Night Shift helps iPhone users wind down and eases the transition to sleep at the end of the day, or whenever is best for the user's schedule.
Apple's Night Shift matches the movement of the sun and gradually tints the iPhone screen with an orange sunset-like effect as evening approaches. The schedule can be changed to align with the user's workday, instead of using the automatic preset for a particular time zone. A few minutes of customization might make this feature much more helpful, easing out of a busy day and moving into relaxation, and making it easier to drift off to sleep when the time comes.
Apple built various color adjustment options into the iPhone's display. True Tone adjusts the color temperature to make the gray tones on the screen more closely match the color of the surrounding room lighting. This makes it easier to match the screen to real-world objects and might be more pleasing for the eyes. Accessibility features offer a wide range of brightness and contrast options, along with full control of color tinting, including settings specifically designed for users that have color blindness.
Apple's Night Shift has a default setting that begins applying a tint to the iPhone's screen at sunset. Almost imperceptible at first, the tint gradually increases to reach the user's preferred setting. The maximum amount of tint can be fine-tuned from a mild off-white to a very noticeable golden-orange hue at the strongest setting. This effect reverses at sunrise, returning to normal while taking into account True Tone and Accessibility settings that affect the display when enabled. However, the sunset to sunrise default can be changed to better suit the individual user's day. Night Shift options are found in the Settings app under the Display & Brightness tab. Once there, tapping 'Scheduled' and then 'Custom' allows the user to set the time for when the effect should begin and end, resulting in a custom Night Shift schedule.
Why It's Worth Customizing Night Shift
For swing-shift and night-shift workers, having the screen tint to sunset colors in the evening won't suit their lifestyle. When traveling, a similar situation might happen where a layover will cause the automatic schedule to match the current location instead of the final destination. Adjusting the iPhone's Night Shift to a custom schedule allows the user to take control. Dark Mode, the feature that changes between a dark and light theme for the iPhone user interface and wallpaper, has a similar custom schedule option which can also be found in the display settings menu.
Several studies have shown that shifting color temperature has a limited effect on the user, with the brightness of the screen and the amount of interest in the content playing a larger role in keeping the mind active and making it harder to fall asleep. That means brightness should be lowered manually when nearing bedtime and finding something a bit less entertaining might help as well.
When using an iPhone camera or taking a screenshot with Night Shift active, the image will not be tinted orange, even though it will appear that way when the mode is enabled. The color settings of an iPhone's screen do not change any of the content and everything will reveal the true color when Night Shift is turned off again. Using Night Shift on an iPhone is easy, and it can even be set to a custom schedule that matches the Apple user's needs.