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harrisondavies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 21, 2010
471
545
Newcastle upon Tyne
Firstly, I searched and couldn’t find a similar post.

I can be reading a webpage in a steadily illuminated room and the brightness will suddenly dim slightly and then appear to creep back up to its original brightness.

I understand the concept of auto brightness, but there is no significant shift in ambient light to affect the brightness of the screen. No shadows or anything.

It’s very sudden and distracting though doesn’t dim a lot.

I know other people have flickering screens but that is not the same issue. It feels like the ambient sensor is detecting a change were none is found and far too quickly dropping the brightness instead of gradually reducing it.

Anyone else have this?
 

vtgeek

macrumors member
Sep 21, 2012
45
17
I noticed my XS doing that this morning. The room was dark with ambient light unlike your situation. I can't say I've noticed it when the light was at a higher level. Perhaps the sensor is so sensitive that it was picking up on the screen's light reflecting off my face?

But it was that 1/2 second stutter going from one page to another.
 
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harrisondavies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 21, 2010
471
545
Newcastle upon Tyne
I noticed my XS doing that this morning. The room was dark with ambient light unlike your situation. I can't say I've noticed it when the light was at a higher level. Perhaps the sensor is so sensitive that it was picking up on the screen's light reflecting off my face?

But it was that 1/2 second stutter going from one page to another.

Thanks for your input.
 

bhodinut

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2013
198
143
I've found that if the phone is close to your face or light clothing the light from the screen will illuminate your face or clothing and the ambient light adjustment will correct by brightening the display. Once it's brighter then it will get dim again and the cycle will repeat. Try holding it a bit further from your face and see if it's better. It drove me crazy for awhile.
 
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harrisondavies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 21, 2010
471
545
Newcastle upon Tyne
I've found that if the phone is close to your face or light clothing the light from the screen will illuminate your face or clothing and the ambient light adjustment will correct by brightening the display. Once it's brighter then it will get dim again and the cycle will repeat. Try holding it a bit further from your face and see if it's better. It drove me crazy for awhile.

Thanks. I will try that. Never happened on the 8plus which is weird.
 

now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,695
22,451
My 6 plus on iOS 9 will do that occasionally too. It seemed like it was triggered by the time of day, but I think it's because the angle of the phone changes slightly while using it and it registers the ambient light a little differently- so jacks up or down the brightness. I think the auto adjustment just doesn't have enough fine tune granularity to it to incrementally change the brightness. It seems to sometimes jump to a higher or lower brightness when reaching a certain threshold.

I don't use auto brightness any more.
 
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Zune55

macrumors 65816
May 2, 2015
1,050
465
Firstly, I searched and couldn’t find a similar post.

I can be reading a webpage in a steadily illuminated room and the brightness will suddenly dim slightly and then appear to creep back up to its original brightness.

I understand the concept of auto brightness, but there is no significant shift in ambient light to affect the brightness of the screen. No shadows or anything.

It’s very sudden and distracting though doesn’t dim a lot.

I know other people have flickering screens but that is not the same issue. It feels like the ambient sensor is detecting a change were none is found and far too quickly dropping the brightness instead of gradually reducing it.

Anyone else have this?

XR did that, I turned off auto brightness in accessibility.
 

CobraPA

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2011
733
175
Lansdale, PA, USA
I had an iPad that I noticed this on. Found I was holding it sideways and sometimes placing my finger over the region near the front facing camera with the light sensor... Any chance you moved your hand/finger over the sensor?
 

bhodinut

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2013
198
143
When I watch a movie on my iPad the same thing seems to happen. Bright scenes get dimmed and dark scenes brighten. It's like a cheap HDR feature!
 

harrisondavies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 21, 2010
471
545
Newcastle upon Tyne
I had an iPad that I noticed this on. Found I was holding it sideways and sometimes placing my finger over the region near the front facing camera with the light sensor... Any chance you moved your hand/finger over the sensor?

A good thought, but I’ve only noticed it in portrait mode.
[doublepost=1540658892][/doublepost]I’ve reported it anyway, probably like thousands of others. I’d rather have that than burn in
 

Zune55

macrumors 65816
May 2, 2015
1,050
465
I’m concerned turning Auto Brightness off will somehow damage the OLED screen. I’m sure I read somehwere that it could.

I have used iPhone X with auto brightness off for about 10 months and iPhone X is completely fine, no burn in etc. I never like auto brightness feature in any device so I always turned it off. But you can make Genius Bar appointment and ask them if it’s okay to turn it off?
 
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Seth Matthews

macrumors 6502
Jun 1, 2015
481
265
The Ether
I have used iPhone X with auto brightness off for about 10 months and iPhone X is completely fine, no burn in etc. I never like auto brightness feature in any device so I always turned it off. But you can make Genius Bar appointment and ask them if it’s okay to turn it off?
Where do you keep your brightness level set?
 
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