Apple Watch Ultra 2 VERY dim inside and dark enviroments..

The challenges as we age, our pupils do not dilate as they do when we’re young. The muscles weaken, hence the reason that people over 50 need twice as much light as someone at the age of 30. I would hope that designers for Apple would have thought about this.

ckmic wrote:

The challenges as we age, our pupils do not dilate as they do when we’re young. The muscles weaken, hence the reason that people over 50 need twice as much light as someone at the age of 30. I would hope that designers for Apple would have thought about this.

umm, I am in my 30s............ I CANT SEE ANYTHING, AND I GOT MY EYES CHECKED FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER 2 YEARS -- YESTERDAY AND THEY TOLD ME MY EYES WERE BETTER THAN BEFORE AND I DONT EVEN NEED GLASSES, I STILL CANT SEE ANYTHING ON THIS WATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't even type in capitals ever. is this whole Apple Watch Ultra 2 a joke???

I also have the Series 9 and ended up here when searching for why the screen is so dim at night. I switched from a Series 5 which did not have the problem. When watching tv I don’t have the room very bright, but I do have a light in front of me, and my watch basically doesn’t get any brighter than the always-on brightness, even with the brightness in the settings set to max. I have to point my watch at the light for it to be bright enough for me to use it. I used the feedback left by another poster to send Apple some feedback. Hopefully if they hear it from enough people they will do something about it.

I just rang Apple again about this. I have a Genius Bar appointment set for next week but it’s close to my 14 days so I wanted to make sure they knew all my concerns.

They told me that as far as they’re aware, there is no problem with the Ultra 2. So I really have no hope that this is going to be fixed anytime soon. I’m probably going to have to return it. And this means none of these new watches are for me, yet according to Apple, I’m the problem not the watch/es.

How can this be happening? How can Apple not acknowledge this is a problem? This is all so weird. It feels like gaslighting 101. Maybe there’s not enough of us experiencing the problem? Maybe our numbers fall within acceptable parameters…or something. I just don’t get it.

Hi I bought a new Apple Watch ultra 2 last night and was very happy with it, at first didn't go to bed until late as I was setting it up. When I turned the bedroom lights off about 11 pm as it was about time to go to sleep I thought I would check at my blood glucose as I am a diabetic and have my current blood glucose as a complication via an app shuggah that continuously monitors my blood sugars I noticed that the screen was unreadable as it was so dim turned the light back on and instantly the display was nice and bright again noticed that my bloods were way too low had to get up and eat otherwise I could have gone into a diabetic coma. I went into settings display and brightness and turned brightness to max, still didn't make much of a difference. Been up most of the night, reset all and tried again with the same issue. I am very impressed with the watch, but there is a major bug with the software I guess as it should get brighter in a darker place, not the opposite!! like I said I have been up most of the night trying everything to fix this to no avail and upon googling there are hundreds of people having the same issue, so I guess I will ring apple in a couple of hours time and see what they have to say if they acknowledge the issue then I will keep it as they will fix it if not then I will return it for my money back within the 14 days.

Hey guys, I just had a lenghty call (1h+) with apple support in germany. They are aware of this and it's escalated to engineering.

Nevertheless when or even if they fix it is up in the sky.

A statistical game. Getting enough complaints they fix it soon.

So go and contact support, maybe they can help which i doubt but at least another complaint is filed.

I will go to the apple store next week and return my watch any maybe get a Series 8 if it behaves differently.

Best!!

Request everyone to raise case and Apple will eventually look into the issue for a possible workaround through some fix via software update. Because this product doesn’t fulfill the primary requirement.

According to google Tim read ALL user emails, whether this is true or not this is another thing.

even if he does not read it personally maybe someone will get eyes on it. Send him the links to this forum so they can see what is going on. It seems that more news outlets are picking this story up as well.

this is going to be bad press for Apple product for a watch “with the brightest screen ever” that is capped at what seems 30% brightness.

i tried to send a text using Siri last night while in bed and I had to strain my eyes and bring my watch 1 foot away from my face to even read the message I had sent…

and as far as I could see in the keynote in September Tim was wearing an Ultra watch.

Branta_uk wrote:

I also have a new Series 9, and I wouldn't call it unreadable at night. Some users may prefer to adjust the display brightness, but in dark conditions I find the default brightness as it installed for me (minimum level) is acceptable and close to my preferred level to avoid nuisance when I drive at night.

I have tried a few tests, and so far it looks like the problem is the auto dimming when the user has the watch display and ambient light sensors facing a dark background (behind the user), but there is a brighter level infant of the user (beyond the watch). The user's eyes adjust to the brighter area in-view but the watch is still looking the other way, at a darker area so the display level remains at minimum.

In this condition the watch is dimming correctly in response to a low level of incident light on the watch face sensors, but the user's pupils will close down in response to brighter light behind the watch as it is viewed (may be some distance away like a sun-lit window across the room).

I don't see an easy way to resolve this with the current design of sensing ambient light. The watch has no way to know how the user's eyes have adapted to external light conditions and the watch would need sensors looking through the wearer's arm to see bright interfering light beyond the watch.

I think this is spot on to what I am seeing. Well said. If this is the way it's supposed to work, I wish there were a way to adjust that setting. My old eyes just can't read the really dim screen at night.

Very sad that they took what could have been a serious health and fitness device and turned it into a silly little toy

I bought this specifically for monitoring workouts and for use at night. I work from 7-7, so most of my outdoor activities are at night.

Running? No way. Can't see the display. Went back to a simple LED watch.

Biking? Nope. Trying to focus on the screen was so distracting I hit a pothole.

Driving? Just a distraction. It taps my wrist making me want to look at it, but the display gives me no useful information.

Hiking? I hike a lot in California. It goes dark unexpectedly when the sun goes behind the mountains. I'm supposed to rely on this to find my way out. Really?? I'll be eaten by a bear way before I get out of the forest.

Diving? I don't dive. I showed it to a friend who does. Burst out laughing. The idea that someone would take this underwater not knowing when it goes dark is beyond ridiculous.

Bought a Garmin. Ultra is going back.

FSB2105 wrote:

Hiking? I hike a lot in California. It goes dark unexpectedly when the sun goes behind the mountains. I'm supposed to rely on this to find my way out. Really?? I'll be eaten by a bear way before I get out of the forest.

you made my day.

for me the good old series 4 works better than the 9. I'll bring it back next week.

Don't forget to talk to apple support before so they know of the real number of cases and fix this issue soon.

Sounds like this design (defect) could lead to serious safety risks for those depending on it in dim light conditions .... maybe that's the premise to move complaints forward. It is one thing to have a dim screen - another to have. watch that makes bold promises but fails and someone gets hurt.

Unfortunately for Apple, the word is already getting out there that this is not a serious fitness/enthusiast watch.

The Crossfit people at my gym are calling it the Fisher Price watch.

Its big and colorful, but doesn't actually do anything!

It is a complete desaster. I own an Apple Watch Series 6 and thought now it’s time to go for the Ultra 2. So I ordered one. 3000 Nits! Man think of that. Great. One evening I drove home with my car and had a glance at my watch. This was the first time I recognized it. The display was so dimmed. Could barely read anything. I came home and dat down on the couch. The room was at Low light. The Watch display was dim. I checked the Brightness settings. Of course they were at max. Where are the 3000 Nits when you need them?!

I activated my Series 6 and compared both side by side. My Series 6 was much brighter.

Dont get me wrong…besides this the Ultra2 is a great watch. But sry Apple. This bad low light performance is the reason why I returned the Watch within the 14 days and stay happy with my S6.

Why is it so hard for you to allow full customizable brightness settings to the Customer?

I want to have the freedom do deactivate Auto-Brightness! Let me choose the brightness when the watch is passive at 1 Hz. Let me choose the Minimum Brightness Level. And when it drains the battery and it lasts only for 10 hours. Well this is my decision!

I ordered also a Series 9. Same bad performance. Also returned it…

I will not buy any Apple Watch in the future, if this is not going to be fixed. Also when I am not able to customize the Brightness Level the way I described before.

Greetings

A. from Germany

This is a issue that shows up on forums and blogs all over internet, it seems if Apple would add a on off toggle to the watch control center we could have a easy fix. Relying on "auto" adjust can't take into consideration all lighting situations, or an individuals eyesight.