How To Fix iPhone 12 Pro Max Dimmed Screen Issue (Low Brightness)
iPhone 12 dimmed screen fix.
You’ve just unboxed your brand new iPhone 12 Pro Max device, powered it on and noticed that the screen is much dimmer than your older iPhone? Don’t worry, the iPhone 12 dark screen problem can be fixed by tweaking some iOS 14 settings.
3 Ways To Fix iPhone 12 Screen Too Dim
This issue has been reported to us for occurring since day 1 on an iPhone 12 Pro Max unit. However, it could also happen on any other new model iPhone 12 mini, 12 or 12 Pro. Here is what you can do to fix it:
1. Adjust Brightness
The natural thing to start with is to manually adjust brightness. Swipe-down from the top-right corner of the screen to bring down the Control Center and use the Brightness toggle.
Tip: Long-press the Brightness controls to open up the expanded view. Use your finger to increase Brightness. Also make sure that Dark Mode and Night Shift aren’t enabled.
Fact: If you set Brightness to maximum and your iPhone 12 isn’t as bright as your previous iPhone, proceed with the next step.
2. Auto Brightness
Your next option is to make sure that Brightness on your iPhone is set to automatic. Even if it is, you can disable and re-enable this setting to make sure that a minor glitch is preventing it from working properly:
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll for Display & Brightness.
- Check the status of the Automatic setting. If it’s enabled disable it, force restart your device and re-enable it after the iPhone reboots.
3. Reduce White Point
Last but not least, the iPhone 12 dimmed screen could be caused by an Accessibility setting that’s role is to reduce the intensity of bright colors, to help users with visual impairments.
- Open Settings.
- Scroll for Accessibility.
- Tap on Display & Text Size, in the Vision section.
- Scroll for Reduce White Point and disable the option.
Tip: You can also use the control bar to set how strong the intensity of the strong colors is reduced.
Fact: We’re still waiting for confirmations, but apparently and iOS 14 bug, could automatically trigger the Reduce White Point setting, without the user being aware of it. If you’ve also experienced this problem and your brand new iPhone 12 or 12 Pro model don’t hesitate to use the comments section and share your feedback.
Updated (November 28)
iPhone 12 Low Brightness Cause?
Apparently the Automatic Brightness setting could in fact be the trigger of the iPhone 12 low brightness issue! As noticed by reader Gustavo the screen of the new iPhone displays less bright when Automatic Brightness is ON and the same level of brightness is set. Below is a quote from his comment:
“I have an iPhone 12 pro max with this behavior :
– Screen brightness set at 100% with Auto Brightness ‘ON’ and then turn AB ‘OFF’ the screen at exactly same 100% is much brighter!
– Screen AB on at 100% in darker room is less brighter than screen at 100% with AB on in bright room!
If I test exactly the same way with other values in the brightness screen like ( 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%), the same happens!”
Can you replicate the same issue, is this the cause for the dimmed screen issue on your iPhone 12? Use the comments section to share your feedback!
We’re trying to find out if the dimmed screen problem is caused by a bug that automatically enables Reduce White Point in iOS 14, or a bug that is triggered by the Automatic brightness setting. Either way the situation has been reported to Apple and this article has been attached to the report.
Related: Other day-1 problems reported for the iPhone 12 lineup are:
– iPhone 12 Pro Max not charging wirelessly with MagSafe
– iPhone 12 mini Lock Screen issues
– iPhone 12 No Service and poor cellular coverage
– iPhone 12 yellow screen problem
I’m having this issue. I disable it because sometime my screen gets very low light
Pedro, thanks for confirming.
I have a iPhone 12 Pro. I noticed shortly after I just updated the software the screen seem dimmer. Messed around with brightness settings still didn’t fix it. Then I realized white point was on and set at 80%. I don’t think I accidentally turned it on.
Mike, thanks for reporting. Good that you found the cause and fixed it. Let us know if Reduce White Point is triggered automatically again on your device.
Reduced white point turned out to be the source of my dim-screen (12 mini) issue as well – Thanks for the article!
Erik, you’re welcome. Thanks for confirming.
Thank you for writing this, the white point was the issue for me and fixed my problem.
Cmacattack, thanks for confirming this fix. Enjoy your new iPhone!
Hello I recently purchased iphone 12 pro max as well and I also noticed the huge difference with the brightness. When i compared to my old iphone XS max the iphone 12 pro max appears to be more dimmer. The white colour appears to be dirty white. Its nothing compared to my iphone xs max. It seems like im using an old tech phon2z
Howell, thanks for your feedback. I assume that you already checked if Reduce White Point is enabled, to fix it?
Hi, I have the exact same issue. Just bought an iPhone 12 Pro and there is a huge difference in brightness (also experiencing the ‘dirty white’ appearance Howell mentions).
I’ve already tried the solutions in this post, but doesn’t seem to work. Any other ideas?
Jose, thanks for your feedback. You can also check some of the tips listed in the iPhone 12 yellow screen topic: https://www.iphonetricks.org/how-to-fix-iphone-12-yellow-screen-display/
My iPhone 12 max pro dims several times a day and last for about an hour. It’s so dim you can barely see in daylight. The slider for brightness control does not work when this is happening. Also phone seems a little hot but even putting phone near a/c vent doesn’t help! Contacted Apple, went through Settings and no help.
Perry, have you tried to open the Camera app when this happens? Do you get the ‘Flash is Disabled’ temperature warning prompt? The overheating that you mention could be related to an app overloading issue that we’ve reported here: https://www.iphonetricks.org/iphone-12-pro-max-overheating-issue/
The dimmed screen might be a protection measure to prevent your iPhone from getting even hotter. Can you confirm this?
Have you figured it out yet. I have two pro max in my house hold. Mine does it but the wife’s don’t. Any insight. Should I return it.
That fixed it. Thanks so much1
Mark, you’re welcome. Thanks for confirming.
I have an iPhone 12 pro max with this behavior :
– Screen brightness at 100% AB on and then turn AB off the screen at exactly same 100% is much brighter .
– Screen AB on at 100% in darker room is less brighter than screen ar 100% AB on in bright room .
IF you test exactly the same way with other values in the brightness screen ( 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%…..) works the same.
My old LCD iPhones don’t do that .
** My reduce white point is disable .
Can you help me ?
Thanks
Gustavo, thanks for pointing this out. We’ve updated the main article with your info and we asked other readers to confirm if they experience the same issue. Let’s see if this gets confirmed. There’s nothing much that you can do at this moment, except of using the iPhone 12 Pro Max with Automatic brightness disabled and manually adjust the screen intensity to suit your needs.
P.S.: I assume that you attempted to force restart your iPhone to see if it makes any difference.
Thank you . Monday i’ll make an appointment with an Apple technician in an Apple authorized store here in Brazil where i live to see if this is a defect screen or is normal .
Thank you again to post my comment.
Gustavo, no problem. Thanks for sharing valuable info. Please let us know what Apple officials have to say about this. Good luck.
My wife and I are both having this issue. I’m on an XS Max and she is on an 11.
Has been happening since last update. Screen is quite dark and the brightness isn’t changing the brightness at all, even at 100%.
White point is not on.
Ben, have you tried to enable / disable the Auto-Brightness setting, that’s available in the Display & Text Size, Accessibility settings, below Reduce White Point?
Same issue. Just got a new iPhone 12 and it felt abit dim to what I was expecting. Mind you I am coming from a iPhone 7. When I compared 2 same videos of youtube the iPhone was dimmer. Then saw this article Disabled Reduce White point and now it is more bright than the iPhone 7.
Thanks!
Roko, thanks for confirming. Glad we could help.
I also had the same issue. But after turning off auto brightness, the issue was solved.
Thanks
Harsh, thanks for confirming. Glad we could help.
I just got my 12 Pro and wondered why my screen seemed dim. I went to the Reduce White Point setting and it was off, so I turned it on and it didn’t seem to make any difference, but when I turned it back off, my screen lit up. It’s like the setting was set, but not reflected in Settings. Turned it back in and it looked dim like before.
Clair, thanks for sharing. Glad that it worked out. Enjoy your iPhone 12 Pro!
Yes, Reduce white point WAS set, perhaps copied wrongly from old iPhone 6s plus.
Thanks for confirming. Glad that it’s sorted out now.
Hi there, I bought the 12 pro for my partner for early Christmas. We were scratching our heads wondering why the dim screen! All normal Brightness settings were covered so we really didn’t know.
Thanks to this article I went into Accessibility settings. The white point setting was actually fine BUT the auto-brightness setting right underneath the white-point one was set to Auto.
Annoying that auto-brightness appears in both Brightness settings and Accessibility – if it weren’t for this article I never would’ve checked accessibility.
Anyway, turned it off, and now the screen is perfect! Thank you.
Jen, thanks for sharing. Glad that we could help. Enjoy your new iPhone!
I turned off ALL the settings that have to do with the screen brightness, truTone, etc etc and. that helps, but the screen still dims about once per day for a few minutes to 80% or so, then a few minutes later it brightens back up. My wife has lost faith in all iPhone 12s now, so it’s going back.
William, I also noticed this behavior. I found that it helps to lock the iPhone and unlock it back to bring back the screen to normal brightness. It’s annoying indeed. She could wait it out a couple of days more. iOS 14.3 is coming on December 14: https://www.iphonetricks.org/ios-14-3-gm-version-doesnt-fix-important-bugs/
Very interesting. It also might be a loose or bad connector inside the unit
I don’t think so because it started happening on iPhone XR and iPhone XS too, right after iOS 14.2 update. It has to be software related.
Just got my 12 pro max today. And when restore the phone got warm and my screen dimmed for 5-8 mins then went back. Is this the same issue
Joseph, did your iPhone got warm or hot? If it overheated it’s normal for the Brightness to go down automatically to protect the device from overheating any further.
I got IPhone 12 pro max . But this big disappointment except I have feeling iPhone. People need come out phobia of iPhone. This is not worth for price we paid. Screen display is big issue.
Srini, thanks for sharing your feedback. Can you detail it please?
Thanks Patricia
Main problem is screen display. If I take photo from Front camera or view pics are very dark then usual
Turn off auto brightness .
While using my camera outdoors in direct sunlight. My screen went almost black making it impossible to see. I check AB it’s off White point was off the brightness was at 100% I could only see poor quality screen in darkness.
Scott, is it possible that you were using your iPhone in a hot environment? Or was your iPhone exposed to direct sunlight for a long time? If the device overheats, brightness will be automatically set to the minimum to help it cool down.
I’m having the same problem as Scott Coley. iPhone 12 Pro Max. AB – off. Reduce White Point – off. Brightness set to max. Only in broad daylight, the phone will start to auto dim. Incrementally until the screen is almost black. I can barely see the screen. This is the exact opposite of what the phone should be doing! Seems like a programming / code error and/or hardware issue. I keep the phone cool, so it’s not an overheating issue. Locking then unlocking does not / not help. Adjusting the brightness – nothing. The only thing that helps, only for a short time, is restarting the phone. All day long, I work outdoors and in my car, using my phone all the time, including for road navigation, so this is a major safety and work/profit issue for me. I’ve had the phone 5 weeks and I’ve been having the issue since day 1. I reported the bug to Apple online, but plan to call tomorrow. The phone is basically unusable during the day. I miss my iPhone X!
Sorry, not quite the same issue as Scott, since mine is independent of camera. But, it is a similar problem to Scott’s and what some others here describe. Also want to add that toggling the relevant settings does not help in my case.
Marko, thanks for detailing this. Yes, from what you describe it definitely looks that this is a bug and not normal behavior. Can you please mention if the iPhone also briefly loses brightness when you’re indoor, after you unlock it and you have to lock it back and unlock again to get normal brightness back? Or you’re only noticing brightness problems while you’re out in broad daylight?
P.S.: Is there a chance that you might be using a screen protector that interferes with the proper functioning of one of the sensors found in the notch area?
I have the same problem with my iPhone 12 pro thought its because of overheating powerful graphics or something, but my friend said he never had any issue like that. The I phone dim on its own randomly it’s very irritating as well couldn’t fix at all.
Anin, thanks for your feedback. Let’s hope that Apple will include a fix soon.
Thank you, the reduce white point on my brand new iphone 12 pro max was on. I updated to ios 14 as soon as I got it, so it must’ve automatically turned it on. Thanks to this article I could finally fix my dim screen. It was driving me crazy
You’re welcome. Thanks for confirming the fix.
I changed all the recommended parameters, but the phone screen is still dim after rebooting. It is pretty annoying to have a brand new phone which doesn’t work properly.
Samuel, I’m sorry to hear that our fixes did not help you out. Does iOS 14.4 make any difference?
Hi All
I tried everything and nothing helped
But then I performed Reset All Settings and I have not had the issue happen again (yet)
Harri thanks for sharing your fix.
White point as well was my problem for iphone 12., however the white appears slighlty warmer compared to my previous 11, Thank u guys for reporting the solutions
You’re welcome. Glad we could help.
Thanks. You saved my day.
My issue was auto brightness not giving the full brightness on iPhone 12 Pro.
I assume this will be fixed with an iOS update.
Glad that we could help. Enjoy your iPhone 12.
My screen gets so dark I can’t see the icons. I’ve done ask the recommendation for brightening the screen. After each I turn in the phone off, wait 5 minutes and turn the phone back on. It will be normal brightness until the phone is operational, 10 to 15 seconds, then goes dark again. I’ve had way too many issues with this IPhone 12 Max Pro. Nothing but headaches.
Sorry to hear about this Robert. Have you tried to turn automatic brightness off? and just update the brightness manually when you feel that you need to?
Had the same issue with my 12 pro max. Would dim after sleeping and different lighting even with auto turned off. Tried the white point adjustment and it has worked well. Didn’t think my screen could get so bright! Thanks for the help!
You’re welcome. Glad we could help. Thanks for sharing.