Abrupt color/tint temperature change MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2017

[sdp77]

In another thread, somebody mentioned resetting True Tone by entering the following code in terminal:

sudo pmset resetdisplayambientparams

For me, installing 10.15.5 seems to have solved the issue, with both True Tone and Adjust Brightness turned on. It's true, it's only been 24 hours but I really hope the problem is gone.

 

[serioku88]

Hi everyone, same exact problem here:
15-inch, 2017 MacBook Pro running Catalina. Since I bought it, the otherwise SpyderX-calibrated screen abruptly turns pinkish. It is definitely not Nightshift and Automatically adjust brightness is inactive. For all those saying True Tone is causing it: older models do not have true tone and yet they have the problem.

Hint: I realised I can deliberately cause the change in tone by going to System Preferences -> Displays -> checking Automatically adjust brightness. When I do this, the screen immediately changes to that same annoying pinkish tint. I can revert to the normal tint by putting the Mac to sleep and reactivating it.

It is extremely frustrating for me as I am a photographer and I work a lot with colours in Photoshop. Anyone with suggestions on how to solve this: you'd be my hero.
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Here's the solution that worked for me:

Settings > Energy Saver > Battery > Uncheck "Automatic Graphics Switching" in the top left

I had this same problem and it would make me nauseated every time it switched from warm to cool. I'm a graphic designer and have to zoom in a lot and this was seriously affecting my work.

I always have it unchecked but the problem persists.
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Finding this thread after 3 long years, with 2 Macbook Pro's and 1 recurring sanity check to make sure I was not imagining this flicker is like finding the promised land. This unresolved, apparently unacknowledged by Apple, defect/issue/bug/feature(?) has been driving me to the edge of those sanity checks exactly because of the reasons everyone has documented. It isn't remotely consistent, I can't reproduce it on demand, nearly impossible to catch on video and as I found out much to my shagrin after thinking I had a concrete plan to document it, does not come through on a screen capture all of which make it incredibly challenging to convince anyone that it is a real problem.

I have had this problem in a 15-inch Macbook Pro 2018 which had the keyboard and ultimately logic board replaced as well as this 16-inch Macbook Pro 2019 I am currently typing on as recent as today while I was coding. I thought I was the only one who couldn't figure it out going back and forth between Hardware and then Software and then back to Hardware and down the rabbit hole.

I am trying every single one of these recommendations because nothing I have tried prior to this has worked. First up turning off Graphics Card Switching.

Will let you know how it works

I have 2017 MacBook pro Catalina. I managed to reproduce the "glitch" on demand by activating the Automatically adjust brightness feature (which I usually have unchecked). For some reason, at least for me, when I do this it immediately causes the monitor to acquire the pinkish tint I have grown to hate with all my heart since 2018.

 

[dspdoc]

Same thing being discussed here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/true-tone-going-nuts.2195446/

And yes, it's an issue that has been ongoing for a long time. Not sure why Apple isn't addressing it.
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In another thread, somebody mentioned resetting True Tone by entering the following code in terminal:

sudo pmset resetdisplayambientparams

For me, installing 10.15.5 seems to have solved the issue, with both True Tone and Adjust Brightness turned on. It's true, it's only been 24 hours but I really hope the problem is gone.

The terminal command does not resolve the issue.

 

[gnarlygeoduck]

I had a similar issue, and used these methods to fix it: Tape over the camera, and change your RGB profile.

I think most everyone has covered the likely culprits built in to MacOS to change tint: Auto Switching, Auto Brightness, True Tone, Night Shift. If disabling these does not work, I recommend the following:

1) Put opaque tape over your camera (like electrical tape). If you are unable to turn off true tone by using the prefs menu, this will make the software unable to distinquish between the ambient lighting of your environments, and will not allow tru tone or auto brightness to register changes.

2) Macs have long allowed users to change the RGB profile of the built in display. Try selecting different RGB profiles, or try creating your own proflie by using the "calibrate" feature. If your display continues to change tint, come back to this pref pane and see if the RGB profile has changed and set it back.

 

[SFeV]

Same issue for me. The screen suddenly switches from a blue to a yellow tone and vice versa without a smooth transition. When I turn off True Tone, the problem is gone. Hope they will fix it in Big Sur!

 

[Tamim Sujat]

Fixed the issue on a 2019 Macbook Air. Issue is with video on external display using the Chrome browser. Issue is not present when using Safari.

 

[michael nabozny]

Is there any update on this? My 2018 macbook pro just started doing this: shifting between warm & cool at random. It seemed to have started when I began using Night Shift (something I really regret doing now, since I work a creative remote job and this is really annoying).

Additionally, I had a slight and recent video "burned in" to my display. It's subtle but there (see attached). I'm upgraded to Big Sur and don't have the option of unchecking True Tone. I've also messed around with Night Shift and it persists.

Any updates to this problem that someone could share to help me out?

 

[enoughsaid]

I just purchased a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) and I'm noticing a random color tint change. It is very slight and subtle, the screen goes from a bluish hue to a pinkish hue. The actual change in color is not very noticeable, but the shift when it occurs is noticeable. You can see the screen suddenly shift to a different hue or shade. It's like an abrupt transition to a different tint, from bluish to pinkish.

The problem is that I see no rhyme or reason for the tint shift. Has anyone noticed the same thing? I've seen it occur when launching or closing Safari a few times, once while in Safari opening more tabs, once while in Terminal, and once when changing the text background color in TextEdit. It happens maybe once a day. Nightshift is off, automatic brightness adjustment is off, and I am using the "Color LCD" profile.

I reset the SMC, NVRAM, and cleared the color profile cache with Terminal. Nothing has solved it. Sometimes I can go a whole day without seeing it. It’s random, and usually occurs once a day. The change in hue is nothing major, but because it is so abrupt you will notice it.

Seems like a software issue, but hard to tell... Is anyone else seeing this? I suppose without a whitish background, it will look like a brightness change to you as opposed to a tint change?

Got it, same problem here, just switch off True Tone in System Preferences - Displays

 

[MrgG11]

I just purchased a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) and I'm noticing a random color tint change. It is very slight and subtle, the screen goes from a bluish hue to a pinkish hue. The actual change in color is not very noticeable, but the shift when it occurs is noticeable. You can see the screen suddenly shift to a different hue or shade. It's like an abrupt transition to a different tint, from bluish to pinkish.

The problem is that I see no rhyme or reason for the tint shift. Has anyone noticed the same thing? I've seen it occur when launching or closing Safari a few times, once while in Safari opening more tabs, once while in Terminal, and once when changing the text background color in TextEdit. It happens maybe once a day. Nightshift is off, automatic brightness adjustment is off, and I am using the "Color LCD" profile.

I reset the SMC, NVRAM, and cleared the color profile cache with Terminal. Nothing has solved it. Sometimes I can go a whole day without seeing it. It’s random, and usually occurs once a day. The change in hue is nothing major, but because it is so abrupt you will notice it.

Seems like a software issue, but hard to tell... Is anyone else seeing this? I suppose without a whitish background, it will look like a brightness change to you as opposed to a tint change?

I know I'm really late, but... have you turned off True Tone? XD. This is literally what True Tone does... Changes the hue and tint based on the lighting to make it better for your eyes, by matching the hue and tint to your surroundings.

 

[dspdoc]

I know I'm really late, but... have you turned off True Tone? XD. This is literally what True Tone does... Changes the hue and tint based on the lighting to make it better for your eyes, by matching the hue and tint to your surroundings.

Did you miss the words “abrupt” and “suddenly”?

 

[MrgG11]

Did you miss the words “abrupt” and “suddenly”?

It very much depends on how suddenly the color changes are… Because when the lighting changes, true tone kicks in very fast. But if this is happening without the lighting changing at all, it might be a broken ambient light sensor.

 

[dspdoc]

It very much depends on how suddenly the color changes are… Because when the lighting changes, true tone kicks in very fast. But if this is happening without the lighting changing at all, it might be a broken ambient light sensor.

No, nothing is broken. It's a known issue, and I've personally experienced it on over seven machines. You might want to go back and reread this entire thread before jumping in again.