Staring at your computer screen in the dead of night can be bad for you, if only because it can also keep you up later than expected. Now, Apple is finally releasing a feature on macOS that will save your precious pupils from the tyranny of blue light.
Image: AP
Apple is releasing its Night Shift feature — currently available on iOS — to laptops and desktops through the newest version of macOS Sierra (10.12.4 beta). For the uninitiated, the Night Shift feature reduces the amount of blue light emitted by your glowing computer screen. It gives the entire screen a yellow hue in the evenings to cause less strain on your eye and to help you sleep easy.
For now, the Sierra 10.12.4 beta is only available to developers, but Apple will soon make this (and iOS 10.3 beta) available to the public.
Most fans of the type of blue light reduction enabled by Night Shift will tell you that the concept was first popularised by an app called F.lux. The app was became a fan favourite on almost every platform and was formerly available for iOS and macOS before being removed from the App Store in mid-2016.
A few months after its abrupt disappearance from the App Store, Apple announced its own version of the feature called Night Shift. The only problem with the whole fiasco is that it left people using macOS clamouring for some sort of blue light relief. Now, it looks like they will finally be getting that yellow hue they so desperately desire.
And not all was lost for F.lux, either. For those of you who still want to support the little guy, F.lux is currently available for Android, Windows and Linux.