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

Thanks for posting -- I went in to buy the Ultra 2 at the Apple Store yesterday and was wearing my Series 7 and it was brighter! I was like -- this can't be right. Had an associate set it to max brightness. What was also strange was my tester wasn't as bright as the watches on display on a charger. Now, the Apple Store in Santa Monica lets in lots of natural light so I thought it was a great test environment because I wanted to wear mine for sailing -- no way I could read compass directions in the store so couldn't imagine on the open water. Did not purchase. Disappointing!

Exactly. Its incredible to me that they have NO option to turn off auto-brightness. The iphones do and always have. I have vision issues, and they have rendered the watch useless in the dark.

Also… My Iltra 1 got hopelessly dark after WatchOS 10 as well!!

I noticed this problem too, i noticed it when the indirect lighting in a dim setting was somewhat bright in my environment like a TV or computer screen. If you activate the flashlight by hitting the button on the right and selecting the Flashlight button, and then tap the screen to turn on the flashlight, it temporarily fixes it I found.

I spent an hour on the phone with Apple Support

There is no way of adjusting the ambient light adjustment

I was told that this is not on their list of “known issues “ and that these devices are “responding as designed”

I have a two page summary of why visually impaired people cannot see these images but there evidently is no way of sending this to them and the engineering team will not speak to consumers

I am really surprised about that comment from Apple support. I don't even know what to say anymore. Just got my replacement literally a few minutes ago and the problem is still there... I am updating to Watch OS 10.0.2 but little confidence that will make a difference...

I believe this is a WatchOS 10 issue, evidenced by the fact that updating my original Ultra also rendered ot unusably dark in dim lighting.

What’s frustrating about this is that now BOTH are crippled in dim lighting.

I will be returning the Ultra 2, and requesting that they down-grade my original ultra to WatchOS 9 until this issues is satisfactorily remedied.

I will also be returning the watch. Which is sad as I actually love everything else about the watch. But I can’t afford to have spent 800 on a device that is a brick half of the time.

I have exhausted every avenue I know of. I am convinced no fix is coming

If you look at the marketing Apple is rather proud of the 1 NIT display. It’s in the ad. Clearly if they think that this is a good thing they are not going to fix it anytime soon.

For the record:

I have made additional phone calls regarding this issue.

I have placed three complaints in the feedback site, including a formal complaint and request for an accommodation.

All indications from my experience, and from reading the ad on Apple.com (including the image of what the watch is supposed to look like at night, which is grossly inaccurate) is that there is currently no recognition that this is a problem, and no plan as of yet to provide a remedy.

I apologize to the community if my previous posts led some to believe that my problem was fixed. It is true that my first watch was truly a lemon. If you think your watch is bad, you have no idea how bad the first one was. I initially thought my new watch was fixed, but on continued use I find it to be unusable and actually dangerous.

Please Apple, just do the right thing! Be better!

I also wanted to go over all of the things I have done to try to improve the display. None these have worked.

Steps taken so far:

I have exchanged the watch. Issues persist.

Watch is on 10.0.2

Phone is on iOS 17.0.2

Have reset and unpaired, re-paired the watch.

Have rebooted the phone

Have reset the watch to factory settings and started over.

Brightness is at max

Tried "always on" in both modes, no difference

Tried low power mode, on and off, no difference

Have tried True Tone on and off on the phone, no change

Have tried Night Shift on and off on the phone, no change

Have tried various other settings on the phone in case there was a mirror issue, no change

Have called support. Went through various combination of watch and phone settings, no change

Tried various community recommended hacks, none have worked.

Have had support run Analytics on my watch, no issue found.

Yes I Agree, I have raised a Case and support team told that will provide an update in the coming weeks hopefully, The auto dim is very frustrating and it straining the eyes whenever looking the watch in the low light/Dark Environments, even though the brightness is set to max in both Apple watch and in Apple watch App in the iphone. A software update is needed. This is very expensive watch in it's entire series, and hopefully apple is looking into it.

Apple support actually called me about my watch complaint regarding the dimming . They completed some type of “analytical/diagnostic log” review on my watch and submitted it to the Apple Gods….sounds like they’re aware of complaints, so fingers crossed!