Does auto-brightness work differently on iPhone 5?

I have my brightness set at roughly 70 percent. In the house (unless I am sitting with a window directly behind me) the brightness level with my home's lighting conditions stays at the 70 percent level, this happens as well if I turn the lights off in my room. If I do sit with the window directly behind me, most of the time the brightness level will go all the way up to 100 percent, it also jumps up to 100 percent as soon as I venture outside too.

I would have thought though that the brightness level would have dimmed down below the 70 percent level when I switched off the lights in my home though?

fbzik wrote:

The auto-dim feature got significantly improved in iOS 6. The best improvement is brightness adjustment in the lock screen. Before, in a dark room, I would be blasted with the iPad or iPhone’s default brightness before sliding to unlock and having it dim down to match the room’s brightness. Now, from the moment the screen turns on, the brightness is appropriate.

In all previous versions of iOS, the light sensor would sense the room’s brightness and then suddenly make the brightness adjustment. In iOS 6, the auto-brightness adjustment is gradual and much more subtle, like the Mac. "

This is exactly how all our iPhones and iPads with iOS 6 work now. As you stated prior to iOS 6 if we activated the screen in a dark room we got blinded. Now they start off dim and gradually brighten to where we have the slider set. We've not had to make any adjustments. For me this is a major improvement not a "bad apple". There may be individual phones with some random issue that perhaps a restore of the software may improve but overall this feature works extremely well.

Do the following:

Go into Settings, Brightness, turn auto dim on. Now exit and go back into the brightness setting. Place your phone in bright light, then into a darker setting. The slider bar will gradually start to move on its own. I just confirmed this on my I5 and it worked. The weird thing is my wife has a 4 w/ios6 and it changed quickly. iOS6 seems to be more gradual.

I meant I5 w/iOS6 is more gradual.

Seems to work the brightness idea , now works on my iphone 4s , even though the screen is darker than i would normally set it to . If after doing the auto brightness and its too dark setting your own level seems to revert it back to the non working mode , if i now switch off my iphone and back on the screen light is 100% off again with the auto brightness on , seems the only way to keep your setting is to not switch off both your iphone 4s and 5 , which is not very good , according to the apple store in amsterdam apple are working on a fix ( update) which will address this problem along with the bluetooth and wifi problems present on some iphone 5's , lets hope they release it quickly but not too quick as they might screw up another setting on another type of iphone

I went to the the Genius Bar today and they had me restore my i5 to factory settings (which I thought I had factory settings 2 weeks ago!). This did not change anything. When I told the "Genius" my old i4, along with all of the older iDevices in my house work properly, she replied, "Well this is the iPhone 5." Don't know how genius that was to say.

Nonetheless, this i5 does not defenitely work properly. When I pick it up in the morning in a dark room, my retinas bounce out of my head. I would expect the display to be dark and stay dark, that is what a light sensor does. Not mine.

i5 geniuses are more like Ds. Don't know S. Anyway, I have the same issue. with 4s I could adjust the level of brightness I need even with Auto. with i5 its utter randomness. It tends to be way too bright most of the times and suddenly sometimes turns to 0 (zero) brightness, only way to fix it to either go to the brightness setting if you can still

see. otherwise turn the phone off and on again.

Apple needs to learn "If its not broken DO NOT fix it!". i4 worked perfectly.

thanks.

I had the exact same problem! I fixed this by sliding the brightness all the way down and then turning the auto brightness off and back on. After this I testes it by holding it under a light and then using it in dim to no light. When you do this you should be able to see the slider readjusting its self to the different lighting. Hope this helps!

ivan98 wrote:

Refer to Figure 1 in http://www.displaymate.com/AutoBrightness_Controls_2.htm

Prior to iOS 6, the control function of Auto Brightness is pre-determined based on the Brightness slider value you set. Figure 1 shows 4 such curves; 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and Max.

In iOS 6, http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/10a9p0/til_how_the_ios_6_auto_brightness_ works/ propose that users can dictate their own brightness function.

1. In ambient brightness of value a1, if you're not happy with the proposed brightness by the phone, you set it to some brightness level, say b1.
2. In ambient brightness of value a2, if you're not happy with the proposed brightness by the phone, you set it to some brightness level, say b2.
3. In ambient brightness of value a3, if you're not happy with the proposed brightness by the phone, you set it to some brightness level, say b3.

From now on, each time the phone goes into ambient lighting of level a2, it will automatically go into brightness level b2.

Your second link was the solution I was looking for. It also gives an understanding of how auto-brightness works in iOS 6.

From what I gather, there are two options for using auto-brightness: The first lets the iPhone adjust to its pre-programmed default screen brightness levels based on differently lit environments. The second "trains" your iPhone's auto-brightness mechanism to auto-adjust its screen brightness to your custom desired levels of brightness in differently lit environments.

1. Totally Automatic Setting: Turn auto-brightness to OFF. Go in a dark room. Move the slider as far left as you are comfortable with in that dark environment. Turn auto-brightness to ON. Done. Now, move to a brightly lit room and watch the slider adjust to make the screen brighter. Go to a differently lit room, and watch the screen brightness adjust to that environment. Keep a note of whether you like these particular screen brightness settings. If you would prefer a little brighter in one room and a little darker in another from the automatic settings, then you will want to use option 2: Custom automatic setting.
2. Custom Automatic Setting: Turn auto-brightness to OFF. Go in a dark room. Move the slider as far left as you are comfortable with in that dark environment. Turn auto-brightness to ON. Done? Not quite. Here is where you make your custom adjustments.

* Move into a brightly lit room. Watch how the slider adjusts to make the screen bright. Wait until it stops adjusting. Now, if you think it should be brighter or less bright in that environment, move the slider to the brightness setting you prefer. Do NOT turn off the auto-brightness setting. This is how you make your custom adjustments.

* Now, move to a differently lit environment, like a darkened bedroom. Let your iPhone adjust its brightness to that environment. When it stops adjusting, is the screen brightness at the setting you would like? If so, then do nothing. If not, move the slider accordingly. Again, do not turn off the auto-brightness setting.

* Continue doing this for other differently lit environments.

Let us know if it works for you all.

Thanks, ivan98!

Also, try this if you want custom brightness settings automatically adjusted for each environment...

digsoreos wrote:

ivan98 wrote:

Refer to Figure 1 in http://www.displaymate.com/AutoBrightness_Controls_2.htm

Prior to iOS 6, the control function of Auto Brightness is pre-determined based on the Brightness slider value you set. Figure 1 shows 4 such curves; 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and Max.

In iOS 6, http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/10a9p0/til_how_the_ios_6_auto_brightness_ works/ propose that users can dictate their own brightness function.

1. In ambient brightness of value a1, if you're not happy with the proposed brightness by the phone, you set it to some brightness level, say b1.
2. In ambient brightness of value a2, if you're not happy with the proposed brightness by the phone, you set it to some brightness level, say b2.
3. In ambient brightness of value a3, if you're not happy with the proposed brightness by the phone, you set it to some brightness level, say b3.

From now on, each time the phone goes into ambient lighting of level a2, it will automatically go into brightness level b2.

Your second link was the solution I was looking for. It also gives an understanding of how auto-brightness works in iOS 6.

From what I gather, there are two options for using auto-brightness: The first lets the iPhone adjust to its pre-programmed default screen brightness levels based on differently lit environments. The second "trains" your iPhone's auto-brightness mechanism to auto-adjust its screen brightness to your custom desired levels of brightness in differently lit environments.

1. Totally Automatic Setting: Turn auto-brightness to OFF. Go in a dark room. Move the slider as far left as you are comfortable with in that dark environment. Turn auto-brightness to ON. Done. Now, move to a brightly lit room and watch the slider adjust to make the screen brighter. Go to a differently lit room, and watch the screen brightness adjust to that environment. Keep a note of whether you like these particular screen brightness settings. If you would prefer a little brighter in one room and a little darker in another from the automatic settings, then you will want to use option 2: Custom automatic setting.
2. Custom Automatic Setting: Turn auto-brightness to OFF. Go in a dark room. Move the slider as far left as you are comfortable with in that dark environment. Turn auto-brightness to ON. Done? Not quite. Here is where you make your custom adjustments.

* Move into a brightly lit room. Watch how the slider adjusts to make the screen bright. Wait until it stops adjusting. Now, if you think it should be brighter or less bright in that environment, move the slider to the brightness setting you prefer. Do NOT turn off the auto-brightness setting. This is how you make your custom adjustments.

* Now, move to a differently lit environment, like a darkened bedroom. Let your iPhone adjust its brightness to that environment. When it stops adjusting, is the screen brightness at the setting you would like? If so, then do nothing. If not, move the slider accordingly. Again, do not turn off the auto-brightness setting.

* Continue doing this for other differently lit environments.

Let us know if it works for you all.

Thanks, ivan98!