{"id":12791,"date":"2015-11-11T14:07:56","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T19:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=12791"},"modified":"2021-10-15T15:13:29","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T19:13:29","slug":"sideloading-f-lux-on-ios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/11\/sideloading-f-lux-on-ios\/","title":{"rendered":"Sideloading f.lux on iOS"},"content":{"rendered":"

f.lux<\/a>, the excellent Mac display color adjuster, has not been available<\/a> for iOS except via jailbreaking. Now<\/a>, however, there is a way to sideload it<\/a> (comments<\/a>):<\/p>\n

In Xcode 7, you can install apps directly to your iOS device with a free account from Apple. So we decided to make a beta version of f.lux for people to try.<\/p>\n

It’s a few more steps than installing the app store, but there are plenty of harder things even on Pinterest. So, here’s how to get f.lux installed on your iOS device.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note that although you are downloading an Xcode project, it’s not open source. You’re just using Xcode to codesign the app and install it on your device.<\/p>\n

f.lux uses location services to figure out the light levels in your area. The iOS version has two settings, day and night, whereas the Mac version automatically uses a bedtime setting late at night. The iOS version does, however, have the manual Darkroom mode.<\/p>\n

It seems crazy to me that apps like this need to use a network connection and push notifications just to ensure that they get periodic minimal background processing time.<\/p>\n

Given that f.lux no longer requires jailbreaking, it’s not clear to me what’s keeping it out of the App Store. Presumably, it relies on an API that’s private.<\/p>\n

Update (2015-11-11): It’s a bit disconcerting, but with f.lux installed my iPhone’s screen will turn on every once in a while. I think this is because it has to wake up the screen to change the colors. Also, I don’t like the way it makes the camera look.<\/p>\n

Riccardo Mori has a photo<\/a> showing the f.lux effect.<\/p>\n

Update (2015-11-12): The updated FAQ<\/a> suggests that you can avoid waking the screen by allowing notifications and notes that there is<\/em> a bedtime mode; it just isn’t configurable yet. However, I found that with notifications enabled it still wakes up the display.<\/p>\n

Update (2015-11-13): Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Here’s hoping that iOS 10 might offer a feature that makes f.lux unnecessary, but in the meantime the only way to use f.lux on iOS has been to jailbreak your devices and download it from the Cydia store.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alas: Apple Forbids Sideloading Flux<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

f.lux, the excellent Mac display color adjuster, has not been available for iOS except via jailbreaking. Now, however, there is a way to sideload it (comments): In Xcode 7, you can install apps directly to your iOS device with a free account from Apple. So we decided to make a beta version of f.lux for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2021-10-15T19:12:56Z","apple_news_api_id":"0259235b-5a95-4a4e-962a-e7b03a2aec4c","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2021-10-15T19:13:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AAlkjW1qVSk6WKuewOirsTA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[91,466,687,31,1137,26,772,688,1013,2132,226],"class_list":["post-12791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-appstore","tag-codesigning","tag-flux","tag-ios","tag-ios-9","tag-iosapp","tag-ios-multitasking","tag-jailbreak","tag-private-api","tag-sideloading","tag-xcode"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12791"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12825,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions\/12825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}