Night Shift oddness

Question

snivlem Author

Level 1

9 points

Night Shift oddness

I've noticed a pattern with Night Shift - do others see this?

turn NS on manually, by default it will schedule itself off at 7am.
let it stand idle and blank screen
wake with mouse/keyboard - no more dim display but NS is still on
6:58 display dims again automatically. It seems NS consistently pops on 2m before schedule.
display brightens on schedule at 7am and NS turns off

thank you,

Steve

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Feb 2, 2021 4:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 4, 2021 7:31 AM in response to snivlem

Hello snivlem,

It sounds like Night Shift is turning on about two minutes or so before its set schedule, is that right? We'd like to look into this with you.

To help us get a better understanding of the issue, we’d like to ask a few questions.

Did you set up Night Shift using the exact steps outlined here? Use Night Shift on your Mac
Which macOS version is your Mac running? Find out which macOS your Mac is using
Have you always experienced this behavior with your Mac, or did this begin recently? Were any changes made to your Mac before this began?
Are the Date & Time settings correct on your Mac? Here's how to set the correct date and time: Set the date and time on your Mac

Thanks!

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Answer 2

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Feb 5, 2021 11:41 AM in response to snivlem

snivlem,

Thank you for answering those questions for us.

It sounds like this behavior is occurring when the "Sunset to Sunrise" option is selected in the Night Shift preferences, correct?

If you select the "Sunset to Sunrise" option, your Mac uses your location to determine when it’s nighttime for you. "To use this option, you must turn on Location Services. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click Privacy. Select Location Services, click the lock to allow changes, then click Enable Location Services, scroll down to System Services, click Details, select Time Zone & System Customization, then click Done."

Just to confirm, does Night Shift also enable two minutes ahead of schedule if you set Night Shift to use custom times? You can find more information about setting custom times under the "Schedule Night Shift to turn on automatically" part of this page:

Use Night Shift on Mac

Thank you!

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Answer 3

snivlem Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 4, 2021 8:34 AM in response to barberlives123

MacBook is powered with sleep disabled. After screen-blanking, NS doesn't seem to come back. Later it comes back automatically 6:58, 2m before turning off on schedule at 7am (sunrise).

1 - I am activating NS manually, via a button on the touchbar, which is "on until sunrise" as I understand it (and observe). Before I used the touchbar I would use the checkbox on the NS preferences panel. Same behaviour.

2 - 11.2 updated 1d ago.

3 - Not sure how long this behaviour has happened. I observed it consistently on Catalina as well.

4 - date and time correct

thank you

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Answer 4

snivlem Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 5, 2021 12:35 PM in response to jdo_apple

I am using Turn On Until Tomorrow, "now to sunrise". If I use Sunset To Sunrise or a schedule I get the same behaviour.

I don't use location, so sunrise is default 7am.

I'll repeat because you keep overlooking this. NS does not start 2m ahead of schedule. The issue is that NS (a) fails to re-enable after screen-blanking and then (b) comes on 2m before scheduled OFF. Item (a) is a bug and item (b) is a symptom. I'm trying to report a bug, I don't need help with the feature

Thank you :)

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Night Shift oddness

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