Does your iPhone automatically dim? There is a solution for that

Your iPhone can sometimes feel like it has a mind of its own. Maybe an app suddenly quits or your phone automatically restarts – but those things usually happen for a reason, much to our annoyance. That’s not to say it’s not boring, and if you’re dealing with continuously adjusting your screen brightness, you might feel breathless.

There are a number of reasons why your display’s brightness may adjust on its own, and it’s not always as simple as turning off an automatic brightness setting – although that’s a good start. In this guide, we’ll show you two settings you need to turn off to prevent your iPhone from auto-darkening. And how your iPhone can adjust its brightness even when these two settings are off – if you’re not careful.

While you are here you should also check the most annoying things about your iPhone (and how you can fix them). And these 10 hidden iOS 16 features that will make your iPhone experience so much better.

First, turn off auto-brightness

Yes, it might seem a little obvious, but the first thing you should do is make sure that auto-brightness is turned off in your settings. The feature is pretty self-explanatory – it automatically adjusts your brightness based on the light in your surroundings. But if you want to stop your screen from always trying to adjust, you need to disable this feature.

In the Settings app, navigate to Accessibility > Display and text size and disable Auto Brightness at the bottom of the page. One would think that this parameter would exist in Display and Brightnessso it’s not uncommon for auto-brightness to be turned on without you really knowing it, because it’s hidden in Accessibility.

If your brightness continues to adjust automatically, you need to turn off another setting.

You also need to disable True Tone

If you have an iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, the True Tone feature has the ability to measure the color temperature and brightness of your surroundings and then adjust its display accordingly. True Tone is useful – not only does it help display more accurate colors in a variety of lighting situations, it’s also easier on the eyes, which is something you need if you’re constantly reading on your phone.

Again, if you don’t care about the feature, don’t use it, or are just annoyed that your brightness keeps adjusting automatically, you should turn it off. In Settingsgo to Display and Brightness and disable True Tone under the Brightness on your mind. As long as Auto-Brightness is also disabled, disabling True Tone should prevent your iPhone from automatically adjusting your brightness.

There is, however, an exception.

Don’t let your iPhone overheat

Your iPhone has several ways to protect its internal components, including auto-dimming your screen. Even though Auto-Brightness and True Tone are off, if your iPhone overheats, it will automatically adjust the display intensity.

According to Apple, to prevent this from happening, you should use your iPhone at temperatures between 32 and 95 degrees F (zero and 35 degrees C) and store it at temperatures between 4 and 113 degrees F (between 20 in below zero and 45 degrees C). If you leave your iPhone in your car or on the sidewalk on a hot day, chances are it will overheat, causing your screen to automatically dim.

However, overheating doesn’t just happen because of a sunny day. A faulty battery can cause your iPhone to overheat: go to Settings > Battery > Battery health and charging and check if your battery needs to be replaced. Another reason could be buggy software: go to Settings > General > Software update and safer to always be on the latest update to deal with all bugs and software issues.