Apple Watch Series 8-9 is too dim at night

Awesome! Version 10.4 has finally given us a fix for the too dim screen on watch 9. In accessibility, there is now a minimum brightness toggle setting available. For those of us with vision issues, this is a welcome change. Thank you, Apple.

MiaRN1042 – if you're referring to the Theater Mode trick. There is no fix for the ambient light sensor being too sensitive, that is something Apple will need to fix. Mine does appear to dim "sometimes". The Theater mode is what I use at night after I've gone to bed (set with an automation). When Theater mode is on, I can rotate the crown (provided I've allowed the rotate to wake option), and the screen SLOWLY increases from the 1nit to however bright I want it (up to the max set in system settings). I do this if I wake up and need to see the time, I just nudge up the brightness.

Otherwise, I've now set my System Settings to "Medium" instead of low, and I've had better experience.

-*- however, if your device is failing to go to the brightest setting, and is dim in natural light, then there may be a physical issue with the sensor that needs to be replaced under warranty. It is hard to test the dim setting in an Apple Store I agree.

Good luck, I'm waiting for the next software update to fix a GREEN flash that happens on the screen as I take my watch off. It is subtle, only for 1 frame flicker, but it is annoying.

Andrew. While your points are all spot on, you CAN make it brighter now with watchOS 10.4.

Settings/Accessibility/Minimum Brightness

this allows you to have a nice bright display.

Scott

Theater Mode has a feature to help with brightness: (rotate crown up)

1. Make sure "wake on crown rotation" is turned on (Display Settings on Watch)
2. When in a dark room, turn on Theater Mode and when you rotate the crown upwards, the brightness will increase 1nit-at-a-time all the way to full brightness you have set in Display Settings.
3. At any point rotating the bringers up and down to the desired level, simply Press the crown to activate the App screen and remain at that brightness.

Yes it is fixed. There is now a minimum brightness toggle available in the accessibility menu. It is now very easy to see in dim light, and in the car at night. I have not noticed any battery issues leaving this feature on.

Then update to 10.4 now!

Settings / Accessibility / Minimum Brightness

That's it!

You now get past the too-dim screen. ☀️

Enjoy.

Here is how I fixed my Apple Watch Series 8 to make it visible at night: I turned the display brightness all the way down to the left. Then I turned on an Accessibility feature called “Minimum Brightness.” I was worried how this would affect my battery, but so far it does not seem to be using much battery. The display is still dim at night with Sleep on, but at least I can read it.

BTW My battery consumption went WAY DOWN when I turned off the “always on” display and I have not missed it a bit.

I've got the same problem. the automtic brightness control dims my series 9 when there is no ambient light so low that i can't read it anymore. As soon as i e.g. point a flashlight at the watch it turns brightness up and i can read it.

This is unacceptable. There are plenty of persons with this problem.

Please provide a setting to control brightness in dark environment!

I just tested this on my older series 7, and in watchOS9, the rotate up from a black screen in Theater mode still works as described.

If scrolling your crown up in watchOS 10 is showing the screen up to show the complications, that means your screen was on to begin with.

To Clarify: I have an automation that turns on "Theater Mode" after I go to bed. This makes the Apple Watch always on feature turn off. When it is in Theater Mode, and the screen is black, you can rotate the Crown Up slowly to brighten the display one click at a time. Then from there you can tap the screen and the brightness setting will remain.

This rotation feature only turns the brightness up to the max that you have it set in Settings > Display.

Without theater mode on, I found that activating the "Flashlight" tool, and increasing its brightness will also increase the watches brightness if in a dark area. When you turn off the flashlight (screen bright white), the brightness of the screen setting is left at the brightest you had it set in Settings > Display.

Good luck!

Thanks for reaching out trenken,

It sounds like you're having some trouble adjusting the brightness on your Apple Watch. We can help.

You can try these steps to Adjust brightness, text size, sounds, and haptics on Apple Watch:

Adjust brightness and text on Apple Watch

Open the Settings app  on your Apple Watch, then tap Display & Brightness to adjust the following:

* Brightness: Tap the Brightness controls to adjust, or tap the slider, then turn the Digital Crown.

* Text size: Tap Text Size, then tap the letters or turn the Digital Crown.

* Bold text: Turn on Bold Text.

You can also make these adjustments on your iPhone. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Display & Brightness, then adjust brightness and text.

If you're still unable to increase the brightness, and you think it might be a hardware issue, you can connect with Apple directly using either Get Support or if you're in a region without direct support options, you can also Contact Apple for support and service.

Hope that helps.

Take care.

Hey trenken,

Since you're still experiencing the issue, we recommend contacting Apple support here: Get Support They will be able to look into this further with you and determine a resolution.

Take care.

watch settings - accessibilities - minimum brightness (toggle on)

It’s not a setting on the watch, it’s in the accessibility options on the watch iPhone app.

this is strange. you should go to an apple store or call them to get this sorted.

Having the same night dimness issue with Watch series 9. My series 4 is much brighter at night and I can easily read texts and emails with it but impossible with series 9 even though the screen is larger and supposedly double the brightness. Called support and they checked all settings and ensured the watch was working properly but couldn't help past that. Poor design.