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You can now install popular automatic screen brightness app Flux on iPhone and iPad

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With iOS 9, it is now possible to install screen brightness app Flux (or f.lux). Flux adjusts screen brightness and color depending on the time of day automatically, so you aren’t blasted with bright light at bedtime or early in the morning. Due to App Store restrictions, Flux has been only available on the Mac OS X platform until now. Whilst it isn’t available through the App Store, you can now download and install the Flux beta for iPhone and iPad by sideloading the app through Xcode on the Mac.

It sounds complicated but it’s actually really easy to do. Apple lifted the developer limitations on device app sideloading earlier this year, so it’s completely free. Until Apple relaxes App Store policies, this will be the only way to do this. Read the instructions on how to install Flux after the break …

Installing Flux on iPhone and iPad involves downloading Xcode from the Mac App Store, for free. Xcode 7 lets anyone install apps locally to their iOS devices, which is how this whole process can work.

Next, download the open-source Flux iOS Xcode project from the Flux website. The app works on iPhones and iPads running iOS 9.

Double-click on the xcodeproj file to open Xcode with the file loaded. Connect your iPhone or iPad using a Lightning cable to your Mac. IMG_1349In the Devices menu (top-left of the Xcode window), you should see the name of your iOS device, such as Benjamin’s iPhone. Connecting the iOS device for the first time may require Xcode to do some initial setup, so wait patiently whilst it whirrs away if you don’t see your device name immediately.

Then, press the big Run button — it looks like a Play button from a video app. This builds the source code and packages into an app which will appear on your Home Screen. You now have the F.lux app installed on your iOS device!

The app includes normal night and day color temperature adjustments as well as settings for configuring when you wake up to optimize the transitions between states. Flux for iPhone and iPad even includes a dark mode which turns your device black and red, a stark change from the usual bright white UI of iOS 9.

The reason Flux isn’t allowed in the App Store is because it uses private APIs and requires constant background time. You should always be cautious when sideloading apps. If Flux ever causes problems, like iPhone battery drain, then simply uninstall the app to remove all the features and functionality.

Another major downside of side-loaded apps is that they cannot participate with the App Store automatic updates system. Flux will show a message inside the app if a new build is available but installing the update will require you to connect to Xcode again and perform the install dance again.

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Comments

  1. Julian (@thejulianw) - 8 years ago

    Am I the only one who loves to have his devices on 100% cold colored brightness no matter what time it is? :D

    • totencough - 8 years ago

      I’m with you, but I had *no idea* how much screen brightness and color affected my ability to feel tired at night until I started using Flux on my Mac. In a matter of minutes in bed, I was already feeling tired and I didn’t have to play around for another hour or two before starting to feel tired. I’ve had a ton more energy in the morning because my sleep pattern is more compatible with what my body needs.

      Give it a try! Flux is so natural that you can let it run automatically to adjust to daylight, even as nighttime shifts during the year, and you almost never feel it actually coming on until you look away and look back to see an orange screen. I have it off when watching movies or when using Sketch or Photoshop at night, and you can disable by app.

      I recommend you give it a try.

      • André Hedegaard - 8 years ago

        Do you have the link to flux, would like to try it? Couldn’t find it in the App store.

    • crichton007 - 8 years ago

      Probably

  2. kjl3000 - 8 years ago

    Xcode is the new cydia

  3. Toro Volt (@torovolt) - 8 years ago

    This works by decreasing the Blue component of light that has be found to disrupt the Circadian rhythm.
    I am disappointed that Apple supposedly “attention to detail” and “health conscious” has not bring this feature to the Core OS.
    In Android there are a bunch of free Apps that do this, no hacking required.

    • Darby Martinez - 8 years ago

      To be fair the app is still in beta and could be put in the App Store in the future. Also using Xcode isn’t hacking since its an apple approved method of loading apps. Since Apple added the api for this to be possible there isn’t much to complain about.

    • Great point about the health angle. This might be a nice feature for Apple to implement.

      Two questions for you:

      1. Would Apple be concerned with users who do not understand why their phone’s screen is showing weird colors? Apple seems to be the company most concerned that your grandmother can use their devices.

      2. Do you think Apple might wait to see the popularity of flux before integrating the feature?

      • Jeff McNabb (@nevember) - 8 years ago

        Flux app has been around for a long time- actually since before there was the app store I believe (when you had to jailbreak to add anything more than the stocks apps). There still are a LOT of people that jailbreak strictly to use Flux, but I don’t think it’s too great of a number to get Apple’s attention. I have sent Apple feedback to please add some type of support for the feature, but that’s about as much as we can do.

        There is a lot of science behind sleep and blue light- Flux has a great page compiling a lot of the data: https://justgetflux.com/research.html

  4. rieger81 - 8 years ago

    I’m guessing there is no way to install this without a Mac then? and no I ain’t jailbreaking ;)

  5. michaelbeiler - 8 years ago

    FYI, the install process was quite a bit different from the instructions here, I’m guessing that’s because I had never used Xcode before and therefore hadn’t set up my signing identity. Still, the bundle identifier had to be changed, so I recommend anyone wanting to install follow the instructions posted on f.lux’s website.

    • How long did it take?

      • michaelbeiler - 8 years ago

        About 30 minutes to download and install Xcode on my Mac, 10 minutes to figure out the program hierarchy in order to follow f.lux’s instructions, then maybe 20 seconds for the actual install. It will also take a few minutes for Xcode to configure itself when you first plug your iPhone in, so be prepared for that. Overall, not hard to do.

    • ╳ (@AGuyNamedIrvin) - 8 years ago

      Hey, do you have the zip file? I’m want to install it on my iPhone but they have removed the download. If you could please upload it somewhere that would be awesome! Thanks!

  6. Jeff McNabb (@nevember) - 8 years ago

    This is the best news all week. I use to only jailbreak to to have this app, but it has become to complicated to update with jailbroken devices. I have written multiple feedback emails to apple to allow flux or build this functionality into iOS. So glad to see a non-jailbreak solution!!

    • Jeff McNabb (@nevember) - 8 years ago

      This was a lot mroe work to install than it sounded like. I suppose if you already know how provisioning profiles work, then it would be have been pretty easy.
      As the guy above said, follow the instructions on the Flux site, not the 9to5 ones.

    • Jeff McNabb (@nevember) - 8 years ago

      Just one more comment on installing this if you haven’t used Xcode before. I couldn’t get the app installed on the phone using the Flux guide on it’s own. I kept having trouble getting provisioning profiles to work with my free developer account (just an Apple ID).
      What DID work for me was I used this guide: https://livecode.com/how-to-create-a-free-ios-development-provisioning-profile/
      I so I just went in to Xcode, created a new project, selected Game, and then name the game something like “com.bob.fluxgame”
      When you try to load this game to your phone, it’s going to give you the provisioning error- but this time, click the Fix It button and it will create a new provisioning for your account. Now go open the flux app and rename the identifier to be the same as your enw dummy game “com.bob.fluxgame”.
      Now when you try to load the Flux project to your phone it will see that you DO have provisioning for it.
      For some reason, if I just started out following the guide and using the Flux project, it just would NOT set up my provisioning credentials. Using these steps finally got it working.

  7. Glen Donnelly - 8 years ago

    Oh sweet this is the best thing ever!!! Lucky I have a mac to do this with, sorry to those who don’t.

    The process is not too painful – follow the flux website’s instructions at https://justgetflux.com/sideload/ and if you’re experienced with computers in general it shouldn’t be too hard to more or less follow it and work out what you need to do.

    App looks great.

    I hope they work on Android too.

  8. myke2241 - 8 years ago

    Hate, hate, hate Flux. One of the worst apps ever. If you work with images, graphic, NLES and even DAWS avoid Flux. The change in color temp makes accuracy a issue and it’s nearly impossible to uninstall. After uninstalling it still was altering color temp from app to app. I couldn’t completely remove flux and ended up having to reinstall everything. Pretty crappy

  9. r00fus1 - 8 years ago

    Awesome Awesome Awesome!!!

    Now I can stop using “super dim mode” (seriously – google “super dim mode iOS”) – it’s not as good as turning down the color temperature like f.lux does (use it all the time on my Mac) but was all I had before.

    Thanks for this PSA!

  10. Mike Foulis - 8 years ago

    I need some help guys. Xcode is giving me an automatic provisioning error when i run. what is it you are supposed to enter in the Bundle Identifier? (i followed F.lux steps but accidentally deleted the string that was there)

    • Jaime F (@przona) - 8 years ago

      Hi. I got this error when I tried to run it: “failed to code sign influx. No non-expired provisioning profiles were found”. I try then to “fix issue” and get another message saying “an App ID with identifier ‘com.justgetflux.iflux.beta’ is not available. Please enter a different string. Any help on this front would be appreciated as well!

    • Jeff McNabb (@nevember) - 8 years ago

      FYI, I added a comment on this article that explains how to fix this issue.

      • Jeff McNabb (@nevember) - 8 years ago

        Well nevermind, as it seems that 9to5 won’t let me make new comment threads? I will try to post the guide in this comment here:

        Dam this comment system- wrote 5 paragraphs it says it posted and it’s gone. What a waste. In short, if you are getting the provisioning error, you can loosely follow this guide: https://livecode.com/how-to-create-a-free-ios-development-provisioning-profile/

        What you’re going to do is create a New Project, select Game, and then name the project “com.bob.gameflux”
        Now try to load the game to your phone- it will give the provisioning error, but THIS time when you lick Fix it will actually fix the issue and assign provisioning for that game to your Apple ID.
        Now go back to your Flux app (or re-download it) and change the identifier for the flux project to be the same as your new game “com.bob.gameflux”
        Now when you try to load the Flux project to your phone it will go through using the new provisioning that you made.
        For some reason the Fix button just would not work for the Flux project on it’s own.

  11. Jaime F (@przona) - 8 years ago

    Thanks for the headsup! However, I can’t get it to work. Once I try to run it, I get an error saying “failed to code sign influx. No non-expired provisioning profiles were found”. I try then to “fix issue” and get another message saying “an App ID with identifier ‘com.justgetflux.iflux.beta’ is not available. Please enter a different string. Any help on this front would be appreciated!

  12. Jeff McNabb - 8 years ago

    Damm this comment system- wrote 5 paragraphs it says it posted and it’s gone. Now I can’t comment with my Twitter anymore at all. What a waste.
    In short, if you are getting the provisioning error, you can loosely follow this guide: https://livecode.com/how-to-create-a-free-ios-development-provisioning-profile/

    What you’re going to do is create a New Project, select Game, and then name the project “com.bob.gameflux”
    Now try to load the game to your phone- it will give the provisioning error, but THIS time when you lick Fix it will actually fix the issue and assign provisioning for that game to your Apple ID.
    Now go back to your Flux app (or re-download it) and change the identifier for the flux project to be the same as your new game “com.bob.gameflux”
    Now when you try to load the Flux project to your phone it will go through using the new provisioning that you made.
    For some reason the Fix button just would not work for the Flux project on it’s own.

  13. jeffatwebstop - 8 years ago

    Damm this comment system- wrote 5 paragraphs it says it posted and it’s gone, and now can’t post with any of my personal accounts. What a waste.

    In short, if you are getting the provisioning error, you can loosely follow this guide: https://livecode.com/how-to-create-a-free-ios-development-provisioning-profile/

    What you’re going to do is create a New Project, select Game, and then name the project “com.bob.gameflux”
    Now try to load the game to your phone- it will give the provisioning error, but THIS time when you lick Fix it will actually fix the issue and assign provisioning for that game to your Apple ID.
    Now go back to your Flux app (or re-download it) and change the identifier for the flux project to be the same as your new game “com.bob.gameflux”
    Now when you try to load the Flux project to your phone it will go through using the new provisioning that you made.
    For some reason the Fix button just would not work for the Flux project on it’s own.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.