iPhone screen dims in sunlight

None of these are factors. It's a bug in the software somewhere. And it's very annoying. Auto brightness off, night shift off, and true tone off, and it still dims to like 50% brightness when I am in the sun.

Why won't you guys believe us that this is a bug in the software? We know how to work the phone. We know not to leave it in a hot car. No one said, hey, my phone is blazing hot and the screen dims. No... we go outside or get out of our cars, and the screen dims for no apparent reason.

There seems to be no fix for this issue. I've had many iPhones, and my 15 pro (IOS17) is the first to ever do this. Everything checks out (by Apple) hardware wise. What is going on?? There must not be enough people with this problem for Apple to address. The only "fix" from Apple seems to be to turn off everything that makes your phone great. Well, it only took 4 returns of my AirPods pros..and a new generation..to "fix" the static issue. It was a loooong, frustrating, process of once again explaining what's happening, with nobody seeming to know anything about what's going on, pretending like I'm the only one with the issue...until I wasn't. I really don't want to be stuck with a brand new $1000.00 phone that goes blind once in a while.

Hey, I think I fixed this finally. It’s been frustrating me for years. I do a lot of outdoor work and I live in Orlando, FL. Yes. The Sunshine State. ☀️ 🤦🏻‍♂️

Turn True Tone off.

Settings > Display & Brightness.

Hey Apple. This shouldn’t behave like this. Looks like you have a bug to fix. The color spectrum of daylight, 6500 K, may be off the end of the scale of where the iPhone is reading the ambient lighting, then causing it to default to the factory default, perhaps? This may be more prevalent in southern or high altitude areas, or especially bright days.

I am literally on Daytona Beach. Been here a hundred times. I can actually read my screen without straining.

Here’s what’s happening specially:

Auto Brightness Off

Brightness at 100%

True Tone On

In bright daylight, the screen dims. If anything, we should get the opposite. A little boost, like 120%.

Turn True Tone Off: The screen stays bright.

Hit me up if I can help more.

You’re definitely not the only one, my iPhone 13 Pro Max is doing the exactly same. I’m in Sydney, Australia. I have everything turned off, I can walk out of my door and it will dim where I cannot see a thing, I turn my brightness all the way up and then it goes back dark. Mind you, I check the brightness slider and it’s still at the highest brightness.

It’s extremely frustrating.

Same issue. Tried all the same “solutions” offered by Apple & the community, to no avail.

It is extremely frustrating.

Hello relsson,

There are actually two different places to adjust automatic brightness. You can see the steps to turn both of them off below:

1. Go to Settings > Displays & Brightness > Appearance. Turn Automatic off.
2. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. Turn Auto-Brightness off.

If you think the screen is still changing with these set to off, tap on Settings > Displays & Brightness. Note where the Brightness slider is set. When you think the brightness has changed, come back to the slider and see if it is where it was left.

If it has moved, we would suggest reaching out to Apple Support here: Get Support  

They will be in the best position to assist further.

Cheers.

Well said, yes it must be a bug, a1400$ phone that turns black in sun what a shame

None of this helps. This is so annoying. My friends cheap phone can adjust all these settings with no problems, but I can not use my iPhone on the beach cuz the screen turns almost black….

GD auto dim in sunlight CANNOT be turned off. Will you please fix this blessed disaster.

Hi relsson,

To clarify, does this only happen after your device has been in the sun? If so, this could be normal behavior as a result of temperature as outlined below: If your iPhone or iPad gets too hot or too cold - Apple Support

"Avoid these conditions and activities because they might change the performance of your device:

• Leaving your device in a car on a hot day.
• Leaving your device in direct sunlight for an extended period of time.
• Using certain features in hot conditions or direct sunlight for an extended period of time, such as GPS tracking or navigation in a car, playing a graphics-intensive game, or using augmented-reality apps.

If the interior temperature of your device exceeds the normal operating range, you might notice these changes:

• Charging, including wireless charging, slows or stops.
• The display dims or goes black.
• Cellular radios enter a low-power state. The signal might weaken during this time.
• The camera flash is temporarily disabled.
• Performance slows with graphics-intensive or augmented-reality apps or features."

This could account for what you're seeing. If you need further assistance, use this link to contact us directly: Get Support

Take care.

Try turning off True Tone. That seemed to work for me.

I am getting the screen dimming at random times now while indoors, even with auto dim and true tone off. There's definitely a bug in the software.

Screen dim when bright out. Have tried everything

When mine would dim, the slider would show all the way down, and sliding it up would correct it. It hasn’t happened since, so maybe it was addressed in the last update. Would be nice if Apple would give us a little more info on what was addressed in their updates. But I imagine it would be a bit of reading.

Turning off the auto brightness in two places and restarting didn’t fix my phone dimming in the Sun. It also isn’t hot because it has only been in sunlight a minute or two before it happens.

I am facing this type of issue.

This is the bug in the software.