Auto brightness has long been a notable iOS feature. Equipped with an ambient light sensor, the iPhone automatically adjusts the screen brightness to your current lighting conditions. For example, if you go to a dark place, the sensor will detect it and reduce the screen brightness. And when you move into a brightly lit room, it increases the brightness for an enhanced viewing experience. In addition, this function reduces unnecessary battery consumption. That said, it’s not always perfect. Sometimes the sensor cannot read the environment properly, making the screen either too dark or too bright. But don’t worry if you encounter auto brightness issue on your iPhone because here are some helpful tips to help you fix auto brightness not working on iPhone.
Fix Auto Brightness Not Working on iPhone (2022)
What is causing the auto brightness not working problem on iPhone?
There are several reasons that can cause auto brightness to stop working on your iPhone. For example, the problem could be a faulty or cracked screen protector, dust clogging the ambient light sensor, or a cheap third-party iPhone screen replacement. All these reasons aside, some other software glitch can always cause the environment sensor to fail and the auto brightness not to work on your iPhone.
Top Tips to Fix Auto Brightness Not Working on iPhone
1. Clean the notch area of the iPhone
The first thing to do in order to fix your iPhone’s faulty environmental sensor is to clean the area around it. The built-in ambient light sensor is located at the top of the iPhone screen in the True Depth Face ID camera system (also known as a notch). SHE can use a soft, lint-free cloth to clean the screen to make sure there is no dirt on / around the sensor.
If a dirty ambient light sensor was the cause of the auto brightness issue on your iPhone, it should be resolved now.
2. Activate / deactivate automatic brightness
Sometimes a soft reset is all you need to fix the auto brightness issue on your iOS device. So be sure to try this simple but efficient trick. Here’s what to do:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone and navigate to Accessibility -> screen and text size. Now scroll down and activate the “Automatic brightness“switch.
- After that, restart your iPhone and navigate to the same settings page in the step above. Then, Turn on the automatic brightness switch again.
3. Hard reset your iPhone
By clearing random cache and temporary files, a hard reset can often fix common iOS problems that can cause software features like auto brightness on your iPhone to not work as intended. So make sure to try this handy hack as well.
- On iPhone 8 or later: Press and release the volume up button quickly. Then press and quickly release the volume down button. Then press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
- On the iPhone 7/7 Plus: Press and hold the Power button and the Volume down button at the same time until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
- On the iPhone 6s / 6s Plus or earlier: Press and hold both the Home button and the Power button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
4. Remove the screen protector
None of the above solutions worked to fix the auto brightness issue on your iPhone? Try removing the screen protector. Not many screen protectors are available in laser cut dimensions (especially the cheaper ones). If the problem persists, chances are that it is with your screen saver.
After removing the screen protector, check whether the screen brightness is automatically adjusted to the light conditions in your surroundings. If so, it was your screen protector, not your iPhone, to blame. And if you’re looking for a new screen protector, check out the best screen protectors for iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 series here.
5. Try to turn off the night shift
If the auto brightness issue on your iPhone is not resolved, we recommend turning off Night Shift as the next reliable solution. This can affect the automatic brightness function. For the uninitiated, Night Shift automatically shifts the colors of the iPhone screen towards the warmer end of the color spectrum at night.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone, navigate to Display & brightness -> night shiftand activate the “Turn it on manually until tomorrowswitch. The iPhone screen should now return to cooler tones and the auto brightness issue should be resolved.
6. Buy a genuine iPhone display replacement
If your iPhone screen was recently repaired by an unauthorized service provider, make sure that the screen is not causing the problem. Often times, third-party iPhone screens (especially the dual ones) prove to conflict with things like Face ID (by causing it to stop working), True Tone, and auto brightness. So contact your service provider for information about the display and ask whether they can use an original, if necessary.
7. Reset all settings on your iPhone
If nothing seems to be working for you so far, try deleting the existing settings and factory reset everything on your iPhone. This workaround comes in handy when it comes to complex iOS software problems. So we are going to rely on it to solve the frustrating auto brightness problem on our iPhone.
- In iOS 15 or higher: Open the Settings app on your iPhone -> General -> Transfer or reset iPhone -> Reset -> Reset all settings.
- In iOS 14 or earlier: Navigate to the Settings app on your iPhone -> General -> Reset -> Reset all settings.
8. Update the software on your iPhone
Given the bugs that have appeared in recent iOS updates, you should never rule out the possibility that a software glitch could cause the ambient light sensor to stop working as intended. If so, the auto brightness feature on your iPhone can go nuts. Hence, if the auto brightness continues to behave incorrectly on your iPhone, update the iOS software.
- Go to the Settings app on your iPhone and navigate to General -> Software update. Then easily download and install the latest iOS version.
[Fixed] Auto brightness issues on iPhone
It really is! Is the auto brightness feature back to normal on your iOS device? I hope that one of these eight solutions helped you solve this frustrating problem on your iPhone. Let us know the trick that helped you solve this problem. And if you know of any other efficient hacks or workarounds that may help fix auto brightness problem on iPhone, please comment on them below.
