iPhone screen dims in sunlight

When Auto Brightness is turned off, the phone screen dims in the sun. In the shade, it does not return to normal over time. To restore the original colors, you need to turn Auto Brightness on and off or reboot the phone.


Happens mostly when the phone's brightness is turned to maximum when there is no Auto Brightness turned on. Black colors seem to turn gray.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]


iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 16

Posted on Jun 6, 2023 3:26 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 7, 2023 4:22 PM

Hello relsson,


There are actually two different places to adjust automatic brightness. You can see the steps to turn both of them off below:


  1. Go to Settings > Displays & Brightness > Appearance. Turn Automatic off.
  2. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. Turn Auto-Brightness off.


If you think the screen is still changing with these set to off, tap on Settings > Displays & Brightness. Note where the Brightness slider is set. When you think the brightness has changed, come back to the slider and see if it is where it was left.


If it has moved, we would suggest reaching out to Apple Support here: Get Support  


They will be in the best position to assist further.


Cheers.

65 replies

Aug 16, 2024 2:07 PM in response to relsson

How to conclusively determine if your I Phone has a software bug:

Two methods:

(1) Go to Settings, click your name at the top, then scroll down until you see the model number of your phone. If it starts with an "I", your I Phone has a bug.

(2) List your symptoms on this forum. If the mediator repeats previous, ineffective instructions, or, if the mediator goes radio silent, you have a bug.


Aug 17, 2024 11:17 PM in response to relsson

Two things come to mind.

  1. When you are in bright sunlight, your pupils contract to make everything darker. Unless you've put drops of belladonna in your eyes, but I do not recommend that as a solution (so to speak).
  2. The glass on the display is probably reflecting something bright, like the sky, which is mixing with the image on the display and reducing the contrast.


So it is not 100% a hardware or software issue, but it is suspicious if it gets worse after iOS updates.

The only kind of display I've seen that works well in bright ambient light is the e-ink displays on e-readers.

Oct 12, 2024 7:48 AM in response to relsson

I have the same issue through multiple phones now, I asked someone at apple and they give me the same tips I read here, tried everything and nothing works, I just got the iPhone 16 hoping it might be a phone problem but I have the same issue now, I compare my screen with my husband’s phone, he has a 15 and his screen is brighter under the sun, with the exact same settings I have. It’s really annoying and nobody seems to have a solution for this!!!

Oct 14, 2024 9:23 AM in response to relsson

Posted on Oct 6, 2023 6:28 AM

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.

Nov 8, 2024 12:37 PM in response to Tom Oviedo

Exactly. My TrueTone is off, brightness, all the things. It literally just happens randomly and inconsistently. My phone is not hot right now. It suddenly turned down, and then suddenly turned down again, and then turned up again. No light changes in the room (plus this isn't relevant because I have the setting OFF). It's a bug!


If this is an overheating thing, you should have a message indicating such (like when charging gets put on hold), and you should allow us to turn that setting OFF. Because clearly it's doing it at the wrong times. I need brightness and contrast to see what I am doing, and I imagine it is an accessibility issue for many people.

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iPhone screen dims in sunlight

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