AW7 Auto Brightness?

[edtorious]

This is a well known issue and started with Series 5 and always on screen. It’s not the brightness of the screen but the light sensor which doesn’t always wake up correctly

I returned my series 5 because of this problem, then series 6. I’ve been waiting for series 7 to hopefully fix this issue because the series 4 was always bright when the screen activated in a dark room or light room it always felt bright and easy to read without my reading glasses

Well I can confirm the series 7 has fixed this problem for me.

Honestly its a well known problem and I’ve posted about this a few times now and even posted example pictures of a series 4 vs series 5,6 but the series 7 has resolved the issue


Here is my post from series 4 vs series 5

Series 4 vs Series 5 brightness

So purchased another S5 with 6.2.1 to see if the bugs have been finally fixed and no The S5 brightness at night time is awful compared to my S4. Why apple ? Took a picture of S5 and S4 both max brightness and always off with S5

forums.macrumors.com

Here is my post from series 4 vs series 6

Series 6 screen still not fixed

forums.macrumors.com

Honestly my series 7 is just as bright as series 4 and now sold the old watch FINALLY

We are talking about the brightness of the display when we’re in a dark room. The watch automatically turn down the brightness for some reason when we’re in a dark room only and no way to disable it. I tried turning off the always on setting but still not working. Are you saying when you’re in a dark room, the brightness on your display is still as bright as when you’re in a bright room?

 

[beerglass007]

We are talking about the brightness of the display when we’re in a dark room. The watch automatically turn down the brightness for some reason when we’re in a dark room only and no way to disable it. I tried turning off the always on setting but still not working. Are you saying when you’re in a dark room, the brightness on your display is still as bright as when you’re in a bright room?

Pretty much yes.

The older 5 and 6 series had slow or even faulty sensors. You could get the screen brighter in a dark room by putting the screen to sleep [ cover over with hand and then quickly release ] If you do this once or twice it would wake up much brighter as the sensor hasn't got time to react to the dark light and provide a full lit screen

The series 7 has fixed this problem and appears to be much brighter all of the time when waking up in a dark room

Please read my posts I link as I've been living this problem for years and reporting on this and done loads of tests

Honestly the series 7 is a lot better

 

[MrGimper]

Pretty much yes.

The older 5 and 6 series had slow or even faulty sensors. You could get the screen brighter in a dark room by putting the screen to sleep [ cover over with hand and then quickly release ] If you do this once or twice it would wake up much brighter as the sensor hasn't got time to react to the dark light and provide a full lit screen

The series 7 has fixed this problem and appears to be much brighter all of the time when waking up in a dark room

Please read my posts I link as I've been living this problem for years and reporting on this and done loads of tests

Honestly the series 7 is a lot better

I think I may be ok too..... I'm running watchOS 8.1 RC and un-paired and re-paired my phone....

HOWEVER! ... I think I was just being an idiot anyway... The only dark room I looked at my watch in was my bedroom, when "sleep" was active. When I looked at it last night and rotated the crown to get off the sleep face, it then went to my normal face and that was still dim. I then went into control centre and disabled sleep and the screen went really bright. Enabled sleep from CC again and literally saw the screen dim as soon as I hit the icon. Hit the icon again, and brightness.

I'll continue to test

 

[spinedoc77]

They really need separate brightness controls for AOD and fully on. I'd rather have my AOD much dimmer than it is, but fully on much brighter.

Anyone else ever get a super super dim screen on wake occasionally? This happened frequently with my S3 and I just assumed the screen was going bad, but now I've seen it on my S7. It's super dim, like you can barely read anything on the screen, if I sleep and rewake it, it's back to normal.

 

[edtorious]

Pretty much yes.

The older 5 and 6 series had slow or even faulty sensors. You could get the screen brighter in a dark room by putting the screen to sleep [ cover over with hand and then quickly release ] If you do this once or twice it would wake up much brighter as the sensor hasn't got time to react to the dark light and provide a full lit screen

The series 7 has fixed this problem and appears to be much brighter all of the time when waking up in a dark room

Please read my posts I link as I've been living this problem for years and reporting on this and done loads of tests

Honestly the series 7 is a lot better

My watch is ok waking up bright when I'm in a bright room but when I'm in a dark room whether on sleep activated or not, the display is not bright when I wake it up. I tried your suggestion in covering it over my hand and it does not work.

It's just that a couple of people here posted as having the same problem as mine so I assumed it's a new watch feature where the auto brightness kicks in somehow when you're in a dark room preventing it from going to full brightness. But if what you're saying is true then we may have a faulty watch and will need to report or return my 7 to Apple. Has anyone tried reporting it to apple support yet?

 

[Otflyer]

I have two series 6 watches that do it. It’s probably the way they were designed. Not a defect.

 

[edtorious]

Ok, I found a workaround from Apple forum and it works but only temporary until you take it off and charge it and will have to do this again.

1. Select the 'Phone' app
2. Select 'Keypad'
3. Press the Digital Crown twice to return back to your clockface

 

[MrGimper]

I think I may be ok too..... I'm running watchOS 8.1 RC and un-paired and re-paired my phone....

HOWEVER! ... I think I was just being an idiot anyway... The only dark room I looked at my watch in was my bedroom, when "sleep" was active. When I looked at it last night and rotated the crown to get off the sleep face, it then went to my normal face and that was still dim. I then went into control centre and disabled sleep and the screen went really bright. Enabled sleep from CC again and literally saw the screen dim as soon as I hit the icon. Hit the icon again, and brightness.

I'll continue to test

Having tested again last night, but without using "sleep", it appears brightness is much better in a dark room.

Again, not sure what effect running watchOS 8.1 RC and un-pairing, re-pairing as new has had.

 

[highdefjunkie]

Ok, I found a workaround from Apple forum and it works but only temporary until you take it off and charge it and will have to do this again.

1. Select the 'Phone' app
2. Select 'Keypad'
3. Press the Digital Crown twice to return back to your clockface

That actually worked. Thanks.

 

[Apple_Jae]

I feel like another brick in the wall, but I too came from a series 4 to the black titanium series 7 and cannot get over how much dimmer the screen is when I’m in a darker room. The consensus seems to be split between those saying the auto-dimming is a feature rather than a defect, and those who feel it’s an issue with the ambient light sensor.

The trick posted above (open the PHONE app on the watch, then click the green “back arrow,’ then Keypad, then press the Digital Crown to return to the home screen) “fixes” the dim screen temporarily, but as was noted, the brightness resets if you take the watch off. I also noticed that after doing this, the brightness can’t be turned down from the Display & Brightness, in the device settings.

If this is a feature, it’s a terrible one. But if there‘s even a chance it’s a defective light sensor, Apple’s replacing it. I don’t mind dropping the $$ for my Apple toys, but I spent almost $1100 on my Apple Watch and expect it to function like a watch I just dropped $1100 on.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

My S6 gets brighter when I twist my wrist to look at it then after around 5 seconds it slowly dims. I'd say it's not a bug or hardware failure, just the way it's designed to work.. I'm sure it's to extend battery life

 

[Xand&Roby]

AOD seems like a bug more than a feature.
I don’t understand when it’s useful, but these threads tell me “ok, wait another release to replace the 4 Series”. ??‍♂️

 

[highdefjunkie]

Again, I don’t think it’s a defect, but rather apples way of getting better battery life out of the watch. but at least give us the option. That’s all I ask because I always charge my watch. Rarely do I let it get below 40%

 

[SoYoung]

So in the end, is the AW7 brighter than Series 5 and 6 in dark room or its the same thing? Just want a confirmation to decide if I buy it or not.