Apple Watch 9 is too dim at night

I switched the setting to "always on" in ldisplay & brightness" and it fixed the issue for my Apple watch 9

While Apple will deny this being a problem it is all over the internet and forums. The most common answer is the watch is "performing as designed". I guess as long as it was designed to be to dim to read, then it must be okay. Apple needs to get this corrected.

I agree that the dimness issue hasn't been fixed. I thought it was with the update. If I tap the watch face on an area without a complication it will brighten up for a bit. The user needs to be able to decide how dim (or bright) the watch should be at night.

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. 😂

This is how the Apple Watch display is supposed to work. When the ambient light sensor notices it bright outside, it will raise the brightness of the display. Which on the Series 9 can go up to 2000 nits when outside. When it’s darker, it will dim the display. Which can now go as low as 1 nit. If you raise your wrist it should brighten up a bit. If you go to settings on the Apple Watch, then scroll down to display and brightness, you can increase the brightness of your display.

Be nice, Randy. No need to be otherwise, right? Meanwhile, a temporary work-around is to choose "always on" and a watchface that works best for you when in "dimmed mode". I've found that "modular" with a light background is reasonable. For now. 👍

This has been an ongoing issue for at least 3 years and as far back as the Series 6 watch. That's what I can see based on a simple search of complaints. So it has affected every watch series since at least Series 6. If it was a "simple (or a little less than simple) code change", you would think they would have done it over the past 3 years. This leads me to believe they are not doing anything about it. I ended up returning my watch. The majority of the time I use my watch is in low light or no light conditions. It was unreadable. I'm reluctant to buy anything Apple anymore as it isn't only the watch I have had issues with. I've had issues with my MacBook Pro 16". So much so, that they replaced it 3 times. And all replacements had the same issues. The quality of Apple products has gone down in my opinion. I have my eyes set on a Garmin D2 Mach 1 now.

You can try enabling that toggle in accessibility in settings to see if that helps. The reason for the display brighting up with the flash, is because the ambient light sensor in the display senses bright light, so it increases the brightness of the display to make it easier to see. When in a dark room, the watch will decrease its brightness. That's how ambient light sensors work in devices.

Are you on watchOS 10.4 and iOS 17.4?

Hi Leverett Litz,

Since you're having an issue with your Apple Watch display being too dim, we recommend that you try the steps here: Adjust brightness, text size, sounds, and haptics on Apple Watch - Apple Support

To perform the recommended troubleshooting steps via the link above, complete the steps in the section titled "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.

We recommend the steps above because they will show you how to adjust brightness and text on your Apple Watch

Please let us know the outcome after giving the above steps a try.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

Cheers!

I copied this to help with your question about who to complain to: "SO important that EVERYONE file a complaint under the feedback. I have files 2.

Same complaint but under "requests" and one under "hardware issue"... we really need to flood them to make any change happen!"

Some of the discussions are starting to reflect that this problem started in OS9 and OS10. If it is a simple tweak of the os and if it does not impact the battery life claims, Apple has made on the Ultra 2 , we may see a change in 10.2.

Just a little more info. I have been testing the watch out in darker areas. It does appear to brighten up when I turn my wrist, but still wish it was brighter. There should be a way for the user to determine how bright it gets when the room is dark. Older people need things brighter to see them.

Same here. Got the 9 gps + cell, after two nights out of the watch screen being barely visible I’ve decided to return it. 48 hrs.

I will purchase again only when the issue is fixed, IF.

I just find unacceptable that a 600$ phone comes with such a glitch.

Don’t they have testers and QC at Apple?

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.

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.