Mac - weird screen flicker possibly related to HDR images

[joelanman]

Using a supported version?

• I have searched searched open and closed issues for duplicates.
• I am using Signal-Desktop as provided by the Signal team, not a 3rd-party package.

Overall summary

Signal desktop app on mac make my screen flicker weirdly. Possibly related to HDR images as they often seem to be on display when it happens. HDR images make the screen go weird too - the whole screen darkens and the light parts of the photo go really bright

Steps to reproduce

switch to desktop app, screen flickers

Expected result

screen doesnt flicker

Actual result

screen flickers

Screenshots

No response

Signal version

7.22.2

Operating system

Mac OS 14.5

Version of Signal on your phone

No response

Link to debug log

No response

[ayumi-signal]

Sorry about the flicker -- it's interesting because we don't support sending HDR file format images within the app (they can be sent as attachments but without preview). What's the file format and are there any test images which can reproduce the problem?

[joelanman]

I dont know if this will work, but this is an image that has made my screen flicker and go weird when viewed in signal desktop

[ayumi-signal]

@joelanman Thanks for providing that test image!

[lincolnq]

I am also seeing this and am fairly confident it is related to HDR. I don't have any other regular sources of HDR rendering on my Mac except for people sending me pictures in Signal - it is not obvious that Signal is to blame for this flicker, more poor implementation quality from Apple - but Signal could at least let its users work around the problem by providing an option to disable HDR rendering in the desktop app :)

[indutny-signal]

We're still looking into it, but meanwhile could you tell us about the sender device for the image? Was it Desktop, Android, or iOS?

[lincolnq]

I noticed it with a sender who took a photo and posted it from their Pixel 7a!

Additionally and interestingly: I noticed that the HDR effect goes away if I forward the message or download/repost in a note to self

[lincolnq]

(received another confirmation from a sender, who posted some more-clearly-HDR photos, who is on a pixel 8a.)

[indutny-signal]

@lincolnq thank you! Could you confirm that they are running official Android client?

[lincolnq]

I didn't specifically ask, but they are not the sort of people to sideload apps and so I would be quite surprised