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Comment by ZeroCool2u | Hacker News Reader

While it’s not strictly necessary anymore, because most OS’s have at least a basic feature that mimics flux built in now, I feel like we owe the devs a huge debt for forcing the conversation about the toll our ultra high brightness screens have on our sleep patterns and quality and our eyes.

Plus, it’s a great example of a really high quality piece of software developed with a lot of care and a huge long term commitment.

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I still advocate for the use of f.lux itself. Not only does it support them continuing to lead the charge, but we are also at risk of OS makers reducing the functionality if we don’t keep them on their toes.

f.lux still lets me go to a lower colour temp than either Windows or OSX. I know I’m a niche audience, but it makes a difference to me and I don’t think I’ll get anywhere by shouting at the giant Wall of Apple to expand their range.

I also still run it on every Mac I own. Love the tool and its functions.

Glad someone else commented this. The a stock MacOS and Android features don't get nearly red enough for my preferences at night.

I used to run custom Android ROMs and now on my Pixel devices the #1 thing I miss are warmer temperatures. The stock options barely do anything.

Use Twilight app on your Pixel. Note that thankfully you can also give it Assistive permissions so that it can redden the whole screen (otherwise it won't have permission to redden things like the status bar and notifications pulldown).

there's also some sort of associative positive placebo effect -- oh flux kicked in and it just makes us feel better somatically / prophylactically -- time to relax, deep breath, not stressing about or late night coding or life or whatever

Yes. I do the same thing with my LED houselights, making them yellow and then orange in the evening. When I set them to white temporarily and then forget to change them back I've noticed it seems to increase my alertness/delay drowsiness.

It's most likely just that I've conditioned myself, but in practice I don't really care about the cause. I only care that it helps me wind down in the evening.

If you use home assistant there are some addons that allow you to sync the temperature of your LED bulbs to how high the sun is at the moment in your location... it's pretty neat. https://github.com/claytonjn/hass-circadian_lighting

Yep, I also do this. It's excellent. Whether it's conditioning, placebo, or an effect of the receptors in the eyes; I'll take it.

There's something that feels good about being in sync with the natural day/night cycle. Cool white in the morning, warmer more dim light at night. I also like the idea of having a "sunrise/sunset" wall for any room that doesn't have proper windows but I've never implemented it.

+1 / thank you to everyone who added the conditioning causative effect to thread

I had extreme migraines for several years. 10 minutes under a fluorescent light would leave me completely dysfunctional.

Flux helped noticeably. For true relief FL-41 glasses would extend the time to a few hours.

I've noticed (varying degrees of: thankfully very few people get migraines) the same effect with hundreds of co-workers and employees.

A few times for late shifts in various businesses I've convinced the execs to shut off the fluorescents and I cannot describe the wave of relaxation that hits almost everyone.

It's so much worse also with the combo of 60Hz monitors and 60Hz AC power.

my primary alertness / relax goto these days was wholly unplanned -- swapped out a morning nasal saline in lieu of flonase to eliminate yet another medication, and turns out it also boosts alertness / relaxes -- so now just do morning and night &/or if needed during day plus sinuses way more clear in morning

* is pure OTC saline -- not any of that other stuff people use for hangovers, etc.

Still use it myself as well... I like it less warm than macOS's night mode, and since I'm a night owl I get to make f.lux start its color change later than sunset.

You can also adjust the warmth of the color in macOS's night shift mode. Does that not work for you?

Ahh you're right! With f.lux I can still shift offset from sunset, so it still works a bit better for me.

And a lower brightness than you can go to without it, for Windows at least. On linux, you can make it happen, of course. Idk about Mac.

I like that it has a hotkey for toggling it off and on, as well as some automation features for toggling it off when certain apps are in use. It's nice that windows has built in Night Light but it turns all my screen recordings orange.

This comment reminded me that when I used flux and I'd work late, I'd reach a point where I'd get _tired_ because the blue light was gone (and I had my flux settings cranked). I haven't felt the same way with Apple's Night Shift.

The problem with OS-provided facilities for this is that they often don't give you enough control. I still use f.lux on an Android phone that I rooted specifically for this purpose, because that's the only way I can get dark red on black text in Kindle (for night reading).

I used to use f.lux on Android until I found "Twilight"

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...

I also used to use f.lux on Linux until i found "Redshift"

http://jonls.dk/redshift/

Twilight doesn't do the same thing. It, and all other screen filters on Android that do not require root, can only add color, not subtract it. Thus, it cannot make white text on black background into red text on black background - it can only make it into pink text on red background.

It's true, how often does a little tool like this get mimicked in every major OS? It's too bad the devs don't get a payout for that, but it's a pretty unique achievement.

I got a payout back in the day for something low-level on iOS...

http://thebigboss.org/dimmer-quit-blinding-yourself

Amen to that -- f.lux was a revelation to me. Donated.

Also note that most OS night light modes just toggle and don't allow a smooth transition.

Agreed. I learned about it while at a coding bootcamp when I felt like my eyes were going to break. Total game changer for me.

It doesn't actually help your sleep. That claim has been debunked in multiple studies, including this recent one:

https://news.byu.edu/intellect/is-night-shift-really-helping...

I still recommend it on Mac because you can manually fill in your location. Mac OSX temporarily disables your WiFi in to figure out your location, which can cause stuttering in live streams. With Flux you can also switch the dark theme of Mac, so it completely replaces Mac implemention.

I wonder how Flux works in regions which reach 24 hours of sunlight or 24 hours of nighttime in certain seasons. Can you make reasonable (or meaningful) assumptions about sleeping hours in those conditions? The program seems to kick in around sunset. What if there is no sunset?

There is a preset for "close to the poles". I can't remember what it did exactly though, I haven't used it in a long time.

Given latitude/longitude, you can make a lot of assumptions - current weather, time zone, daylight savings (ugh) in effect or not.

I'm sure there would still be plenty of edge cases, but this would be plenty accurate for me.

I appreciate how once installed I just don’t have to think about it at all. If I fly somewhere, it pops up and confirms where I am, but otherwise it simply works flawlessly and entirely in the background for years on end.

True, but Windows 10 mode looks different. Might just be subjective.

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