iPhone Screen Flashes White When Unlocking iOS 16? (Fix?)
Last updated on May 3rd, 2023 at 04:56 pm
Posted in Errors and Issues by Patricia on October 10, 2022
iPhone screen flashes white when unlocking
Is your iPhone screen flashing white when unlocking? Does the display light up to maximum brightness for a brief second when your pick up your device to unlock? Is this happening after iOS 16 update?
iPhone Screen Flashes White When Unlocking?
This issue has been reported by Naomi:
“Screen flashes white almost every time I grab the phone and it wakes up to unlock. This hurts my eyes. It only started after i updated to ios 16? Please help me out.”
We’ve found a similar report on Reddit, dating from the iOS 16 beta stages:
“Every time I unlock the phone or even lift it to unlock it the screen flashes at maximum brightness for a moment and then goes back to a normal level.”
Fact: We’ve been able to replicate this issue on iPhone 13 Pro and earlier models, which makes us deduct that this might be an Always On Display related bug. As if iOS 16 might falsely detect that iPhone is in AOD when you raise to wake.
How to Fix iPhone Screen Flashes During Unlocking
This is most likely a bug that has to be addressed by Apple in an upcoming software update. Until then here is what you can do to fix it:
1. Restart Device
We’ve noticed that the issue is temporary solved with a reboot. We recommend you to apply the force restart combo:
Click & release Volume Up, followed by Volume Down and press & hold Side Button until the screen turns black and a white Apple logo is displayed.
2. Turn Off Auto-Brightness
You might also get rid of the annoying screen flash by disabling the Auto-Brightness feature. However, this will affect battery life on your iPhone in the long run.
How to: Settings -> Accessibility -> Display & Text Size -> Auto-Brightness
3. Aftermarket Screen Replacement
According to kyubi screen flashes white when unlocking if an iPhone is serviced with an aftermarket display and gets the iOS 16 update.
In this case your only option is to replace the screen again with an original display.
Can you confirm this scenario? Use the comments!
Have you managed to get rid of the iPhone white screen flash during unlocking? Do you have a better solution or other problems to report? Share your feedback in the comments.
Related: For more day-one iOS 16 problems and their available workarounds please check our extended review available here.
Hi,
I’m facing this issue right now with iOS 16.2. I have tried upgrading to the 16.3 beta, and it still happens. Both steps to fix it didn’t work for me. I wanted to downgrade to the latest iOS 15, but I haven’t got a backup from that version. Do you know if the issue is going to be addressed and fixed in the next update(s) ?
Thanks a lot,
Steven
Hi Stevent. Not sure if it will be fixed. iOS 16.3 Beta 2 is out now so you could try it to.
If nothing works you can downgrade to iOS 15.6 RC, even though if you don’t have a backup. You have to create one just before downgrading and then use this tweak to make it compatible with iOS 15.6.
Thanks Patricia. I’ve tried the latest beta and it was not fixed. I’ve downgraded to 15.6 (thanks for your guide!) and I’ll wait that you confirm that the issue is resolved in one of the next iOS 16 updates hopefully, before upgrading.
PS; I now can’t upgrade from 15.6 to 15.7, apple forces me to chose 16.2. I’m using an iPhone 12 mini. Is there a way to upgrade or should I stick with it?
Good. Yes, 15.7.1 has been unsigned and 15.7.2 is only available for iPhones unable to run iOS 16. However, there is a trick that allows you to still install iOS 15.7.2 using delayed OTA configuration profile. That requires you to bring iPhone in supervised mode to trick the OS that you went back in time with the help of a delayed configuration profile. This way iOS 15.7.2 will show up in Software Update you can install it and then delete the delayed OTA profile to bring your device back to the current date.
If that’s too complicated you can as well stick with iOS 15.6 RC.
It seems that the 15.7 updates regard a lot of security fixes. Is there a risk staying with 15.6?
Yes, that’s correct. If you’re an average iPhone user you should be fine. If you’re worried about it, you can use the delayed OTA configuration profile option to update to 15.7.2.
Hello Patricia, do you know if the issue has been fixed following the 16.3 release? Thank you, Steven
It is iOS 16.4 now and this issue is still not addressed by apple . It is still happening
I’m facing the same problem after a week updated to 16.4. I’ve sent my phone to apple to check but not sure that issue will be fixed or not
Was the issue fixed?
Did not experience it in 16.4.1.
Do you have a followup for this?
All these above wont fix this fcking frustrating issue because it only happens to iphone that have aftermarket display and i can guarantee that bc i on 12 sep when i got new screen + ios16, my screen was blinking everytime i unlocked and tried to figure out how to stop, anyways i got the original screen back and it was NEVER blinking
Thanks for sharing this. That’s an interesting find. Anyone else can confirm this?
hey, im pretty use 99% of this issue is from aftermarket display, but if u have a fake screen and run ios15 then there is less or no blinking at all because apple stated this on their website about non-genuine display :
“The iPhone display is engineered together with iOS software for optimal performance and quality. A nongenuine display might cause compatibility or performance issues. For example, an issue might arise after an iOS software update that contains display updates.”
therefore their message basically tries to convey that fake screens are unable to handle the new lockscreen feature (new fonts in ios16) therefore malfunctions & flashes white
Thanks for sharing this info. It makes sense.