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I have a MacBook Pro Touch 2017. A few days ago, I noticed that the display seems to have started to have a very faint warm/reddish tint, but I can tell the difference nonetheless. The greys aren't "cool grey" anymore, but more like "red grey", and the whites are sort of "faint pink-white".

I really started noticing this because once after startup of macOS, the display was first "cool/bright" (what I would describe as normal), but perhaps 30 seconds after entry to the OS/Desktop, the whole screen switched to the red tint. This "alteration" doesn't happen every time starting the computer, but quite regularly. When comparing the display to that of a MacBook Pro 2013, it is clearly bluer/cooler in its display.

Note that the displays aren't calibrated beyond the factory calibration and default profiles. The issue occurs regardless of any external displays being connected. This is not related to True Tone, Night Shift or anything like that.

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  • The MPB is a physical object with components wedged very, very tightly inside. I've seen MBAs and MBPs take a licking and keep on ticking, but a fall is a fall, and things sometimes completely or incompletely fail.
    – IconDaemon
    Apr 8 '18 at 13:32
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    I also have this issue. It started happening randomly and now seems to always stay in this reddish tint. Did you ever found what was the cause?
    – lm2s
    May 22 '18 at 8:34
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    Haven't found a solution yet, but will attempt to look at this again now. There has been a lot of similar reports that I didn't know about, which validates my concern. forums.macrumors.com/threads/… and discussions.apple.com/thread/8380916
    – P A N
    May 26 '18 at 8:19
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    This doesn't really answer your question, but I found turning off True Tone in Display preferences got rid of the red/pink cast on my 2018 MacBook Pro.
    – Sam Dutton
    Dec 14 '18 at 19:15
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    @SamDutton That might work, however I don't have True Tone on my model so this problem was introduced before True Tone existed on MacBook Pros.
    – P A N
    Sep 11 '19 at 8:53
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Old answer, provided as background

I handed in my computer with the problem to an authorized service partner. At first they didn't recognize the error, but after some further convincing from my part they claim to have spoken with Apple about it.

The authorized service partner claimed that the problem with warm hue is a software bug introduced in one of most recent versions of MacOS High Sierra (spring 2018), and it afflicts various Mac models. They claim that Apple is aware of the problem, and a fix will applied in an upcoming MacOS patch.

Edit, May 2021

As of MacOS Big Sur 11.2.3 (2021-05-04), Apple haven't applied a fix, as the problem persists.

Upon multiple further contacts with Apple, it has become clear that Apple's support are not aware of this issue. They have asked for video evidence when the issue occurs. I would encourage users who experience this issue to contact Apple and send video evidence to get the issue noted.

Since Apple isn't recognizing this issue, I have unmarked my answer as a solution.

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  • Do you have any updates?
    – Kervin Ramen
    Oct 25 '19 at 10:47
  • @KervinRamen I won't be trying MacOS Catalina for a while, but I have my doubts it's fixed yet. Apple hasn't addressed this issue for at least 1.5 years AFAIK. My warranty is expiring in a couple of months so unless it's fixed in the new OS I will raise this issue with Apple again.
    – P A N
    Oct 25 '19 at 12:49
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    I'm on Catalina 10.5.4 and noticed this occurring after the latest upgrade. I think it may have to do with an ambient light sensor as I notice it most when I'm outside on a partly cloudy day. As the light changes, the display changes slightly between shades of blue, green, and pink(red). Of course, I don't notice it at all in dark mode.
    – anopres
    May 3 '20 at 20:51
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    @ONE_FE No, every pixel on the screen becomes tinted in a pinkish hue, in the issue I'm describing.
    – P A N
    Sep 15 '20 at 11:25
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    In my case colors were changing because of a bullshit setting called "True Tone". It's enough to have a differently-colored T-Shirt and it changes screen tint back and forth.
    – Endrju
    Mar 18 at 9:28
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It sounds like you have Night Shift on. It tints all of your screens colors to be easier on the eyes.

System Preferences > Displays > Night Shift > Schedule > Off

Try that and see what happens. If that's it, you might want to turn it back on and set a schedule that works better for you.

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    Thanks for the suggestion – it's not Night Shift that's causing this (unless it's stuck somehow and the white point needs to be reset via some Terminal command). I have turned off Night Shift.
    – P A N
    Apr 8 '18 at 10:46
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    @Winterflags - did you actually turn Nightshift on then turn it off, or are you merely reporting its status as being off? Sometimes you can fix a stuck .plist setting (if this is a Nightshift setting) by doing a toggle.
    – IconDaemon
    Apr 8 '18 at 13:28
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    @IconDaemon I have toggled it on/off and moved the slider from min–max–default.
    – P A N
    Apr 8 '18 at 13:29
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    happening on my mac (same model) and I checked - night mode is off. It just occurs randomly many times (no count) in a day.
    – Noman Rafique
    Jul 3 '18 at 11:45
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    I've also confirmed that it's not merely night shift causing the problem. Furthermore, the red tinting is far more drastic than Night Shift causes even at its warmest temperature.
    – codepringle
    Dec 1 '19 at 8:53
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This solution worked for me - check the Color profile:

  1. Open preferences > Displays > Color
  2. Select a display that matches your setup, like "Color LCD"

For some (unknown) reason, with the last reboot, a different device was selected, a projector, so all the UI elements, frames, and some whitespace turned pink.

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