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If you own an iPhone 8 or newer, you may have noticed a True Tone feature in your display settings. This feature is at work in the background whenever you see your iPhone screen in a bright ambient or dull room light.
Many people wonder what exactly True Tone is and how it works. Fortunately, you are at the right place because, in this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about True Tone on iPhone.
What is True Tone?
True Tone is a technology designed to maintain consistent colour and brightness on your iPhone display. In simple terms, it synchronises the screen brightness with the ambient lighting, aiming to align the white balance of the display and the surrounding light source.
This functionality ensures that the ambient light does not impact the brightness of your iPhone screen. The result is a more natural viewing experience, adaptable to various lighting conditions, whether bright sunlight or dim candlelight.
Employing advanced sensors, True Tone accurately measures the intensity and colour of the surrounding light. What sets Apple’s True Tone apart from similar technologies is its ability to adjust colour and light intensity, offering a comprehensive solution for optimal visual clarity.
Some may question whether True Tone is synonymous with Night Shift. While Night Shift focuses solely on adjusting the screen colour to a warmer tone for reduced blue light during nighttime use, True Tone is an adaptive feature that operates continuously across all light intensities, ensuring a seamless experience 24/7.
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What are the benefits of True Tone?
True Tone offers several benefits to the users. Some of these are as follows:
- It reduces eye strain by making the screen easier to read, irrespective of the light conditions.
- Improved colour accuracy and contrast, thereby making the screen colours more lively.
- Less strain on the eyes means that your mind is relaxed.
- Boost your productivity and creativity.
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What are some problems with True Tone?
While True Tone was designed to provide comfort to user’s eyes, especially in extreme lighting conditions, not all are happy with it.
Here are some issues that many users have reported with True Tone.
Colour accuracy
As True Tone sensors work to match the iPhone’s screen with the ambient lighting, they can cause problems with colour accuracy and consistency.
It may not be problematic for most users, but for those working with graphics, photography or video editing, it may pose a slight problem. People working in these fields need to see the true colours to work with.
However, True Tone may wash out or dull a few colours to make the screen comfortable for the eyes. This is especially true in the case of bright environments.
Moreover, the screen and ambient light balance are sometimes not matched, and the screen colour could get overly warm or cool.
Battery life
Another issue with True Tone is that it affects the battery life of your iPhone or any other Apple device supporting this feature. The sensors are activated and consume more power.
Screen flickering
Some people have also reported that in transitioning to match the ambient lighting, the screen often flickers or dims, sometimes for a second or two longer than anticipated. This can irritate some users, especially if it happens regularly.
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How to turn True Tone on/off?
Now that we have understood what True Tone is and its benefits and issues, let us quickly understand how to enable or disable it on iPhone.
Here are the steps:
- Head to Settings > Display and Brightness.
- Turn off the toggle in front of True Tone to turn it off and vice versa.
In conclusion, True Tone on iPhone is a feature that automatically adjusts the display screen brightness and hue to match the environment. It is necessary as it saves time adjusting your phone’s brightness whenever you go outside or enter a dull room. However, True Tone also has some issues: battery drain, screen flickering, and inconsistent colour accuracy. You can turn off True Tone any time you want, for example, when your battery is low.
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