Insomniacs Rejoice: Night Shift Mode Coming to Mac

Apple seems to finally have realized that people may use their MacBooks at night. Or at least that's what it feels like, as the latest developer release of macOS adds Night Shift, a setting first found on iOS devices that changes the colors emitted by your panel to a warmer profile.

shutterstock 530337757 — *Image: guteksk7 / Shutterstock*

Night Shift, first introduced in iOS 9.3, reduces the amount of blue light emitted by devices in an attempt to make it easier for users to fall asleep. This kind of feature, found in many PC laptops already, became popular after studies showed that exposure to blue light wavelengths increase attention and reaction times, as well as alter your mood.

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macOS beta testers can try out Night Shift by downloading version 10.12.4. As it exists in the beta, you active the setting by clicking the Notifications button in the menu bar, scrolling up and turning Night Shift on.

A simpler way to use this mode is to schedule it to turn on automatically at the start of the evening. For this automation, open System Preferences, click Displays, click the Night Shift tab and turn the Schedule setting from Off to On. Here, you can adjust the color temperature slider for warmer or cooler tones, though it notes that warmer tones "may affect the appearance of some onscreen motion."

If you're not a beta tester, you can see what a warmer display profile looks like by downloading f.lux, a third-party solution that offers more-granular settings such as disabling it for specific apps. Just be warned though that it might not be the best option, as f.lux forum threads have claimed that the tool doesn't work as well on macOS Sierra as it did with previous modes.

F.lux used to be available for iOS devices via side-loading, but Apple demanded that option be taken down, stating such an installation process violates its Developer Program Agreement.