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Editors' Note, July 10, 2026: With this update, our lineup of recommended blue light glasses remains unchanged. The existing picks have been vetted for currency and availability.
The more time we spend staring at screens, whether at the office or at home, the more vulnerable we are to eye strain. You've probably already heard how blue light can hurt your eyes and affect your sleep, but you might not know all the ways to help reduce its impact on your health. I've checked out most major glasses brands that offer computer or gaming lens options to reduce blue light, so I'm here to tell you which ones are worth your money and which ones you should avoid. Below are a few blue-light-blocking glasses and software solutions that might help alleviate eye strain. Read beyond the list for more information about blue light and its health effects.
Gunnar Glasses
Gunnar is best known for its blue-light-blocking computer glasses designed for gamers. If you go to major video game events like PAX, you've probably seen a pair.
Gunnar offers a variety of frames, including several collaborations like the Fallout Lucky 38 pictured above, from Fallout on Amazon Prime Video (and, originally, the Fallout game series). You also get a choice of tint types, including the slight clear lens that blocks 35% of blue light and doesn't tint other colors too much; the more intense amber lens that blocks 65% of blue light; and even transition lenses that stay tinted indoors and get darker like sunglasses when you're outside. These glasses are available with or without a prescription. If you're farsighted, though, know that "Gunnar-Focus" glasses have a slight magnifying factor that can be a bit disorienting; if you don't want that, make sure you order "Natural-Focus" lenses.
We've tried several pairs of Gunnar glasses, and each has been well-made, sturdy, and comfortable.
Jins Screen
Jins is a Japanese eyewear brand that offers a variety of blue-light-blocking lenses. There are five Jins Screen lens treatments: Jins Screen Daily Use, Jins Screen Heavy Use, Jins Screen Night Use, Blue Light Invincible, and Ultra Thin Screen Daily.
The regular Jins Screen Daily Use models feature a subtle tint that blocks 25% of blue light, the Jins Screen Heavy Use lenses opt for a slightly stronger, greenish tint that blocks 40% of blue light, and the Jins Screen Night Use lenses are more of a typical amber tint and block 60% of blue light. These treatments are $60 each (plus the price of the frames), though Night Use lenses are only available in-store, of which there are just six in the United States, all in California (four in Los Angeles, two in the Bay Area).
Blue Light Invincible ($160) and its high-index variant, Ultra Thin Screen Daily ($410), have the lightest tints, blocking 12% of blue light. They're also much more expensive, with both lens types manufactured in Japan and featuring a three-layer coating that is more scratch-resistant, reflects less glare, and attracts less dust than other Jins lenses.
You can add any of the five to most frames. The frames themselves are quite nice, but they can also get pretty expensive, especially if you want a model that's actually made in Japan.
Zenni Blokz
Zenni is a glasses brand that lets you order inexpensive frames and lenses online. If you have your prescription, you can simply enter the numbers into a form, and your glasses will arrive a few weeks later. With prices starting at $7, I've sworn by Zenni for stocking up on backup glasses, though its pricier frames and lenses are generally pretty well-made, too.
Zenni offers Blokz, its own blue-light-blocking lens technology. Blokz lenses start at $17, so you can get prescription blue-light-blocking glasses for as little as $25. You can also get photochromatic Blokz that darken in the sunlight, and Zenni recently released its EyeQLenz lenses that filter blue light and infrared light, and have photochromatic properties (though in my tests they don't get sunglasses-dark).
Warby Parker
Warby Parker is one of the more popular fashion-focused glasses retailers because of its home try-on policy. You pick five frames online to try on at home, the company ships them to you, and you choose which ones to keep. The frames are made well, reasonably priced, and support blue-light-filtering lenses. The coating is an extra $50, which puts most glasses at around $145 (or less if you have an eligible insurance plan). You can also get anti-fatigue lenses for $100 more, which add a slight magnification effect to the lower part of the lens. We can't speak to their effectiveness, however.
Amazon Abounds With Cheap Choices
You can get inexpensive blue-light-blocking glasses at Amazon and other retailers, though you won't have the benefit of prescription lenses. We also haven't reviewed any of these glasses, so we can't attest to their lens or frame quality. We have, however, noticed an interesting pattern: Lots of them are the same.
The glasses above appear to be identical to several of the glasses a few entries below them when you search for blue-light-blocking models on Amazon. We suspect most of these glasses come from the same factory and that the different brand names don't mean much. If you don't recognize the brand and the company doesn't appear to have a dedicated website, expect a generic experience.
Skip the Specs and Use Software
You don't need glasses to reduce blue light on your screen. iPhones, Macs, PCs, and most Android phones have night modes that significantly warm up the white balance of the screen to reduce eye strain. On Windows 10 and 11, it's called Night Light, and on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS it's called Night Shift. You can set these modes to work on a schedule or based on sunrise and sunset times.
You can also use f.lux, free software for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows, which does the same job.
Do Not Get: BluBlocker Glasses
Ironically, the popular-in-drug-stores brand BluBlocker is not advisable for reducing blue light when staring at a screen.
BluBlockers are sunglasses, and their tints are too strong for comfortably looking at your monitor. If you use too strong a tint, you can strain your eyes in the other direction, forcing them to deal with too little light instead of too much.
What Is Blue Light?
On the most basic level, blue light is exactly what it sounds like: light that's blue. That's not the full picture, though, and this is where light and color theory come into play, along with concepts like color temperature, Planck's Constant, and the black body radiation curve. Without going too far into the weeds, you simply need to understand one fact about light: The color white isn't universal.
There is no singular white, but rather a whole range of visible light that counts as white. Depending on the lighting conditions and what is radiating or reflecting light, white light can appear yellow (warm) or blue (cool). For instance, the light from an incandescent LED bulb is warmer than that from a computer monitor. This effect, called color temperature, is measured in kelvin (K).
What we perceive as white light shifts along a range of about 2,700K to 7,000K. Confusingly, warmer light has a lower color temperature than cooler light, with the almost fiery glow of tungsten around 2,800K and overcast sunlight around 6,000K. Computer monitors typically set white to a cooler temperature to emulate natural sunlight, around 6,500K. That means the light from your screen is quite blue; you can notice this difference by comparing a web page with a white background to a warm light bulb.
Blue light is often cited as the culprit for eye strain and even eye damage, so, naturally, the solution should be to warm up that light before it hits your eyes.
Is Blue Light That Bad?
Here's where it gets tricky: Claims from the manufacturers of blue-light-blocking glasses don't necessarily hold up to medical scrutiny. Essentially, blue light can't directly damage your eyesight. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) notes that ultraviolet radiation can damage the eyes, but that computer monitors and other screens don't emit that radiation. The whites are cool, but they aren't harmful. In fact, the AAO doesn't recommend any special eyewear for computer use.
This doesn't mean you should ignore the effects of staring at a screen all day. While the radiation might not hurt your eyes, fixating on a powerful light source a few inches or a few feet from your eyes for long periods of time can cause eye strain. Your eyes can become dry, irritated, or blurry, and you can even get headaches after you've looked at screens for hours. Blue-light-blocking technology can help reduce that strain by making the light appear more soothing and less bright.
The AAO recommends the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, you should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to give your eyes a break. It's a good habit to get into, but it isn't always realistic, and it isn't the only thing you can do to help your eyes.
I sometimes get light-sensitive headaches, and I've found that tinted lenses can help reduce their frequency. For that, blue-light-blocking glasses are useful. They warm up the light by blocking some wavelengths, giving your eyes a rest. Their real value lies in relieving eye strain, not in the promise of simply blocking blue light.
How to Buy Glasses Online
Shopping for glasses can be stressful. Luckily, we have a guide to sites that let you shop for frames and lenses at home. We note which services offer blue-light-filtering lenses, too.
