March 21, 2016

How to use Night Shift on iPhone and iPad

How to use Night Shift on iPhone and iPad via iMore – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch blog

Night Shift wants to help you get to sleep and stay asleep better, but how it does that is up to you!

Here’s the deal: The colder, bluer light typically given off by the displays on our iPhones and iPads interferes with the natural processes that help us fall and stay asleep. To help prevent those interferences, iOS 9.3 introduced Night Shift, which lets you manually or automatically move the display towards the warmer, yellower part of the color spectrum. And that can help you get to sleep — and stay asleep — better.

Nightshift explained: How the color of your screen can help you sleep better.

Note: Night Shift by itself can only help with proper sleep hygiene, it can’t ensure it. Refraining from gaming, social media, or other compelling activities right before bed can also help.

How to automatically set Night Shift from sunset to sunrise

If you like the idea of Night Shift and want it to just work from dusk to dawn, you can flip a few simple switches in settings and make it so.

Launch Settings from your Home screen.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Tap Night Shift.
Switch Scheduled to on.
Tap From/To — if it doesn’t already say Sunset/Sunrise. (If it does say Sunset/Sunrise, you’re done!)
Tap Sunset to Sunrise.

Sunrise and Sunset times are pulled from your location, the same way it is in the Weather app. If you have any problems with the timing, double check your location settings.

How to automatically set Night Shift on a custom schedule

If sunrise and sunset feel too early and too late in the day for you, you can also pick any other static times you like.

Launch Settings from your Home screen.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Tap Night Shift.
Switch Scheduled to on.
Tap From/To.
Tap Custom Schedule.
Tap Turn On At.
“Spin” the selector vertically to choose your on time. You can spin hours, minutes, and AM/PM separately.
Tap Turn Off At.
“Spin” the selector vertically to choose your off time. You can spin hours, minutes, and AM/PM separately.

There’s no “done” button. Whatever you set last will be the time Night Shift uses. If you later decide the timing still isn’t right, and you want to tweak it, simply repeat the steps and choose a different time.

How to manually set Night Shift at any time

If you don’t want to go all-in on a schedule, you can also simply choose to manually enable Night Shift at any time.

Launch Settings from your Home screen.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Tap Night Shift.
Tap Manually Enable Until Tomorrow.

Night shift will then turn on and stay on until the next day. If you want to use it again, you’ll have to manually enable it again or set up a schedule.

How to adjust the color temperature for Night Shift

Seeing your screen pushed from the cooler blues you’re used to towards the warmer yellows can be uncomfortable at first. The human brain is amazing at adapting, so you should get used to the default quickly. If for some reason, though, you find it too warm — or not warm enough — you can tweak the temperature to your liking.

Launch Settings from your Home screen.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Tap Night Shift.
Slide the Color Temperature left for Less Warm (bluer) and right for More Warm (yellower) spectrum.

Note: If Night Shift isn’t on while you’re making the adjustments, the screen will temporarily simulate it so you can get a real sense of what your choice will look like.