Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Aventura008

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2022
3
0
Hi there! I've already checked many topics about the theme of "eyes strain", but my problem is a bit more complicated. This year I bought brand new 13 mini, which since the first sight gave me bad feelings on my eyes. It was like I look on the screen of the phone, and white color seem to be yellow and the fonts are a bit blurred, so my eyes couldn't focus on the text.

After I found an instruction on how to reduce the white point and color filters, I did it - but nothing helped. Yep, white color was a bit colder, but it didn't help for my eyes. When I see or read something on that screen, it gives me something like a flash before my eyes (you got these feelings before migraine get started).

I started to look for the phones with IPS and found iPhone 11. Unfortunately, after a day-two I got almost the same problem. Yes, it was a little easier to read text from this screen, but white color was warmer and the light was so bright that I wanted to take a nap. Moreover, fonts also was blurred (I guess it because of Liquid Retina and low PPI). Again, color filters changing doesn't help at all - it makes screen too cold and uncomfortable.

Before these two phones I was using iPhone SE 2016, 5C, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 4, iPad 2, Air 2 and a little iPhone 7 (got from my friend for a little time just to understand the difference between screens) - none of these phones gave me the same experience as new iPhone 11 and 13 mini.

When I tried to take a photo of screens in the darkness, I saw the difference: my older phones had real white picture and it wasn't too bright, while newer ones had from yellow (11) to rose (13 mini) tilt. If I got it right, Apple changed something in displays calibration process, or maybe the problem depends on displays manufacturer? Are there any info about supplier of screens for the older iPhones? What has changed since 2018 year?

Currently I'm on SE 2016 and iPad Air 2, which ideal for me, but idk what to do next and from which phones can I find something qualitative..on some forums people with the same problems as me recommend to look into iPhone SE 2020 side - seems like it also has more accurate white color. Can anyone confirm this?

Maybe there any thoughts about iPhone SE 2022 and iPad 9th gen.?
 

Sheepish-Lord

macrumors 68030
Oct 13, 2021
2,532
5,149
You can try turning off True Tone but when you start talking about blurred text and headaches you may want to see an optometrist.
 

Aventura008

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2022
3
0
You can try turning off True Tone but when you start talking about blurred text and headaches you may want to see an optometrist.
It's turned off already. And I visited ophthalmologist - my vision is normal currently.

The problem is only with new phones
 

now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
11,257
24,289
Get a refurbished iPhone 8 or 8 Plus.
I have both but the 8 Plus is definitely easier on my eyes than the smaller 8. It’s not just because the screen is bigger, it’s sharper too.
 

The.Glorious.Son

macrumors 68000
Sep 28, 2015
1,721
3,642
Chicago, IL
Exactly with IPS? I know what is it - to have a problem with OLED. My question was about IPS as well..
The thread GlenK sent you, while massive, does have a lot of discussion and plenty of testimonies from members who not only cannot use the new OLED screens, but cannot use the post iPhone 8 LCD screens either. Many have attributed it to temporal dithering used in the newer LCD IPS screens. I imagine the last thing you want to do is scour that thread for these discussions, but I assure you they’re in there.
 

JM

macrumors 601
Nov 23, 2014
4,086
6,381
Here: summarized.

OLED: PWM. each iPhone model has different flicker rates. Some phones are better for sufferers than others.

LCD IPS: temporal dithering. The 8 started it with its “best color ever” wide color offering. Less people suffer from it.

Personally: I have both problems too. The 12 mini gave me very bad eye pain. I gave back, and went to 11. Different eye pain, but less severe.

(Solution on the 11:) I turned on low power mode always, and turned on reduce white point. But it didn’t completely go away until I got glasses to correct my astigmatism and both my eyes were able to focus on screen instead of just one.

(Solution on the 12mini): I tried a 13 mini and found this year’s implementation of PWM improved the pain significantly and I can look at screen for long periods of time. I still have very minor eye pain, but most of the time I forget it’s there. I’ve had 13mini since October.

So, you may just have to try different OLED phones till you find one you like. And for IPS LCD, you can try low power mode and reduce white point.
 
  • Like
Reactions: beginnersview

yesanton

macrumors newbie
Feb 24, 2020
14
10
Vienna, Austria
Hi there! I've already checked many topics about the theme of "eyes strain", but my problem is a bit more complicated. This year I bought brand new 13 mini, which since the first sight gave me bad feelings on my eyes. It was like I look on the screen of the phone, and white color seem to be yellow and the fonts are a bit blurred, so my eyes couldn't focus on the text.

After I found an instruction on how to reduce the white point and color filters, I did it - but nothing helped. Yep, white color was a bit colder, but it didn't help for my eyes. When I see or read something on that screen, it gives me something like a flash before my eyes (you got these feelings before migraine get started).

I started to look for the phones with IPS and found iPhone 11. Unfortunately, after a day-two I got almost the same problem. Yes, it was a little easier to read text from this screen, but white color was warmer and the light was so bright that I wanted to take a nap. Moreover, fonts also was blurred (I guess it because of Liquid Retina and low PPI). Again, color filters changing doesn't help at all - it makes screen too cold and uncomfortable.

Before these two phones I was using iPhone SE 2016, 5C, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 4, iPad 2, Air 2 and a little iPhone 7 (got from my friend for a little time just to understand the difference between screens) - none of these phones gave me the same experience as new iPhone 11 and 13 mini.

When I tried to take a photo of screens in the darkness, I saw the difference: my older phones had real white picture and it wasn't too bright, while newer ones had from yellow (11) to rose (13 mini) tilt. If I got it right, Apple changed something in displays calibration process, or maybe the problem depends on displays manufacturer? Are there any info about supplier of screens for the older iPhones? What has changed since 2018 year?

Currently I'm on SE 2016 and iPad Air 2, which ideal for me, but idk what to do next and from which phones can I find something qualitative..on some forums people with the same problems as me recommend to look into iPhone SE 2020 side - seems like it also has more accurate white color. Can anyone confirm this?

Maybe there any thoughts about iPhone SE 2022 and iPad 9th gen.?
very common problem, it seems. it's all about graphics drivers. One who has this problem on a MacBook could easily check if it's true by loading into safe mode - for me the problem disappears. On windows - disable graphics driver in device manager, and windows start to use default windows driver and strain disappears.

I recommend to write in apple support and describe the problem (I did, and I hope after many complains they will move to do something about it)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.