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iPhone X FaceID and eye safety
- Thread starter stafil
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IR light is as harmful as visible light. Just because you don't perceive it, it doesn't mean that it is not as harmful.
And that's what actually makes it more dangerous: that you don't perceive it. So your eye don't adjust to it.
Your eyes are exposed to IR on a daily basis from the sun. Might take 90-100 years
Looking forward to results with Attention Aware feature off. IR flood illuminator going off so frequently is certainly alarming and irresponsible on Apple's part, especially since you hold the iPhone close.
But, a flashing light does not automatically equal a dangerous light (the title of the post). Plus, I think what you're showing in the video is the proximity sensor (also IR). No safety issues noted at this time.
With all the options off, the flood illuminator doesn't trigger anymore.
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Did you see the full video? The proximity sensor goes off every 2 seconds or so, and the flood illuminator every 5. The intensity of the poximity sensor is far to low to cause any issue. The flood illuminator causes the whole screen to go white.
It's up to you to decide if this is something that would be problematic for your eyes in a dark environment.
All this ‘proves’ is that the iPhone emits light at wavelengths that a camera can detect. It in no way proves that this poses any danger to human health.
Looking at anything that produces any amount of light is problematic in a dark environment. It keeps you up. If you don’t like that, don’t use any light and just close your eyes and sleep.
You already asked that and I already replied. In case you missed it, here it is again:
https://sciencing.com/infrared-light-effect-eyes-6142267.html
Infrared light is literally less "intense" than visible light.
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I- Sciencing? really?
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/doc/application-note/an1737.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116568/
https://www.researchgate.net/public...rared_Radiation_Exposure_to_Biometric_Devices
The internet is flooding with research proving that IR is harmful to the eye.
The amount from the proximity sensor *may* be acceptable. The one from the "flood illuminator" I doubt. But it's up to you do decide for your eyes.
I have not asked that before and thus there wasn't a reply to my question about it.
From that link: "The infrared light needs to be extremely intense to cause harm."
Sorry, I thought you read the "https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ark-environments.2150422/page-2#post-26712905". Nevermind.
Yeah, it's up to you to define if having what you see in the video every 5 seconds hitting your eyes is extreme or not. Or it may be a good idea for a research paper. I definitely not have the time or money to do it.
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This is not the camera flash. This is the flood illuminator and hits your eyes every 5 seconds without you realizing it.
And yet... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/faceid-health-studies.2146715/
(The internet is flooded with all kinds of stuff, including plenty of things that contradict each other, if not are simply plain false, so that aspect of it really doesn't say much one way or another.)
I am not here to save anyone who doesn't want to be saved. I am not doing a research paper either.
I just discovered why I have eye-pain from the iPhone X and thought I would share.
It's up to you to draw your own conclusions.
Well, it's not really up to someone to define it for themselves. It's either extreme to the point that it can cause damage, or it isn't.
This thread seems to imply that it is extreme to the degree that it causes damage, but apparently that's not actually based on anything beyond a subjective supposition.
No, we don't decide. It's science. Scientifically, it's either a danger or it's not. And Apple states they meet international standards for safety on IR.
Everything I've read from scientific and medical sources say that the dangers of IR come into place when the source is extremely intense. Those IR flashes, even though we might see them as impressive in your video, are not intense enough to create the heat necessary to harm your eyes.
Suggested experiment. Turn off the lights in your kitchen and record the IR coming off your stove, even if turned down and you can barely see the light from the burner, I'm guessing it's pretty bright, but also harmless.
Your eye strain form the X is from PWM from the oled screen, not from or have anything to do with faceId. That is a known issue with the oled screen that Apple uses. If it’s that much of a problem, buy a phone with a LCD screen which solves that issue. The articles you mention are to LCD lamps and lighting which is extremely common these days.
This is from your own source:
Infrared, visible or ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation, in sufficient concentrations, can cause damage to the human eye. To date, Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs) have not been found to cause any damage. (https://www.renesas.com/us/en/doc/application-note/an1737.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116568/)
For the other sources, you are aware there are different wavelengths in the spectrum of "Infrared" yes? its not just simply 1 wavelength. Also I think it would be safe to assume the IR emitting from FaceID does not have the same output an industrial lamp does...
There was talk of Samsung’s iris scanner being potentially irritating or harmful to eyes:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-say-iris-scanner-causing-eye-discomfort.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-say-iris-scanner-causing-eye-discomfort.html
[...]The team also explained that 'when IR radiation is incident on the eye, it is absorbed by the cornea and converted into heat which is then conducted to the lens and induces cataract.'
Although the study exposed the animals to endless minutes of IR, users are constantly checking their smartphones, which means they could be exposed as much as the rabbits were sometime in the future.
According to Janet Voke with Nova Southeastern University, IR raises the temperature of the anterior eye.
The lens is only able to absorb a small amount of the radiation and for it to cause damage, ‘the overall exposure level would need to be high’
However, Voke also noted that damage could occurs as the ‘result of smaller repeated doses’ – which may be similar to the amount your eyes are exposed to while opening your smartphone.[...]
This thread will probably explain better than I have the energy to even try tbh
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9owm7j/convince_me_face_id_is_not_dangerous/
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9owm7j/convince_me_face_id_is_not_dangerous/
There you are:
It's nowhere as intense and you are not spending 3 hours in a dark environment with your eyes 5cm away from it.
For comparison in the middle of the recording I am trying to setup face id. See how the light from the flood illuminator is much much more intense?