After over a year since last release and long months full of work, I'm happy to release LightBulb v2 to the world!
For those who don't know, LightBulb is a Windows background application that controls the gamma of your display(s), gradually reducing blue light as it gets late. It's similar to the Windows built-in NightLight feature and apps like f.lux, but offers much wider customization options, more features, better performance, an elegant UI, and it's completely open-source!
⭐ You can download it here but please note that you also need to have .NET Core 3 runtime for desktop apps installed.
The main new feature of v2 is the completely reworked UI and the addition of the dashboard screen which shows up-to-date relevant information. Here you can see the sundial which indicates where you are in the 24-hour cycle separated by phases of day-time, night-time, and transitions.
Also, I've added the brightness configuration to go with color temperature. This will let you personalize LightBulb even further and your eyes will be thankful. 👀
Settings have also seen a few enhancements, namely the ability to manually fine-tune every configuration value, including your location. Previous versions of LightBulb required you to have active internet connection in order to accurately calculate sunrise & sunset times, but not anymore -- you can set it manually or use the text box to search for any valid address.
For the full list of changes (there are over 30 of them), check out the changelog! ❤️
Top comments (5)
I am using f.lux for a long time now. If you would need to pitch lightbulb to me and convince me to change, how would you pitch it to me?
(trying to figure out if it is worth changing)
Do you want an app that just makes your monitor orange at night? Then you might as well use whatever.
LightBulb initially released in Feb 2017 as an open-source alternative to F.lux that focused on performance and it got popular among gamers. Unlike F.lux, LightBulb was smarter about when to change gamma, resulting in fewer WinAPI calls and no input lag. It also had a few extra features that F.lux at the time didn't have, which it incorporated in version 4.
Nowadays, people choose LightBulb if they want a blue-light reduction app that gets the job done, but also offers a ton of customization options and extra features that aren't just an afterthought. For example, you can freely customize both your night & day time temperature, your transition duration (you can set it to anything, not just fast or slow like in F.lux), set custom sunrise/sunset times if you don't want to use your location. Besides all that and more, LightBulb has automatic brightness control that works hand-in-hand with color temperature and it really makes a difference for your eyes.
Overall, if you're still using F.lux, you probably have a very good reason and I'm sure it's not the UI :)
To be honest about why I still use f.lux: I got some Swannies and f.lux was just running so I didn't care much about alternatives.
Thanks for taking the time and the pitch! You convinced me to switch with the performance things and the finer control of the transition and the temperatures because that is something I want to control and was missing with f.lux.
Consider me a new user this evening 👍
💡 so way
Thanks for this idea. I've found it through template.