Short answer: macOS has no "eye protection mode". The closest built-in features are Night Shift, True Tone and Reduce White Point. The Shortcuts app can switch the first two, plus brightness and dark mode, with one click or one key combination. The steps are below.
What "eye protection mode" means elsewhere
On other devices the name usually refers to one thing: a filter that makes the screen warmer by cutting blue light. Windows calls it Night light. Samsung calls it Eye comfort shield. Several laptop and monitor makers call it eye care or low blue light mode.
The Mac equivalent of that filter is Night Shift. If that is all you want, you do not need a shortcut: open Control Centre → Display and click Night Shift. The full walkthrough is in how to turn on Night Shift on Mac.
Be clear about what the filter does. Warmer colour in the evening is a sleep-hygiene measure. A 2023 Cochrane review of blue-light filtering lenses found they probably make little or no difference to eye strain. The settings that do affect comfort are brightness, text size and room light.
Singh, S. et al. (2023). Blue-light filtering spectacle lenses for visual performance, sleep, and macular health in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
What goes into a useful mode
| Setting | Put it in the shortcut? |
|---|---|
| BrightnessShortcuts action: Set Brightness | Yes — the setting that matters most |
| True ToneShortcuts action: Set True Tone | Yes — on |
| Night ShiftShortcuts action: Set Night Shift | Yes, for the evening version |
| Dark ModeShortcuts action: Set Appearance | Only for a dark room |
| Reduce White PointNo Shortcuts action | Set once in Accessibility |
| Third-party blue-light filterSeparate app | Not needed |
The reasoning for each verdict is in Mac display settings for eye strain. This page is about putting the useful ones behind one switch.
Build it: two shortcuts, five minutes
You need two shortcuts: one to turn the mode on and one to turn it off. Shortcuts is installed on every Mac running macOS 12 Monterey or later.
Shortcut 1: Eye Protection On
- Open Shortcuts and click + to make a new shortcut. Name it Eye Protection On.
- In the action search on the right, type Set Brightness and add it. Set a value. Start with 50% and adjust: a blank white page should look about as bright as a sheet of white paper next to the screen.
- Add Set True Tone and set it to On.
- Add Set Night Shift and set it to On. Skip this step if you want a daytime version.
- Optional: add Set Appearance and choose Dark. Only do this if you work in a dim room. In a bright room, dark mode makes text harder to read for most people.
Shortcut 2: Eye Protection Off
- Right-click the first shortcut and choose Duplicate. Rename it Eye Protection Off.
- Set Night Shift to Off, Appearance to Light and brightness to your normal value. Leave True Tone on.
Make it one click
- Open a shortcut and click the Shortcut Details button (the ⓘ icon) in the right sidebar.
- Turn on Pin in Menu Bar. Both shortcuts then appear under the Shortcuts icon in the menu bar.
- Click Add Keyboard Shortcut and press a combination that no other app uses, for example ⌃⌥⌘E.
The two settings to set once
Reduce White Point
If the lowest brightness is still too bright in a dark room, Reduce White Point goes below it. Shortcuts on the Mac has no action for it, so set it once: System Settings → Accessibility → Display → Reduce white point, then start around 20–30%. It is easy to forget it is on. If the screen looks dim in daylight, check this first.
A Night Shift schedule
If you only want warmer colour in the evening, a schedule is simpler than a shortcut. Go to System Settings → Displays → Night Shift and set Schedule to Sunset to Sunrise. The shortcut then becomes your manual override.
What no mode can do
A display mode changes the light coming out of the screen. The most common screen complaint — dry, gritty, burning eyes by the afternoon — does not come from that light. It comes from blinking. Blink rate falls by roughly two thirds during focused work, and many blinks stop short of full closure. The tear film breaks up between blinks and the surface of the eye dries.
Three things outside System Settings matter as much as any of the above:
- Monitor height. Top of the screen at or slightly below eye level. Looking slightly down narrows the eye opening and slows evaporation.
- Distance breaks. Look at something at least six metres away regularly, so your focusing muscles can relax. See the 20-20-20 rule.
- Full blinks. There is no macOS setting for this, which is why it is the one that stays broken.
The setting macOS does not have.
No display setting changes how often you blink, and blink rate is what dries your eyes at a screen. Skopia is a quiet Mac menu bar app that prompts a full blink on a timer. No camera, no subscription, no account.
Get Skopia — $4.99 →