F.lux says it is 'original innovator' of nighttime display color tech, asks Apple to open Night Shi
Developers behind popular screen brightness and color control software f.lux issued a formal statement in response to Apple's debut of "Night Shift" in the latest iOS 9.3 beta, calling on the tech giant to allow a proper version of f.lux into the iOS App Store and open API access to Night Shift's display management tools.
In its carefully worded response, f.lux lauded Apple's Night Shift beta launch, an iOS feature that automatically shifts display color temperature towards the warmer end of the spectrum to ease physiological effects of being exposed to cold blue light at night.
"Apple's involvement in fixing this problem is a big commitment and an important first step," writes f.lux cofounder Michael Herf.
According to medical research cited by f.lux, exposure to blue light before going to bed suppresses the natural production of melatonin and can delay sleep for an hour. Apple's iOS 9.3 preview page says much the same, noting bright blue light can affect normal circadian rhythms.
Herf says his app, designed in 2009, was the first to employ automated display settings management to limit exposure to bright light -- especially in the blue spectrum -- for a better night's sleep. The app was first available on Mac and in 2011 made it to iOS, but because it utilized private APIs, f.lux was limited to jailbroken devices. With the advent of sideloading in Xcode 7, f.lux for iOS was available in a legitimate capacity, but Apple shut down the project in November, again for using private APIs.
"Today we call on Apple to allow us to release f.lux on iOS, to open up access to the features announced this week, and to support our goal of furthering research in sleep and chronobiology," Herf says.
Apple's introduction of Night Shift just two months after f.lux sideloads were banned is reminiscent of Sherlock, the Mac OS file and Web search tool succeeded by Spotlight. Some believe Sherlock (specifically Sherlock 3) was an Apple clone of Karelia Software's Watson, though others claim Watson copied Sherlock 2. In the end, Sherlock 3 effectively killed Watson, spawning the neologism "Sherlocked." In this case, the proper terminology would by "Night Shifted," but "f.luxed" does have a better ring to it.
In its carefully worded response, f.lux lauded Apple's Night Shift beta launch, an iOS feature that automatically shifts display color temperature towards the warmer end of the spectrum to ease physiological effects of being exposed to cold blue light at night.
"Apple's involvement in fixing this problem is a big commitment and an important first step," writes f.lux cofounder Michael Herf.
According to medical research cited by f.lux, exposure to blue light before going to bed suppresses the natural production of melatonin and can delay sleep for an hour. Apple's iOS 9.3 preview page says much the same, noting bright blue light can affect normal circadian rhythms.
Herf says his app, designed in 2009, was the first to employ automated display settings management to limit exposure to bright light -- especially in the blue spectrum -- for a better night's sleep. The app was first available on Mac and in 2011 made it to iOS, but because it utilized private APIs, f.lux was limited to jailbroken devices. With the advent of sideloading in Xcode 7, f.lux for iOS was available in a legitimate capacity, but Apple shut down the project in November, again for using private APIs.
"Today we call on Apple to allow us to release f.lux on iOS, to open up access to the features announced this week, and to support our goal of furthering research in sleep and chronobiology," Herf says.
Apple's introduction of Night Shift just two months after f.lux sideloads were banned is reminiscent of Sherlock, the Mac OS file and Web search tool succeeded by Spotlight. Some believe Sherlock (specifically Sherlock 3) was an Apple clone of Karelia Software's Watson, though others claim Watson copied Sherlock 2. In the end, Sherlock 3 effectively killed Watson, spawning the neologism "Sherlocked." In this case, the proper terminology would by "Night Shifted," but "f.luxed" does have a better ring to it.
Comments
As for trample... Good grief. They had nothing that could be protected through IP... So, that's how it is.
They should just be happy everyone has something they popularized on smartphones; their job is done.
In the case of flux it was someone else's research turned into a basic app. It seems that Apple at least are giving consumers the option after preventing flux from side loading on iOS.
And flux are wrong here, we don't need an api for this. The App Store doesn't need 100+ screen tinting apps in the same way it didn't need hundreds of "flashlight" apps.
Also, back when the Mac OS did not display the time at the upper right corner, Apple bought the idea from a developper, and once again never used a sigle line of code of the original program. The clock is still there, and even if the idea seem basic, Apple Payed for it.
Even when they try to do right, they get screwed.
I would like to see Apple release the API's. People could then choose between f.lux and the built in functionality - and perhaps f.lux or some other development entity can dream up something innovative that builds off of night-shift but does more.
Perhaps portions of this technology could be utilized in games or other apps to enhance their existing functionality somehow....but we'll never know if Apple doesn't allow developers access to the capabilities. I can't imagine there are any security concerns about sharing these capabilities so there really doesn't seem to be any good reasons as to why Apple shouldn't make them public. I guess we'll see...
iCloud is also integrated in settings with a few buttons and sliders, but that doesn't tell you anything about the effort behind the service.
i would like to see Apple open up the API's so that other apps can be created (by f.lux and others) to explore future innovations that build off of the current implementations.
From what I understand of this technology (which I've only just heard of), Correct me if I'm wrong - but Apples implementation of night-shift results in (among other things) a better nights sleep? If so - that's great - but what about those times when the opposite effect is desired? What if I need help staying awake? Is there a setting for that? Is there perhaps a colour combination (apart from the standard colour scheme) that could be implemented to help me stay awake?
And never mind innovations...what if we want a few additional "obvious" features? Apple doesn't always respond quickly to feature requests - but third party apps often do.
So why would it be a bad thing to open up the API's to other developers to see what they can come up with? Since when did having options become a bad thing? If the Apple implementation is good enough for the majority of people, they can ignore any 3rd party apps that provide a similar function just like they currently ignore hundreds of thousands of apps they don't want or need. I don't understand the predominantly negative comments being posted.