Yes, Apple’s Night Shift trademark includes Mac, Watch & car; no, it doesn’t mean anything

The headline giveth, the small-print taketh away …

A misleading headline on Patently Apple is already leading to speculation that Apple may be planning to bring its Night Shift feature to Macs, the Watch and CarPlay. None of this is impossible, but Apple’s trademark certainly doesn’t ‘hint’ at this.

Night Shift is the feature, introduced with iOS 9.3, that adjusts the white balance of displays toward warmer colors toward the end of the day. The theory is that this helps keep our circadian rhythm in tune with natural light, and promotes better sleep.

The ‘evidence’ that Apple may plan to bring the feature to other devices is pulling out specific wording from a trademark application. The problem with this is, as Patently Apple notes right at the end of the piece, that this is just standard trademark wording, not anything specifically drafted for Night Shift. Among the many other devices listed are such things as computer cables, styluses, radios, earphones, batteries, chargers, bags, integrated circuits and … fire extinguishers.

So, sure, Apple could be planning to extend Night Shift to other devices, but the trademark application provides no clue one way or the other.

Incidentally, Night Shift may not be as significant in promoting sleep as you might imagine. An analysis by display experts DisplayMate suggests that the impact is rather limited.

Photo: macstories.net