Apple Watch Series 6 not bright enough in dark environments. (Same issue as Apple Watch 5)

So I just picked up the new Apple Watch 6 (Silver Stainless 44mm) and as excited as I was, that changed pretty quickly when I realized it has the same annoying screen brightness (or rather *dim*ness) issue that made me return the 5 and stick with my 4.

In dark environments the ambient light sensor is too aggressive and makes the screen too dim to the point it can be difficult to read. In a side-by-side with the 4 it is *noticeably* dimmer! The 4 is perfect but for the 5/6, this is problematic for people such as me who wear glasses need that extra brightness to be able to read it.

This is most problematic if you're outside in the dusk, or in a dark environment like watching TV with the lights off or sitting in a movie theater because it ramps down too low.

The screen is more than capable of the brightness too because again, just like with the 5, in daylight, it really is bright. You can see this yourself! Just shine your iPhone's flashlight at your watch face and you'll see it turn practically blinding.

This was clearly a choice by Apple to implement because again, the hardware can easily handle it, and considering they never addressed it last round, I'm not optimistic this is even on their radar to address.

Also, since I've been asked this a few times, yes, the brightness in settings is turned all the way up, and yes, I am comparing the 'active' brighness (i.e. you're tapping on and interacting with the screen), not the 'always-on' brightness which is more of a 'stand-by' mode.

I even tried disabling the 'always on' screen to make it mimic the 4 exactly. Same result. The 4 is brighter. The 5 and 6 are too dim!!

I know why they did this... to eeek out as much battery life as possible. But that's just it... let *me* decide if I want to sacrifice battery life for brightness. I have never ran out of battery and usually end the day with around ~40% so I would happily give some of that up for more brightness because without it, I can't *read* half the text, even with my glasses on!

If it wasn't for the pulse-oximeter in it, this may have been sent right back just like the 5. I'm gonna give it a few days and see how annoyed I am with it before I decide.

Come on Apple... you're always so great around accessibility. A market leader actually. But twice now you've dropped the ball here! Please give us a version of the firmware where we can change the responsiveness of the auto-dimming to not be so aggressive! I want to love your products. #TakeMyMoneyNow! But give me light in return.

Here's the entire discussion about the same thing with Apple Watch 5.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250654320

Anyone else seeing this too? Again, against a 5 it's identical. Against a 4 it's blatantly obvious. It's not a subtle difference.

Apple Watch

Posted on Sep 21, 2020 6:10 PM

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MarqueIV Author

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48 points

Posted on Jan 29, 2021 12:53 AM

OK… Digging more I think I found out why this trick works. You actually don’t have to go into the keyboard twice. It’s the act of going into the keyboard from the phone app at all that disables the light sensor. (You only need to “go into it twice” if when you go to the phone app the keypad is already on the screen so you have to exit the keypad, then go back into the keypad, and then the light sensor disables.)

This actually makes sense because if you’re interacting with the phone, which is a really important feature, they want to make sure the screen is shown clearly, thus Apple disables the light sensor (or rather ignores it. Not sure which but the result is the same.)

Confirming that’s the case even more, when you are in this “mode” even if you go to settings and try to adjust the brightness, it remains on full. In other words, it’s locking the brightness to 100%.

When you hit the crown button, you’re essentially exiting the phone app before it has a chance to re-enable/engage the light sensor so your watch remains on full brightness until something else engages it.

As others have pointed out, if you have your watch screen set to turn off completely, it will reset every time. If you use the Always-On mode however, it will remain engaged. Be prepared though… It’s actually pretty blinding at this brightness. Still, at least I can read it now.

Of course this is still a hack, but at least it’s easy to do. I’m going to make sure to bring this to Apple’s attention.

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Apple Watch Series 6 not bright enough in dark environments. (Same issue as Apple Watch 5)

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