iOS 26 is causing eye strain, headaches, and nausea when viewing my iPhone 16

iOS 26 on my iPhone is hurting my eyes, giving me headaches, and causing nausea. Is anyone else having this problem?

Something with the white point and intensity of the brightness. My eyes hurt so bad and I am getting headaches which I never do. I noticed the brightness immediately after the update. No matter what settings I do in accessibly, display, contrast, white point, etc it’s still either way too intense to see properly or very dull but less eye strain.

Does anyone else have this issue? I don’t know what to do. It’s actually causing a lot of issues for my daily life now and I can’t keep having this. Hoping for a fix.

Posted on Nov 12, 2025 6:34 PM

Top-ranking reply

L_O_R_A

Level 1

26 points

Posted on Nov 16, 2025 4:55 PM

Same. It’s a lot better after turning on Night Shift setting it towards basically on 24 hours

but turning the level all the way down, turning reduce white point on and reducing that brightness all the way down, turning onto true Tone and I keep it left of center and then I had to turn off All three reduce motion in motion settings In accessibility which made a big difference for me

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19 replies

LD150

Level 10

100,125 points

Dec 16, 2025 10:15 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

IdrisSeabright wrote:

wmacd wrote:

The link is focused on the iPhone....do you have something for the iMac which does not have the touch features described in the link.

The article I linked to focuses on the iPhone because this is the iPhone forum and the original question was about iOS 26.

I don't know of any similar articles written for macOS. I suggest you post over in the Mac forum and ask there. There's been a lot less discussion about Liquid Glass in macOS because it seems as if the change wasn't as great.

When I fired up the MBA tonight I honestly didn't notice much difference in MacOS 26.

Dec 16, 2025 10:19 AM in response to LD150

LD150 wrote:

IdrisSeabright wrote:

wmacd wrote:

The link is focused on the iPhone....do you have something for the iMac which does not have the touch features described in the link.

The article I linked to focuses on the iPhone because this is the iPhone forum and the original question was about iOS 26.

I don't know of any similar articles written for macOS. I suggest you post over in the Mac forum and ask there. There's been a lot less discussion about Liquid Glass in macOS because it seems as if the change wasn't as great.

When I fired up the MBA tonight I honestly didn't notice much difference in MacOS 26.

The only real noticeable change on a MacBook is the Lock Screen, which has more transparency in the Time displayed.

Dec 16, 2025 10:37 AM in response to lobsterghost1

lobsterghost1 wrote:

LD150 wrote:

When I fired up the MBA tonight I honestly didn't notice much difference in MacOS 26.

The only real noticeable change on a MacBook is the Lock Screen, which has more transparency in the Time displayed.

You both confirm my impressions (always good!). I never pay much attention to the lock screen other than to see what user account I'm signing into.

gem272er

Level 1

26 points

Dec 11, 2025 5:49 AM in response to razmee209

Had the same problem. I had a eye check up and it was all normal.

iOS 26 is causing eye strain, headaches, and nausea when viewing my iPhone 16