Apple Watch Ultra Display Too Dim in Low Light, Say Some Users

[Rafagon]

Goes down to 1 nit at night which was the point. I think the solution should be that it only drops this low if the watch is in sleep focus. In general low light conditions the display needs to be brighter.

I couldn't agree with you more.

And as I keep repeating, give us a slider for brightness selection like we get for the iPhone.

And stop controlling the brightness with the ambient light sensor. We (or at least I) want the ability to set the brightness level that makes me happy. And yes, I'm aware that setting it too bright may have consequences for my battery life. Let me deal with it.

 

[Reeneman]

Rough release of new products in this year from Apple.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

I notice that garmin users, much like vegans, feel a strange need to let everyone know not only that they are garmin users/vegans, but that they are so much happier than everyone around them about it (and they really really are not trying to hard too be convincing) and then close with a line hinting at their disapproval of everyone around them. It sure is boring.

I notice that Apple users, much like vegans, feel a strange need to let everyone know not only that they are Apple users/vegans, but that they are so much happier than everyone around them about it (and they really really are not trying to hard too be convincing) and then close with a line hinting at their disapproval of everyone around them. It sure is boring.

There, fixed it for you!

 

[anthogag]

The next Ultra should be thinner and could have a larger display.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I notice that Apple users, much like vegans, feel a strange need to let everyone know not only that they are Apple users/vegans, but that they are so much happier than everyone around them about it (and they really really are not trying to hard too be convincing) and then close with a line hinting at their disapproval of everyone around them. It sure is boring.

There, fixed it for you!

FYI you're on an Apple forum so it is not odd to find fans of Apple here. It is however peculiar for people who detest Apple to frequent an Apple forum. Just saying.

 

[Robin Bonathan]

Same issue on the Series 9 as well.

not finding that

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

FYI you're on an Apple forum so it is not odd to find fans of Apple here. It is however peculiar for people who detest Apple to frequent an Apple forum. Just saying.

I don't detest Apple. I just call out hypocrisy when I see it. Someone has to. Also, I can actually admit that I am not happy with the direction Apple has been going in terms of innovation and I am not a fan of how buggy iOS has become. I am not one to blindly defend Apple like many MR forum members do.

 

[t0rqx]

They do everything to make you upgrade. First the green hue now lowering the brightness that it is unreadable.

 

[Donka]

not finding that

Seems to be certain circumstances that trigger it. Was watching a film at home with long sleeves on. Pulled up my sleeve to see the time and could barely make out the screen when I lifted my arm to see it. Because the lights were off, the screen remained very dark. Had I been out walking in pitch darkness then I'm sure I would be able to read it okay as my eyes would have been adjusted but not in this scenario. Was never an issue with the Series 7 in two years I owned it.

 

[NMBob]

I hate that I can't tell if you're serious or not.

Haha. Semi-kidding, but metal and glass do expand and contract differing amounts with temperature change. However, I'm sure the folks that didn't do enough testing to notice their new phones burning up when charging/being used did adequate testing for this expansion thing.

 

[roncron]

I don't detest Apple. I just call out hypocrisy when I see it. Someone has to. Also, I can actually admit that I am not happy with the direction Apple has been going in terms of innovation and I am not a fan of how buggy iOS has become. I am not one to blindly defend Apple like many MR forum members do.

I give MR forum members more credit than you. I don't see much blind defending of Apple, and I see a lot of criticism of Apple from people who generally love their Apple gear.

I also don't see many Apple fans or vegans looking down at non-Apple fans or non-vegans. We're either having different experiences, or you are making condescending generalizations about groups of people.

I'm guessing we're just having different experiences.

Regarding Apple's directions and how buggy iOS has become. I don't disagree with you. Apple has apparently decided that they sell more iPhones by adding new functionality to iOS than by focusing on stability. That sucks. Apple seems to think "stable enough for most people" is good enough, usually.

That said, my experience with the iOS 17 betas and now the public release has been better than with iOS 16 and earlier. And iOS 17 seems to have fewer standout features than iOS 16 and earlier--it seems more of an iterative update.

Most macOS Sonoma testers on this forum reported a pretty good experience with the betas. (I'll still wait until .2 or .3 to install it.)

So maybe Apple finally listened to the many voices who complained about stability issues in earlier versions of these OSes?

 

[bobcomer]

I'm sure this is because human eyes take longer to adjust to dark conditions than a screen takes to dim. Is it still dim after 30 minutes in the dark? Do you have vision problems? The solution is an option to increase the brightness - increasing it for everyone would be a shame for those than can make use of the increased range.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to increase brightness in low light conditions. The watch brightness setting doesn't seem to make a difference. It's definitely a problem in both night mode and just low light conditions. And it's not because my eyes aren't adjusted, it's like this all the time in low light. Yes, it's still too dim after 30 minutes, or three hours, or whatever.

It's my only complaint about the watch -- I love it otherwise!

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

I give MR forum members more credit than you. I don't see much blind defending of Apple, and I see a lot of criticism of Apple from people who generally love their Apple gear.

I also don't see many Apple fans or vegans looking down at non-Apple fans or non-vegans. We're either having different experiences, or you are making condescending generalizations about groups of people.

I'm guessing we're just having different experiences.

Regarding Apple's directions and how buggy iOS has become. I don't disagree with you. Apple has apparently decided that they sell more iPhones by adding new functionality to iOS than by focusing on stability. That sucks. Apple seems to think "stable enough for most people" is good enough, usually.

That said, my experience with the iOS 17 betas and now the public release has been better than with iOS 16 and earlier. And iOS 17 seems to have fewer standout features than iOS 16 and earlier--it seems more of an iterative update.

Most macOS Sonoma testers on this forum reported a pretty good experience with the betas. (I'll still wait until .2 or .3 to install it.)

So maybe Apple finally listened to the many voices who complained about stability issues in earlier versions of these OSes?

If you think what you've said here is true, you are not reading many comments on this forum. I see people blindly defending Apple in a very creepy, cult like way quite often. I would say we are having vastly different experiences here.

 

[bobcomer]

My Series 6 – recently replaced with a Series 9 – did not exhibit this problem, yet the newer model does… And it's noticeable in the space of a week, so unlikely to be vision related.

I replaced my Series 6 with a Ultra2, and yes, I never had any trouble with my Series 6 in low light, it was always readable. Not true with the U2.

 

[bobcomer]

You mean 1 nit, not 2, assuming you have an AWU2. The best solution here is a user setting for those who want more brightness, back to 2 nits, perhaps, in low light mode.

2 nits isn't near enough, more like 50 would be readable.

 

[Radeon85]

Very easy fix for this, how about a custom setting under display options so you can set the minimum brightness and maximum brightness, plus this works for all watches not just the ultra. If you want say 50% or 75% as the max brightness even outdoors then your also saving power.

Come on Apple, it can't be that had to add two sliders.

 

[spazzcat]

But it's also true. My watch alarm complication states ALL ALARMS OFF, when my regular Sleep alarm is set for 07:00. It always showed on OS9 and earlier.

There are always bugs, but when you make every little bug a headline, it will make seem like a bigger deal than it is.

 

[GDMcG]

The Apple Watch Ultra display is too difficult to read in low light conditions, report some users, an ambient light sensor issue that is likely linked to Apple's watchOS 10 software update last month.

There are multiple complaints from MacRumors readers (1, 2), Reddit users (1, 2, 3, 4), and Apple Community users who say that they are unable to read information on the Apple Watch Ultra display in dark environments because the screen is too dim, suggesting the device's ambient light sensor has not been properly calibrated to increase brightness to an adequate level.

Launched last month, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 pushes the maximum screen brightness to 3,000 nits, making it the brightest Apple Watch ever, according to Apple. The display is also capable of reducing brightness to as low as 1 nits.

Some Ultra 2 owners have pinned the blame on this new hardware specification, however the recent uptick in reports also includes users of the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra, suggesting it is an issue with Apple's watchOS 10 software update, which was released in September.

Users say the issue is particularly pronounced when quickly moving from a bright room to a dark area, and when the Wayfinder and Ultra Modular watch face is set to Night mode, which puts a red filter on the display. Legibility issues persist despite manual adjustments to the brightness level in the watch's Settings. Both Ultra and Ultra 2 owners say the problem is evident on models updated with watchOS 10.0.1 and the latest watchOS 10.0.2 update.

• Apple Watch Ultra: How to Activate Night Mode

Apple is reportedly aware of the issue, so hopefully a future software update will remedy the situation. Have you experienced difficulty reading information on the Apple Watch Ultra's screen in low light? Let us know in the comments.

(Thanks, Joshua!)

Article Link: Apple Watch Ultra Display Too Dim in Low Light, Say Some Users

Can confirm. My 1st gen Ultra gets way too dim now.

 

[_Spinn_]

For what it’s worth, the auto brightness on my ultra 2 seemed to act a bit weird with iOS 10.0.1 / 10.0.2 - sometimes it would get darker on wrist up instead of brighter, and darken itself to an unreadable level but go brighter on wrist down.

The good news is that I haven’t experienced any similar issues in watchOS 10.1 beta - so it’s possible that it’s already been fixed.

I’ve had that problem for the last 2 years on my old series 7. I was disappointed when the Ultra 2 did the same thing.

 

[bobcomer]

You can fix it by disabling night mode from auto-engaging until they fix it in watchOS.

I did that just now, but the setting is not under display/brightness. (which it should be!!) It's only in the watch face settings.

I almost bet it'll still be too dim to read in a darker room. We'll see! I have the brightness set to it's maximum brightest and it's not all that bright in a normally lit office. Maybe if you could turn off the ambient light sensor, but that's not possible. Googling it just now I see a lot of requests for this since the ultra1 came out!

 

[_Spinn_]

I haven’t noticed the too dim behavior but I’ve noticed that sometimes when the screen dims on my Ultra 2 it will flash brighter once per second. It doesn’t happen all the time but it is annoying and still frequent enough that I just recently turned off the always on display. Has anyone else noticed this behavior?

 

[n789am]

The Apple Watch Ultra display is too difficult to read in low light conditions, report some users, an ambient light sensor issue that is likely linked to Apple's watchOS 10 software update last month.

There are multiple complaints from MacRumors readers (1, 2), Reddit users (1, 2, 3, 4), and Apple Community users who say that they are unable to read information on the Apple Watch Ultra display in dark environments because the screen is too dim, suggesting the device's ambient light sensor has not been properly calibrated to increase brightness to an adequate level.

Launched last month, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 pushes the maximum screen brightness to 3,000 nits, making it the brightest Apple Watch ever, according to Apple. The display is also capable of reducing brightness to as low as 1 nits.

Some Ultra 2 owners have pinned the blame on this new hardware specification, however the recent uptick in reports also includes users of the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra, suggesting it is an issue with Apple's watchOS 10 software update, which was released in September.

Users say the issue is particularly pronounced when quickly moving from a bright room to a dark area, and when the Wayfinder and Ultra Modular watch face is set to Night mode, which puts a red filter on the display. Legibility issues persist despite manual adjustments to the brightness level in the watch's Settings. Both Ultra and Ultra 2 owners say the problem is evident on models updated with watchOS 10.0.1 and the latest watchOS 10.0.2 update.

• Apple Watch Ultra: How to Activate Night Mode

Apple is reportedly aware of the issue, so hopefully a future software update will remedy the situation. Have you experienced difficulty reading information on the Apple Watch Ultra's screen in low light? Let us know in the comments.

(Thanks, Joshua!)

Article Link: Apple Watch Ultra Display Too Dim in Low Light, Say Some Users

The old manual process to turn night mode on was so much better. I have so many times that its on in dim light settings and yes the night mode is too dim for my old eyes.

 

[bobcomer]

Apple should definitely give the end-users proper control over this. I understand that Apple wants their batteries to last a certain amount of time, but *gasp* amazingly the end-user is capable of determining when their device runs out of charge (hint to Apple devs; you see, it works like this: When the battery runs out of charge on one of the devices you sell, it shuts off. Making it very clear that the battery is out of charge, and making it easy for the end-user to figure out they are using more power than the battery can provide in any given period of time.) I use the "bring up the Phone Dialer" every single day because my Apple Watch absolutely refuses to be as bright as I want it to be any other way. And yet I've never once ran it out of battery life. Why? Because I know, better than Apple does, what my usage scenario is. Not giving end-users full control over a basic function such as screen brightness is utter arrogance on the part of Apple. Give us a "min brightness" and "max brightness" and be done with it, instead of assuming you know better, when you don't.

I get well into the 4th day before I have to recharge my Ultra 2 -- I'd gladly give away half that so that i could always see what it says!

 

[beansontoast]

not finding that

I am, my Series 9 is unreadable in very low light. That's no problem if I check the time during the night while it's in nightstand mode, but hopeless anywhere else.

 

[bobcomer]

I wholeheartedly agree with this post. It could be isolated incidents or just another bunch of whiners. These people… SMH.

We're *just* whiners if it doesn't perform as we think it should?

Well yeah, I paid a heck of a lot of money for this and it's not nearly as good as my series 6 at night. So yes, I'm a whiner, but wouldn't you be if it weren't satisfactory to you?