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User profile for user: Rambling Joe
Rambling Joe Author
User level: Level 2
308 points

iPhone Xr Screen Keeps Dimming

I have an iPhone Xr running iOS 15.1, and the screen keeps dimming on me. I constantly have to open the control panel and return the device to my desired screen brightness. Under the Display & Brightness controls the Appearance is set to Light, Automatic, True Tone and Night Shift are all off. Why does my phone keep doing this?


Thanks in advance!

iPhone XR, iOS 12

Posted on Dec 12, 2021 1:22 PM

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User profile for user: Rambling Joe
Rambling Joe Author
User level: Level 2
308 points

Posted on Dec 12, 2021 1:48 PM

Thanks!


  1. It's not caused by this because if it was the screen would brighten upon activity.
  2. I don't think I want to mess with these settings.
  3. I'm not sure I want to turn off this setting, as it says it could shorten battery life or damage the display.
  4. The phone is over two years old, do you think it could be the battery starting to go bad, thus over heating and causing this?


Thanks again!!


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User profile for user: Rambling Joe
Rambling Joe Author
User level: Level 2
308 points

Dec 12, 2021 1:48 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks!


  1. It's not caused by this because if it was the screen would brighten upon activity.
  2. I don't think I want to mess with these settings.
  3. I'm not sure I want to turn off this setting, as it says it could shorten battery life or damage the display.
  4. The phone is over two years old, do you think it could be the battery starting to go bad, thus over heating and causing this?


Thanks again!!


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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch
Lawrence Finch
User level: Level 10
212,486 points

Dec 12, 2021 1:34 PM in response to Rambling Joe

There are 4 reasons the screen may dim on its own:

  1. The screen will dim a few seconds before it locks if you are not actively using the phone
  2. There is a feature called “Attention Aware” that will dim the screen if you are not looking at it - you can disable this feature in Settings/Face ID & Passcode/Attention Aware Features, and also Settings/Accessibility/Face ID & Attention (Same setting, different ways to access it)
  3. Auto Brightness will adjust the screen brightness based on ambient light levels - Settings/Accessibility/Display & Text Size/Auto-Brightness
  4. If the phone’s temperature gets too high the screen will dim to lower the heat load on the phone.
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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch
Lawrence Finch
User level: Level 10
212,486 points

Dec 12, 2021 1:57 PM in response to Rambling Joe

You may have a separate battery issue, but that would not affect the display dimming.


To check the battery go to Settings/Battery/Battery Health. Read what it says, and check the Maximum Capacity. If the capacity is under 80% you probably should replace the battery. Likewise if the page displays a note that the battery performance is degraded.

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iPhone Xr Screen Keeps Dimming

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