Apple Watch 9 is too dim at night

During the day the watch is bright when I lift it to look at it.

At dusk or in darkened rooms in the house, it has a difficult time brightening - it's very dim and unreadable.

Sometimes it will blink to bright for a second and then blink back to dim where it stays.

It doesn't seem like this is the way it's supposed to work and I have the brightness maxed.

Is there another setting to keep it at max brightness in all conditions - not just daylight? Or did I get a dud?

Thanks.


[Re-titled by Moderator]

Apple Watch Series 9

Posted on Sep 27, 2023 12:34 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 10, 2023 7:46 PM

I just bought a Series 9 and have the same issue- even after the watch update. Dims during low light … too low. Shine a flash light on it…it brightens. But then dims again. Apple please fix! I will return the watch. Let us the user be in control of brightness.

89 replies

Oct 15, 2023 5:52 AM in response to jacob5522

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.

Nov 2, 2023 8:15 AM in response to ToyPoodlelover

In the interim … you can use your iPhone flashlight to shine on your iWatch, which causes the backlight brightness to increase so you can see the iWatch screen again. Just remember if you move the flashlight away it goes dim again after a few seconds so you have to hurry… or just use your iPhone since it is in your hand already. 😂

Nov 7, 2023 10:03 AM in response to sbm11

I understand Apple is about to release a new software update, possibly today. I have no idea if the fix is in it. It seems like it would not be rocket science to have a user-defined on/off toggle, even setting it differently for different watch faces. I believe the Ultra model had that functionality. Not series 9. It would be nice to have one watch face set to be dimmed when you're in a theater and not dimmed when you need to see the complications or stacks. But YOUR choice.


It appears that the Apple news websites are not touching on this. Perhaps post this stuff there. I don't understand why not. Perhaps this issue is limited to the few hundred of us posting here. ;-)

Nov 7, 2023 10:43 AM in response to layne_staley123

I am probably giving the operating system too much credit for adapting to different users, but…. The dimming and the duration of dimming might be in response to how often the user recharges the watch. I charge my SE randomly. The OS wants my battery to last longer. So my watch is rendered insanely dim to allow the battery to last 24 hours. Maybe if I charge only once every 24 hours, the watch will allow me to see it.

Apple Watch 9 is too dim at night

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.