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How To Stop Your iPhone From Dimming Automatically

iPhones are very smart and innovative technology, but they don’t always get it right. People are so varied that no setting suits everyone—which is why they offer various customization options. One thing the phones automatically do is dim sometimes, which may irritate some people. Fortunately, it’s changeable.

If your screen is dimming automatically, head into your settings to turn off the auto-brightness. This should keep your phone at a constant brightness. Other settings like Night Shift and True Tone may also need to be adjusted. It’s also possible a fault is causing the dim screen.

Let’s take a closer look at the settings that might be affecting your screen brightness, as well as what you can do if there is a fault.

Why Does Your iPhone Keep Dimming? 

hand holding an iphone with a dimming screen

The biggest reason for an iPhone dimming is that the settings have told it to. Various settings under brightness and appearance may cause your iPhone to dim automatically. Of course, there’s also a possible fault with the phone causing this, so it’s essential to check out all avenues before arriving at a solution.

If you’re an iPhone power user, be sure to hang out on our blog to find out how to fix other issues you may run into, like when the storage won’t load, black screen problems or non-functional screen failures, or a unique glitch on some older models where the top half of the screen would become blurry.

All that said, this one’s pretty simple: most people find their screen dimming automatically because of the auto-brightness setting.

What is Auto-Brightness? 

Auto-brightness is an accessibility setting on iPhone where the phone detects the world around you. Doing this creates an appropriate level of brightness on the screen. For example, if you’re outside in the sunshine, the screen will likely become brighter so you can see it. In the darkness, it will be dim, as it does not need to be super bright.

To change your auto-brightness:

  1. Access Settings.
  1. Tap Accessibility
  1. Choose Display & Font Size
  1. Toggle Auto-Brightness on or off.

For most people, this will be enough to fix any dimming issues they might be having. But, unfortunately, technology is never perfect, so the iPhone could be misreading the environment—and some people just like their screen set at a certain level of brightness all day.

Other Settings that Could be Affecting Your Screen Dimming 

woman holding phone in a forest at sunset

Some other settings might be affecting the brightness of your screen. If altering the auto-brightness doesn’t work, it’s essential to check these out.

Night Shift

The first is ‘Night Shift.’ This setting makes your phone easier on the eyes at night when the cool light may be too harsh. You can access it here:

  1. Tap Settings.
  1. Tap Display & Brightness.
  1. Toggle Night Shift on or off.

Attention Aware

Another setting that may affect this is ‘Attention Aware.’ This feature dims the screen only when you’re looking away and brightens it when you’re focused on the screen.

This, of course, has its faults. For example, people playing a video in the background of a task might want the screen to be bright all the time. You can turn it off here:

  1. Tap Settings.
  1. Tap Face ID and Passcode.
  1. Disable Attention Aware Features.

True Tone

The last setting that may be affecting your screen brightness and causing your screen to dim is ‘True Tone.’ This setting adapts to the environment around you so that the colors on the screen are always accurate. To change it, you can follow these steps:

  1. Tap Settings.
  1. Tap Display & Brightness.
  1. Toggle Night Shift on or off.

If you want your screen to stop dimming, you can ensure all of these settings are moved to ‘off.’ 

Overheating and Low Battery Settings 

close up of a iphone screen with low battery

There are some other reasons that your screen might be dim. If you’ve changed the settings and it’s still not bright enough for you, it’s important to look at them.

Overheating

An iPhone is considered to be overheating when it hits 40 C on the inside. This can damage the phone, so it automatically tries to cool itself down. One of the ways it does this is to dim the screen, trying to control how much energy it’s using.

It’s good practice to try and prevent your iPhone from overheating, so it never reaches this point. Also, try not to run too many apps at once (close them out properly) and take a break from heavy tasks like gaming now and again to give the iPhone a chance to rest and recuperate. 

Low Battery Settings

Another reason your iPhone might be dimming its screen is that it has a low battery and is trying to conserve energy, so it lasts longer. This is common in ‘Low Power Mode.’

You’ll notice if you’re in low power mode because the battery icon will be yellow rather than green or red, and when charged, the phone will automatically bring itself out of that.

However, even without being in ‘Low Power Mode,’ the phone may do this. If you notice your screen is dim while the battery is at less than 20%, try charging it to see if that helps.

Restarting and Checking for Updates 

It’s always possible there’s a software bug causing an iPhone to have a dim screen. So the first thing you can do is check for updates:

  1. Tap Settings.
  1. Tap General.
  1. Tap Updates.

Here, iOS will notify you if your phone needs an update. It’s good practice to consistently update the phone when necessary, as a new operating system version doesn’t just introduce new features but corrects old bugs.

You can even set your iPhone to do this between 2-4 am, so you aren’t disturbed when it happens.

If there are no updates available, you can try restarting the phone. Most people have their smartphones on 24/7, which—while that’s their intended use—can use up a lot of energy and result in problems. Hold the Power and Volume Up buttons down on the side until it gives you the option to swipe to slide off.

Leave the phone for a couple of minutes before turning it back on. If it is overheating, this will allow it to cool down fast before you load it back up again.

Is Your iPhone Screen Dark Even with Brightness Up?

You have two options if your iPhone screen is still dark even after trying all those. First, you could try resetting the phone to see if it’s a software issue.

You can do this through Settings, then General, and then Reset. Make sure you back up your phone before proceeding because if you perform a Factory Reset, you will lose all content and settings.

You can also plug the phone into iTunes and follow the prompts to reset the device there. 

Hardware Issues

If this doesn’t work, the problem is likely hardware. Screen failure can happen to phones that have been dropped, bashed, submerged, or aged. If your phone is older than 2-3 years old or you’ve noticed some physical damage, this may well be what has happened.

The first thing you should do is check if you have any coverage. Warranties expire in one year, unfortunately, but some users have Apple Care—more comprehensive insurance. This will cover you if you get the repair done by an official Apple retailer. Some home insurance policies also offer coverage for electronic devices.

If you don’t, you’ll have to pay out of pocket for the repair. Apple stores can repair your screen, or you can mail it away after speaking to them online. You can also find third-party repair stores in your area, but these aren’t licensed or verified by Apple, so you should be careful.

To Conclude

Overall, you should try adjusting all the brightness and display settings necessary; if that doesn’t work, you can update and reset the phone. You may need a professional screen repair if your brightness is still struggling.