Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[Populus]

Still getting the same neck pain/discomfort with the iPhone SE2022 14Pro days later - mental - Same pain but now with a phone from 2014

Trying hard to re-adjust to the display, but it's the seeping battery life that's one of the most noticeable, just using the phone lightly causes it to drop rapidly, so much as looking it drains the battery a few percent

When I had the SE2022 originally last year, I experienced no discomfort, so as other have pointed out it seems Apple could have possibly changed the way colours are rendered in later versions of iOS, as I can't explain why it's bothering me

Maybe it’s the panel manufacturer. I’ve had two M2 iPad Pro with very different screens, one with less color shift viewed from the angles that didn’t bother me at all, another with more color shift, a yellowish tint, and more migraine inducing.

You can try the 16.3 update to see if they resolved it. I have never believed Apple could tweak screen hardware through software, until I saw it with my own eyes. Maybe 16.3 allow us to use our devices without eye strain. Hopefully.

 

[5105973]

Is the s22 Ultra more comfortable?

For me, yes it is! I think there have been others who tried it and didn’t get on well with it though.

From what I can tell, some people who have participated on this thread simply can’t tolerate pulse width modulation at all. They can’t get on with any device that uses it.

Then there’s myself and a couple of others who also can’t use Apple’s LCD devices that don’t use pwm and possibly also don’t use temporal dithering. Those folks differ from me in that they can’t use the LCD nor can they use another company’s OLED. They’re clearly sensitive to all flickering of any kind.

I’m this weird case where I can use some devices with really obvious janky pwm. My Pixel 2 display flickers like a strobe light and I used it just fine for several years. I use that phone off and on and never had a problem with it.

But I can’t use any iOS device without neurological repercussions. I won’t necessarily get the same symptoms with my iPhone 11 or my SE2. I won’t always get headaches or eye strain, though sometimes I do.

It’s more alarming than that: I gradually lose my left eye’s vision starting at the periphery and the longer I use the phone it works its way in. It gets overtaken by a white shimmering “curtain”. It’s just the one eye so far. At least I think so. Come to think of it, since I side part my hair it may be on the other eye too but my curtain of hair on the right side keeps me from noticing it. When I stop using these devices the curtain recedes. The flicker is still there, but very faint and no longer appears like a curtain.

My eye doctor has checked my eyes very carefully and says it’s not a physical problem with the eye but likely neurological.

Honestly the shimmering curtain problem is so alarming I’d rather use an Apple OLED phone and get a conventional headache and eye discomfort than use the LCD too often anymore.

I wasn’t particularly sensitive to my Pixel 6 Pro Display until I got my iPhone 14 Pro Max and that phone sensitized me in a way that made me unable to use the Pixel 6 Pro anymore.

I have to be careful because different OLED iPhones have the potential to ruin my ability to use other OLED devices I was previously fine using. It can then become uncertain that I’ll ever be able to use them again.

My iPhone 13 Pro made me unable to use my Samsung displays for awhile. About a couple of months or so. Thank goodness that sensitization faded eventually.

I’m lucky that so far I can switch between my 14 Pro Max and my S22 Ultra. I’m now very reluctant to part with this 14 Pro Max. If it lets me use the S23 Ultra then I’m keeping the 14 Pro Max and hopefully the S23 Ultra as long as I can. (That wasn’t a typo; I plan to trade the S22 Ultra in for the S23 Ultra to get better performance).

I’m sorry this is such a long post but I wanted to make the point this is a weird, nuanced problem. Definitely there’s no one size fits all solution.

While I’ve had iPhones that made me unable to use other phones, I’ve yet to come across and Android phone that’s rendered me unable to use any other device. I don’t switch around enough on tablets or computers to speak about anything other than the effects of phone displays.

Apple is doing “something”. Whatever this “something” is, it’s something they do to their LCD and their OLED displays.

 

[Populus]

I wouldn’t reduce it all to just flickering, because I use (daily) a 15 year old Dell monitor, those that came with fluorescent backlight -sidelight actually- and that boy flickers A LOT, unless you have the brightness to the max, which is blinding. And the flickering is easily captured with a regular video of the monitor.

I’ve been using that for 15 years, and I only had issues once, when I had the scree brightness too high. So, I think it’s just something else, I don’t know what.

 

[badger1212]

Thanks.

For me, yes it is! I think there have been others who tried it and didn’t get on well with it though.

From what I can tell, some people who have participated on this thread simply can’t tolerate pulse width modulation at all. They can’t get on with any device that uses it.

Then there’s myself and a couple of others who also can’t use Apple’s LCD devices that don’t use pwm and possibly also don’t use temporal dithering. Those folks differ from me in that they can’t use the LCD nor can they use another company’s OLED. They’re clearly sensitive to all flickering of any kind.

I’m this weird case where I can use some devices with really obvious janky pwm. My Pixel 2 display flickers like a strobe light and I used it just fine for several years. I use that phone off and on and never had a problem with it.

But I can’t use any iOS device without neurological repercussions. I won’t necessarily get the same symptoms with my iPhone 11 or my SE2. I won’t always get headaches or eye strain, though sometimes I do.

It’s more alarming than that: I gradually lose my left eye’s vision starting at the periphery and the longer I use the phone it works its way in. It gets overtaken by a white shimmering “curtain”. It’s just the one eye so far. At least I think so. Come to think of it, since I side part my hair it may be on the other eye too but my curtain of hair on the right side keeps me from noticing it. When I stop using these devices the curtain recedes. The flicker is still there, but very faint and no longer appears like a curtain.

My eye doctor has checked my eyes very carefully and says it’s not a physical problem with the eye but likely neurological.

Honestly the shimmering curtain problem is so alarming I’d rather use an Apple OLED phone and get a conventional headache and eye discomfort than use the LCD too often anymore.

I wasn’t particularly sensitive to my Pixel 6 Pro Display until I got my iPhone 14 Pro Max and that phone sensitized me in a way that made me unable to use the Pixel 6 Pro anymore.

I have to be careful because different OLED iPhones have the potential to ruin my ability to use other OLED devices I was previously fine using. It can then become uncertain that I’ll ever be able to use them again.

My iPhone 13 Pro made me unable to use my Samsung displays for awhile. About a couple of months or so. Thank goodness that sensitization faded eventually.

I’m lucky that so far I can switch between my 14 Pro Max and my S22 Ultra. I’m now very reluctant to part with this 14 Pro Max. If it lets me use the S23 Ultra then I’m keeping the 14 Pro Max and hopefully the S23 Ultra as long as I can. (That wasn’t a typo; I plan to trade the S22 Ultra in for the S23 Ultra to get better performance).

I’m sorry this is such a long post but I wanted to make the point this is a weird, nuanced problem. Definitely there’s no one size fits all solution.

While I’ve had iPhones that made me unable to use other phones, I’ve yet to come across and Android phone that’s rendered me unable to use any other device. I don’t switch around enough on tablets or computers to speak about anything other than the effects of phone displays.

Apple is doing “something”. Whatever this “something” is, it’s something they do to their LCD and their OLED displays.

Yeh I'm definitely worse with Apple oleds too unfortunately but I am OK with the 11. I do agree there is no ideal phone for all sufferers but I may also give the s23 Ultra a go next month when it comes out as I had an s9 for a year which I must have been fine with.

 

[du57in]

So tonight is the night I have to put in my request for a work phone. I stopped by the Apple Store to confirm I wanted to go with an SE 2022 and played with a handful of phones. The 14 Pro was no good and just huge. Then I made the mistake (or not?) of playing with an iPhone 13 Mini.

Not only is it the perfect size, I didn’t seem to have a problem with the display. It looked so much better than the OLEDs I have seen in the past and was light years better than the 12 Mini I bought and returned.

I think I might take the leap of faith and go for one.

 

[MICHAELSD]

So tonight is the night I have to put in my request for a work phone. I stopped by the Apple Store to confirm I wanted to go with an SE 2022 and played with a handful of phones. The 14 Pro was no good and just huge. Then I made the mistake (or not?) of playing with an iPhone 13 Mini.

Not only is it the perfect size, I didn’t seem to have a problem with the display. It looked so much better than the OLEDs I have seen in the past and was light years better than the 12 Mini I bought and returned.

I think I might take the leap of faith and go for one.

iPhone 13 mini does in fact have the best PWM and even OLED display IMO to date, while being my personal favorite iPhone of the past two generations.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to prevent me from getting constant headaches during and after using it so I ended up back at the third-generation iPhone SE regardless.

 

[du57in]

iPhone 13 mini does in fact have the best PWM and even OLED display IMO to date, while being my personal favorite iPhone of the past two generations.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to prevent me from getting constant headaches during and after using it so I ended up back at the third-generation iPhone SE regardless.

I reluctantly and with a heavy heart just went with SE 2022. I am now going to make it my mission in life to get Apple to make an iPhone Mini with Liquid Retina XDR or whatever it would be called.

 

[dimitricook]

Maybe it’s the panel manufacturer. I’ve had two M2 iPad Pro with very different screens, one with less color shift viewed from the angles that didn’t bother me at all, another with more color shift, a yellowish tint, and more migraine inducing.

You can try the 16.3 update to see if they resolved it. I have never believed Apple could tweak screen hardware through software, until I saw it with my own eyes. Maybe 16.3 allow us to use our devices without eye strain. Hopefully.

Hi Populus,

I am curious to know what kind of difference you noticed when updating to 16.3 and on what phones dit you notice this?

 

[Evilxardas]

I wouldn’t reduce it all to just flickering, because I use (daily) a 15 year old Dell monitor, those that came with fluorescent backlight -sidelight actually- and that boy flickers A LOT, unless you have the brightness to the max, which is blinding. And the flickering is easily captured with a regular video of the monitor.

I’ve been using that for 15 years, and I only had issues once, when I had the scree brightness too high. So, I think it’s just something else, I don’t know what.

I am sure that most of us are not afflicted by PWM. Everyone talks about that because it is the only technical aspect of a monitor that is recognized to be problematic for health.

I also have a 15-year-old CCFL monitor, the BENQ V2400W: TN panel, 1920*1200 60hz, CCFL with PWM that never gave me any problems until a month ago. I was using it connected to a dell latitude 7420 and after updating windows 11 21H2 KB5020875 I started to have the usual symptoms: eye strain and dizziness mostly (with the Benq monitor and also a uperfect 17" portable monitor).

So since December, every day I uninstall the KB5020875 update, reboot my PC, accenture reinstalls the update and reboots my PC in the evening. This will be the fifth time a windows update has destroyed a perfect setup for me, so by now I am aware that my symptoms are software related and not monitor related.

 

[Evilxardas]

10th gen iPad isn't dither free if you ask me. Bought one and returned it due to severe eye strain and a headache. Here is Notebookcheck's video on dithering for the 10th gen iPad. They claim no dither, but I can clearly see some flicker anomaly in the video, explaining why it was unusable for me. My iPad air 2 gives me no such problems on iOS 13, I use it daily. It's a little slow but it gets the job done.

I also tried the ipad 10th and made the return. The only ipad that gave me a "relaxed" feeling in store was the ipad pro 13 mini led, but I haven't tried it yet.

I am currently "stuck" with the iphone X (ios 14) and ipad air 2 (ios 13) both of which give me zero problems.

As for dithering, I was talking to the CEO of blur buster and he says a 240FPS video is useless, you need 5000FPS to detect dithering with a video and a microscope.

 

[asus389]

Well so updating my 6S to 15.7.3 seems to have made it somehow worse eye strain wise. Wasn’t having problems in 15.7.2 or really any of the previous 15.x. I guess I should downgrade while I still can. Meh.

 

[lawlbringer]

Has anyone had any luck adjusting to OLED screens after about a month or so?

The reason I ask is because I went through a few weeks of pretty heavy eye strain/headaches going from a 4.7" 6s to an iPhone XR in 2019. It was so bad I was considering returning the phone before the 14 day return policy from Best Buy was up but I ended up sticking it out. I just remember no longer feeling any pain after about a month or so. The only difference, and a big one, was the the XR was still an IPS display just like the 6s.

Now since I've never owned an OLED device(phone/TV/etc.) for any extended period of time I'm wondering if it's just an adjustment period of consistent use and my eyes becoming used to it...or it could just be that I'm sensitive to OLED to the point I can't comfortably use this screen type.

I tried a 14 Pro Max, 13 Mini, and currently testing out a regular 14 which all induce about the same symptoms(pressure around eyes, tired eyes, dull headaches at times.) I will note that the 14 Pro Max gave me this weird sharp and almost stabbing pain in my inner head that also made me feel a bit nauseous. The 13 Mini and 14 just seem to strain my eyes mostly. I've tried reducing white point from 30-40% to up to 90% but I've noticed it doesn't really help too much. I haven't tried lowering brightness without RWP yet though.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Has anyone had any luck adjusting to OLED screens after about a month or so?

The reason I ask is because I went through a few weeks of pretty heavy eye strain/headaches going from a 4.7" 6s to an iPhone XR in 2019. It was so bad I was considering returning the phone before the 14 day return policy from Best Buy was up but I ended up sticking it out. I just remember no longer feeling any pain after about a month or so. The only difference, and a big one, was the the XR was still an IPS display just like the 6s.

Now since I've never owned an OLED device(phone/TV/etc.) for any extended period of time I'm wondering if it's just an adjustment period of consistent use and my eyes becoming used to it...or it could just be that I'm sensitive to OLED to the point I can't comfortably use this screen type.

I tried a 14 Pro Max, 13 Mini, and currently testing out a regular 14 which all induce about the same symptoms(pressure around eyes, tired eyes, dull headaches at times.) I will note that the 14 Pro Max gave me this weird sharp and almost stabbing pain in my inner head that also made me feel a bit nauseous. The 13 Mini and 14 just seem to strain my eyes mostly. I've tried reducing white point from 30-40% to up to 90% but I've noticed it doesn't really help too much. I haven't tried lowering brightness without RWP yet though.

Any adjustment for me is usually temporary for a few minutes or hours.

My observation is that some users seem to get more accustomed to the display in a day or two, while most don’t adjust over time.

 

[Mastrociambella]

Hi all, I know it means almost nothing, but has anyone had any experience with Poxel 7 or 7 prop? Thanks

 

[lawlbringer]

Any adjustment for me is usually temporary for a few minutes or hours.

My observation is that some users seem to get more accustomed to the display in a day or two, while most don’t adjust over time.

Seems that way.

I got my fiancee an iPhone 14 Pro Max for Christmas and she had some initial discomfort using it but adjusted in about a day or so. I guess it was significantly brighter than her old 11 Pro.

The thing that drives me crazy is the eye strain/discomfort takes me a few days to fully recover from. With any IPS screen discomfort I'm usually fine within a few hours to a day at most. The downtime with OLED strain is just brutal which really makes me not want to try to "tough it out" to see if I adjust.

Really regretting not getting a bigger iPhone 11 now!

 

[badger1212]

Hi all, I know it means almost nothing, but has anyone had any experience with Poxel 7 or 7 prop? Thanks

Yes. I tried the Pixel 7 pro and though I tolerated it more than any other iPhone, after a few days I started getting the familiar eye strain / headaches etc. so sent it back. Shame as it was a great phone with an excellent camera.

 

[dstow]

Still getting discomfort using the iPhone SE 2022 - been well over a week now - same neck/head pain as the 14 Pro - completely at a loss

 

[Euroamerican]

Casually asking around the office has not produced anyone admitting to eye strain from using newer iPhones.

i had been weighing the pros and cons of replacing our 6S and 8 with newer models. Both had failing batteries and I have been wishing for a slightly bigger screen than my 8’s.

BUT, I am not willing to put up with causing myself nausea and vision problems if newer iPhones and/or Macbook models cause that. If I do decide to get a newer iPhone in the near future, it will probably be a model such as the regular 11. Or, I will try a newer one and immediately return it if I don’t like it. Normally I don’t like to be a trashy consumer, one who perhaps abuses return policies. But I am going to hold Apple to higher standards on this one. I expect premium quality for the prices they want to charge.

So for now, I have solved my battery problems by buying the replacement kits from ifixit for both phones. They are now rocking new batteries as of this week! It was a bit scary at first to crack the phones open, but I am now comfortable in doing these repairs.

 

[Uncohtwo]

Has anyone had any luck adjusting to OLED screens after about a month or so?

The reason I ask is because I went through a few weeks of pretty heavy eye strain/headaches going from a 4.7" 6s to an iPhone XR in 2019. It was so bad I was considering returning the phone before the 14 day return policy from Best Buy was up but I ended up sticking it out. I just remember no longer feeling any pain after about a month or so. The only difference, and a big one, was the the XR was still an IPS display just like the 6s.

Now since I've never owned an OLED device(phone/TV/etc.) for any extended period of time I'm wondering if it's just an adjustment period of consistent use and my eyes becoming used to it...or it could just be that I'm sensitive to OLED to the point I can't comfortably use this screen type.

I tried a 14 Pro Max, 13 Mini, and currently testing out a regular 14 which all induce about the same symptoms(pressure around eyes, tired eyes, dull headaches at times.) I will note that the 14 Pro Max gave me this weird sharp and almost stabbing pain in my inner head that also made me feel a bit nauseous. The 13 Mini and 14 just seem to strain my eyes mostly. I've tried reducing white point from 30-40% to up to 90% but I've noticed it doesn't really help too much. I haven't tried lowering brightness without RWP yet though.

I’m nearly two months into using the 14, and I’ve adjusted. At first I had the same eye strain as before, so I put a glass blue screen filter on that made the eye strain go away but brought on some nausea. Took the protector off about 3 weeks later and the phone felt…good?? At this point, I’m just using the phone. I occasionally feel odd using it at low brightness, and even less I notice a random slight strain. The feeling, however, dissipates if I look away from the screen, then go back to it. Not sure why, but I’m happy to report that I’ve adjusted enough that I rarely think about it.

(Side note: I popped on here after a break to see what was going on, and I feel like I’m noticing more strain. Maybe my focus on the issue contributes to/makes me more aware of any symptoms?)

 

[kstewart61]

I had it with iPhone screens went over to the S 22 ultra and couldn't be happier.

 

[5105973]

I had it with iPhone screens went over to the S 22 ultra and couldn't be happier.

I’m moving more and more towards my S22 Ultra oddly enough because iOS is wreaking havoc on my friendships. It’s not just me, either. The kids confirmed they’d seen some strange things happening with e-mail since Apple introduced the undo send feature. I’ll send and email or a reply to a discussion and sometimes the option to undo send pops up. But not always…no rhyme or reason to it. When I see that, the email seems to send but in reality it is completely obliterated.

It took me awhile and getting accused of not answering my emails to figure out this was happening. I’m going to see if handling mails on my Samsung avoids this problem. If not I may have everyone stop emailing me at my iCloud address and switch everything over to Gmail.

In other news, my husband was in a store with me and we were surrounded by computer monitors. He got struck with the shimmering white curtain at the side of his vision! He regards it as a migraine aura.

So does that mean I have been stuck with semi permanent migraines thanks to Apple?

I’m typing this post on my 14 Pro Max. I’m definitely starting to get a headache. I can use this phone but I’d been using it a lot today. My head can’t handle that. Time to pull my s22 Ultra off the charger and finish my web surfing on that.

 

[Roadstar]

I’m moving more and more towards my S22 Ultra oddly enough because iOS is wreaking havoc on my friendships. It’s not just me, either. The kids confirmed they’d seen some strange things happening with e-mail since Apple introduced the undo send feature. I’ll send and email or a reply to a discussion and sometimes the option to undo send pops up. But not always…no rhyme or reason to it. When I see that, the email seems to send but in reality it is completely obliterated.

It took me awhile and getting accused of not answering my emails to figure out this was happening. I’m going to see if handling mails on my Samsung avoids this problem. If not I may have everyone stop emailing me at my iCloud address and switch everything over to Gmail.

Nowadays yet another iOS bug isn’t a rare sight at all. It’s definitely a bug if the sending is cancelled regardless of your choice, but I’m just wondering if the prompt itself is triggered by the Shake to Undo feature found in Settings -> Accessibility -> Touch. It would make even a bit of sense if whatever movement the phone detects after tapping Send is (mis)interpreted as an intentional shake and undo is triggered. So if the option is on, you could try disabling it and seeing if it fixes the problem. This is assuming that you have any traces of faith left in the iOS e-mail app. I’m not sure I would have in a similar situation.

 

[5105973]

Nowadays yet another iOS bug isn’t a rare sight at all. It’s definitely a bug if the sending is cancelled regardless of your choice, but I’m just wondering if the prompt itself is triggered by the Shake to Undo feature found in Settings -> Accessibility -> Touch. It would make even a bit of sense if whatever movement the phone detects after tapping Send is (mis)interpreted as an intentional shake and undo is triggered. So if the option is on, you could try disabling it and seeing if it fixes the problem. This is assuming that you have any traces of faith left in the iOS e-mail app. I’m not sure I would have in a similar situation.

That's a brilliant possibility! I wasn't even sure if shake to undo was still a feature. I haven't used it in years. I'll check the settings when I get to my iphone. It's the iphones turn on the charger and I'm on my Samsung at the moment.

Thanks for the suggestion! I hope that is the issue and fixes it. I was very definitely losing credibility with other people important to me. "Sure, the dog ate your email. Sure."

 

[5105973]

Nowadays yet another iOS bug isn’t a rare sight at all. It’s definitely a bug if the sending is cancelled regardless of your choice, but I’m just wondering if the prompt itself is triggered by the Shake to Undo feature found in Settings -> Accessibility -> Touch. It would make even a bit of sense if whatever movement the phone detects after tapping Send is (mis)interpreted as an intentional shake and undo is triggered. So if the option is on, you could try disabling it and seeing if it fixes the problem. This is assuming that you have any traces of faith left in the iOS e-mail app. I’m not sure I would have in a similar situation.

I did have Shake to Undo turned on. I have turned it off. I’ll let you know if that solves it. I may not be able to tell for awhile.

 

[volodymyrqa]

To decrease effect of eye strain:
- use higher brightness setting
- use smaller screen or at larger distance

I don’t believe that someone in this thread suggest to try 14PM. This is the worst iphone ever created. Weights too much, new front camera placement is horrible since it takes much screen then previous chin. Also its screen cannot be better in any way, since that the same OLED which is used across 14th iphone.

So if you want to reduce the effects, follow my suggestions above.