Learn to turn your iPhone screen red and eliminate 100% of blue and green wavelengths. To do that, we need to create a colour filter and then create a shortcut to apply that filter when needed. This works differently for older vs newer iPhones.
iPhone 8 and below
Set a red colour filter
- Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations
- Select Colour Filters”
- Enable “Colour Filters” with the switch at the top of your screen
- Select “Colour Tint” as your filter
- Scroll down a little further and use the Intensity and Hue sliders to make the red effect very prominent. Both sliders should be in the far right position to maximise red.
Create a Shortcut
- Go to Settings –> General –> Accessibility
- Scroll to the bottom and select “Accessibility Shortcut”
- Select the “Colour Filters” option from the list
That’s it. To activate your red filter, triple-click the Home button. Switch back to the default setting by triple-clicking the home button again.
iPhone X and above
Set a red colour filter
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display and Text Size
- Select Colour Filters”
- Enable “Color Filters” with the toggle switch
- Select “Color Tint” as your filter
- Scroll down a little further and use the Intensity slider to make the red effect very prominent. Move the slider to the far right position to maximise redness.
Create a Shortcut
- Go to Settings –> Accessibility
- Scroll to the bottom and select “Accessibility Shortcut”
- Select the “Colour Filters” option from the list
That’s it. To activate your red filter, triple-click the button on the right side of your iPhone. Another triple click, and you are back to the default setting.
Final thoughts
Keep in mind that this hack only works for your iPhone. The effectiveness of this filter depends on the degree of the redness of your setting. The so-called night-shift mode is simply not sufficient to protect your eyes and circadian rhythm.
You also want to turn down the brightness of your screen, as any light at night, even pure red, can disrupt melatonin if it is bright enough.
More importantly, you are likely surrounded by many other artificial light sources. You can mitigate the risk of those in various ways. You can install Iris on your computer; you can replace your lightbulbs. But most important, wear your nighttime blue blockers after dark. ViavaRays and BlockBlueLight are our favourite brands.
Make your nights dark again. Mind your rhythm, mind your light ☀️
