How to Use Night Light in Windows 10

Reduce eyestrain with this blue light filter for your PC

man working on computer late at night

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by Scott Orgera
Scott Orgera has been a tech journalist since 2007. He has 25+ years' experience as a programmer and QA leader and several Microsoft certifications.
Updated September 18, 2019

The blue light emitted from your PC can prove problematic when it comes to eye strain and may also interrupt your sleep cycles. To help alleviate these annoying and potentially chronic symptoms, Microsoft offers a Windows 10 Night Light feature that essentially applies a blue light filter to the operating system’s display. 

The blue light filter, also called Night light settings on Windows 10, doesn't change the screen brightness of your display. Instead, it adjust the color temperature by changing the amount of the color blue shown on screen.

How to Activate the Windows 10 Night Light Mode

Prior to Microsoft including a blue light filtering capability in Windows 10, users had to use third-party apps to screen the levels of blue light emanating from their computer screens. However, now that it's part of Windows 10, the blue light filter is easy to activate.

  1. Select Start, located in the left-hand corner of your screen and represented by the Windows logo. 

  2. Select Settings, represented by a gear icon.

    The Windows 10 Start Menu

    Alternatively, you can use the Windows 10 Search bar to search for Settings and then select the Settings app in the search results.

  3. The Windows Settings interface should now be displayed. Select System, located in the upper left-hand corner.

    screenshot of Windows Settings interface

  4. Select Display from the left menu pane, if necessary.

  5. Select Night light settings, found in the Brightness and color section.

    screenshot of Windows Display settings

    The Night light feature is not available on all devices, in particular those that use Basic Display or DisplayLink drivers. Also, if you have two or more monitors attached to your computer, the Night light feature may not apply to all attached monitors.

  6. To enable the night light immediately, select Turn on now. 

    screenshot of Windows Night Light settings

  7. To schedule the night light to automatically be displayed during a certain time window each day, toggle Schedule night light to On.

  8. Two options will now be displayed. The default option, Sunset to sunrise, activates the night light at sunset and turns it off at sunrise. The sunset and sunrise times are automatically determined by your individual time zone.

    screenshot of Windows 10 Night Light settings

  9. If you prefer to set your own custom interval for the Windows night light, select Set hours and enter your preferred start and stop times. 

    You can also specify the specific display range of your light by using the Color temperature at night slider. The farther to the right the slider is, the more orange your display becomes. The farther to the left, the more blue light is emitted.

  10. Select the X in the upper right-hand corner to close the settings interface and return to your desktop.