4 Screen-Dimming Android Apps for Better Night-Time Reading
By Bertel King, Jr. / Jul 27, 2014 / Android
Most modern Android phones have ambient light sensors that can gauge the environment you're in and adjust the screen brightness accordingly. Yet even with this feature, Android still doesn't provide more than basic control over brightness settings, and at night, the dimmest option is often still enough to fill up a corner of a room. It can really put a strain on eyes and put people off reading in the dark.
Fortunately, there are many Android apps suited for this situation. Here are four screen dimming Android apps that offer tighter control over your screen brightness and enable your device to dim its display past the lowest default settings.
1. Lux
Lux has been around for a while now, and as a result, it has picked up a fair degree of features. The app provides you with strong controls over how bright the screen is at all times, letting you tweak precisely how the screen should look under which circumstances. In addition to great manual and automatic adjustment options, the app can change the hue of the screen so that your phone projects red light instead of blue, putting less strain on your eyes at night. There's a free version, but you need to go pro for $3.80 to take advantage of the full set of features.
2. Screen Dimmer
What's in a name? In this case, everything you need to know. Screen Dimmer offers much of the functionality found in Lux, only it's packaged in a more holo-compliant shell. The app supports scheduling and also can change the color of the screen depending on the time of day, suggesting red or brown at night. To get all of the features, you will need to go pro via an in-app purchase.
Unfortunately there's a bug where the screen doesn't dim the area around on-screen navigation buttons such as those on Nexus devices. It's an unfortunate issue which effectively limits Screen Dimmer's use to devices with physical buttons.
3. Screen Filter
If you don't want or need a bunch of fancy schmancy features, then Screen Filter may just be the option for you. This app doesn't support automatic dimming or changing screen hue. It simply lets you change brightness to levels below those offered out of the box. The slider is tucked away in the notification area where it's always just a tap away. There's also the option to turn to a widget instead. And unlike the previous two apps, it's completely free to use.
4. Night Mode
As the name would suggest, Night Mode's goal is to improve your smartphone usage at night. Just like Screen Filter, it prioritizes simplicity and doesn't come with extra features tailored to automatic adjustments. It actually comes with even fewer features, as it lacks a widget, and it happens to be ad-supported. Still, if Screen Filter doesn't work for whatever reason, it helps to have an alternative to try out instead.
There you have it! These four apps should help you get better use out of your smartphone at night, reducing the strain it puts on your eyes. The first two apps on this list go further by improving the way phones respond to ambient light, which they don't always do a good job of out of the box.
If there are other screen dimming apps you would personally like to recommend, don't hesitate to share them with us below.
Bertel King, Jr.
Bertel is a tech blogger and independent novelist who puts perhaps a tad too much trust in Google. He's loved Android since the moment he got his eager hands on his first device -- if not sooner -- and has understood the Chromebook Pixel from day one.You can follow his work at bertelking.com.
I happen to love Twilight. It dims and tints the screen to make it easier on the eyes, and it will do it based on your location's sunset time to make sure it is appropriate.
Thanks, Twilight looks like another great recommendation.
Will this work on Android tablets (and in general, are articles written for an Android phone applicable for an Android tablet?) ?
All four of these apps should work just fine on Android tablets, as I tested them using a Nexus 7.
While not all phone apps can be installed a tablet, most can. Some just happen to look better stretched out on a larger screen than others.
Thanks, Bertel!
If the display is the only usual aberration of an app on a phone versus a tablet, I can live with that.
Charnita Fance
My favorite is "Good Sleep." Can't live with out. Very simple, but gets the job done.
there's also YAAB that is open source!
free on the market. … but do donate
Dimly is a great dimmer app I found on Google Play. It works well on both my phone and tablet.
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