How to Turn Off Auto-Brightness on Your iPhone

Keep iPhone brightness from automatically adjusting with a few easy steps.

August Garry profile image
By August Garry
May 27, 2021

Your iPhone’s Auto-Brightness feature automatically adjusts your screen’s brightness; if you’re in dim lighting, your iPhone screen will automatically dim to match it, and if you’re out in the sun, the screen will brighten again. If you want to stop the adjustment from happening, we'll show you how to turn the feature off.

How to Turn Off Auto-Brightness (& Turn it Back On Again)

This feature is on by default, but if you don’t like your screen’s brightness changing with your environment, we’ll show you how to turn auto-brightness off. If you’ve accidentally turned it off and would like to reactive it, you can just as easily do that, too!

  1. Go to Settings. Settings
  2. Scroll down and tap on Accessibility. Accessibility
  3. Tap Display & Text Size. Display & Text Size
  4. Find Auto-Brightness at the bottom of the list, and toggle it off or on, as desired. Auto-Brightness toggle

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

Adjust Brightness from the Control Center

Before you change your brightness settings, one thing to consider is that setting the screen to be permanently brighter will affect your battery life. Keeping your screen bright uses a lot of battery, and if you want it bright all the time, your battery won’t last as long. Conversely, if you want to extend your battery life, setting your screen to be dimmer can help.

  1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen. Swipe to access control panel
  2. Adjust the brightness up or down by sliding the icon with your finger. Brightness bar in control panel

Adjust Brightness from Settings

  1. Go to Settings. Settings
  2. Scroll down and tap Display & Brightness. Display & Brightness
  3. Use the Brightness slider to adjust. You'll find low brightness on the left end and high brightness on the right end. Brightness

Now you know the ins and outs of adjusting your screen brightness, and can choose the settings that fit your lifestyle best. Just remember that one of the biggest iPhone battery drains is a bright screen that's on a lot, so keep that in mind when making your adjustments.

August profile pic
written by

August Garry

August Garry is an Associate Editor for iPhone Life. Formerly of Gartner and Software Advice, they have six years of experience writing about technology for everyday users, specializing in iPhones, HomePods, and Apple TV. As a former college writing instructor, they are passionate about effective, accessible communication, which is perhaps why they love helping readers master the strongest communication tools they have available: their iPhones. They have a degree in Russian Literature and Language from Reed College.

When they’re not writing for iPhone Life, they’re reading about maritime disasters, writing fiction, rock climbing, or walking their adorable dog, Moosh.

Learn about August

Related topics

Related Articles