MacBook Red Screen Issue, or why I turned off True Tone and Night Shift
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/02/28
The winter after I bought my first ARM based (or Apple Silicon powered) MacBook I noticed that often about half an hour after sunset, within 10 seconds all the screens (the built-in and external ones) would get a red teint on them.
[Wayback/Archive] MacBook Red Screen Issue – SimplyMac was the very first search result, and mentioned this:
Adjusting Night Shift and True Tone
Night Shift and True Tone features can affect the color temperature of your display. Night Shift reduces blue light in the evenings, which can make the screen appear warmer. True Tone adjusts the display’s color temperature to match the ambient lighting. If these settings are misconfigured, they could contribute to the red screen issue. Check your Night Shift and True Tone settings in the Displays section of System Preferences to ensure they’re set correctly or turned off.
I had to turn off both Night Shift and True Tone to get rid of this artefact, though for some people that didn’t solve the issue: [Wayback/Archive] Screen has red tint at night (True Tone and Night Shift are Off) – Apple Community.
I fully agree with [Wayback/Archive] Am I the only one who prefers True Tone?* : macbookpro
The only thing I like about true tone is how great it looks when I turn it off.
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I was soooo disappointed with how crap the display was on my M1 Max that I thought about selling it as soon as I got it. Decided to play around with display settings and found True Tone. Turned it off and felt immediate relief. That’s how bad I think True Tone is. Absolutely flabbergasted that Mac’s come out the box with it enabled.
My 2015 MBP screen looks better to me than a M series screen with True Tone on.
Since I upgraded from the very first series of Retina MacBook Pro fully bypassing the Touchbar and 2nd generation Butterfly Keyboard disasters – to the first series of Apple Silicon MacBook Pro and somehow I didn’t notice that at least Night Shift got introduced for 2012 MacBook models despite upgrading to MacOS 10.13 High Sierra (I never went to MacOS 10.14 Mojave because that added the 32-bit compatibility nag-screen, and I needed that compatibility to run some older applications):
Night Shift (software) – Wikipedia: The Night Shift feature is compatible with all 64-bit iOS devices running on iOS 9.3 and above and Macs from 2012 and later running on macOS Sierra 10.12.4 and above.
To make it easier finding back related information, here are some more links:
- [Wayback/Archive] Shift to warmer colours on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)
You can schedule Night Shift to make your display colours warmer at a particular time of day or at sunset.
- [Wayback/Archive] Use True Tone on Mac – Apple Support
True Tone technology makes the images on your Retina display and Touch Bar appear more natural.
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macOS Ventura or later
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Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Displays in the sidebar.
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Select your display at the top of the window.
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Turn on True Tone in the settings that appear for the selected display. This setting appears only for displays that support True Tone.
Earlier versions of macOS
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Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Displays.
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If you have multiple displays connected, click Display Settings, then select your display.
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Use the True Tone checkbox to turn this feature on or off. This setting appears only for displays that support True Tone.
True Tone on external displays
Apple Studio Display and Apple Pro Display XDR use built-in ambient light sensors to support True Tone when the display is connected to a compatible Mac computer.True Tone can also adjust external displays no larger than 32 inches, excluding TVs and projectors, when connected to a Mac laptop computer with its lid open, or to an iMac introduced in 2020 or later. -
- [Wayback/Archive] Use Night Shift on your Mac – Apple Support
Night Shift automatically shifts the colors of your display to the warmer end of the color spectrum after dark.
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Make sure that your Mac meets the system requirements for Night Shift, then follow these steps:-
Choose Apple menu > System Settings (or System Preferences).
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Click Displays.
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Click Night Shift.
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Night Shift requires macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later and one of these Mac computers, using the built-in display or the displays listed. Other displays might also work with Night Shift.
- MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
- MacBook Air introduced in 2012 or later
- MacBook Pro introduced in 2012 or later
- Mac mini introduced in 2012 or later
- Mac Studio introduced in 2022 or later
- iMac introduced in 2012 or later
- Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later
- Apple Studio Display
- Apple Pro Display XDR
- Apple LED Cinema Display
- Apple Thunderbolt Display
- LG UltraFine 5K Display
- LG UltraFine 4K Display
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- [Wayback/Archive] Hello ! I have MacBook Pro 2017 2 thunder bolt port but I can’t see the True Tone option ? – Apple Community
- [Wayback/Archive] Did Apple enable True Tone on all external displays? : MacOS
Yes, but only if your laptop is open (so it can use the camera). If you close the lid true tone is disabled.
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All I can tell you is that I ended up disabling it. Connected to a Apple TBD, and the colors flicker at irregular times, like it cannot decide what it should be. It very quickly became annoying.
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I have the same flickering on MacBook Pro 16”
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It’s enabled by default now, yes. Makes life miserable for anyone who actually calibrates their displays for soft-proofing.
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I mean yeah, Option+Brightness (a TouchBar shortcut), click a tick, Bob’s your uncle.
The keyboard shortcut Option+Brightness (either ⌥+🔅 or ⌥+🔆) was new to me to access the Display settings including True Tone (and Night Shift in one click deeper into the modal dialog tree).
Queries:
- [Wayback/Archive] macos becomes red in the evening – Google Search
- [Wayback/Archive] macos true tone – Google Search
- [Wayback/Archive] when did apple introduce true tone on macos – Google Search
--jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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