Chrome OS Gets Night Mode with Scheduler and Color Calibration

Chrome OS and Windows are on-par for the “night mode” feature.

Recently, Windows released the Night Light feature which allows your desktop to show a warmer color at night time. Research has shown that this reduces blue light which has been proven to keep you awake and disturb your natural circadian rhythm.

Using a warmer color towards bedtime will help your body utilize its internal clock with minimal disturbance. As humans, we shouldn’t be staring at digital screens at night. This includes your laptop, computer, phone, tablet, or any other device that emits light. It keeps you up. It’s bad for you. You should take steps to eliminate it from your visual field.

Reducing blue light by using warmer colors is nothing new

For the longest time, I’ve always used (and still use) Flux, which was way ahead of its time.

Windows, Mac, and Chrome (which didn’t exist yet) didn’t have any way to reduce blue light at night. Flux had the capacity to emit warmer colors and was the go-to program to use.

Over time, as the whole “get rid of blue light for better sleep by using warmer colors” trend got more popular, iOS added the “Night Shift” feature for iPhones. It would reduce blue light and had the ability to schedule when you wanted to activate it.

Then, Windows 10 added it in one of the recent updates (Creator Studio). It works just the same as Flux and lets you change how warm you want it, and has the ability to schedule it. They dubbed it the “Night Light.” Creative, huh?

Now, Chrome OS got it. It’s called “Night Mode.” Notice the pattern? Can anyone come up with an original name?

But then again, making the name too obscure will make it more difficult for end users to find it, let alone what it does.

Anyway, Chrome’s Night Mode is in the Beta Channel and will be rolling out soon.

A scheduler and color calibration is in the works…yay?

However, it was recently discovered that it’ll also have the ability to schedule when you want it to turn on, and the ability to change the color temperature. Both of these features are nothing new. Flux popularized the idea and has been doing this way ahead of any giant corporation.

I’m pretty sure now that all these devices come preloaded with a setting to reduce blue light emission, Flux will suffer from it since no one will have to download an extra program to do something that the OS can do natively.

This is unfair for the developer, which is why I’ll continue to use Flux and spreading the word about it to support the program. There’s a new beta version of it available too that does more than Windows’ Night Light and Chrome’s Night Mode (at least from what I’ve seen so far).

(Note that the preceding paragraphs are just based on my own opinion and not based on facts. No research was done to prove which or what came first nor was considered the best.)

Want to try out Chrome’s Night Mode (or Flux)?

Anyway, if you try out the Night Mode feature along with the scheduler and temperature calibration, you can do so by opting into the Developer Channel.

Of course, by doing this, you should expect that your laptop will be slow, buggy, or not even work. You’re playing around in an environment made for testing new features and stuff, so don’t expect a full-working version of Chrome.

You’ll also lose your personal data, so be sure to save your stuff before you change channels.

Step 1: In your Chrome Browser, click on the menu button (three dots in the upper-right)

Step 2: Go to Settings or type “chrome://settings” (without quotes) in the URL bar

Step 3: Go to “About Chrome OS”

Step 4: Click on “Detailed Build Information”

Step 5: Click on “Change Channel”

Step 6: Select “Developer Channel”

Your update will download and then your Chromebook will restart.

When you’re done, just do Steps 1-5 again, and then select “Stable Channel” to revert your laptop back to normal.

Or, if you’re on Windows and just want to try out Flux, you can do so here.

There’s also a newer beta version of Flux here.

That’s about it. I’ll keep you posted when Night Mode for Chromebooks rolls out to the Stable Channel. Feel free to subscribe to the email list for updates.

Thanks for reading.

• About the Author

About Andy Z.

Andy is a casual-hardcore Chrome OS fan and contributes to the site regularly. He likes computers, tech, sports cars, videogames, and of course, Chromebooks. Thinker. Introvert. Geek. You can find him on Twitter (@platytech), or send him an email (check the "Contact Us" page).