Apple Watch 9 is too dim at night

Sorry. Didn't fix mine. You can toggle all the [current] user display settings and it won't do a thing. This requires a code fix in a software update, and it is no big deal. A high school student could do an on/of switch setting. It might require a little more coding expertise to make that a user setting to a variable choice of diming. Take it one step further and make it watch face dependent. That would be extra cool!

Either way, hey Apple: get it together already.

"They are aware of the problem and are not doing anything about it." You only know that as of the current WatchOS the problem remains, not that they are not "working on it." Although to me it appears that a simple (or a little less than simple) code change will fix it, Apple software people have to ensure that a fix for us doesn't cause a glitch for pre-9 and pre-Ultra users. We all know how that works, right?

I'll be more patient and wait for the next software update. There WILL be that. Meanwhile, there are intelligent, usable workarounds (like using a watch face and complications/apps that can still be read when dimmed).

Make sure your iPhone and Apple Watch are updated to the newest software versions. Apple Watch - watchOS 10.4, iPhone - iOS is 17.4. Then go to the Watch app on your iPhone, the go under accessibility, then scroll down till you see “minimum brightness”. Then enable it. You should be good to go after that.

I am having the exact same issue. Watch brightness is set as high as it goes. It is fine during the day, but in the evening when the room is dark the display dims too much and is really hard to read.

All that is needed to fix it is a software update. So who do we send complaints to about the issue?

That’s where you need to turn off via your iPhone settings. Since the watch mirrors phone.. turning that setting off via iPhone settings resolved it for me

found it, thanks to google search, it is in accessibility

Hi leverett. Did you get dimness sorted? I purchased iwatch 9 yesterday. Same issue. Took back to shop. They turned the mirror phone off in focus settings. I don’t think it’s worked. I’ll keep trying tonight then go back to shop tomorrow.

The iPhone 13 inside Settings/Accessibility/Display and Text Size, has an option to switch on/off Auto-Brightness.

My iWatch series9 does not have that setting. Auto-Brightness switch should be added to the iWatch. Under the Auto-Brightness it would be more beneficial to have an extra setting, minimum brightness level. That would allow the screen to get brighter in sunlight if the Auto-Brightness was left on but also allow users to set their lowest brightness depending on their vision when the screen auto dims in dark settings.

Hopefully the Accessibility Team can add that as a high priority in the next sprint, since users with poor eye sight can not see the colored weather temperature wheel with white text in dark environments. 🤣😉

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. ;-)

I thought it was just me that got a bad watch. Turns out many other people with not only the Series 9 watch have this issue, but this issue dates back to at least the Series 7 watch. I will be returning this watch. It seems as if Apple products have gone down in quality. My 2019 MacBook Pro has been nothing but problems. And I'm on my third one, which is no longer under warranty. I think I'm done buying Apple products. At least until they get their act together and start putting out quality products again. At the prices they charge, they should be putting out top notch products. That's no longer the case.

Same. I’m thinking in returning it. I’m a dj and a professional musican. I need it on dark places out it’s worthless. Thinking of returning it because it unusable for me. Seems like you should be able to get it brighter in the dark? It’s ridiculous.

I’m just going to return mine and get a different brand. Tired of messing with apple products. It comes with ridiculous instructions as do all of the apple products always have. No words, just a couple terrible drawings ands there’s your instructions. 😩