Macbook washed out display colours

Actually this seems to be due to some kind of automatic brightness adjustment to compensate for ambient light. If I have a bright light source behind me (such as a window) the brightness goes way up, causing the washout effect. If I cover the camera at the top of the macbook then the brightness fades back to a normal level.

In the Preferences > Displays control panel there is a checkbox called "Automatically adjust brightness". Turning this off works temporarily but it still sometimes does this when the checkbox is unchecked anyway. Toggling the checkbox on and off again also seems to fix it, if only temporarily.

So my best guess at this point is that it is the "Automatically adjust brightness" setting that is causing this behaviour, and that perhaps this setting is ignored when the mac wakes from sleep, adjusting brightness even when unchecked.

I have a MB Pro 13" Retina purchased about 2.5 years ago. I just started to notice that the contrast was fading. A bit like 'fog' in 'contrast' to the monitor that I have attached my computer. A slow but steady progression over a month or two.

Turning off the "Automatically Adjust Brightness" under Displays in Systems Preferences COMPLETELY fixed the problem. Contrast on the MB Pro screen looks great again. When I turn "Automatically Adjust Brightness" back on, it goes right back to poor contrast.

Just FYI.

I noticed this problem recently and tried many ways I searched online with no luck. At last fixed it by setting the "Accessibility-> Display->Display contrast" to "Normal". I guess I touched it by accident someday.

Hope it will help someone.

Good plan, although I wonder if a pic will capture it. I would take the pic of something stationary and repeatable, like a colorful pic. Then you can take both a before and after pic so they can see the difference with exactly the same pic/setup.

Indeed, I thought I was going mad doing calibrations, reinstalls and even a fresh clean install. Seems to have popped recently with the latest OS El Capitan update, some sort of contrast thing.

Did notice that auto brightness plays with the contrast; and turning it off instantly readjusts- a bit- the baseline contrast. However, overall, with multiple calibrations it seems that it is a baseline calibration change.

This forces one to turn the brightness much higher.

The REC profiles, which popped recently, seem ok, but not as good as before.

Hi g,

Given that you're still covered under Applecare, I would have it checked out at an Apple Store or an AASP. Make sure to back up your data before you go.

Do the colors stay washed out until you boot the MBP again? If so, wait until the colors are washed out and don't reboot so someone at an AS or AASP can actually see it.

Also, make sure you get a case number and keep any paper work you make get, so if it continues after your visit to an AS or AASP you can refer to it.

Hi, did this ever get solved? I've been having the same problem, and would like to know if there's a way to resolve this other than restarting and/or going to the apple store. I do have applecare so could but would prefer to not make that trip if not necessary. If you did already, would you please share the results?

Thanks.

I have the same thing on a mid-2015 15" retina macbook pro.

It's not brightness, it seems like the contrast is turned way down and the brightness turned up so that the dark areas are much brighter than they should be but the bright areas are not any relatively brighter. This washes out the colours and makes the usually vibrant screen look like it's been printed by a cheap inkjet onto grey paper.

I've found that plugging/unplugging the power cord usually corrects it too.

This is exactly what fixed for me as well! Early 2015 MBP 13". I can turn auto brightness back on if I want to, but I'm not particularly fond of the setting anyway, so it's all good.

Thanks for pointing this out!

This just started happening now. Contrast/brightness/dullness. It's more noticeable while watching a movie on fullscreen. Turned off auto brightness and it seemed to have worked. I was starting to get worried that there was something wrong with the actual screen. Hopefully this fixed it.

I have the exact same problem on my iMac. Running El Capitan (10.11.3)

Only way to fix it is to restart.