iPhone Brightness 101: How to Prevent Dark Screen on the iPhone

By Conner Carey Updated 02/28/2022

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Depending on where you are, what time of day it is, and how you're using our iPhone, you may want to adjust your iPhone screen's brightness. Late at night, a darker screen can help you sleep better and be easier on the eyes. But during the day, you probably prefer full brightness, especially when watching videos.

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How to Adjust the Brightness on an iPhone

Learn to navigate your iPhone's auto-brightness settings and stop asking, "Why does my iPhone screen dim?" There are two ways to adjust your screen's brightness. You can access it through the Settings app or in Control Center. To learn more about iPhone Settings, sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.

iPhone Control Center

The quickest way to adjust your iPhone's screen brightness is through the iPhone Control Center. If you have an iPhone 8 or earlier, you'll have to swipe from your display's bottom edge to open the Control Center. If you have an iPhone X or later, follow these steps:

Unlock your iPhone.
Swipe down from the top-right corner of your display.

Raise or lower the brightness by tapping and dragging your finger over the sun icon.

Display & Brightness Settings

Going into your Settings is more time-consuming than adjusting your display's brightness via the Control Center. However, this is where you can find other display settings.

Launch Settings.
Tap Display & Brightness.

Drag the slider to adjust brightness.

You can also change to Dark Mode, enable True Tone, and set up Night Shift in the Display & Brightness Settings.

Auto-Brightness Settings

The auto-brightness feature helps adjust your screen brightness depending on the light conditions around you. To keep your screen from dimming automatically, you'll need to turn off auto-brightness.

Launch Settings.
Select Accessibility.

Tap Display & Text Size.
At the very bottom, toggle Auto-Brightness on.

Please note that auto-brightness can help maximize battery life. So keeping brightness up can affect your iPhone's battery life. Next, learn how to switch to Dark Mode on Mac!

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Author Details

Conner Carey

Conner Carey's writing can be found at conpoet.com. She is currently writing a book, creating lots of content, and writing poetry via @conpoet on Instagram. She lives in an RV full-time with her mom, Jan and dog, Jodi as they slow-travel around the country.

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