Leave a Review Blue Light Therapy
Does Nothing
I have seasonal affective disorder, and I have a Masters’s degree and work in the mental health field, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that this app will do nothing to improve your mood. Sure, there’s the placebo effect this may have for some suggestive individuals, but beyond that, there is ZERO science behind this app. You need psychotropic medications and/or a light therapy box of 10,000 LUX to change your mood... All this does is play some cheesy music/audio along with a static wallpaper, with a ripple effect thrown in to increase the “zen” of this app. Save your space on your iPhone and skip this... Good example of an app developer trying to exploit people.
——————————
EDIT: The developer is comparing this app to Apple’s blue-light reduction night-shift mode. True, blue light from your phone may effect your ability to sleep in a dark room, but there is ZERO evidence to suggest that the iPhone screen can improve a user’s mood. Helping someone sleep versus improving depression IS NOT the same thing. AND there is not very much evidence to suggest that Apple’s night-shift really does a whole lot to improve sleep anyways compared to simply turning your screen brightness down. It’s more about reducing eye-strain...
Furthermore, he argues that his app makes people “feel happy” because being in a beautiful environment makes people feel happy, and since his app has pretty pictures of pretty places, you will then feel happy by staring at the pictures. So he’s basically admitting that this app is a screen saver/photo carousel.
I stand by my original review, even more so now. Please avoid this app.Show lessAdam from Appleton
Developer Response
Thank you Adam. I invite you to consider a single fact - in 2016 Apple introduced the "Night Shift" feature to turn iOS device screens orange at night. I was blogging about this issue back in 2012 - full 4 years before this change. The information about the effects of blue light at night on sleep came out in 2010-2011. Thus the mainstream understanding of the effects of light on cognition is severely lagging behind the medical research fields which I follow. The latest advances in evolutionary psychology suggest that human brain has specialized neural networks which detect environmental advantages to survival and reproduction. A bright meadow on a hill with blue sky near a river offers such advantages, and we can recognize it. Which is why a house on such hill costs millions of dollars - we "like" it. While a light box, no matter the amount of LUX does not.Few people really "like" anything about their light box, it's a chore to stare at it for 30 minutes. The neural networks simply filter out the light and we are left with the same approach as the modern psychiatry - just push harder with more LUX hoping that something in the brain gets triggered. It certainly works for some people, but it's a crude technology, we can build better tools now. I've had the privilege to observe the euphoric effect which blue sky and tropical greenery has on visitors of a tropical island in the winter. The pictures in the app are taken on that island. Instead of drab browns and grays, visitors see green jungle and blue sea and sky. All their neural networks overwhelmingly suggest they found a good place to be - they "like" it. This app takes a part of this experience and offers it to the users, in many cases for free. I understand it won't replace a tropical vacation, but it is certainly worth trying!Good progress
I like it, it takes a couple minutes to change to a nice background. Already using this in the morning for a few days to feel more alert.1010110111101
Will Not Load. Period.
Downloaded + installed.
Went to load App. Immediately it crashes.
Please fix.
Using IOS 11.0.3 on iPad mini
0 stars.SurfingSummer
No feeling
Not feel wakening.Goodman956
Blue Light Therapy
I liked it. But it only stays on briefly. Would prefer it would stay on for 45 minutes to an hour. Otherwise it ruins the moment to have to keep hitting the phone to keep it going.Woodrow Von Braun
Developer Response
Thank you Woodrow, there's a "loop" feature in settings which can make the app play forever!Wow! Not blue at all!
I bought this app with the intention of using a blue light screen on my iPad. I want to run it for 5 minutes or so in the morning to help me wake up and be more alert.
What I got was one screen with a "blue-tinted" beach scene for waking up, and a orange-tinted fire scene to help me wind down at night.
I didn't buy this to be entertained and yet someone decided that was what was needed.
The description in the app sales area should be more clear and should include screen shots. This was (to me) a real waste of money!Show lessTonyBoyWall
Now it's broken
I liked it at least 2 stars better when I could set the length of time. Now with the new orange mode that would be really helpful. Right now it's 4 minutes or until your battery dies? I don't want it to run all night, let me set the time!Garence from Tweed
Surprise surprise it works
Well shut my mouth and call me dumb! This actually works.Kattermole
Good
Relaxing, but just one theme. I hope the developer adds more.Red-wan
They screwed it up
This app was fine the way it was, but not any more. Only landscape, and now the interactive touch is only automatic. And where's the blue screen, yo?JLM007
