Apple Watch 9 is too dim at night

JTechEV22 wrote:

There’s an option to add a minimum brightness now. Not sure what version this was added in, but to access it. Go to the Watch app, then go to accessibility, then scroll down to “minimum brightness”. Then enable it.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/a505666a-a99a-457b-9c9a-9c41b3bcb7e1

YES, YES YES!!! I updated my Apple Watch Series 7 to watchOS 10.4, and my iPhone SE 2020 to iOS 17.4 (though I don't think that part was required to make this work), and now the Watch app on my phone has the Minimum Brightness control. It's an on/off toggle switch, not a slider, but maybe it just leaves your watch at whatever brightness level you've set it for. Hey, that works for me. And it DOES appear to be doing what it's supposed to do. Even in a dim or dark room, I've got full brightness.

THANKS SO MUCH for posting this!

I just bought an Apple Watch 9 and ran into same issue but I found the solution. I went into my iPhone settings>Accessibility>Display & Text Size> scroll down to the bottom and turned off the Auto-Brightness. This resolved me auto dimming issues and now it’s set to the correct brightness. Hope this helps!

Once your Apple Watch is on watchOS 10.4 or newer, go to the Watch app. Then scroll down to accessibility and you should see the toggle for "Minimum Brightness".

It has been fixed with a toggle switch in watch app-Minimum Brightness. Update 10.4

I was on the phone with Apple support last week. Was at place of purchase. They were going to exchange my watch with new one. Support said they were aware of issue and were working on it. I didn’t end up exchanging watch. Will wait for fix that will hopefully be resolved soon.

I did read through a couple of the complaints posted here. It all comes back down to the environment the watch is in. Auto brightness is a feature built into the watch, but unlike other Apple products it can’t be turned off. So eventually at some point, it will override a user’s brightness choice depending on the lighting in its environment. There’s not much more than can be done, at least to my knowledge. If you’d like, you can submit feedback to Apple here: Feedback - Watch - Apple

There’s an option to add a minimum brightness now. Not sure what version this was added in, but to access it. Go to the Watch app, then go to accessibility, then scroll down to “minimum brightness”. Then enable it.

Update to watchOS 10.4 or newer and it should show up

I updated to watch os 10.1 on Thursday and I think it took care of the dimming issue. Now, as soon as I turn my wrist or tap the screen it brightens up in a darkened room. The update also seems to have taken are of the bright pink circles that would randomly appear then disappear on the watch face.

Same issue. What clued me in was when my Watch was near my Macbook screen, the display brightness increased. Back in my lap and it dimmed. I also note that when adjusting the brightness in Settings, in a darkened room there are four brightness landmarks, the last two are the same. In a well-lighted room, the fourth increment does actually go brighter than the third.

Clearly, this is a software issue. It's a good thing that the display brightness decreases at night---the ambient sensor is clearly working. But the *user* should have the final say in how bright the display, not some algorithm. APPLE, fix this already!

I've noticed a different behavior on my Series 9 running 10.1.1 when Theater mode is on or off. In full light, the watch display is fully bright, or actually whatever setting I have set. In darkness, the display is dimmed to a level that I seem to have no control over. When Theater mode is on, the display is MUCH dimmer, regardless of ambient light condition. Sure, that makes sense. But dang it, if Theater mode is *not* on, the display brightness should be high enough for me to read.

Maybe the settings need to have a separate level for general/daylight and another for "dim" light conditions. Theater mode might be even dimmer. But the current algorithmic choice of brightness in dim situations is non-functional to the point that people are returning watches.

Someone @Apple should notice

Thanks for replying, Leverett Litz, and that additional info, it really helps! Since you are still having this issue, please contact Apple directly for further investigation:

Apple Support

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

Thank you for this information. One sort of work-around the problem that I found is on the Watch app on the iPhone, under display and brightness -->Wake duration for on Tap click wake for 70 seconds instead of the 15 seconds that seems to be the default. At least that gives you more time with a bright display. Though there should be a way to set it to stay bright for longer.

debsee wrote:

I have a brand new iPhone 15 pro and Apple Watch SE and I do not have this option available on the accessibility settings on the watch or in the app settings on the phone.

On the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General->About and look at the Version number (of WatchOS currently running on your watch). It needs to be 10.4 (as of this writing) to have that feature.

Also on your iPhone, go to Settings->General->About and check the iOS version. The latest currently is 17.4.1.

I know your phone and watch are brand new, but they might still need to be updated to the latest OS versions.