Do you work a lot on your computer at night? Do the assignments and presentations keep you up till late? Most studies have revealed that using laptops and other devices with bright screens late at night can disturb human sleep patterns and increase the risk of insomnia. It is suggested to stop using these devices at least 2 hours before going to sleep. But with most of this, that is not exactly possible. All we can do is adjust the screens to reduce eyestrain and other factors that may affect our sleep. f.lux is a free software that warms up your computer display at night, to match your indoor lighting. It was always available as a desktop software, but it is now available as a Universal app on the Microsoft Store too!
Windows 11/10 ships with Adaptive brightness feature that lets the OS check the lighting conditions of your computer’s surroundings and adjusts the brightness and contrast level automatically. The Night Light feature introduced in Windows 10 v1703 allows users to dim their screen and make the display warmer over time, automatically. It reduces the blue light of the monitor and uses yellowish light to make the screen look warmer. But if you are looking for more, check out the f.lux app!
f.lux for Windows PC
f.lux is a smartly designed tool with many features that users can benefit from. Essentially, this tool warms up the screen just before bedtime. The warmer colors on the screen help you relax and reduce eye strain so that you can sleep peacefully.
f.lux creates the optimum settings level based on the sunrise and sunset time at your location. Also, it requires your earliest wake-up time to adjust the screen warmness by that.
Most of us are familiar with the f.lux desktop software whose screenshot is shown below and which you can download from its homepage at justgetflux.com.
Now its developers have made his useful software available in the Windows Store. This post focuses on the f.lux app available in the Windows Store.
Once you have downloaded the f.lux Windows Store app, you will have to enter your location manually – or the app will also automatically detect it. Wait for it to fetch the sunrise and sunset timings at your position on earth.
Now, you need to select your earliest wake-up time. The program assumes that you sleep soundly for at least 7 hours and makes changes accordingly.
The program will automatically start warming up the screen like 9-10 hours before your actual wake-up time. And if you happen to work on your computer just before sleep, you will notice these changes on your computer. The screen will start to warm up and more comfortable to look at. In the first instance, it may seem a little odd to view an orangish screen, but that is going to work for you.
You can also set the bedtime color. This is basically the maximum level to which the screen warmness should rise when you are about to sleep. You can choose the bedtime color from any of the presets available.
There are a few presets available based on your activity and position. They are – Working Late, Far from Equator, Classic f.lux, Daytime Eyestrain, Cave Painting, and Color Fidelity.
There are a few other features and options available; you can choose the color transitioning timing and also configure some hotkeys to instantaneously perform some operations.
f.lux can connect to your existing smart home lighting and change them to match the colors to your laptop screen. The app can now communicate with Philips Hue and ColorKinetics devices, or you can post to a custom URL when f.lux changes.
There are also a variety of color effects available. You can also manually choose a color from a dropdown menu. There is also a facility to disable the application for a duration or until sunrise. Moreover, you can disable it for full-screen applications as well.
f.lux is a wonderful application and pretty useful too. All you need to do is adjust it once and then leave it. It will keep doing its work in the background. The app’s store description reads-
“Informed by science in sleep and circadian biology to help you adjust your body’s sense of night”.
So, we can be pretty sure about the scientific implications of using this tool and its effects on our health. It’s a great application to have on your device, and if your kids happen to use any device, make sure to have this application installed. Get it here from the Microsoft Store.
DimScreen, Dimmer, and SunsetScreen are other similar tools you may want to check out. If you are concerned about eye strain, you might want to look at Eyes Relax and Pause4Relax too.
