Screen Soft Light / Timekeeping / NIGHT CLOCK

--:--

No. 001 · NIGHT CLOCK

Night clock — dim digits on a black screen

  • 01 Black screen, red or amber digits
  • 02 Brightness slider down to a faint glow
  • 03 Digits drift slowly to spare the screen

Turn a phone, tablet or spare monitor into a bedside clock that does not light up the room. The screen is black, the digits are dim red or amber, and a brightness slider takes them down to a faint glow so you can check the time at 3 a.m. without waking yourself up.

Clocks and sleep sounds —
Full screen clockWhite noisePink noiseBrown noise
§ 01

Why red or amber digits

Light at the blue end of the spectrum affects the body clock more than light at the red end, which is why bright white screens are a poor companion at night. Red and amber digits on black give the eye very little blue light to react to. They are still light, so keep the brightness low and the screen out of your direct line of sight.

§ 02

Many phones will not go as dark as a bedroom needs, and some monitors have a floor of their own.

Dimming past what the device allows

Many phones will not go as dark as a bedroom needs, and some monitors have a floor of their own. The Brightness slider fades the digits themselves, from full strength down to about 3 percent, on top of whatever the device backlight is set to. Drag it down until you can only just read the time.

§ 03

Slow drift for screen burn-in

A fixed bright shape left on an OLED panel for months can leave a faint ghost behind. With Drift slowly ticked, the clock glides a small distance every minute along a path worked out from the time, so the same pixels are not lit all night. This lowers the risk; it does not remove it, so an LCD screen or a low brightness is the safer long-term choice.

§ 04

Seconds and 24-hour time

Seconds are off by default because a changing number is more likely to catch your eye in the dark. Tick Seconds if you want them. The clock starts in your device's usual 12- or 24-hour format, and the 12h and 24h buttons switch it.

Procedure

Three moves to peak output

  1. 01

    Pick red or amber

    Red is the gentlest on eyes that have adapted to the dark. Amber is easier to read from across the bed. Both sit on pure black.

  2. 02

    Lower the brightness

    Drag Brightness down until the digits are just readable from where you lie. Turn the device's own brightness down as well; this slider dims the digits, the device setting dims the backlight.

  3. 03

    Go fullscreen and plug in

    Press Fullscreen (or F) and leave the device on a charger. Tap or move the mouse to bring the controls back.

Inquiries

Questions worth asking

Q.01 Can I leave it on all night?
Yes, with the device on a charger. Keep Keep screen on ticked so the display does not turn itself off, lower the brightness and leave Drift slowly on. On an OLED phone, check now and then that no ghost of the digits is visible on a white screen.
Q.02 Does it have an alarm?
No, this page only shows the time. The alarm clock page rings at a time you set, and the sunrise alarm brightens the screen before it rings.
Q.03 How do I get back to the controls in fullscreen?
Tap the screen or move the mouse and the controls fade in for a few seconds. Press F or Escape to leave fullscreen. Double-clicking the clock also toggles it.
Q.04 Where does the time come from?
From the clock of the device the page is open on, read again every second. Phones and computers set that clock from the network, so it should match your phone's lock screen. The page does not count seconds itself, so it cannot drift away from the real time.
Q.05 Will the screen stay on?
While Keep screen on is ticked, the page asks the browser to hold the display awake. Chrome, Edge and recent Safari support this. On a browser that does not, turn off auto-lock or the screen saver in the device settings. Untick the box if you want the device to sleep on its normal schedule.
Q.06 Does it work offline?
Once the page has loaded it needs no connection to keep showing the time. Nothing is streamed and nothing is sent anywhere while the clock runs.
Cross-reference

Try adjacent plates