How to Customize and Use Night Shift on Mac

Jan. 5, 2021

To prevent the screen from straining the eyes, I prefer to switch betweenDark Modeand Night Shift on my Mac. What makes the latter so useful is the ability to automatically shift the color of the display to the warmer end of the color spectrum after dark, thereby making it much easier for the eyes to view content. Using Mac’s clock and geolocation, Night Shift determines when it is sunset and kicks in to shift the colors. In this guide, I’m going to show how you can customize and use Night Shift on your Mac.

Several studies have revealed thatexposure to bright blue lightin the evening has an adverse impact on the circadian rhythms. As a result, it becomes harder to fall asleep. If you no longer want your hours of work to start creating problems for the eyes and even begin to hamper the hard-earned sleep, you should adjust Night Shift in keeping with your schedule.

Apart from letting you schedule Night Shift, macOS also lets you adjust the color temperature. Hence, you can fine-tune its intensity to suit your needs better. That all being said, let’s going!

Night Shift supports macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later. So, make sure your Mac is compatible to use this feature.

Following Macs Support Night Shift:

Following Displays Support Night Shift:

3 Ways to Enable/Disable Night Shift on Mac

There are multiple ways to activate Night Shift on Mac. To me, the easiest way to bring it into action is viaSirior theiOS-style control center.

Turn on/off Night Shift from System Preferences

2. Now, click onDisplays.

3. Next, make sure theNight Shift tabis selected. After that, check the box right next toManualto turn on Night Shift on your Mac. Do note that Night Shift will remain on until the next day or when you choose to turn it off.

Turn on/off Night Shift from Control Center

Invoking Night Shift from Control Center is a litter easier as it hardly takes a couple of clicks.

2. Now, click onDisplay.

3. Next, click on theNight Shiftbutton to turn it on.

Turn on/off Night Shift Using Siri

As said above, you can also use Siri to enable/disable Night Shift with ease on your Mac. Simply invoke the personal assistant and then ask it to do the needful.

Depending on your needs, you can fine-tune Night Shift to automatically activate and disable it at the scheduled time. Besides, there is also an option to adjust the color temperature to make it more/less warm.

2. Now, select theDisplaysoption.

3. Next, select theNight Shift tab. After that, click on the drop-down box right next toSchedule. Then, you can choose to set thecustom rangeor keep it enabled fromsunset to sunrise.

4. There is a slider right next toColor Temperature.Drag the slidertowards the right to increase warmth and drag it towards the left to decrease it.

So, that’s how you can use Night Shift on your Mac. Considering how essential it is to offer the needed protection to the eyes, you should take full advantage of it, especially if you regularly work in night or low-lit environment.

Personally, I keep it enabled from sunset to sunrise. By shifting the display to the warmer end of the color spectrum, it makes the content appear soothing to the eyes. There is yet another useful feature called “Color Filters” that can play a vital role in enhancing your reading experience on Mac. Docheck out our guideif you wish to try out this notable Accessibility feature.

Have any questions regarding Night Shift? Feel free to send them across via the comments section.

An old school bibliophile who turned a tech nerd out of obsession. When he is not digging into hacks and tracking down stories that are breaking the internet, you may find him reciting poems.