[jr2]

Basically, prevents your smartphone / computer (Win/Mac/Linux) screen from blinding you at night and interfering with your body's ability to sense time of day by the color temp of light.. give it a try; I love it!  A lot easier on the eyes at night.  Free:

http://stereopsis.com/flux/           http://stereopsis.com/flux/faq.html

Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?

Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen?

During the day, computer screens look good—they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.

f.lux

F.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better.

f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you're in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.

Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. F.lux will do the rest, automatically.

[JGZinv]

Has been posted before...  though the phone app part is new.

[Qent]

Is this the one that's very invasive and difficult to uninstall?

[yuezhi]

invasive how?

[jr2]

Invasive how? EDIT: @yuezhi ninja'd

Is this the one that's very invasive and difficult to uninstall?

https://www.google.com/search?&q=f.lux+review

Apparently, no, it's not.  It doesn't even trigger a UAC prompt (it installs to user profile app data directory).  I just tried uninstalling it, and it performed flawlessly.  Just remember to quit the taskbar icon after uninstalling EDIT: before uninstalling, or your screen may stay tinted!

http://stereopsis.com/flux/privacy.html

f.lux privacy policy

Updated September 20, 2011

Website

This website does what other websites do. We use cookies, we keep logs. We use Google Analytics, and we try to figure out why people are downloading f.lux.

Existing log files may be used to summarize where our customers live and what languages they speak, in order for us to understand how to improve f.lux. For instance, if we have a large number of users in France, we might translate the software's user interface to French.

f.lux application and automatic updates

f.lux is an application that runs entirely on your client PC. f.lux performs daily "update checks" for both the MacOS and Windows versions. During this update check, f.lux may transmit cookie information, which does not identify you or your location. However, such information may be used by us to understand how many unique computers have installed f.lux.

All clients provide a way to opt-out of these checks.

For the Linux versions, update checks do not contact us, but instead updates are done with your local Linux repository.

We currently do not transmit your location with automatic updates, and we will notify you if we make a change to this policy.

Activity and Advertising

f.lux does not track your activity or display ads.

If we do offer ads or suggestions for commercial products in a future version, such communications will happen in a web browser and not in the client software.

Location Information

Communications with Google

We offer a number of ways to find your latitude & longitude. On OS X and Windows, any method that uses a map will access our servers and Google's servers.

Communications with Apple

On the Mac, we let you use Apple's Location Services (similar to how an iPhone finds where you are) to find your location. Apple receives your location information, but we do not.

Other location methods

Methods that require only a zipcode typically do not transmit data (however, you can enter a zip code into Google's map interface.) Manual entry of latitude & longitude does not ever transmit any data.

We may offer other location services from the f.lux client in future revisions. Such geo-IP services (which are common on the Internet) can translate your IP address into a rough location (usually within 100 miles).

[Mika]

This sounds good, but there is a catch that I thought I should mention here.

When eyes adapt to the surrounding illumination, the receiving spectrum changes, but so does the eye resolution. Iris will have about 4 mm diameter during cloudy day, and typical indoor illumination levels are around that. If the illumination level drops, iris diaphgram opens further up to about 6 millimeters (maximum is 8 millimeters, using certain eye drops or drugs). While in theory the cornea should not work harder, I'm not entirely convinced it doesn't happen. Thinking about it, it actually does work harder. If the computer screen was far away, eye probably wouldn't need to work harder. But your screen is typically about 0.7- 1 meters away, causing that cornea is constantly forced to take close focus shape, which is more curved, and more curved it will get if the aperture is increased.

Additionally, if the diaphgram opens up to 6 mm, you start to see the aberrations of your eye much better, like non-circular halos around highlights. However, what might help here is that you start to get tired much earlier watching the screen, and go to sleep earlier, bypassing the above effects.

Tell me about your experiences about using the software, I'm somewhat interested about this scientifically as well.

[jr2]

Well, it was late at night (1AM?) when I installed this, and, after adjusting, I noticed that my eyes "felt" better... like, I don't know how to describe it, the screen felt less harsh.  Now, this program does mess with my OCD quite a bit, as I very much prefer cool 'blue'-ish lighting.  We'll see.  (there is a 'pause for one hour' option for color-sensitive work)

[Qent]

Invasive how?

My whole experience with this thing is from discussion of it on these forums.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!

EDIT: Seriously, don't do it. It seems like a good idea at first, but soon you'll realize that the colors are too screwed up for you to get any work or gaming done, and you'll uninstall it.
If you're running Vista, at least, a few days later you'll boot up to find your screen way too dark and/or blue. That happened to me, and I couldn't figure out how to undo it for about a year. The only workaround I could find at the time was to reinstall the stupid program and let it run with neutral settings.
This program literally screws with your current color profile, and the only real way to get rid of it is to change color profiles.

I don't have firsthand experience with any other OS, but there are reports of flickering, stuttering, extreme lag, and the colors abruptly changing problems that seem to plague about 30% of all users.

If you play games or do any work that requires colors for more than an hour at a time, you do NOT want this thing.

EDIT2: Also, customer service technical support is practically nonexistent. The only way to contact anybody is to post in the comments section and hope somebody non-retarded replies. My name in the comments is "Earmite" if you have an urge to delve into them at all.

I would strongly recommend against using f.lux. Every version I used was nearly impossible to remove after I decided that it screwed with the colors too much (yes, even on low settings). The program actually edits your current color profile, which is why the effect lingers even after you uninstall.
And unless they've changed something, support for it is the worst I've ever seen. No actual contact information was provided, the only way to get something resembling support was to post a comment on the website and hope an employee sees it.

I'd only used it in Vista, so it might work better in other OS's, and the newest version might work better, but still...

I guess Scourge may be the only one ever to have problems with it, but it does sound kind of serious.

[Mongoose]

I wonder how well this would work with CRTs.  Yes, I know I'm a dinosaur.

[haloboy100]

I've never really had that problem before...and since it fixes itself in a few minutes anyway, installing a program just to mitigate it seems like overcompensating.

[Scourge of Ages]

Well I guess there's nothing else I need to say then
So I'll just say: yo

[Nuke]

this was on hack a day awhile back. if i didnt totally reject the day night cycle i would think this is a good idea.

[Bobboau]

I wish it gave you a time offset, so you could have it wait until later in the evening to shift everything red.

[JGZinv]

So change the settings so is shifts later.

[Bobboau]

me: I wish a setting existed that allowed me to **** it to later.
you: change the settings so it shifts later.

I could change my location, but then my screen would be red in the morning... and the setting would be wrong...

[jr2]

Yeah, that would be nice.  You could leave them a comment at the end of their FAQ, here

I work nights. How do I flip the day and night settings?

PC f.lux users can unlock the color temperature sliders by holding down the control key while setting your temperature, so night can be swapped with day. We're working on a feature that lets you control time settings more closely.

I uninstalled f.lux and my computer is still orange, what gives?

Some users have encountered a problem where f.lux is no longer running but the screen still appears tinted. If you have checked the Processes tab in Task Manager and there is no f.lux process present, this means another program has absorbed the f.lux color profile. The workaround to restore your screen to its normal profile is as follows: Reinstall f.lux. In the Settings Menu, set both the Night and Daytime sliders to daylight. After 24 hours, any other programs should have re-absorbed the new profile, and you may uninstall f.lux with no more changed colors.

I installed this but it looks too pink/orange.

On first use, it can take a while to adjust to the halogen settings. Try adjusting the color temperature sliders under Settings until you find one you like. Start with fluorescent or halogen and change it when your eyes adjust. When you disable f.lux, your screen will return to your normal calibration. We're used to looking at very blue computer screens, so it can seem unnatural at first. Most LCD displays are calibrated to display at 6500K, which has even more blue than noon sunlight (5500K).

What is the right color setting for me?

You're at the right color when your monitor screen color looks like the pages of a book under your room lights. We're all used to monitors giving off a 6500K glow, which is even bluer than sunlight. If the default settings of f.lux feel too extreme to you, try setting it to fluorescent, and once your eyes adjust, set it to a warmer temperature. Some studies indicate blue light is beneficial during the day, but late at night it can negatively affect your sleep pattern. Our unofficial study indicates that f.lux makes your computer look nicer in a dark room.

[Scourge of Ages]

I uninstalled f.lux and my computer is still orange, what gives?

Some users have encountered a problem where f.lux is no longer running but the screen still appears tinted. If you have checked the Processes tab in Task Manager and there is no f.lux process present, this means another program has absorbed the f.lux color profile. The workaround to restore your screen to its normal profile is as follows: Reinstall f.lux. In the Settings Menu, set both the Night and Daytime sliders to daylight. After 24 hours, any other programs should have re-absorbed the new profile, and you may uninstall f.lux with no more changed colors.

Yes! That sounds like exactly what happened to me. Every time.
It's nice that they finally addressed the issue, though that seems like a ridiculously complicated workaround for it.

[redsniper]

Not complicated. It just takes all day...

[SypheDMar]

I use F.lux on Windows and Redshift on Ubuntu. Redshift's UI is a bit lacking, but I read that it was better than the Linux F.lux. It does pretty much the same thing, though.

[Bob-san]

I always use F.lux (I've been using it for a couple years now) so I don't particularly care about uninstall problems. Anyways, it's a good program and I give it my stamp of approval. My only suggestion is to set its transition speed at "Slow"; I personally find the "Fast" setting to be jarring. My only problem is it doesn't override all color/gamma profiles--some games still appear at 6500K instead of my preferred 3400K.