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I am one of the people who love the idea of f.lux. I use it and it makes my eyes feel a lot better and makes me feel sleepy at the right times. But the app its

I am one of the people who love the idea of f.lux. I use it and it makes my eyes feel a lot better and makes me feel sleepy at the right times. But the app itself is terribly broken, at least on El Capitan. Whenever I switch modes, the screen flashes the original blue colors---my impression is that even a few seconds of blue light can mess up melatonin production, so this is unacceptable, especially from an app that is pushing the idea of color temperature mattering. Also, "movie mode" results in pulses of blue light every few seconds. Sometimes I select "disable for an hour" and nothing is disabled. "Disable for current app" is also spotty. For this concept to work, and if the ideas about the effects of color temperature are true, then the implementation has to be completely solid. So I'm glad that Apple is duplicating the functionality of f.lux rather than supporting f.lux itself on iOS. I've also been looking into alternatives on OSX. It's time that we move on to an implementation that actually works.

zyxley 11y ago
The issues you're talking about aren't ones I've seen anyone else complain about (and don't happen for me), so I'm wondering if there's something specific to your configuration that's affecting it.
- xtian 11y ago
  Actually I believe these problems are fairly common. I've seen them mentioned before and I experience them myself. I think it has to do with integrated vs discrete graphics in Mac laptops. Disabling transparency in the accessibility options used to fix it, but it doesn't anymore. I'm very much hoping that Apple will include this functionality in the next major release of OS X as f.lux has historically had trouble keeping up with OS and hardware updates.
- oldsj 11y ago
  I believe this is a known issue, I have the same issues on elcap
- wilg 11y ago
  I don't think so – this happens for me as well.
- plorkyeran 11y ago
  I had the exact same issue for several months until one day it abruptly stopped happening without me (knowingly) changing anything related to it.
- tacos 11y ago
  A quick scan of the F.lux forum itself and the six or seven HN articles posted here in the past 90 days shows lots of people having issues. It's really not an easy problem because it's trying to do something that operating systems aren't great at and don't really give you a clean approach to tinker. And video drivers are some of the worst code out there. But I've used this thing off and on for years and it's always been glitchy. If you follow Lorna's Twitter you'll see she rants about all the lights in the house going nuts on occasion, too.
- nothrabannosir 11y ago
  This has started happening to me this week, and it is getting worse. In fact, I just opened the laptop, and the screen flickered for 10 seconds---worst yet.
- woah 11y ago
  I have noticed the same problems.
- lectrick 11y ago
  "I couldn't be bothered to Google the problem, but based on my sample size of 1, I think your problem doesn't exist" Thanks for that useful comment, man.
tacos 11y ago
> It's time that we move on to an implementation that actually works. Android announced "Night Light" and Kindle added "Blue Shade" and iOS came in last with "Night Shift" so it appears everyone has. When F.lux put up affiliate links hawking Himalayan salt lamps and Swarovski crystals and used "cancer" as the 30th word in a press release, I didn't feel too bad hitting "uninstall" for the final time. So Long, and Thanks for All the Tint.
- FreakyT 11y ago
  Only one of the three things you mentioned is comparable to F.lux: iOS Night Shift. > Kindle added "Blue Shade" Blue Shade is, unfortunately, an exceedingly half-assed implementation; I wouldn't be surprised if an intern wrote it over the course of a month or two. Unlike F.lux, (or Cf.Lumen on Android), it doesn't change the color temperature of the screen—instead, it uses the same naive implementation as apps such as Twilight or Lux, which is a semitransparent reddish overlay that causes black colors to turn red. Considering that Kindles are running a completely customized Android ROM, Amazon could have done so much better. > Android announced "Night Light" This is only for Google Play Books, and nothing else. [1] [1] http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2015/12/silent-night-with-night-light.html http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2015/12/silent-night-wit...
  - soared 11y ago
    Blue Shade is almost 100% un-fucking-usable. Its as though Amazon shipped it without a single person trying it out one time.
anonova 11y ago
Note that autobrightness with f.lux is currently broken in OS X 10.11, and they suggest you to disable it: "Note for people using f.lux on El Capitan (10.11): The new version of "Automatically adjust brightness" in El Capitan seems to cause flickering with f.lux. For the moment, you'll have to turn this feature off to use f.lux. To make the fix, use System Preferences > Displays and uncheck. Occasionally, a reboot may also be necessary." [0] [0]: https://justgetflux.com/news/pages/macquickstart/ https://justgetflux.com/news/pages/macquickstart/
- nikolay 11y ago
  It is, unfortunately...
adsims2001 11y ago
I see the same type of problems all the time. f.lux flashes between full blue light and the filter for a few seconds whenever I connect or disconnect my external monitor from my MacBook.

zyxley 11y ago

The issues you're talking about aren't ones I've seen anyone else complain about (and don't happen for me), so I'm wondering if there's something specific to your configuration that's affecting it.

xtian 11y ago
Actually I believe these problems are fairly common. I've seen them mentioned before and I experience them myself. I think it has to do with integrated vs discrete graphics in Mac laptops. Disabling transparency in the accessibility options used to fix it, but it doesn't anymore. I'm very much hoping that Apple will include this functionality in the next major release of OS X as f.lux has historically had trouble keeping up with OS and hardware updates.
oldsj 11y ago
I believe this is a known issue, I have the same issues on elcap
wilg 11y ago
I don't think so – this happens for me as well.
plorkyeran 11y ago
I had the exact same issue for several months until one day it abruptly stopped happening without me (knowingly) changing anything related to it.
tacos 11y ago
A quick scan of the F.lux forum itself and the six or seven HN articles posted here in the past 90 days shows lots of people having issues. It's really not an easy problem because it's trying to do something that operating systems aren't great at and don't really give you a clean approach to tinker. And video drivers are some of the worst code out there. But I've used this thing off and on for years and it's always been glitchy. If you follow Lorna's Twitter you'll see she rants about all the lights in the house going nuts on occasion, too.
nothrabannosir 11y ago
This has started happening to me this week, and it is getting worse. In fact, I just opened the laptop, and the screen flickered for 10 seconds---worst yet.
woah 11y ago
I have noticed the same problems.
lectrick 11y ago
"I couldn't be bothered to Google the problem, but based on my sample size of 1, I think your problem doesn't exist" Thanks for that useful comment, man.

tacos 11y ago

> It's time that we move on to an implementation that actually works. Android announced "Night Light" and Kindle added "Blue Shade" and iOS came in last with "Night Shift" so it appears everyone has. When F.lux put up affiliate links hawking Himalayan salt lamps and Swarovski crystals and used "cancer" as the 30th word in a press release, I didn't feel too bad hitting "uninstall" for the final time. So Long, and Thanks for All the Tint.

FreakyT 11y ago
Only one of the three things you mentioned is comparable to F.lux: iOS Night Shift. > Kindle added "Blue Shade" Blue Shade is, unfortunately, an exceedingly half-assed implementation; I wouldn't be surprised if an intern wrote it over the course of a month or two. Unlike F.lux, (or Cf.Lumen on Android), it doesn't change the color temperature of the screen—instead, it uses the same naive implementation as apps such as Twilight or Lux, which is a semitransparent reddish overlay that causes black colors to turn red. Considering that Kindles are running a completely customized Android ROM, Amazon could have done so much better. > Android announced "Night Light" This is only for Google Play Books, and nothing else. [1] [1] http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2015/12/silent-night-with-night-light.html http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2015/12/silent-night-wit...
- soared 11y ago
  Blue Shade is almost 100% un-fucking-usable. Its as though Amazon shipped it without a single person trying it out one time.

anonova 11y ago

Note that autobrightness with f.lux is currently broken in OS X 10.11, and they suggest you to disable it: "Note for people using f.lux on El Capitan (10.11): The new version of "Automatically adjust brightness" in El Capitan seems to cause flickering with f.lux. For the moment, you'll have to turn this feature off to use f.lux. To make the fix, use System Preferences > Displays and uncheck. Occasionally, a reboot may also be necessary." [0] [0]: https://justgetflux.com/news/pages/macquickstart/ https://justgetflux.com/news/pages/macquickstart/

nikolay 11y ago
It is, unfortunately...

adsims2001 11y ago

I see the same type of problems all the time. f.lux flashes between full blue light and the filter for a few seconds whenever I connect or disconnect my external monitor from my MacBook.