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How to make the screen brighter at night
- Thread starter MacNut
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Several posts here in this issue, some say 10.0.2 fixed it…
There is no setting you can change, best suggestion in the threads is to provide feedback to Apple
Brightness seems to be limited to the amount of visible light. No way to override it.
In dim light, changing that setting doesn't do anything at all.
I did upgrade to 10.0.2 and it made a pretty significant difference.
The AW2 has been such a poor experience in a dim room or say while driving at night. The system is doing funky stuff unless you have some light source nearby
Apple doesn't get that sometimes you want your watch to be as dim as possible in the dark (just getting the time or something) so not burn your eyes out. And sometimes you want it bright because you're not in bed but just in a dark ambience and it is hard to read a display dimmed way way down in the dark. There should be some way to adjust this.
Some, like myself, feel that the software update did nothing to correct this. Unlike some have said, there is no way to change this. It’s a feature, sadly, not a bug. Apple has toted that the screen can get down to 1 nit of brightness vs the AWU1’s 2 nits of brightness. Having owned both models, in my opinion, 2 nits were ok but 1 is just too dark. It’s amazing to me that we feel such a difference between a single nit, but I do and it is maddening. The only upside is that battery life, to me, seems even more long lasting than the AWU1. I’ve been very impressed there, and suspect the 1 nit brightness feature is helping, but I was already pleased with battery life. I would sacrifice another nit for a little worse battery life, and that’s a setting I would like to have the chance to enable.
I really think the bigger problem, in my opinion, is just how dark the always on display is in everyday usage (not when the watch is at normal brightness, after you’ve turned down your wrist). To me, it’s noticeably dimmer than the 1st generation and a real disappointment.
This is exactly what I asked for in my feedback to Apple.
Feedback - Watch
Apple wants to hear from you. Send us your comments and feedback about Apple Watch.
www.apple.com
I’m having funky brightness issues with my Series 9
Sometimes the display is totally off, until I turn my wrist towards me. This morning, it’s dark when turned away, then when I turn it towards me, it brightens for half a second then it’s back to being dim. This is 100% reproducible at the lowest brightness level which is where is where I have kept all of my Apple Watches since the series 0.
I moved it to mid brightness and now the behavior is correct, but it’s too bright in most situations.
I suspect there’s some kind of display/ambient sensor driver bug. I hope they fix it asap.
Sometimes the display is totally off, until I turn my wrist towards me. This morning, it’s dark when turned away, then when I turn it towards me, it brightens for half a second then it’s back to being dim. This is 100% reproducible at the lowest brightness level which is where is where I have kept all of my Apple Watches since the series 0.
I moved it to mid brightness and now the behavior is correct, but it’s too bright in most situations.
I suspect there’s some kind of display/ambient sensor driver bug. I hope they fix it asap.
Having the same issue. Upgraded from S6 to S9 with OS 10 and it drives me nuts that I can't get it to lock in on brighter screen. Really hating the constant shifting back to dim. Often I have to turn my wrist away and then back to get it bring back brighter screen. or I will tilt my wrist more towards me than I'm used to doing with my older watch in order to get it to trigger brighter setting and hold for more than 5 seconds. Hopefully, they fix some of these bright/dim issues in further software updates as it really detracts from the usage experience.
I don't want to speak to soon because maybe it's just placebo effect and me wishful thinking, but i THINK the watchOS 10.1 beta 2 has made the new ultra a bit more responsive to dim ambient lighting. I installed it last night and compared it with my Series 5 and they seemed MUCH closer in brightness now than they did last week when I started complaining about this.This is exactly what I asked for in my feedback to Apple.
Feedback - Watch
Apple wants to hear from you. Send us your comments and feedback about Apple Watch.www.apple.com
Before:
After:
I know this does not help your issue, but I am assuming based on this statement on Apple's website that the dim screen is intended in dark situations:
"The biggest and brightest Apple Watch display ever. Powered by the all-new S9 SiP, the Always‑On Retina display is 3000 nits at its peak, making it even more readable in harsh sunlight. In low-light situations, it dims to 1 nit"
Yes, elmo0629. You are correct. We believe this was an intended benefit but some believe either the 1 nit brightness is just too dark or there may be a hardware issue with the ambient light sensor causing the watch to appear just too dark for some users.
I'm also seeing some funky behavior with the brightness on the S9 and my theory is that the watch is trying to guess what the best brightness level should be for the conditions. (I think the iPhone does this too.) For example, when I walk into a dark room the brightness does not go down very much for a minute or two and only after I have stopped moving around. I am guessing that it is giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the dark before dimming. Also when it is in Sleep Focus it seems to be dimmer.
It gets dimmer than my old watch with the 1 nit low, but when i'm on the couch at night with the hue lights pretty dim, I've seen the AOD get a bit brighter when i slowly rotate my wrist in a way that points the watch face more towards my face and the (low) light of the lamp. I'm noticeably less annoyed by it so i'm pretty sure it's at least improved readability in low light settings. I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts on it if anyones tried it.