We spend a lot of time staring at the screens on our phones, and those screens are only getting brighter: The iPhone 15 can reach a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, compared with the 1,200 nits of the iPhone 14 that came the year before. Of course, it won’t always operate at those eye-scorching levels, but illumination levels are constantly creeping upward.
While there’s no clear evidence between electronic screens and permanent eye damage, studies are beginning to link excessive phone use with eye strain, at least—and you don’t want to take any chances when it comes to your vision. The effect varies depending on your eyes as well.Â
Aside from just using your phone less, these devices come with built-in tools to minimize the negative effects of prolonged screen time. For example, both iPhones and Android phones let you reduce the amount of blue light emitted in the evening—something that’s thought to disrupt sleep if consumed at the wrong times. You can find the blue light controls under Display & Brightness then Night Shift in Settings on iOS, and under Display and Night Light in Settings on Android, but here we’re focusing on a different tool: Screen Distance.
Screen Distance is new in iOS 17, so make sure your iPhone is up to date to make use of it. It’s included in iPadOS 17 as well, so it’s available on your iPad if you need it.
How Screen Distance works
The aim of Screen Distance is to make sure you’re not holding your phone’s screen too close to your eyes. There’s some research associating smart device use with myopia, or near-sightedness, and Apple has introduced Screen Distance to reduce this risk and the risk of eye strain in general.
To measure how far your eyes are away from your phone, the feature uses the TrueDepth selfie camera typically used for FaceID. Every premium iPhone since the iPhone XR, the iPhone XS, and the iPhone…
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