iPhone 15 Pro screen brightness issue after iOS 26 update

I’ve just fixed mine after months of it driving me nuts. I’ve updated my bug report with Apple to include what fixed it for me.

I turned off Raise to Wake (in Display and Brightness) which removed the problem but it would return as soon as I switched that setting back on. Over the weekend I left Raise to Wake off for over 24 hours and when I turned back on the problem did not return.

I’m not sure why having Raise to Wake turned off for so long made the fix permanent, the only thing I can think of running overnight are iCloud backups (so that’s odd).

But its finally fixed for me now, and I notice when the screen wakes the brightness is animated in that it fades up from black now, before this it used to just jump up

Fixed (for me)

Problem: Approx 35% reduction in brightness  immediately after IOS 26.3 update on 02.17.26. Tried nearly everything on the boards, except Reset All Settings.  

Solution: Accessibility>Zoom>Zoom Filter.

As part of the 26.3 update, the three-finger, double tap, full screen 2x zoom shortcut that I’d been using for over a year began applying its Low Light filter option, which worked perfectly: approximately 35% universal reduction in display brightness. Restoring the Accessibility>Zoom>Zoom Filter to None, solved the problem immediately.

I also experienced this on my iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 26.4.1.

After some research, it turned out to be the last HDR content I viewed or Glass effect on Clock Widget.

For example, if I open TikTok, Instagram, or photos containing HDR and then let the phone go to sleep, the screen will dim when I wake it up.

The way to restore the brightness is open the last HDR content I viewed and then close it. I've reported this to Apple, but there's been no response.

You know what, just turn off attention aware feature in faceid and passcode and it will be resolved.

i did that and its gone.

Unfortunately this doesn't work for me either

Lethalsoul wrote:

You know what, just turn off attention aware feature in faceid and passcode and it will be resolved.

i did that and its gone.

In my case, any widget triggers the problem.

But, to answer your question, I've been trying the weather widget together with the Tana.inc app widget.

FINALLY IT’S FIXED

I dont do anything, no changing setting at all

Seems newest update ios 26.3 fixed the issue

I've updated my iPhone 15 Pro to iOS 26.3 RC. Bug still there. In my case, removing the widgets that stand bellow the clock from the lock screen and removing the Glass effect on clock itself solves the issue.

I lost hope of seeing this fixed.

Toggling off and on Auto Brightness (Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness) has fixed this for me.

yes, as already written in the thread, the problem is the widgets, just remove them from the lock screen and it's solved

Sanski30 wrote:

for me the fix was turning off the Liquid Glass setting on the wallpaper clock hope this helps.

This works for me too! Thanks! Glass effects seem to be glitchy all over the system

Same same. iPhone 15 Pro. Updated to 26 last week. Ever since, roughly 1 in 4 times when I lift my phone to wake it, the screen is way too dim. I have auto brightness on. The only workaround is to hit the power button on the right of the phone to go into sleep mode, then press it again or lift the phone to wake it.

Absolutely astonishing that Apple didn't catch this during testing for iOS 26.

This seems to be worse now on 26.2.1, happens almost all the time now when I tap the screen to come on or press the power button to wake up the screen. (Always on Display is off, I don't use this feature). I have to switch off the phone and back on again, then the brightness is back to normal. Today I used my camera a lot from the lock screen, screen is super dimm, I take a photo, open the photo from within the camera app and then the phone catches a wake up and show normal brightness. We are probably gonna wait again until 26.6 or 26.7 before this issue ever gets resolved.

Im on iPhone 15 pro max. Unfortunately, for me the only solution is to remove widgets from lock screen - which makes the bug appear every 100 unlocks, not every 10. Disabling raise to wake feature for more than 24h did not work for me. The bug is still present on iOS 26.3 and at this point, I lost hope of apple fixing it.

This workaround works for me! Thank you for sharing this method.

Solution: Accessibility>Zoom>Zoom Filter>Turn off the zoom function