videos received via text message are too bright

Same issue. Maybe it's Apple's way of annoying old iPhone 7 and below users so much that we'll eventually buy a new phone. Same thing they did with the battery not holding a charge issue. Code is written to make things break.. intentionally. Hope big brother is listening. But yeh... it's totally an issue with the latest update. 7 and below on 15.7.3 can't play videos sent from other iPhones that recorded in HDR. Tested it today. Had a buddy send me a video with HDR and without from his 12. One without HDR played fine. HDR video was overexposed.

I have an iPhone 7+ and from what I gathered from all the researching I have done online, there is no support for iPhone 7/7+ to view HDR (High Dynamic Range) videos properly, so the HDR video has to be converted to SDR format….there’s quite a few HDR to SDR converter softwares available on the Windows and Mac platforms….the iMovie app on iOS would work as an HDR/SDR converter, but iMovie won’t run unless you have iOS ver 16, which is not supported on iPhone 7/7+. Most all the HDR/SDR converter apps have to be purchased to convert your videos….I tried using an app called Filmora video editor (a free 3-day trial) and it converted perfectly the HDR videos to SDR…..I still haven’t found a free iOS app to convert the videos.

Found a solution to overexposed videos received via iMessage on my iPhone 7.

Press the solid blue square with downward arrow in bottom right corner>select Save to Photos in pop-up. HDR videos have then been playing normally in my Photos App.

Two possible solutions (1) Press the solid blue square (if it goes solid) with downward arrow in bottom right corner>select Save to Photos in pop-up. HDR videos have then been playing normally in my Photos App. (2) Send text iMessage containing HDR video to yourself (your own number) then Save video to Photos in Photos App.

I believe this iPhone 7 issue has been created by Apple.

I have found a solution using my iphone7.

Download the VLC app (movie player, coder/decoder- has a traffic cone as its symbol)

When you open the video from the imessage, click the share button (box with up arrow) choose VLC

The movie will play in VLC app instead and not be over saturated

Annoying- yes, but its better than not having anything at all

Issues: I cannot seem to make it run from the photos album in the same way (need to run it from the message directly)

I have iPhone 7 Plus. The problem is with RECEIVING hdr videos. I tried turning on/off hdr on my phone camera settings but it makes no difference in trying to view RECEIVED hdr videos. However, I’ve found a solution but it takes extra steps. That is to forward the hdr videos to myself in Facebook messenger and they play without the washed out too bright problem. If you have a settings fix for receiving and viewing hdr videos on “text” please share.

Solution to videos via text that are too bright on your iPhone 7 or lower due to being recorded in HDR:

save the video to photos, go into photos and delete the video, go to deleted videos, select and recover.

It should then look normal, if not, delete and recover again.

It has always worked for me on the first or second try.

I have the 7plus with the same annoying issue. I saved the video to my Photos and it didn’t seem to help. After a few minutes, I checked and the video lost the brightness and was perfect. Tried it with two videos that were sent in Messages and it worked. I’m not sure why, but I’ll take it.

To AlliNWOnderLand and Helpfulhopeully ---

I have an iPhone 7 Plus with software version 15.7.3 that was recently updated. The last few videos I have received via text messages (in February) show as HDR in upper left corner of display and are VERY light when actually played, but the first still video screen and the smaller windows at the bottom are fine.

In each case, I eventually downloaded the videos by clicking the small square with downward arrow on right of video. They took a while to transfer, but once completely downloaded, they played fine. Looks like we have to download any videos received via text message if we care about the quality of the display, but at least it is possible.

I had this problem too, yesterday I received on text 2 videos. Both were terribly overexposed. The sender has a iPhone 13. I have an iPhone 7plus.

I downloaded the photos into my photos. Then I texted the photo back to myself. This worked!

That didn't work for me (iPhone 7; IOS V15.7.7)......tried to do it multiple times. What I got to work is the following:

• Copy SMS Video to Messenger App;
• Display in Messenger App. Make take several tries, but it ultimately displays properly in Messenger;
• Share Messenger Video out to my Google Drive, and I can disperse from there.

Shame on Apple for not addressing this. Such a mediocre software company. This after I spent an hour with their tech support describing the problem in great detail.

Me too. But! If you forward the HDR videos to yourself on Facebook Messenger, it’s not too bright.

Hi MelissaD817,

From what you described in your original post, we recommend you follow the steps below to learn how to turn off HDR from your videos.

Adjust HDR camera settings on iPhone

Next, we'd like to show you how to perform the recommended troubleshooting steps via the link above. Please click to open the link, then read through the steps in the section below that apply to your situation.

Turn off automatic HDR

By default, iPhone automatically uses HDR when it’s most effective. On some iPhone models, you can manually control HDR instead.

*On iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone 11 models, iPhone SE (2nd generation), and iPhone 12 models: Go to Settings  > Camera, then turn off Smart HDR. Then from the camera screen, tap HDR to turn it off or on.

*On iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X: Go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Auto HDR.

To turn HDR back on from the camera screen, tap HDR, then tap On.

Keep the non-HDR version of a photo

By default, the HDR version of a photo is saved in Photos. On iPhone X and earlier models, you can also save the non-HDR version.

*Go to Settings  > Camera, then turn on Keep Normal Photo.

Turn HDR video off and on

*On iPhone 12 models, iPhone 13 models, and iPhone 14 models, iPhone records video in Dolby Vision HDR for true-to-life color and contrast. To turn off HDR video recording, go to Settings  > Camera > Record Video, then turn off HDR Video.

*See the Apple Support article Play and record HDR video on iPhone or iPad.

We recommend the steps above because they will show you how to adjust HDR camera settings on your iPhone.

Please let us know the outcome after giving the above steps a try.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

Cheers!

I had the same thing happen when my friend with an iPhone 14 sent a video text to me (iPhone 7) The video was just as you are describing. I saved the video to my photos and that fixed the quality of the video to the original quality that was supposed to be received. Hope that helps.

Though theres no fix and probably wont be, but I have found that sending the video through an app like instagram and redownloading it works. Its a little grainy but atleast its not overexposed. Hopefully one day they will stop toying around with their fiscally responsible market haha! Hope this helps