Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[ultravegeta1981]

Iphone 9 with 1080p full hd LCD display and im sold. Maybe throw 120 hz support? Delicious.

Edit: keep the form factor of the 8,trim down the bezels littlr bit,not too much,keep the home button,throw a dual camera in and it will be epic.

 

[gr4z]

Here is an interesting article about dimming the screen using the zoom feature which uses a filter. That way you can turn up the brightness above 50% but still have a dim screen. Might be worth a try

https://m.imore.com/how-make-your-iphone-screen-darker-lowest-brightness-setting

 

[0669362]

@gr4z

The pwm that cause eye strain only starts at 50% brightness correct?

Would dimming the screen with the accessibility zoom low light option be any different?

No, unfortunately, the PWM flicker is always there. It's just a little better the brighter you make it.

& the accessibility setting still uses the same brightness controller as the system brightness, so there's no way to dim the screen without PWM flicker (Aside from sideloading Iris, which might be able to dim the screen without using PWM)

 

[MICHAELSD]

Here is an interesting article about dimming the screen using the zoom feature which uses a filter. That way you can turn up the brightness above 50% but still have a dim screen. Might be worth a try

https://m.imore.com/how-make-your-iphone-screen-darker-lowest-brightness-setting

You can also reduce white point in accessibility, but I found that really doesn’t help. If there was no PWM at 100% brightness you’d be able to use that option to control brightness to avoid it entirely but unfortunately with Apple’s implementation PWM is always on.

I’ve found I prefer the X to the 8 Plus and can find ways to mitigate eye pain (such as not setting the brightness too low or using in a dimly-lit room) but not get rid of it entirely. So still torn on what to do.

Hopefully with the popularity of my Reddit post reaching the top of the Apple sub-Reddit (wow! was not expecting that. am exhausted from it haha) Apple will address this to at least reduce the strain for those suffering. There should be some options to adjust the PWM frequency or hopefully figure out a way to disable it. I’m not totally an expert despite reading a lot on the topic but I’d assume Apple could include a mode that sets brightness at full without PWM then modifies the white point to allow it to appear dimmer.

 

[TDDM]

There should be some options to adjust the PWM frequency or hopefully figure out a way to disable it. I’m not totally an expert despite reading a lot on the topic but I’d assume Apple could include a mode that sets brightness at full without PWM then modifies the white point to allow it to appear dimmer.

You wanna know why I'm still hopeful? Because a random dev was able to do exactly what we're asking for the S7/S8.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8+/development/amoled-pwm-s8-t3716663

Here's how the screen looks without the fixed kernel:

And here's what it looks like with the fixed kernel:

Apple's implementation of PWM could be different than Samsung's, but the fact that this IS fixable with a software patch means I'm not gonna give up on my X just yet.

 

[MICHAELSD]

You wanna know why I'm still hopeful? Because a random dev was able to do exactly what we're asking for the S7/S8.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8+/development/amoled-pwm-s8-t3716663

Here's how the screen looks without the fixed kernel:

And here's what it looks like with the fixed kernel:

Apple's implementation of PWM could be different than Samsung's, but the fact that this IS fixable with a software patch means I'm not gonna give up on my X just yet.

If the jailbreak community was still alive and well on iPhone X a developer would’ve probably released a fix. Hopefully Apple does the same, which I’d of course greatly prefer. I’d be fine with them using some other method to prevent burn-in if that’s their concern.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I enjoy my iPhone X way more than the 8 Plus... internals are great but the phone feels outdated after using the iPhone X for so long. My main goal by publicizing the issue is to get Apple to release some kind of adjustment or setting for the people affected...

 

[gr4z]

Thanks for those insights. I am torn as to what to do. I would really appreciate some media outlets pushing this story and force an Apple response.

 

[IowaLynn]

My Note 8 was going to be a stop gap hold until the iPhone X (and iOS) had more refinements. Seems like 2.0 will take a year. No issue with Samsung, sounds like their OLED for Apple are... different too. And Samsung’s production line scaling back.

I did get headaches immediately after enabling Iris Recognition on Galaxy, both the Note and S8+. Drove me crazy until I stumbled on threads like this one.

 

[Tijdelijk]

If you use the slomo camera mode, you can capture the PWM on the iPhone X. Just for comparison, I tried to capture slomo video of the 8 Plus and of course there’s no flicker. I’m also going to try comparing to my buddy’s iPhone X to see if it exhibits the exact same flicker as my X.

The 8 Plus is still a great, albeit dated-feeling phone. Ironically, my main holdup with the 8 Plus is that the display is a lot better on the X and having the best display possible is one of my priorities with all my devices. (I even have a 9.5g Pioneer Kuro for this reason.) iPhone X is more usable to me if I never lower the brightness under 50%, which just means that I have to avoid using it in dim lighting and have to manually adjust the brightness. Is this type of compromise acceptable with a $1200 phone? No, but I’d be ecstatic paying the premium over the 8 Plus if PWM didn’t exist.

Also of note: TouchID is way faster and more convenient than FaceID which is no slouch itself, I do miss the Plus size even with the bezels, and surprisingly even the speakers are better on the X, which I wasn’t expecting since the 8 Plus is a larger size overall. So the 8 Plus does have some advantages over the X including effectively a larger display for content the majority of the time. Still, there’s no denying that X would be the better phone in every way if PWM was disabled and when FaceID matches the speed of TouchID.

I’d pay for an OLED X Plus without PWM in a heartbeat.
[doublepost=1517601335][/doublepost]Just a few minutes into using my iPhone X again, even at 50% brightness, and throbbing eye pain is distinctly back again...

Well the speakers on the 8 plus are better (deeper sound) in my opinion.

Also in my opinion the screen difference between the X and the 8 plus is there but it's not a huge difference at all.

And no eye pain versus X with eye pain is a no brainer for me.


----
Still, there’s no denying that X would be the better phone in every way if PWM was disabled and when FaceID matches the speed of TouchID.
----

But it's not for me
PWM is there to stay for some time on the OLED panels I am afraid. Also I prefer the 16:9 aspect ratio over the X. And I don't like the round corners on the X. It reminds me on the Televisions seen in the Flintstones.

The notch in landscape full screen is terrible and something I wouldn't have expected from Apple at all. Apple was known for symmetry in there iphones all the way up to fake speaker grills etc.

 

[gr4z]

Just used my X for around 30 mins to read some news and bam. Eye strain. Will have to conduct further testing with my 8 over the next few days and am going to email Apple Support expressing my disappointment with the current outcome.

 

[felixen2121]

I think I get eye strain from the iPhone X as well :-(

It’s not really a bad headache, just a slight ache behind the eyes and slight nausea. It also makes it a bit hard for me to focus.

Damn. I really like everything else about this phone, but I think I will have to try to exchange it for an 8 Plus.

I can’t believe that this is not a story in the media.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Still trying to figure out if there are certain brightness levels that don’t cause me eye strain since the PWM varies at different brightness levels. My eyes definitely prefer not to have it below 20%. Honestly, probably not since I still notice a throbbing pain but I’d prefer not to get rid of my X.

 

[gr4z]

I think I get eye strain from the iPhone X as well :-(

It’s not really a bad headache, just a slight ache behind the eyes and slight nausea. It also makes it a bit hard for me to focus.

Damn. I really like everything else about this phone, but I think I will have to try to exchange it for an 8 Plus.

I can’t believe that this is not a story in the media.

Redmond Pie mentioned it the other day. Not many others.

http://www.redmondpie.com/iphone-x-...lect-users-to-experience-headaches-eyestrain/

 

[0669362]

Samsung have been selling oled screened phones for years now surely if it was that much of a problem they wouldn't be doing so well?

I think maybe it's to do with the implementation.

 

[nyy13251]

Can someone explain this to me? I am not very knowledgeable on this stuff. So is it the flickering that some people can see that is bothering there eyes? I am getting the X soon and am curious as to if this happens to certain people who have a history of eye issues or just random people?

I wear glasses, but besides that, (thankfully) no eye issues. I do use tear drops since my eyes tend to get dry (due to looking at computer/phone a decent amount during the day), and one of my eyes sometimes blinks faster than the other. but doc said it can be from dry eyes and stress. I do not have a history of migraines or unusual headaches or eye strain. But I wonder that since I have dry eyes, will the headaches and eye strain happen to me? Obviously, I wont know until I get it in a few weeks, but I was curious as to understand exactly what is happening and if it just happens to random people or people with a history of headaches or eye strains.

 

[felixen2121]

Can someone explain this to me? I am not very knowledgeable on this stuff. So is it the flickering that some people can see that is bothering there eyes? I am getting the X soon and am curious as to if this happens to certain people who have a history of eye issues or just random people?

I wear glasses, but besides that, (thankfully) no eye issues. I do use tear drops since my eyes tend to get dry (due to looking at computer/phone a decent amount during the day), and one of my eyes sometimes blinks faster than the other. but doc said it can be from dry eyes and stress. I do not have a history of migraines or unusual headaches or eye strain. But I wonder that since I have dry eyes, will the headaches and eye strain happen to me? Obviously, I wont know until I get it in a few weeks, but I was curious as to understand exactly what is happening and if it just happens to random people or people with a history of headaches or eye strains.

Good question. Supposedly it is the flickering. I’ve never had any problems with screens before.

I have 20/20 vision, am 39 years old and work with a computer for most of my day. I have had most iPhones and iPads released and always found the screens very pleasant to look at.

At first I thought my problem was somehow due to FaceID, but now I am positive that it is due to the PWM flicker. It really sucks and I wish I would have selected an iPhone 8 Plus. Unfortunately I can’t deliver the phone back. It was issued by my job, but I am deducted in my salary for some of the cost, since I chose an expensive phone.

 

[Proteinaceous]

Can someone explain this to me? I am not very knowledgeable on this stuff. So is it the flickering that some people can see that is bothering there eyes? I am getting the X soon and am curious as to if this happens to certain people who have a history of eye issues or just random people?

I wear glasses, but besides that, (thankfully) no eye issues. I do use tear drops since my eyes tend to get dry (due to looking at computer/phone a decent amount during the day), and one of my eyes sometimes blinks faster than the other. but doc said it can be from dry eyes and stress. I do not have a history of migraines or unusual headaches or eye strain. But I wonder that since I have dry eyes, will the headaches and eye strain happen to me? Obviously, I wont know until I get it in a few weeks, but I was curious as to understand exactly what is happening and if it just happens to random people or people with a history of headaches or eye strains.

I’ve been using computers/mobile devices since the 80’s (including old, crappy low-refresh-rate CRTs from many years ago) and this is the only device that has every given me issues. I do wear glasses/contacts and I think others here have reported 20/20, and no glasses/contacts. I’ve been following this thread for awhile and I haven’t seen anything obvious that would predict when someone might have issues (that would be difficult to determine from a thread like this).

I had issues so I gave my iPhone X to my wife and she has had zero issues so it doesn’t seem to be an issue of individual devices/device variation either.

 

[noobinator]

What really confuses me about all this is that the iPhone X definitely bothered me a bit, but the other OLEDs phone I've used recently didn't bother me. I used the S8 Plus for months and now using a Pixel 2.

According to the article below, the X, S8 Plus, and Pixel 2 all have a similar "Response Times PWM Frequency". So this leads me to believe there's something else going on with the X outside of the Response Times PWM Frequency. I really wish I understood this stuff.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/PWM-Ranking-Notebooks-Smartphones-and-Tablets-with-PWM.163979.0.html

Response Times PWM Frequency by Phone:

iPhone X - 240
Galaxy S8 Plus - 250
Pixel 2 - 245.1

 

[gr4z]

I have emailed Apple Support quoting my open ticket regarding this issue and provided links to this thread and the other one on Reddit asking for a response. I not sure if I will get a response.

 

[jtl_]

My Note 8 was going to be a stop gap hold until the iPhone X (and iOS) had more refinements. Seems like 2.0 will take a year. No issue with Samsung, sounds like their OLED for Apple are... different too. And Samsung’s production line scaling back.

I did get headaches immediately after enabling Iris Recognition on Galaxy, both the Note and S8+. Drove me crazy until I stumbled on threads like this one.

The Samsung OLED's still have PWM (with the exception of Galaxy S1 and S2 from over 7 years ago.)

 

[gr4z]

Blanket refusal from Apple Care. eBay it is then with their extortionate fees. What a shame.

 

[nyy13251]

Blanket refusal from Apple Care. eBay it is then with their extortionate fees. What a shame.

You should go into the store. Talk to the manager. The store may be a little more understanding. Ask if you can swap it for an 8 or 8+. Be calm, respectful and see if they can help. If that doesn't work, call Apple and ask to speak to a manager.

 

[gr4z]

You should go into the store. Talk to the manager. The store may be a little more understanding. Ask if you can swap it for an 8 or 8+. Be calm, respectful and see if they can help. If that doesn't work, call Apple and ask to speak to a manager.

Already spoken to a manager at Apple Care. No luck. They even rang some stores for me. Answer was no.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I was experiencing a lot of lag on my iPhone X so I decided to do a restore and didn’t have time to enable FaceID. I still experience a manageable amount of strain from the display but not as much eye pain. It’s only been a few hours so this could be coincidental but not setting up FaceID could help.

When I originally got iPhone X my first instinct was to disable FaceID but this may be like the WiFi chip where even if it’s “disabled” the chip is still on. I haven’t tested this theory to see if the sensors still come on with FaceID unlock disabled but they don’t appear to be utilized at all with FaceID not setup.

I still don’t think it’s caused by the FaceID sensors but it’s a possibility I’m willing to entertain.