A photo on Apple Canada’s iOS 9.3 preview page suggests the operating system’s new feature, Night Shift, could be integrated into the iOS Control Center, making it easier to turn the feature on and off.
As discovered by a Reddit user on Wednesday, Apple Canada’s iOS 9.3 Preview webpage reveals an iPad Control Center menu with Night Shift activation icon next to the existing brightness slider control. Seen above, a contextual pop-up menu shows further options for “Turn On For Now” and “Turn On Until Tomorrow,” suggesting constant-on and time-based automation modes, respectively.
A promotional screenshot displayed on Apple’s U.S. iOS 9.3 preview page shows the iPhone in the shot running an identical screen from the Health app, but on the iPad, we see the News app running in the place of the Home Screen with Control Center displayed as seen on the Canadian site. (Apple News is not yet available in Canada, which is likely why the two images are different.)
It should be noted that current iOS 9.3 beta builds do not include the Night Shift button in the Control Center. So, it is possible the Canadian screenshot is a mockup that saw the light of day by mistake. However, the image is still being displayed on the website, as of press time.
Night Shift debuted last week alongside the beta release of iOS 9.3. The feature allows users of 64-bit iOS devices to adjust the device’s display color temperature, in order to reduce the amount of blue light their eyes are exposed to at night. Blue light has been shown to affect a user’s sleep patterns, when exposed to it in the hours before bedtime.
Night Shift automatically adjusts the display colors toward the warmer portion of the color spectrum. The feature can be set to activate at sunset, and set the colors back to normal at sunrise. The feature can also be toggled on and off in the device’s settings. In the current beta, Night Shift is accessed and adjusted through the Display and Brightness settings menu in the Settings app.
