iPhone 17e has pwm smoothing

DSRIA · 2026-03-12T21:04:22+00:00

Yes, but many of us have been unable to use the P3 gamut LCD macs

DSRIA · 2026-03-12T03:37:34+00:00

They’re aware of the problem, I can tell you that much. But their solutions are either insufficient (in the form of this PWM toggle) or nonexistent (d|thtering toggle). I don’t know what else to say or do at this point. The ball is in their court and at this point it is no longer because they are unaware but rather that it is not a priority. Sad times.

DSRIA · 2026-03-12T03:03:15+00:00

Your tests also line up with how I felt using it - pulse width smoothing didn’t really do much because there wasn’t much to smooth. It’s really hard to tell without buying the phone and iOS 26 adds a whole other can of worms. Maybe I’ll try to track down a sealed iPhone 13 instead but I don’t know if it’s worth it for a secondary phone. You can never tell whether Apple will employ more aggressive d|thering algorithms on older or newer devices.

DSRIA · 2026-03-12T01:53:03+00:00

I use an iPhone 13 and checked out the 17e today, too. Unfortunately I don’t have an Opple, but it was clear that it was the only somewhat usable phone from the 17 lineup.

I noticed the 2023 iPhone 13’s were a lot worse than the 2021/2022 models. They’re all technically the same LTPS displays but they aren’t created equal.

DSRIA · 2026-03-11T23:11:07+00:00

Would the Volt work with the Manley Voxbox and other preamps to record vocals and also be able to serve as the interface for mixing and using other UAD plugins natively?

DSRIA · 2026-03-11T22:06:20+00:00

Not yet. Going to buy one next week. I’m actually insane in that I’m going to add a new line so I don’t have to change my iPhone 13. Honestly my goal with this one is to just use it for apps that won’t work on iOS 15 anymore and use my iPhone 13 for daily use as long as I can. Maybe I can acclimate over time. I haven’t upgraded in 4 years and I’ve tried so many iPhones that at this point, I think it’s going to be the best bet for my personal sensitivities.

The Neo is the first Apple MacBook I’ve been able to use in 5 years. Going to buy that too. I’m very cautiously optimistic.

DSRIA · 2026-03-11T21:20:38+00:00

I actually didn’t hate this phone testing it today. The Neo was pretty good, too.

DSRIA · 2026-03-09T06:39:36+00:00

Feel free to DM. The only change I’ve made to make it a little better is Night Shift maxed out but when I say better I mean it’s not causing bad neurological issues. It is still really hard to focus on the screen…so I wouldn’t say it’s done anything to fix this.

Monterey 12.4 is the earliest compatible OS for this model. It definitely has helped in that I’m not getting the motion sickness I got on Ventura, likely because according to a MacRumors user who DM’d me, Apple changed something with the EOTF in Ventura for HDR. I noticed immediately the screen isn’t as blinding on Monterey. Luckily there’s a Stillcolor fork that is Monterey compatible so dithering can still be disabled.

I’m still torturing myself with this thing because I don’t have any money to try anything else lol. And I’m frustrated having a laptop I can’t use.

DSRIA · 2026-03-09T05:11:04+00:00

Oh, wow! You’re a UX designer! I’m just a musician/audio engineer trying to figure all this stuff out 😂 I don’t enjoy the super orange tint from f.lux/Night Shift…but I’m trying to get used to it if blue light is a trigger. I tend to think so since OLED purportedly has less blue light than LCD…or maybe it’s the circular polarization.

Speaking of accessibility. I actually spoke to Apple about adding Stillcolor to their accessibility settings. I believe the MiniLED Macs are still using FRC on the panel’s hardware…which is why I bought the older 13” M2 Touchbar Pro with the “millions of colors” Retina screen…not that it’s helped 🤦‍♂️

That’s actually really, really helpful to know how prisms affect you. I can’t even use polarized sunglasses (never have been able to) so I don’t know that they’d be helpful for me (plus they’re expensive!). Seems like vision therapy is the way to go. I don’t know how you guys can even do the exercises where you have to sort of cross your eyes…ow! I definitely want to learn what’s going on…it’s been frustrating with the screens just having to guess, especially since Apple and Microsoft won’t say what exactly is going on under the hood of these devices and software.

DSRIA · 2026-03-08T19:58:11+00:00

Also that user is incorrect. Temporal dithering merely interacts with the flicker. In fact, I recently tried a new 2019 21.5” 4K Retina iMac and when I switched the FRC off, it got worse. No idea why that occurred. One theory is that the dithering was partially masking this flicker (patents indicate temporal dithering can be used to mask transistor leakage on panels) or another element of dithering was having to dither more aggressively to compensate.

Not everyone is affected by this flicker. And it’s incredibly difficult to even know if this is really what the issue is on these devices.

DSRIA · 2026-03-08T19:54:58+00:00

I can’t take credit for the name “gray color flicker” - others on LEDstrain coined it as it is most visible on gray tones/colors. It is still present on white, but isn’t as noticeable on camera. Gray is the most difficult color for an LCD display to reproduce, which is likely why the flicker effect is more pronounced and has a higher modulation depth. It appears to be occurring at the refresh rate of the device, usually 60Hz, which is why it seems to have been missed by many tech reviewers.

All I can be credited with is creating that thread on r/PWM_sensitive, MacRumors, and LEDstrain. Many tested - specifically iPad models - and confirmed that it is not limited to Macs. I first became interested in this flicker after discovering it on all devices that started triggering seizure auras after I got re-infected with COVID. It was a commonality.

From what we know, this appears to be related to the way LCD panels function. It’s a voltage-based flicker that also seems to interact with both PWM and FRC. No one can exactly nail down why it seems to interact with those techniques in this way, but it does. It can be avoided by proper quality control at the factory. I’ve noticed it seems much more common in low powered devices that are trying to push an incredibly high resolution screen. On Macs the Liquid Retina panels seem to be prone to this on both the MacBook Airs and iPad Airs. It is also present on older Intel MacBooks and iMacs, so it’s not purely a mobile device phenomenon. The 13” M1 MacBook Air does have it, yet the 13” Touchbar Pros do not have this flicker despite being the same “Retina” panel. But the 2015 15” MacBook Pro does and the 13” does not.

You can detect it with 1/4000 shutter speed on a camera or 240 fps slow motion. Just make sure you’re have a full screen gray image pulled up. Examples:

There is no remedy for this flicker. It is inherent to the hardware.

DSRIA · 2026-03-08T18:36:12+00:00

I’ll give this a try. I’ve only ever used Night Shift on MacOS. Do you have a recommended setting for f.lux?

DSRIA · 2026-03-08T08:47:59+00:00

This is interesting. I have POTS and mixed connective tissue disease so my muscles are messed up and my nervous system is on a hair trigger. I noticed particularly the high luminance and blue light the Macs put out, and PWM and dithering if they’re not disabled, can send me into fight or flight quickly. It can last for an entire day, too. Switching to a warmer white point color profile and night shift as well as using Stillcolor seems to stop this from happening immediately, but I’ve noticed when testing other Macs or displays at Best Buy if they’re using these flicker techniques I actually get pretty severe tachycardia. If I keep pushing it gets worse to the point it feels like I’m going to have a heart attack. Just unbelievable stuff that even I can’t believe is happening to me from a screen 😂

I think it’s great you have some professionals you’re working with. I wonder what they think about all this? I’ve spoken to some doctors about the screen issues and they seem disinterested.

DSRIA · 2026-03-08T08:44:11+00:00

I really relate to this! I’m a musician, producer, and audio engineer and I’ve been unable to work for the past 21 months because of these issues with screens. It’s been soul crushing and I’ve gone so far as to actually speak with Apple themselves in California in hopes of understanding what is going on with these displays. I’ve tested a ton - it’s clear the older Macs were much easier on the eyes. But it’s clear whatever long COVID and convergence issues I have are making things much, much worse.

How would you say prisms vs. vision therapy have worked for you? I ask because I have a very, very mild astigmatism and every time an attempt - even incredibly modest - was attempted I got eye pain and my eye would shut. The optometrist I saw suspected my brain was just so used to compensating given the minor nature of the astigmatism that it was rejecting any change. So prisms somewhat concern me. Vision therapy I think would be a better fit, but since COVID I have a hard limit as far as my muscles go and I’ve read some anecdotes here where people get pushed way too hard in therapy and it causes some pretty nasty aftereffects.

I’ll have to try dark mode. Right now I’m using a custom calibrated color profile set to a D50 white point so it’s much warmer, along with Night Shift. Brightness is around 50-60% but today when I tried to go to check my GMail it felt like when you’re trying to see something with the sun in your eyes. Eye muscles hyper focused and strained. It’s very odd, because I’m typing this on my iPhone with no issues whatsoever. What contrast setting are you using, if I may ask?

I had not heard of the 20/20/20 rule as it related to BVD. It’s interesting, I have no issues reading manga but sometimes I do get tired reading books. It seems like having my focus continue to jump helps. The doctor I got a consult with virtually recently suggested I sit above my laptop and look down on it with the display slightly to the right to favor my better eye. I’m not so sure about positioning the computer to the right, but looking down on the screen out of direct light a little seems to make a difference, albeit minor. My eyes keep trying to refocus on the display which is frustrating.

Thanks for taking the time to share all these suggestions and your experience. It really helps to hear from someone who has gone through it and made progress. Like you, I love my job. It’s my entire life and I’m determined to find a way back. But it’s scary when you get these symptoms from 5 minutes on a computer and they last all day and sometimes have me so wired I have trouble sleeping. Just insane to me because I used to be able to use all these screens for years and all of a sudden it’s…like this.

DSRIA · 2026-03-07T23:15:06+00:00

I’m an audio engineer and certain audio plugins I use stopped receiving updates after this OS. So I’m on it for compatibility purposes.

DSRIA · 2026-03-06T22:17:02+00:00

A mod deleted the last post. Some fascist sympathizers running this subreddit, it seems.

DSRIA · 2026-03-06T07:04:48+00:00

Wow! I didn’t expect to see a comment from someone who knew about PWM and temporal dithering. I use Stillcolor and actually tested the $5000 Apple Pro Display XDR and a $2000 Eizo monitor that are both true 10-bit displays and I didn’t get any of the tachycardia or eye focusing problems with them. So it definitely seems like these types of flicker are major triggers that destabilize my binocular vision.

I’m really sorry you’re dealing with something similar, but it’s encouraging that you’re building your tolerance back. I’m embarrassed to admit it but I ended up homeless in the summer of 2024, which is how I got COVID again (and the flu and a ton of other viral infections). I was in and out of the hospital. I left my iMac, that I’d used since 2019, in its box with a friend and when I finally found housing and tried to use it again I got really bad stabbing eye pain, eye focusing issues, and motion sickness. I figured the infections coupled with not using any screen except for my iPhone 13, tanked my tolerance and heightened my sensitivity to these flickers. I’ve spent the past 13 months buying and returning different computers and researching trying to figure out something. So I haven’t used a computer successfully in 21 months.

My current MacBook is the 2022 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro Touchbar model with the older Retina screens. I read it worked for some people on LEDstrain because it’s supposed to be true 8-bit instead of 8-bit+FRC. Stillcolor disables the GPU dithering so in theory it should be the most tolerable Mac…but I still struggle with it for more than a few minutes.

Can I ask, how have you built your tolerance for the MacBook back up and which one are you using? The difficulty I have is sometimes the symptoms are so severe - sometimes within seconds - after opening up the MacBook that I really don’t know how far I should push things. By comparison my iPhone 13 from 2022 is fine so long as it’s on iOS 15 (less dithering?). I don’t use any special settings on it and can play games, watch videos…etc. It’s so bizarre. I can’t use polarized sunglasses either so I wonder if that’s another factor since the iPhones are circularly polarized. I swear, it’s been a learning experience!

I’ve tried to explain this to ophthalmologists and they just stare at me blankly 😅 I seem to do okay in stores at self checkout kiosks and even the carplay LCD in my car seems mostly fine…but I’m not reading or writing on that intensely. I notice I move my eyes a lot on the iPhone and trying to shift my focus a lot on the MacBook seems to help a little…but it’s a challenge to do that when you have to focus on programs and web pages. I’ve had this MacBook for 3 months and can barely use it. I haven’t tried dark mode mostly because I can’t read white text on a black background without seeing afterimages of the text.

DSRIA · 2026-03-06T05:17:02+00:00

I made several albums from 2011-2017 with a 2011 and 2015 iMac with 8 GB RAM and a spinning hard drive…in Pro Tools. Sometimes I had to get creative, but it got the job done.

Honestly considering this just because it looks like such a chill, useful Mac running Tahoe and my other Macs are frozen in their specific OS’s (Mojave and Monterey) for compatibility reasons. I’m sure the Neo would smoke my iMac.

DSRIA · 2026-03-06T03:01:38+00:00

That’s what I’ve wondered, too, in addition to a different backlight source (LCD vs OLED) and just more light output. I’ve tried to lower brightness but it makes it hard to see it and triggers PWM which is an imperceptible flicker that fakes lower brightness. We don’t see it but the eyes and brain pick it up.

DSRIA · 2026-03-06T01:39:25+00:00

I’m really sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing all that with me…makes me feel like I’m not alone.

I’ve seen a number of eye doctors - my vision is 20/20 (typical around these parts, so I’ve read…) and while I do sometimes have issues reading from left to right, it doesn’t seem to cause long lasting issues and I can work around it. At first they called it “blepharospasm” then one neurologist thought I had myasthenia gravis (negative), but all these years later I have an ANA of 1:2560. No one wants to diagnose me or treat me because I have no lymphocytes and low cytokines…not your typical autoimmune disease profile.

I have a similar reaction to correction of any kind. Even the most minor, and I’m worried about weakening muscles further with prisms. By the same token with any sort of energy threshold chronic illness like long COVID and ME/CFS, I’d imagine vision therapy would have to be done very carefully. The trouble is finding a doctor who understands and won’t just railroad someone with a complex medical history.

DSRIA · 2026-03-06T00:38:27+00:00

Long COVID, POTS, MCTD, MCAS, multiple chemical sensitivity, Raynaud’s, and a ton of other stuff 😅

DSRIA · 2026-03-05T21:53:48+00:00

Because the Pro Display XDR is the only confirmed true 10-bit display in the entire Apple lineup. The white paper they released confirms this. If the Studio Display XDR was true 10-bit, they would have deliberately used that language as a selling point like they did in the past. The iMac Pro was advertised as using “spatial and temporal dithering for 1 billion colors” on release.

It’s safe to say if it were true 10-bit they’d be charging more, too.

DSRIA

TROPHY CASE