How to Turn Off Auto-Brightness in iOS

Not a fan of your iPhone or iPad's Auto-Brightness feature? Try this

By
Daniel Nations
Daniel Nations
Daniel Nations
Writer
  • University of Texas at Arlington
Daniel Nations has been a tech journalist since 1994. His work has appeared in Computer Currents, The Examiner, and other publications. He is a developer who has published apps in the Apple App Store, Google Play marketplace and Amazon Appstore; he also has worked as a data analyst and DB administrator.
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Updated on September 6, 2021

What to Know

  • On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.
  • Tap the Auto-Brightness toggle switch to activate or deactivate this feature.
  • To quickly adjust your device's brightness, swipe up to access Control Center, and then manually adjust the brightness slider.

This article explains how to turn off the Auto-Brightness feature on your iPhone or iPad. Auto-Brightness balances the luminosity of the screen based on the ambient light, saving battery power and making it easier to read. Instructions in this article apply to iOS 11 and later.

How to Turn Off Auto-Brightness on the iPhone or iPad

Auto-Brightness takes into account the brightness level found in Settings and adjusts it based on that level. So, it's possible to lower the overall brightness to save battery life and keep the auto-brightness function activated.

A good reason to turn off Auto-Brightness is when you can't get the right brightness level with your iPhone or iPad. With the iPad used indoors much of the time, it may be easier to turn Auto-Brightness off and not adjust the brightness at all.

  1. Open Settings and select Accessibility.

  2. Go to Display & Text Size.

  3. Scroll down and toggle the Auto-Brightness switch to the Off (gray) position.

    iOS auto-brightness settings

  4. Toggle on Reduce White Point if you want to adjust the intensity of colors. This feature is similar to the overall brightness setting but affects brighter colors more than darker colors. A percentage bar appears when Reduce White Point is turned on to specify the intensity of the effect.

    Display Accommodations screen in iOS with the Auto-Brightness and Reduce White Point switches highlighted

How to Quickly Adjust Brightness on Your iPhone or iPad

You don't need to go to the Settings app to adjust the brightness level on your iPhone or iPad. The quickest way to tone down or brighten up the screen is to use Control Center, which offers shortcuts to many settings on the iPhone and iPad.

  1. To open Notification Center from any screen on your iPhone or iPad:

    • On iPhone X models and newer or iPads with the latest version of iOS 12 and up, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.
    • On earlier iPhones, and iPads with iOS 11 or older, swipe up from the bottom of the screen where the display meets the edge.
    Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open Notification Center on an iPad

  2. The brightness adjuster is a slider marked with a sun icon.

    How to adjust iPad brightness

  3. Slide up to make the screen brighter and slide down to make it dimmer.

  4. Or, hold your finger down (or push down) on the control to reveal a button that toggles Night Shift and True Tone.

    True Tone is available on the iPhone 8 and newer, 5th-generation iPad Mini, iPad Air (2019), iPad Pro 9.7-inch and later, and newer Mac computers.

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