iPhone 16 Pro Max display brightness not auto-adapting

Display not auto adapting to environment. In situations where I need to have a barcode scanned (movie rewords card, store rewards card, etc) the screen goes to max brightness for scanning but then it stays there until I go into the settings and lower the brightness. In bright daylight conditions, I have to go into brightness and adjust the brightness level.

Why is there no automatic brightness level? If the screen can adjust to max brightness when a barcode needs to be scanned then why can’t the screen go back to the original setting when the barcode is closed?

iPhone 16 pro max, OS: 26.2.1