F.lux automatically adjusts your computer lighting to match your environment | Hacker News Reader

F.lux automatically adjusts your computer lighting to match your environment

justgetflux.com

48 pointsIMAYousaf56 comments

This should probably get tagged [2013] or something, there are now built-in options into most platforms (at least Android, iOS, Plasma).

Most of them stole the idea from F.lux, though. It's the software equivalent of pulling up the ladder. Google/Apple/Amazon added f.lux-style blue-light filters to their own OS's, while at the same time locking down access features that would prevent userland apps from being allowed to do the same thing.

Apps being able to overlay stuff onto other apps is a double-edge sword. You get good uses of it like f.lux and things like 'friend is now online' notifications with steam, but then you also get arguably user-degrading experiences like adware and the old Facebook messenger chat heads[0]. Apple and others made the decision to not allow this at all, so the only apps that can survive are those that can leverage notifications that users can always turn off in an uniform way.

0: https://images.app.goo.gl/Kzf3S8vNL9zB28cV6

Adapting a display to the time of the day isn't really something F.lux invented. The displays in cars, planes and other devices have been doing that forever to not blind you at night.

As far as I know, car displays just change the brightness, not the color temperature. Can't speak to planes.

So true, it's a giant money grabbing operation isn't it

Even Windows has it built in now with Windows 10 since the Creators Update in 2017.

Yes, but at least for macOS f.lux has more features so for me it is still the clear preferred option.

It seems like a lot of monitors offer similar functionality these days too. One of the nice things about using your monitor for this stuff is that you don't have to worry about games, virtual machines, and other apps that bypass f.lux blinding you.

How does that work? Do you have to set a clock in your monitor or does it use some sort of ambient light sensor?

I believe most are just simple blue light filters that you manually turn on and adjust the way you adjust brightness or similar but there were a few with sensors:

https://www.benq.com/en-au/campaign/eye-care/for-video-enthu...

Night Shift on macOS does not go as low as I'd like (1900K), so I still use f.lux.

I was surprised to find out that macOS does not apply Night Shift to my external monitor. So I went back to f.lux.

Where did you find that out? I'm reading this through my perfectly dimmed external screen running macOS Catalina.

I found it out by plugging in an external monitor and Night Shift not working with it. I could believe it is specific to the monitor you have, but judging by Apple support I'm not alone:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251249337

The answer implies that it only works on about four different monitors. I doubt that's true but it seems like a shot in the dark to know which it does and does not work with.

EDIT: just tried it again with Catalina. Nope.

Interesting, never heard of that before! I use a 5 year old Dell P2715Q screen and I just enabled / disabled it and it's working fine so that list of screens seems to be outdated.

Works fine on a Dell and an Acer for me, never heard of that before as well.

I have a (probably) related issue on my dual display system where it works on one but not the other, making it just as useless in practice. I still use f.lux as a result.

I have a cheap set of dual monitors (~$110 / monitor) and it works perfectly for me.

The hues and implementation of F.lux over the built-in options makes so that even with platform support I'm using F.lux instead.

Whatever I'm using on my Pixelbook is jarring. There is a subtlety to making it invisible when looking at the screen for a long time. Lot of the system implementations do weird and noticeable things to colors that I don't experience with F.lux. Sometimes I can't even tell if it's turned on anymore (although it's obvious to everyone who doesn't run F.lux).

Seems like someone accidentally installed F.lux on the Bay Area skyline today

They should set wrong timezone.

I remember visiting a client in 2014 with my MacBook running F.lux. We were working late when I heard some friendly mocking from the other side of the room: "Hah, your Mac display has such a yellow tint!" (they were PC and Windows users).

Their jaws dropped when I explained that my display's color temperature was adjusting for the time of day/night and I bet the F.lux website got some extra visits that evening.

the Linux equivalent is http://jonls.dk/redshift/

GNOME also has this feature built-in called "Night Light" in the display settings.

I don't like Night Light because the minimum filter level ("less warm") is still too intense for me. Increasing the range of the slider in that direction would fix this.

There's also the need to use a schedule, as opposed to simply enabling/disabling the filter at any time. But I noticed I can get around that limitation by setting the schedule from 20:00 to 19:59 and then using the global toggle.

I like this extension, it puts a slider in the menu and you can choose the range, https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1276/night-light-slid...

Something broke here, at least on Fedora 32. Activation and deactivation doesn't happen consistently, as if it has lost track of the time of day. I usually have to move the temperature slider back and forth to get it to kick in.

redshift is pretty close to dead, commits have really slowed down [0]. It still doesn't have support for wayland.

gammastep[1] is a fork under active development and has support for wayland. I'm using it in sway right now.

[0]: https://github.com/jonls/redshift/graphs/code-frequency

[1]: https://gitlab.com/chinstrap/gammastep

I use something pretty minimal myself: https://github.com/graupe/brownout

Linux supports flux

Redshift does the same thing and is open source, and there is also a port for Wayland.

I had issues that I can't immediately recall with flux on linux, but redshift + redshift-gtk worked out the box. I had to tweak the config a bit, but once it was set it I never touched it again. One of the only issues with redshift was that if you didn't hardcode a lat/long in the .conf then it would ddos location services.

I used this for several years before switching to Redshift (simply because it's built into my distribution's packaging). The only benefit I've found of Redshift over f.lux is that the transition at dusk and dawn is gradual instead of changing abruptly.

f.lux has three transition options now

Slow: Natural timing

Medium: Adapt your eyes

Very Fast: Gaming

I don't know about the medium mode but in slow the transition happens very naturally to a point that you don't notice it at all.

Congratulations @IMAYousaf you are one of today’s lucky 10,000 — https://xkcd.com/1053/

I personally dislike automatic screen light adjustment. I don’t know what it is but whenever it happens I immediately feel weird, like the world is moving around me for no reason, some people call this “Motion Sickness”. I also had problems with the built-in mechanism in macOS, which uses a light detector near the camera, because I live in a house with big windows near a very transited road with trucks passing by every few minutes. Every time a truck passes the amount of light passing through the windows reduces forcing macOS to readjust the amount of light in the screen and then readjusting again when the truck is out of sight.

I am sure you will feel sick too if you see that happening ±144 times a day.

I hadn't realized my Mac had the auto adjustment enabled until I read your post. Until now I thought my monitor was going wonky - it seemed to shift colours suddenly every once in a while during the day.

I've been using f.lux for years and definitely think it helps considerably (certainly when opening my laptop at night, I don't get completely blinded). I've recently been wondering if blue light glasses are similarly effective--anyone have data (or anecdata) about their effectiveness?

I used to use Flux, but everytime it dimmed, I'd override it... after a while, I just turned it off because I used the bright screen to help keep me awake. It is a cool idea I'd like to use on my kids screens.

I prefer sct as it's much more lightweight although it won't change automatically according to time. It's easy to map shift as keyboard shortcuts in i3/sway, etc..

I use F.lux to minimize blue light at all times, not just at night. You get used to it, and blue light is said to be harmful for long term vision as well as disruptive of sleep.

Sometimes I disabled F.lux for an hour if I want to watch a video or do work that is color sensitive.

what are the differences between blue light coating on glasses and using something like f.lux?

I have blue-blocking tint on my glasses, it doesn't do much but blocks some of the harshest blue lights.

f.lux is on a whole other level and completely tints your screen

I love f.lux (and it's cousins) for two reasons:

1. when it's real late at night (usually b/c I'm getting paged at 4am), it's a godsend. I'm talking when it's so dark that even the lowest brightness setting is too bright, f.lux is a lifesaver

2. I have my flux setup to go orange at 6pm. This gives a not-so-subtle clue to my brain that work-time is over. It serves as an excellent way to prevent overworking. Even if I do go over 6pm, I'm aware that I'm working "overtime" and just get what I need done and then go away.

darn this is what i suspected. I've long been a user of f.lux and share the same positive sentiments. I ask because I just got blue light coating on my glasses and they haven't arrived yet. Feel like I might have been scammed a bit, haha

Having to have the glasses on hand, having to decide when to wear them, and being happy not having the ability to adjust the intensity.

I can see how lack of choice could be beneficial, though I've used f.lux for years on default settings

I use it to not get the red eyes.

There is this weird phenomenon on HN where every time someone posts about flux, it's guaranteed to get to the top, and there will soon be 100 single-threaded comments of people saying how they use it and what a godsend it is. Bikeshedding to the next dimension.

how does bikeshedding apply to this situation?

my understanding of the term is getting caught up in minute details instead of the main work, such as arguing over the color of a bike shed before the foundation of the house is laid

Maybe I'm appropriating the term. Flux is a bikeshed in the sense that it's not anything groundbreaking or complicated or significant (ducks) yet everyone feels the need to weigh in on it when given the chance. What I mean is, flux opinions are like assholes. Or to reference the xkcd comic below, for every lucky 10,000 there are 10,000 people who will gladly share their story with you.

Maybe you meant dunning-kruger? People without a lot of familiarity with the issue being confident that flux is a great solution?

Flux was great, the software ux ui sucks. unfixed location bug for years.

I had it now deleted it.

Making my point. You can't escape it.

Also borks colors and brightness and can't be fully removed without windows reinstall.

[citation needed]

Three different computers I had.

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