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How to turn off blue light on iPhone

Set up automated red screen filter on your iPhone using color filters and iPhone automations that turn on at sunset and off at sunrise to protect your sleep.

Table of contents

  1. Why red screen instead of Night Shift?
  2. Enable red color filter
  3. Create sunset automation
  4. Create sunrise automation
  5. Final result
  6. Manual control with accessibility shortcut
  7. How the automation works

Why red screen instead of Night Shift?

Night Shift only reduces blue light. A red screen filter completely blocks blue light, which is far more effective for protecting your melatonin production and sleep quality. Red light doesn't disrupt your circadian rhythm at night.

Step 1: Enable red color filter

First, configure the red screen filter in your iPhone settings:

  1. Open Settings
  2. Go to Accessibility
  3. Tap Display & Text Size
  4. Select Color Filters
  5. Turn on Color Filters
  6. Choose Color Tint
  7. Adjust the Intensity and Hue sliders to create a red tint
Color Filters settings showing Color Tint selected with Intensity and Hue sliders

💡 Tip: Test how the red screen looks using our red screen tool before setting up the shortcuts.

Step 2: Create sunset automation

Set up automation to turn on red screen at sunset:

  1. Open the Shortcuts app
  2. Tap the Automation tab at the bottom
  3. Tap the + button in the top right
  4. Select Time of Day
  5. Choose Sunset
  6. Set Repeat to Daily
  7. Tap Next
  8. Tap New Blank Automation
  9. Search for and add Set Color Filters
  10. Make sure it says Turn colour filters On
  11. Tap Done
  12. Toggle off Ask Before Running and confirm
Sunset automation settings showing Sunset selected with Daily repeat
Automation action showing Turn colour filters On

Step 3: Create sunrise automation

Set up automation to turn off red screen at sunrise:

  1. In the Automation tab, tap the + button again
  2. Select Time of Day
  3. Choose Sunrise
  4. Set Repeat to Daily
  5. Tap Next
  6. Tap New Blank Automation
  7. Search for and add Set Color Filters
  8. Make sure it says Turn colour filters Off
  9. Tap Done
  10. Toggle off Ask Before Running and confirm
Sunrise automation settings showing Sunrise selected with Daily repeat
Automation action showing Turn colour filters Off

Final result

Your automations are now set up. You should see both in the Automation tab:

Automation tab showing both sunrise and sunset automations for Color Filters

Bonus: Manual control with accessibility shortcut

Set up a quick shortcut to manually toggle the red screen on or off anytime:

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Tap Accessibility
  3. Scroll to the bottom and tap Accessibility Shortcut
  4. Select Colour Filters
Accessibility Shortcut settings showing Colour Filters selected

💡 How to use: Now you can triple-click the side button (or home button on older iPhones) to instantly turn the red screen on or off. This is useful if you want to disable it temporarily during the evening or enable it before sunset.

How the automation works

Once set up, the automations run automatically every day:

  • At sunset: Color filter turns on automatically, making your screen red to block all blue light
  • At sunrise: Color filter turns off automatically so you can use your phone with normal colors
  • No manual work: The automations adjust to sunset/sunrise times based on your location and time of year
  • Runs silently: Since you disabled "Ask Before Running", the automation works in the background without any notifications

Need blue light filter for Mac?

Lumiv automatically adjusts your Mac screen based on your location and time of day, filtering harmful blue light to protect your eyes during work and support natural sleep at night.

Download Lumiv for Mac