iPhone 15 Pro screen brightness issue after iOS 26 update

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

i did that and its gone.

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.

oh no, it is random, nothing to do with the brightness of images, doesn't matter what time of the day, focus you iPhone etc. Yesterday I just could not be bothered to switch the screen off and on again, so I just opened up the camera app with the whole screen brightness still low, took a photo and opened up the image as I was just using it for quick reference, then when the image opened, the screen brightness pops back to normal. Hope I make more sense now

Just as an easier fix, have you tried telling Siri to set screen brightness to a specific percentage? I do this often when I’m outside in Florida bright sunshine. I’ll say, “Siri, please set brightness to 75% .” She instantly sets brightness to the percent I requested. It’s hands free and works flawlessly. Just a thought.

I don't want to jinx it, but I updated my phone to iOS 26.1 today and so far I haven't had any brightness issues during unlock tonight.

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

This is also happening to me on my 15 Pro Max. If I navigate to Instagram and an HDR photo is posted it’ll put the screen brightness back to normal. Otherwise, like everyone else, I have to lock and unlock it to get it to go back to normal.

I briefly owned a 17 before returning and didn’t ever have that issue. (I returned it because the depleted battery on my 15PM still lasted longer than the standard 17’s with the apps I normally use.)

I really hope the people in this thread are reporting this bug to the Apple feedback app. I’ve reported it twice within a few months and each feedback showed there are NO similar reports. Report it please.

Hi, I was asking SpoofMeister about his issue. He specifically referred to photos in his post directly above mine (I sort mine oldest to newest).

I’ve read through this entire thread and I think multiple different issues are being discussed with similar symptoms. This is partly what leads to the confusion. Someone posts a solution (or workaround) to their particular issue and someone with an entirely different issue (but similar symptoms) responds that it doesn’t work. This leads to even more confusion and frustration when multiple people try a fix not intended for their specific situation.

I think anyone still having the issue should contact Apple Support and work through them getting it either resolved or escalated to engineering. Just my 2¢.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

This isn’t Apple Support. Apple and Apple Support do not participate here. Everyone participating here is just an Apple user, like you. Open a support ticket with Apple Support if you want to work towards a fix.

This is happening more and more often and it’s really annoying. Apple pls fix this asap. I turned off auto brightness and it’s better now but still I want to use auto brightness