Mac OS 10.12.4 update features: Night Shift helps you sleep easier

On Monday, Apple rolled out the macOS 10.12.4 update — its fourth major update for Sierra since the operating system was released last September.

The feature garnering the most excitement in the tech community is the arrival of Night Shift, which aims to enhance your sleep cycle by reducing the amount of blue light that appears on your screen.

According to Night Shift's support page, studies have shown that exposure to bright blue light in the evening can affect your circadian rhythms and make it harder to fall asleep.

Night Shift is Apple’s response to the downloadable f.lux app that does the same — “makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.”

Now, Mac users won’t have to install the additional app to use the feature.

A member of the f.lux team, however, said in a forum that Apple's feature doesn't actually reduce very much alerting blue light and that f.lux remains the better option of the two.

According to MacRumors, Night Shift is compatible with 2012 and newer Macs, so it won't work on older machines.

The feature was also first introduced in iOS devices with the iOS 9.3 update.

Here’s how to install Night Shift on your Mac:

Make sure you install the latest software updates.
Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen.
From the dropdown menu, select System Preferences.
Choose the Displays icon.
Of the three tabs (Display, Color, and Night Shift), choose Night Shift. Here, you can also adjust the color temperature settings.
From the Schedule option, choose either Sunset to Sunrise or Custom.

The Sunset or Sunrise option uses your local sunset and sunrise times to turn Night Shift on automatically each night when the sun sets and then turn off when the sun rises.

The Custom option allows you to choose a specific start and end time for Night Shift to turn on.

Other quick ways to turn Night Shift on: