iOS 26: Screen brightness low until adjusted

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Level 1

11 points

iOS 26: Screen brightness low until adjusted

Ever since updating to iOS 26, there is a problem that occurs often where the screen turns on with low brightness, certainly much lower than the amount its set to, then fixes itself when i adjust the slider or open a video that uses HDR.

Has anyone else encountered that issue? This becomes increasingly frustrating with every update that doesn't address it.

I saw some reports on it during the initial release of iOS 26, but not really on the newer versions.

iPhone 15 Pro Max

Posted on Feb 21, 2026 7:51 AM

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Answer 1

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lukairure46

Level 2

411 points

Feb 22, 2026 12:46 AM in response to EthanB130

Hi @EthanB130 -

Do you have auto-brightness enabled? (It’s a default setting, I think.) If so, it kinda sounds like your sensor setpoint may be off.

Try navigating to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness and toggle it off. Then restart your device. If that resolves the issue, then you can either leave auto-brightness off or toggle it back on (which should reset the setpoint).

Hope that helps!

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Answer 2

Feb 22, 2026 7:07 AM in response to lukairure46

lukairure46 wrote:

Hi @EthanB130 -

Do you have auto-brightness enabled? (It’s a default setting, I think.) If so, it kinda sounds like your sensor setpoint may be off.

Try navigating to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness and toggle it off. Then restart your device. If that resolves the issue, then you can either leave auto-brightness off or toggle it back on (which should reset the setpoint).

Hope that helps!

Good advice!

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Answer 3

Feb 21, 2026 8:06 AM in response to EthanB130

I haven’t encountered it.

Do you have Attention Aware features enabled? If on, it dims the screen when you aren’t looking directly at it.

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Answer 4

EthanB130 Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 21, 2026 3:01 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks for the response

I have Attention Aware features disabled on my device.

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iOS 26: Screen brightness low until adjusted

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