iOS 26/27 low display brightness waking up on iPhone 15 Pro Max

Question

Level 1

17 points

iOS 26/27 low display brightness waking up on iPhone 15 Pro Max

I am experiencing a persistent brightness bug that began after updating to iOS 26 and remains unresolved on iOS 27.

When waking the display, the screen remains at lowest brightness regardless of ambient lighting conditions. The display does not auto-adjust normally unless I perform one of the following actions:

Manually push the brightness slider up to around 80%, then it jumps drastically from lowest to brightest.
Open photos or apps containing HDR content (which forces a brightness refresh).
Lock and unlock the device a second time.

Steps to Reproduce:

Wake the device.
Observe that the screen stays stuck at a low brightness level until manually adjusted to ~80% or HDR content is loaded.

Troubleshooting Tried:

Toggled Auto-Brightness (in that case brightness is consistent, but who uses phone without auto-brightness?) and True Tone off and on.
Restarted the device.
Reset system settings
Issue persists across multiple major iOS software updates (iOS 26 through iOS 27), there was no such issue on iOS 18.

I reported this bug, but it's still unresolved (it's been over a year since it existed) and shows there are more than 10 similar cases.

There's a similar thread, don't know why it was closed, cause the problem is not solved: iPhone 15 Pro screen brightness issue aft… - Apple Community

Posted on Sep 20, 2026 2:47 PM

Reply

Answer 1

vazre

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2026 10:22 AM in response to vlad888

I have a iPhone 15 pro max and have the same exact issue and i have reported to Apple multiple times. I have been having this issue since i upgraded to IOS26 a couple of months ago. Sometimes that i wake my phone by touching the screen it is very dim and to solve it i simply touch the horizontal bar for home on the bottom of screen and then the brightness jumps back to normal.

Reply

Answer 2

vlad888 Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 1, 2026 10:10 AM in response to vlad888

I noticed that the issue doesn’t seem to happen when Always On Display is enabled. When I turn Always On Display off, the problem keeps occurring.

Tested on iOS 27.0.1. Hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 20, 2026 2:56 PM in response to vlad888

You need to have Apple perform diagnostics on your iPhone. It can be done in person at an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Authorized Service Provider. You can also contact Apple Support and request remote diagnostics.

If you’re in the US, please call 1-800-MY-APPLE, or outside the US, consult the support articles below. In Canada, call 1-800-263-3394.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Reporting a potential bug has nothing to do with achieving a solution. Apple users report millions of. The vast, vast majority end up being user error, user confusion over changes in processes, and just a glitch resolved by a simple restart of the device.

If you didn’t contact Apple Support and open a repair ticket, odds are it wasn’t reproducible and nothing could be done. So, start the process by reporting the issue to Apple Support.

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 19, 2026 7:47 AM in response to zedslamartron182

zedslamartron182 wrote:

I would suggest keep posting about this issue and Apple will eventually pick it up.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback, suggestions or complaints. You can let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Or you can contact Apple Support directly. There's a link at the bottom left of every page of these forums.

Reply

Answer 5

vlad888 Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 20, 2026 2:54 PM in response to vlad888

It happens randomly—about 1 in 5 times after waking the screen, with no specific pattern. Even when this bug occurs, I can see the auto-brightness slider slowly go up if there's bright ambient light, but the display itself remains dim. So I believe it's a software bug, not a hardware

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 23, 2026 1:39 PM in response to vlad888

I'm having the same issue since iOS26 release and it continues through iOS27 and no it's not hardware issue :) its been over a year, reported multiple times, contacted support, nothing happened. There was a thread on this useless "support community" page where nobody from Apple listens anyways and they just locked the thread as solved but tons of people were reporting this same exact issue.

Reply

Answer 7

Oct 17, 2026 10:45 AM in response to Jeff Donald

There is a genuine problem here. Don’t just post unhelpful information like - must be user error - we do know about phones and we do know when there are problems.

I would suggest keep posting about this issue and Apple will eventually pick it up.

Reply

Answer 8

vlad888 Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 22, 2026 3:27 PM in response to Jeff Donald

I ran Apple's Mobile Resource Inspector diagnostics and no hardware issues were detected. The issue remains.

Reply