And then there's Redshift, which is GPL'ed and has its source code available. Works like a charm on my Linux box.<p><a href="http://jonls.dk/redshift/" rel="nofollow">http://jonls.dk/redshift/</a><p><a href="https://launchpad.net/redshift" rel="nofollow">https://launchpad.net/redshift</a>
f.lux is one of my favorite pieces of software. It just does what it's supposed to and I hardly even think about it. Being near the 40th parallel, it rarely activates from April to October. At some point in October, as it did a week ago, it naturally and unobtrusively becomes indispensable again.<p>Something that happens quite frequently is non-technical friends see my laptop at night and ask "why it is orange?". When I temporarily deactivate f.lux, they shrink from the intrusive blue light and need no further explanation.
Hard to run a neat tool like f.lux when you design for the web. Reason being that I need to "see" the web like my clients and their customers do. Same reason I don't run ad-blockers, or many browser add-ons that modify the browsing experience.<p>I found when using it for personal use, there are times when the time of day, doesn't align with my <i>energy</i> levels and I ended up disabling it enough that it became a nuisance.
Being wary of using too much resources in my own programs I'm always a little surprised and disappointed when I see small utility programs like this use resources like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Flux is currently using 118 MB of real memory and 0.1% CPU.<p>Using otool -L /Applications/Flux.app/Contents/MacOS/Flux you can see an impressive number of frameworks included. I guess inclusion of the webkit framework is the biggest culprit. Why all this is needed to simply dim the light on my screen is beyond me.<p>That said, Flux is perfect functionality wise and very useful.
f.lux is great, but I really really really wish it would allow custom control of the timing instead of pegging to sunset. I don't want my screen going red at 4:30 pm in the winter eight or more hours before bed. 10 pm would be about right. f.lux can be manually controlled, but that's much less useful since I'll never remember to turn it back to red at the times I want. "Disable for an hour" is useful once, and really tedious to repeat for six hours.<p>And in this update: "Movie mode ... lasts 2½ hours." Seriously? Why in the world not prompt for a time duration, or use a dropdown or flyout menu for various 30 minute intervals?
Awesome project, thank you!! It would be helpful if the creators listed the latest version number on their site so folks don't need to install it to see if it's e.g: version 23.0 or something else. FYI: the latest version seems to be 23.0 for mac at the moment.
I really wish someone would put f.lux in a TV or receiver. Sure, it's not ideal for critical viewing, but it'd be great for casual tv watching/gaming at night. Anyone found good solutions for that? I tried amber glasses but it's a bit of an awkward solution and somehow doesn't feel as effective as f.lux.<p>Would lowering the blue light in the TV's picture settings and the brightness accomplish everything f.lux does?
I hear so much about f.lux, but to me I don't know if the science quite backs it up like everyone says it does. I've found it suffers from the, "They used the word science so it must be good" problem.<p>Why hasn't anyone done a study on <i>specifically</i> what f.lux attempts to do? Sure, light at night causes people problems sleeping, but does f.lux actually make a difference? Can we quantify that difference in a way that controls for the fanboy (formerly known as placebo) effect?
If you use Android, Twilight is also great (same concept but for your smartphone): <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.lux" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...</a>
I start work before 6:00 AM and f.lux is a godsend. I actually feel my body go <i>aahhhh</i> as the sun comes up outside the window and my screen shifts to blue.
The appearance on my setup if quite hilarious: <a href="http://imgur.com/1VrPWNw" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/1VrPWNw</a><p>The cheap Dell monitors got quite small horizontal visibility angle. Additionally, the USB adapter doesn't seem to be supported.
If you like f.lux, and you use Android devices, you might enjoy Twilight.<p><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.lux" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...</a>
As someone who has used f.lux for the last few years (and more so after I've started classes), any single one of these is a welcome update. Together? I'll take it as a late birthday present.
The only thing that annoys me about f.lux is the lack of flexibility. Why can I only disable it for one hour? Why are there only two transition speeds - 20s and 60m?
the alt-pg up/dwn feature to adjust brightness is pretty great. the fact that it rolls back in the morning is pretty clever, i always found myself having to fidget with settings on my monitor.<p>i wish more devices, like tvs, had flux baked in.
I remember first looking at this, and thinking it was pretty stupid. I downloaded it out of curiousity and ran it on my work machine while doing a few late nights, and I noticed very quickly that my eyes were feeling a lot less tired near the end of a day than they usually were.<p>Now, I install it on every machine I use, and it's probably saved me a ton of (literal) headaches. I couldn't recommend it enough.
Dumb question: does changing the image on the screen actually change the output of blue light? I was kind of under the impression it was a result of the light source.<p>For example I think neon light is actually greenish and it is just the human eye that adjusts the colors back to normal. But I don't think one could make neon light behave like another type of light simply by painting it with some color.
For people who love f.lux, you may be interested to check out the work of Philippe Rahm: <a href="http://philipperahm.com/" rel="nofollow">http://philipperahm.com/</a>. He's built a number of spaces that explore how environmental conditions affect you physiologically. Along the lines of f.lux, he has some experiments that use specific qualities of light to affect your circadian rhythm, including an iPhone app and JavaScript library: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i-weather.org/id389364795?mt=8" rel="nofollow">https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i-weather.org/id389364795?mt...</a>.<p>This is a great example of where avant-garde art can be an inspiration for mass-market products, though who knows if the f.lux creators were directly or indirectly influenced by Rahm's work. Nevertheless, I believe there's a whole range of products that could come out of this conceptual framework.
Might not be what this piece of software was created, but could a similar technique be used for an opposite effect: waking up in the morning? There are morning lights available that send 10.000 lux light, could you get a monitor to do this instead? would it have the same effect as those lights?
Neat. Flux has been one of my favorite tools for years. There have been times that I have had to use its "disable for an hour" function late at night and the sudden brightness change is actually painful. It's easy to forget just how bright monitors are.
<i>WARNING</i>: If you want to try this for the first time, wait until mid-day. The first transition is quite jarring, but trying it in the day will make it much smoother (to the point where, if you disable it at night, you will quickly curse and re-enable it).
Just yesterday I was in the office late and was struggling with the bright monitor in a dimming room. The reminder that this software exists comes at a very nice time of year for those north of the tropics.
I use f.lux all the time (on OS X). The only thing that frustrates me about it, is that "disable for an hour" actually means "use daytime settings for an hour". I reduced the daytime temperature to 4500K, but when I need to do graphical work, I want flux to disable completely. And yes, I know, I can simply quit the app, but then I forget to re-enable it.
I know an update isn't available for OS X yet, but did anyone else get notified of an upgrade of their OS X version? The most recent OS X version of the Flux.app file says it was created Oct 4, 2013. I'm pretty sure this update has caused my Macbook Air to hang momentarily when trying to put it to sleep. Kind of annoying.
If you find yourself not able to fall asleep until later than you'd like, I recommend trying the warmer flux setting. I've been using RedScreen + a little script I wrote instead of flux because it gets far redder, and for me works far better.<p>It looks like flux still only goes down to 2200 on Mac, so I may continue using RedScreen.
I used to use this but my issue was that I usually watch TV/Movies on my laptop before bed. I had to disable flux to do that which made it kind of pointless for me. During my time using it I never noticed any benefits (probably because, like I said, I turned it off late at night).<p>Has anyone seen real benefits to using it?
I teach a class at Arizona State University and one of my students asked why my laptop screen was pink. I then proceeded to give the class a 10 minute sales pitch on f.lux and how blue light inhibits melatonin production. It still surprises me what a profound sales channel raving fans can be.
> A simple schedule for Philips Hue, so you can f.lux your house<p>You can pair your Philips Hue bulbs with f.lux! This is awesome! This kind of thing is very helpful for people who sleep odd hours or just have trouble going to sleep and waking up. Has anyone tried this or knows how it works?
I just tried out the f.lux for Philips Hue feature and it is highly impractical because it arbitrarily adjusts the brightness of all Hue lights in your house...<p>Disclaimer: I'm the creator of LampShade.io, an Android app for the Hue that has a similar feature (and many others too)
I've been wearing orange tinted safety glasses to reduce my exposure to blue light at night. Is there a good option that's more suited to wearing outside the home/hackerspace? Rose colored glasses, of course, but with better peripheral coverage?
Just a heads up: f.lux is a great tool, but remember to turn it off during video games. Your experience with some games can be affected by the temperature of your screen. For me, that was definitely true when playing left4dead2.
Maybe I'm just weird but I previously tried flux for a few days and hated it. I can always tell the colors are wrong and it drives me crazy. At no point did my brain adjust to white being red.<p>Anyone else have this problem?
I was interested in using the expanded range, but it needs to access administrator privileges which I can't use on my locked-down work laptop. The normal version is a lifesaver though!
Is this supposed to become a commercial product? I'm confused about their business model, if any. If they don't have one, an open-source approach would be more common. Any ideas?
Interesting application, but it seems to me that it only really works well if you rely on natural light.<p>I'm in an office with bright neon lights, does it still help?
My eye fatigue was so bad a month I thought of changing professions. I wouldn't say f.lux has cured it completely but it has helped significantly.
iOS devs, please submit radars to Apple for iOS support without jailbreak. (IDGAF whether it’s native or third-party support for changing the whitepoint, I just don’t want my phone to blind me at night.)