IPhone 12 Pro Max screen dimming issue.

This has been a highly frustrating issue. I have gone through most if not all settings... toggled of true tone and auto brightness. Nothing as you've experienced. Here is what I did to lessen the frequency of the phone auto dimming. 1st...I went to settings >accessibility>FaceID and Attention> toggle off Attention aware features. With this feature in it causes the phone to auto dim if you are not paying attention to the phone. 2nd I went to settings> display and brightness > Auto Lock > change setting to never. However, change the time to whatever suits you best. This seem to lessen frequently dimming issue. Happy troubleshooting

It is not because they’re being “ignorant” about it. The ignorance lies with you. They have already stated in the comments multiple times, that the iphone is not going to allow itself to overheat. Overheated devices WILL cause damage to the battery. Would you rather have your brightness up, or preserve the battery and internal components of your device? This is something that all major companies implement. If the device gets too hot, the phones will automatically dim the display because either

1: you’re outside in the heat

2: you’re running multiple applications at once and it’s overheating the device

3: you’re driving and using the GPS or the sun is directly on the phone

4: you’re running processor intensive applications (streaming videos in 4k, playing games that are GPU intensive, running multiple applications in the background that are maxing out the CPU, etc). or,

5: your charger is overheating the device (this happens with the fast charger often, and is why it is recommended to have optimized battery charging enabled, in settings>battery>battery health)

Apple, along with all the other major phone companies, are in compliance with government regulations. Do you want your iphone’s battery to explode on you while using it, like the older generation Samsung Galaxies? I can guarantee, that if your device is cool and you can feel it being cool when you hold it in your hands, that you will have no issue with the brightness turned all the way up. If you guys follow all the advice I have given, I can assure you that you won’t have these issues anymore.

Hi there Ney-Mello, 

It's great to have you in the Apple Support Community. We understand that you display appears to be adjusting itself, even with auto-brightness off. We’re happy to help.

Another feature that could cause this is True Tone. “It uses advanced sensors to adjust the color and intensity of your display to match the ambient light, so that images appear more natural.”

Adjust the brightness on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

You’ll find the settings to enable or disable it by tapping on Settings > Display & Brightness. Please keep us posted.

Take care. 

Hey,

I’ve had the same issue with my device since I got it. I’ve tried everything but I think I’ve finally found the solution. Settings>Accessibility>FaceID & Attention>toggle on Attention Awareness Features. Seems to have worked for me so far. Good luck guys.

The screen dimming is consistent with High ambient temperatures. Out in 35C or higher (Oregon and Montana summer) it’s minutes before the screen goes black. Take it back into AC to cool off and the screen comes back. Pretty frustrating.

killer bob wrote:

The screen dimming is consistent with High ambient temperatures. Out in 35C or higher (Oregon and Montana summer) it’s minutes before the screen goes black. Take it back into AC to cool off and the screen comes back. Pretty frustrating.

Which is to be expected. The same is true for any smart phone as they are all rated for use in temperatures of 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C).

Keeping iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch within acceptable operating temperatures - Apple Support

Another example (emboldening mine):

Although your Galaxy devices may get warm sometimes, they have built-in safeguards to alert you and protect themselves if their temperature exceeds the normal operating range. …

Factors that can affect your device's temperature:

• Using your device outside of normal operating conditions, which are ambient temperatures between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Placing your device on or near a heat source, leaving it in a parked car on a hot day, or continual use in direct sunlight

• Using multiple apps for an extended period of time, or using processor-intensive apps such as gaming or GPS tracking

• Charging the device with a non-Samsung, incompatible, or defective charger (and USB cable)

• Initial setup and data transfer from a previous device

• System or firmware updates

Samsung: Keep your Galaxy device at its normal operating temperature

If you prefer:

Operating Temperature

Do not use or charge the Pixel 5 at ambient temperatures lower than 0°C (32°F) or higher than 35°C (95°F). If the interior temperature of the device exceeds normal operating temperatures, you may experience the following behaviors while the device tries to regulate its temperature: reduced performance and connectivity, inability to charge, or display or device power down. You may not be able to use the device while it regulates its temperature. Move the device to a cooler (or warmer) location and wait a few minutes before attempting to use it again.

https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/9910799?hl=en

I ask about the temperature because the 12 Pro Max, like all smart phones, has the following environmental limits:

Operating ambient temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)

iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max - Technical Specifications - Apple

I do not experience these issues and have never, and I've had mine since launch day.

However, I would also ask what your screen brightness level is set to; at least indoors, mine is about 1/8 of maximum.

It certainly helps.

Anything intermittent is terribly hard to address.

In the world of software, if you get a bug report and can’t reproduce the problem, the bug will typically be marked “closed, cannot reproduce.”

As I previously mentioned, if you take your car to a dealer and say “the transmission is coming out of gear” they will road test it and give it back to you saying “cannot reproduce” without further data if the transmission’s diagnostics show no issues.

Likewise, your Apple Store will run diagnostics, but if they come back showing no issues you though you might be able to talk them into doing a goodwill exchange if you speak to the manager nicely, being able to show them video proof of the issue occurring will be more persuasive.

In all seriousness, being able to show intermittent behavior on video has been a huge boon to auto owners as well.

When you say that, do you mean you turned off the auto brightness setting?

I’ve had that issue on my iPad, and I just turned auto brightness on, then turned it back off.

maybe if that does work, you can try this ***

hope this helps!

also,the other guy may be on to something with the True Tone thing. Try turning that on or off.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

How hot is the phone when it is in the sun?

I use my phone outdoors every day and I don't see this issue, but I also don't let it sit in direct sunlight.

Remember, it and all other smart phones I know of are rated for operation from 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C).

You are all NOT imagining this issue.

I also have had this issue and I keep everything updated and have even reloaded the original software from scratch as a new phone restore Not from backup.

I’ve had my iPhone 12 Pro Max 256GB for just about a year now and my screen also dims THEN proceeds to get hot in the back by the volume buttons but no heat warning; it also stops charging at that moment until I can stop the apps running and cool it down, restart it etc.

Apple Store did replace my phone but did the same thing on the new one.

I am a truck driver so I keep my phone plugged into the high speed charger all day, some of my other settings are, Dark Mode, Zoomed, Brightness at Full.

I’ve also tried the changing of settings as suggested in a lot of these posts to no avail and yes when one does a screen shot, it appears NOT dimmed in the picture once the phone is back to normal. I told Apple Support the two main apps I have issues with are Trucker Path and Google Maps. Sometimes I can go for hours with no issues and sometimes it happens right away within about 15 seconds dimming down to barely viewable although the brightness bar is at full capacity. I’ve been wondering if it’s because these mapping apps are CPU intensive. Apple wants to set up a call with me and an engineer so they can capture the code when it’s happening although the only way they could visually see it is if I also send them a video. They also need me to be on WiFi when I contact them so when I share my device with them they can access the code. I wonder if I can get this to happen over WiFi and wonder if it’s something that might also be tied in with the cellular networks and how all this functions together but that part is just speculation; I only say that because it happens to my phone when I’m using the map programs more often together. If there is an Apple Engineer in the house then set up your phone like mine and use the Trucker Path and Google Maps apps together in tandem and you have a great chance at reproducing this issue. It most often pops up when going to select a fuel station in the Trucker Path app then selecting Directions option then choosing Google Maps option OR while using Google Maps already then going into Trucker Path to choose a fuel station. Keep in mind that when I’m moving as these apps are running, this may further challenge the programs and the phone processor even more because the mapping programs are constantly changing and loading new map info as I move along. Well that’s about it and I’m crossing my fingers that maybe ios15 fixes these issues. Thx!

No one ever said anyone was imagining things.

I'm glad Apple is working with you on this; it sounds like the apps involved are getting into some type of loop, eating a lot of processor power and heating up the device internally, causing it to dim the display to cool it down.

Than what are you running that she isn't?

Whatever you are doing with the phone has an effect, too; what happens if you run the Fidelity app on her phone?

What has your local Apple Store or Apple Support said about your issue?

• Contact - Official Apple Support
• Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

It’s an intermittent issue that masses of people have reported. Even the first Apple store I went to denied to fix but accepted that it’s an issue because her and her boyfriend have the same thing. “all we can do is wait for a SW update”….. and 2 updates later… nothing. I also recorded my screen from another phone and showed the 2nd apple store I went to… he was acting like he couldn’t see it and said “if it’s not happening right now I can’t help”.

Which Apple will normally do as soon as you demonstrate or otherwise show them there is an issue.

If you can’t show it happening, perhaps take video of it happening using another device so you can show the techs that.