that. The 14 Plus doesn't give off that same overkill feeling I got from the Pro Max. For some people I'm sure that's a negative, but for me it feels more approachable. I will keep you all posted. I'm still waiting for the case to arrive so I'm using it very little until it's properly protected. I don't trust myself with a naked phone, haha.

 

[AJTC]

14 Plus arrived and I've been using it for about 20 mins so far with no issues. Of course, it's still too early to tell. It's absolutely better than the 14 Pro 6.1 on first impression. No immediate dizzy feeling or trouble focusing. The only things I changed were disabling auto brightness, no True Tone (just looks too yellow on OLED for me), no attention aware and then set font size to 110 and 115% zoom in Safari. I have to admit that I probably should have moved to the larger screen iPhone sooner. I tried the 12 Pro Max when that came out and it just felt like too much phone for my needs. I never considered the big size again after that. The 14 Plus doesn't give off that same overkill feeling I got from the Pro Max. For some people I'm sure that's a negative, but for me it feels more approachable. I will keep you all posted. I'm still waiting for the case to arrive so I'm using it very little until it's properly protected. I don't trust myself with a naked phone, haha.

I’ve ordered and returned a cover with each iPhone I’ve tested and returned. So bad I know. I’ve also wasted money on screen protectors for each one.

It sounds like it might work out for you.

I’m on day 4 of this 14 and I’m still getting on great with it. I’m already feeling like this is the one I keep which I hadn’t experienced with any of the previous OLED iPhones I’ve tried.

 

[Chrispy]

I’ve ordered and returned a cover with each iPhone I’ve tested and returned. So bad I know. I’ve also wasted money on screen protectors for each one.

It sounds like it might work out for you.

I’m on day 4 of this 14 and I’m still getting on great with it. I’m already feeling like this is the one I keep which I hadn’t experienced with any of the previous OLED iPhones I’ve tried.

Ah yes! The screen protectors, haha. I always put one of those on the second the phone comes out of the box so you can imagine I have also burned a lot of money over the years on those. The good news is I have gotten pretty good at applying them, haha. Glad your 14 experience is going well for you!

 

[happy orchard]

I’ve ordered and returned a cover with each iPhone I’ve tested and returned. So bad I know. I’ve also wasted money on screen protectors for each one.

It sounds like it might work out for you.

I’m on day 4 of this 14 and I’m still getting on great with it. I’m already feeling like this is the one I keep which I hadn’t experienced with any of the previous OLED iPhones I’ve tried.

14 Plus arrived and I've been using it for about 20 mins so far with no issues. Of course, it's still too early to tell. It's absolutely better than the 14 Pro 6.1 on first impression. No immediate dizzy feeling or trouble focusing. The only things I changed were disabling auto brightness, no True Tone (just looks too yellow on OLED for me), no attention aware and then set font size to 110 and 115% zoom in Safari. I have to admit that I probably should have moved to the larger screen iPhone sooner. I tried the 12 Pro Max when that came out and it just felt like too much phone for my needs. I never considered the big size again after that. The 14 Plus doesn't give off that same overkill feeling I got from the Pro Max. For some people I'm sure that's a negative, but for me it feels more approachable. I will keep you all posted. I'm still waiting for the case to arrive so I'm using it very little until it's properly protected. I don't trust myself with a naked phone, haha.

Such positive news! So happy for both of you! Yay! I hope the good continues!

 

[happy orchard]

Today's update for me:

Tried the 14 Plus in the store again, and within about 5-10 minutes, I was nauseated. My head was already starting to hurt and I felt my body trying to turn away from the phone. I know all these OLED iPhones have flicker, but some of them hurt me more than others. Reminds me of when I tried the 12PM and 13PM: I kept having to turn away from the 12, but not the 13. Made me suspicious, so I returned both! Anyway. I feel comfortable now with my decision to NOT get the Plus. (Though I had one waiting for pick-up and cancelled it.)

Also had a 14PM for pick-up. 🙄 My last go with the 14PM I cut short because I thought my 11 had ruined me for bigger phones. Tried the 14 Pro but had headaches. Got rid of that phone and still had headaches. Think it might have been weather, stress, and too much phone, rather than that specific phone. So tried the Pro again. Think I kinda got used to the screen. Maybe. But when I realized it still felt heavy compared to my 11, I just thought why don't I just go heavy and go back to the big size I really like. So that's what I've done. Really, really, hope this 14PM works for me, and I can get off this freakin' merry-go-round. I even got a 256 when I wanted a 128 just because I am so tired of ordering and cancelling or returning and waiting because I just think on things more. Just want to set this thing up and get on with life.

My current plan is to use my 11 for work (so I stop using it for comparison), use the 14PM for personal, and take my current work phone that is a lovely little white-bezeled 8 to use around the house when the 14PM screen or size is bugging me. (Also, I realize that this seems like the last year it'll get iOS support, so I kind want to play with it a bit while I still can.)

Thank you for sharing. Keep sharing more. Will keep sharing more. 🤞🏻

 

[happy orchard]

Ah yes! The screen protectors, haha. I always put one of those on the second the phone comes out of the box so you can imagine I have also burned a lot of money over the years on those. The good news is I have gotten pretty good at applying them, haha. Glad your 14 experience is going well for you!

Hahah I totally get that. I actually skip the screen protector thing, but I am awesome at setting up new phones now!

...but the set-up is also a little less exciting. I'm just kinda crossing my fingers the whole time--which really makes the whole fast-at-setting-up thing even more impressive with all my crossed fingers.

 

[AJTC]

I hate that I’m so fast with setup now. I know which apps will have logged me out on restore, I know it’s easier to restore WhatsApp outside of the backup, I know not to open certain apps while the restore is happening and I’m way too good at putting on screen protectors.

Also if this iPhone 14 stays with me past the return window I’m not leaving this thread because who knows what phone I’ll be able to buy next time. And I still don’t agree with flickering displays so I’ll continue being loud about it in every day life. People need to be aware of where their migraines or feelings of unwell are potentially stemming from.