Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I mean... it could but it doesn't. The options appear to be using the other wrist or getting a different watch.
Quite possible is just software. Apple seemed to change as little of the hardware as possible. And any time Apple makes even the most minor hardware “upgrade” they shout it from the mountain tops.

Obviously, their testing of a broad range of demographics in a wide variety of circumstances is suspect. Is likely a lot of machine learning involved in all these sensors, which makes testing all the more important. An improvement for one group can lead to a loss of function for another.
 
  • Like
Reactions: darngooddesign
Not to discount this issue...but do people know how eyes work? If you move from a bright room to a dark room, you aren't going to see dim lights for a few seconds/minutes as your eyes acclimate to the new brightness levels. I also suspect people could be looking at max brightness iPhones or a TV in dark rooms, then looking at a 1/2 nit watch display.

Just don't want these people to force apple to ruin my 2 nit night mode which is one of my favorite ultra features.

Add an accessibility setting to force a minimum brightness level, problem solved.
well, so happens I work for one of the world's largest eye care companies focused entirely on vision issues, and know well how eyes work. While I don't have an Ultra, going from an S6 to S9, there the dim screen is a hot mess.

While for last 3 years I could lay on sofa watching a 2hr movie and glance at my watch to read notifications, now, even after 2hrs I can barely read the screen. Have to tap the crown or something to trigger it to go into brighter mode. Very disappointing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: missingar
I turned off night mode because it was having issues deciding what brightness to go to and whether to go to night mode while I’m indoors.

1. Tap to wake watch.
2. Watch gets bright.
3. Watch dims down.
4. Sometimes night mode comes on and then turns off.
5. Watch adjusts to correct brightness.

It was really annoying so I just shut off auto night mode. I don’t know if it’s’ just me or anyone else is having this happen. I don’t know if it’s a hardware issue or software. I haven’t really seen anyone talking about it except a few folks on reddit. I feel like the watch should make a decision what brightness to display and whether to display night mode before it turns on the screen. But I’ll admit that I don’t really know how all of the hardware works.
I've seen all that except for 5, it never gets to the right brightness if I'm in a darkened room. I turned off night to see if it helps, and it does, but I want it even brighter.
 
The auto switching is the single worst thing Apple has done to the watch. It switches to the red dial way too quickly and often, and I can't find a way to put switching back to the crown.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: xgman and usmaak
Apple, give us the means to fully adjust brightness in any mode for daytime or night. Just like on Macs, I want full control over the display. There’s too many human differences in reading vision, night vision etc for a one size fits all solution. Also perhaps a sensor calibration tool.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: xgman and bobcomer
I turned off night mode because it was having issues deciding what brightness to go to and whether to go to night mode while I’m indoors.

1. Tap to wake watch.
2. Watch gets bright.
3. Watch dims down.
4. Sometimes night mode comes on and then turns off.
5. Watch adjusts to correct brightness.

It was really annoying so I just shut off auto night mode. I don’t know if it’s’ just me or anyone else is having this happen. I don’t know if it’s a hardware issue or software. I haven’t really seen anyone talking about it except a few folks on reddit. I feel like the watch should make a decision what brightness to display and whether to display night mode before it turns on the screen. But I’ll admit that I don’t really know how all of the hardware works.
I can confirm, the watch can’t decide the brightness on wake up (always on is on). Had this issue with my U2 from the launch day. Was glad to be able to turn the night mode off (hate it anyway) - at least it’s not jumping into red anymore. The same or related problem with long sleeves: when I lift my sleeve to look at the watch, it takes some time and several adjustments until the brightness gets normal. Did not experience any of these with my Series 6 (even on watchOS 10).
 
Not discounting the experience of others, but I haven’t noticed an issue with legibility or brightness on my Ultra 2. However, I did turn night mode off. The flickering between normal and night mode in borderline, ambient light conditions was too frustrating. Always on is off, and brightness is set to the middle step on their scale.
 
Well it was fine on Ultra 1 with ios 16, so..... assuming it's not the hardware since it CAN get bright in the day, a simple software adjustment could do the trick. When will that happen is the question..
 
Could you use the other wrist? I never thought about the ink blocking the sensors, but who knows.
I cant use the other wrist, its not comfortable for me as I am a lefty..
Paying premium and hoped that it would work premium..

 
  • Like
Reactions: bobcomer
i really like the very dim red night mode
personally i can read it well

user adjustable - yes why not
but i wont change it as i really like it
 
I like it! Maybe make a setting to select the dimmest it will go if anything. I’d imagine the 1 nit saves a lot of battery. Which I also like.
 
user adjustable - yes why not
Why not is a very good question. I can't think of a valid answer since Apple is usually pretty good with the accessibility stuff.

but i wont change it as i really like it
That's certainly good for you, but it makes it so it's useless for me as a sleep tracker, if I can't see it in the dark, why bother wearing it at all at night. I turned off night mode and it's still not bright enough to read in the dark, even with a different face than the new ultra modular. Raise to wake doesn't work very well either, but that's always been a problem for me, so I have to touch the screen to wake it up. (I use always on)

I still like the watch, but it could do more for me than it does presently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xgman
I cant use the other wrist, its not comfortable for me as I am a lefty..
Paying premium and hoped that it would work premium..

View attachment 2287450

“Paying premium” does not exclude you from the laws of physics. If your ink is interfering with sensors, then you can take that up with the universe and its structure instead of expecting Apple to provide a quantum exception to your body decoration for a few hundred dollars.
 
  • Angry
Reactions: bobcomer
Way too dim in low light. Unusable. Gonna have to return it. Back to my watch 3. At least you can read it at night.
 
“Paying premium” does not exclude you from the laws of physics. If your ink is interfering with sensors, then you can take that up with the universe and its structure instead of expecting Apple to provide a quantum exception to your body decoration for a few hundred dollars.
He says that an older version of the Apple watch worked better than the new ultra, so it's a very valid complaint. I could see what time it was in the dark with my AW6, and can't with my AWU2 -- just how are we supposed to not want these things when they worked on Apple hardware before?
 
I thought my eyesight was getting worse with age 😂 (I'm 32) but I couldn't see a thing with night mode on even when I went out at night time.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.