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8 Best Ways to Fix iPhone Screen Dimming Automatically

The screen is an essential part of a smartphone. If something is wrong with the display, you might even have trouble using your phone properly. When watching a movie or browsing the gallery app on your iPhone, the content should be easily visible on the screen.


Sometimes your iPhone display may not work the way you want. Whether it's the screen going black during a call or the auto-brightness not working. Another similar problem is that iPhone screen brightness levels keep decreasing. Here are some simple solutions to use when your iPhone screen keeps going dark automatically.

1. Disable Auto-Brightness

Auto-brightness is a common cause for your iPhone display to automatically dim. This function automatically adjusts the screen brightness according to the ambient light. However, auto-brightness can sometimes be wonky, so you might want to turn it off momentarily to see if that fixes the problem.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and go to the Accessibility section.

Accessibility setting on iPhone

Step 2: Tap Display & Text Size.

View Dimming Settings on iPhone

Step 3: Scroll down and you will find the Auto Brightness toggle. Turn it off.

Automatic brightness toggle

2. Manually adjust the brightness

Your iPhone screen brightness may be too low for your environment, especially when you're outside during the day. In such a case, your screen will be dark and unreadable. Here's how you can manually increase the screen brightness to see if it makes a difference.

Step 1: If you are using an iPhone without a home button, swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone screen to access the control center. On an iPhone with a home button, swipe up from the bottom.

Brightness slider

Step 2: Swipe up on the brightness slider to increase the brightness to the desired level.

3. Disable Low Power Mode

If your iPhone is running out of battery, Low Power Mode may have activated automatically. This will limit some functionality of your iPhone to save battery. And one of those features also includes reduced screen brightness. Here's how to disable Low Power Mode.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and select the Battery option.

Battery Settings for Display Dimming on iPhone

Step 2: The first option at the top is Low Power Mode. Disable the toggle next to it.

Low power mode

4. Let your iPhone cool down

One of the most common reasons for iPhone screen darkening is due to overheating. If you have been using your iPhone heavily for a continuous period of time, it may overheat and darken the screen. Also, it can happen if you use the iPhone outdoors for an extended period of time and engage in resource-intensive tasks such as gaming, photo clicking, or video editing.

iPhone screen dims automatically

The solution is to keep your iPhone on standby in a relatively cooler environment. Avoid using it for a while and let it cool down. Once temperatures return to normal, you should be able to use your iPhone at higher brightness levels.

5. Disable True Tone

True Tone is a feature that automatically adjusts your screen's contrast and color temperature based on ambient lighting. Sometimes it can make your screen slightly dull. You can disable True Tone to check if it makes a difference in screen brightness.

Step 1: Open Settings app on your iPhone and go to Display & Brightness.

Display settings

Step 2: Turn off the toggle next to True Tone.

True Tone

6. Disable Night Shift

Apple includes Night Shift on the iPhone to reduce the amount of blue light emitted from the screen. This feature makes the display warmer (a little yellow) at night, which is easier on your eyes. So, if the night light goes off earlier than expected, turning it off can make your iPhone display less dim.

Step 1: Open Settings app on your iPhone and go to Display & Brightness.

Display settings

Step 2: Tap on Night Shift.

night patrol

Step 3: Turn off the toggles next to Scheduled and "Manually activate until tomorrow".

night rocker

7. Switch to light mode

Dark mode can help you save battery if your iPhone has an OLED screen. It also arguably looks better and is less harsh in low-light scenarios. However, it can make your iPhone screen look dull, especially under direct sunlight. You can switch to light mode to solve this problem.

Step 1: Open Settings app on your iPhone and go to Display & Brightness.

Display settings

Step 2: Select Light from the Appearance section.

light theme

8. Force restart your iPhone

A force restart can sometimes fix common issues on your iPhone. If none of the above solutions worked for you, here is how you can force restart your iPhone and see if it fixes the screen dimming issue.

For iPhone 6s or lower:

Press and hold the Home button and the Power button at the same time. Release them when you see the Apple logo.

For iPhone 7:

Press and hold the volume down key and the power button. Release them when you see the Apple logo.

For iPhone 8 and above:

Press and release the volume up key, press and release the volume down key, then press and hold the side/power button until you see the Apple logo.

Say goodbye to screen dimming

After following the methods mentioned above, you will no longer have to face a dark iPhone screen. Most of the time the screen is dark due to overheating (especially in summer). So the best way is to let it cool down, restart it, and then use it normally again after some time.