iPhone screen dims in sunlight

I think this is the correct answer - the screen dimms because of the heat.

Now I don’t agree with the solution. I have dark theme turned on, and dimming the screen will render the phone unusable. It might be a solution to lower the temperature for light theme though.

Apple should warn users that the phone might become too hot and will eventually stop itself.

The can even suggest lowering the brightness, stopping the game or video they watch, but let them decide if they still want to continue using the phone with full brightness or not.

THANK YOU so much for that. I've been so frustrated for ages. I can't believe that all it took was turning off True Tone. Who would think of that?! And I agree - it's a bug. They should be able to fix it. I'm not buying another phone. (sorry for the mini-rant)

Hey relsson, so I dunno if you’re still active on this thread. I’ve done a lot of research on this and it’s fairly conclusive that it’s a bug in the software. I’ve got a brand spankin’ new iPhone 15 Pro Max 500 GB. And I absolutely hate it in some instances. This being one of them. My Mom has the same phone, but has no problems whatsoever with her. Which makes my blood boil ever-so-slightly, because I have literally the worst luck with every electronic I’ve ever bought or laid my hands on and I’m in love with them. And she can’t even work electronics!

But in one spot I read that if you do your iOS update through your computer (phone connected through usb and all that old-school good way) that it installs a *slightly* different version of iOS than if you do the software update through your phone. And supposedly, the bug/glitch/downfall of iPhone itself is not present in this version. I haven’t had a chance to test this because like a dummy, I clicked update on my software update before I even had a chance to think about doing it through my computer ‘cause I was in a hurry to have my phone updated for an app.

Plus my computer is a 2015 MBP, so it won’t run the latest OSX, therefore it won’t run the latest iTunes update (I presumed) and then it probably wouldn’t give me the latest phone iOS Software update either (also presumed based on the hierarchy of how Apple unplugs devices from updates)? Unsure. I’ve yet to pull out my computer and see about that.

But this bug about drives me crazy since I go out on my balcony every day before sunset. And my phone basically turns into an almost black screen that I can’t use while I’m out there. And using the camera? Hah, well as long as I don’t care if I can’t see what I’m aiming at, it’s good! Like I said, it certainly couldn’t hurt testing it to see if it fixes it. Next software update, I’m gonna try to. Best of luck.

Guys, try this : Settings/ Accessibility/ Zoom Off.

This might be an solution

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. Turn Auto-Brightness off > reduce white point off

When mine would dim, the slider would show all the way down, and sliding it up would correct it. It hasn’t happened since, so maybe it was addressed in the last update. Would be nice if Apple would give us a little more info on what was addressed in their updates. But I imagine it would be a bit of reading.

I have tried everything on this list and it still does it. I believe it maybe because the phone is getting hot. If I put it in the cooler for a few minutes it gets better, but it doesn't last but a few minutes. Not sure if the battery is going bad, I have already replaced it once and it is back down to 87% now. My old iPhone 8 never did this and it is very frustrating as I live in Florida and go the beach and pool quite a bit and I can't see anything on the darn phone when I'm there. I'm due for a new phone soon but not going to dish out more money for the same results.

Hello relsson,

To help continue troubleshooting the issues with brightness, check your display preferences. This process may explain why you're noticing the differences. Here's how Use display and text size preferences on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Additional display accommodations are explained below:

1. "Go to Settings  > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.
2. Adjust any of the following:

• Bold Text: Display the text in boldface characters.
• Larger Text: Turn on Larger Accessibility Sizes, then adjust the text size using the slider.

This setting adjusts to your preferred text size in apps that support Dynamic Type, such as Settings, Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Messages, and Notes.

• Button Shapes: This setting underlines text you can tap.
• On/Off Labels: This setting indicates switches turned on with “1” and switches turned off with “0”.
• Reduce Transparency: This setting reduces the transparency and blurs on some backgrounds.
• Increase Contrast: This setting improves the contrast and legibility by altering color and text styling.

Apps that support Dynamic Type—such as Settings, Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Messages, and Notes—adjust to your preferred text size.

• Differentiate Without Color: This setting replaces user interface items that rely on color to convey information with alternatives.
• Smart Invert or Classic Invert: Smart Invert Colors reverses the colors of the display, except for images, media, and some apps that use dark color styles.
• Color Filters: Tap a filter to apply it. To adjust the intensity or hue, drag the sliders.
• Reduce White Point: This setting reduces the intensity of bright colors.
• Auto-Brightness: This setting automatically adjusts the screen brightness for current light conditions using the built-in ambient light sensor."

This information is from Adjust the display and text size on iPhone - Apple Support.

Take care.

There seems to be no fix for this issue. I've had many iPhones, and my 15 pro (IOS17) is the first to ever do this. Everything checks out (by Apple) hardware wise. What is going on?? There must not be enough people with this problem for Apple to address. The only "fix" from Apple seems to be to turn off everything that makes your phone great. Well, it only took 4 returns of my AirPods pros..and a new generation..to "fix" the static issue. It was a loooong, frustrating, process of once again explaining what's happening, with nobody seeming to know anything about what's going on, pretending like I'm the only one with the issue...until I wasn't. I really don't want to be stuck with a brand new $1000.00 phone that goes blind once in a while.

None of these are factors. It's a bug in the software somewhere. And it's very annoying. Auto brightness off, night shift off, and true tone off, and it still dims to like 50% brightness when I am in the sun.

Why won't you guys believe us that this is a bug in the software? We know how to work the phone. We know not to leave it in a hot car. No one said, hey, my phone is blazing hot and the screen dims. No... we go outside or get out of our cars, and the screen dims for no apparent reason.

The issue seems to be related to the ambient brightness tracking sensor, usually the selfie camera. It can sometimes get stuck in a narrow sensing angle mode and will lower brightness to match the brightness of your shadowed face as you look down into your screen. I don’t have a solution other than deactivating auto brightness. Apple should adjust the auto brightness algorithm to average over the entire visual field of the selfie camera instead of just one single point.

I personally don’t think it’s a heat issue but instead an ambient light issue. I’ve done every thing that has been suggested and I still have the issue. I will turn the phone off and then turn back on with decent brightness but almost immediately it starts to dim, it goes in stages a few seconds apart.

The phone is not hot, it’s actually overcast and it still does it.

True Tone and Automatic are both off. It still dims but for some reason the manual sliders doesn’t change its position, it is still set at max. Shouldn’t this slider move as the screen dims?

At any rate the screen should not dim on its own with True Tone and Automatic disabled.

I can understand the screen going to black because of excess heat but outside of that the brightness should not change.

Basically its nearly unusable in the outdoors.

You’re definitely not the only one, my iPhone 13 Pro Max is doing the exactly same. I’m in Sydney, Australia. I have everything turned off, I can walk out of my door and it will dim where I cannot see a thing, I turn my brightness all the way up and then it goes back dark. Mind you, I check the brightness slider and it’s still at the highest brightness.

It’s extremely frustrating.

I tried doing switch off everything and it becomes like an old Nokia phone setting. How can I see if the internal temperature has gone up? Holding the phone in hand and physically it shows no heat. Instead of cranking the brightness up it takes it down so much that I can’t see anything in Sun!

I have tried all the fixes on this thread with no luck. My 13 pro dims randomly, it doesn’t matter the temp or amount of light. I’m sitting in my house with the lights off to write this so that I can see my screen and it has been this way since I got up this morning. I’ve only had this phone a month as it replaced the 13 pro I had for a year that was killed by an update. Despite working fine until the update I had to pay $600 to replace it. We pay way to much for iPhones to have them not work due to software bugs that apple wont take accountability for. I can not afford to replace another phone this soon so I haven’t even bothered to go have it looked at but since I agree with the majority here that it’s a bug I guess I’ll go in so at least the numbers will start to back the issue and maybe they will fix whatever bug or issue is causing this. If anyone has any new fixes I’ll try anything at this point.