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I don't get the Apple Watch Ultra auto brightness

L

lars666

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
1,216
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To be fair, I just got my Apple Watch Ultra and maybe I'm still missing something, but I don't understand the auto brightness behaviour of my AWU. It starts to dim the display very soon while I am using it, meaning constantly pressing something so that it can't be because of the 15 / 70 second limit (which probably would put the AW to sleep anyway). Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember this with my Apple Watch Series 4 which kept the brightness constant while using it. The whole brightness regulation on my new Apple Watch Ultra seems a bit "hyperactive". I am sitting in a constant lightning situation right now.

Do I have to worry about a faulty brightness sensor? Or is this normal? Maybe I am imagining things and it was the same with my Series 4, but I'm a bit confused.
 
Hi there,

You are not alone with the auto brightness issue.

Check out:

I was hoping, that the 9.1 update will solve my problem (display gets much too dimm in a dark surrounding), but it did not.
Seems, that not all Ultra watches have auto brightness issues, so I already ordered a new watch and will return my current one.

Compared to a series 4 watch, the auto brightness settings have changed, so the display gets a little darker when dimming starts, but in my case you can not even read the display as long as I am in a dark surrounding.

This or similar issues exist since series 5 and there are many postings in different forums. You Tube videos show an other strange effect: If you open the dial pad of the phone app, brightness turns to 100% .By pressing the crown to go to the app selection screen directly from the dial screen, brightness stays at 100%.

I am not sure, why this issues are not addressed by Apple. The Apple support told me, that they are not aware of the topic. This sounds strange to me, because you can find many postings and videos about it by a simple Google search.
 
Last edited:
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Coming from a Series 5,6, and 7.. I see no difference in activity. But I'm seeing people from Series 4 to Ultra having this issue for some reason.
 
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techno-Zen said:
Coming from a Series 5,6, and 7.. I see no difference in activity. But I'm seeing people from Series 4 to Ultra having this issue for some reason.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your answer, appreciated and interesting to know that I'm not alone. Maybe Series 4 didn't have a brightness sensor yet or a more basic one? Will try to find this out.
 
EyeOS said:
Hi there,

You are not alone with the auto brightness issue.

Check out:

I was hoping, that the 9.1 update will solve my problem (display gets much too dimm in a dark surrounding), but it did not.
Seems, that not all Ultra watches have auto brightness issues, so I already ordered a new watch and will return my current one.

Compared to a series 4 watch, the auto brightness settings have changed, so the display gets a little darker when dimming starts, but in my case you can not even read the display as long as I am in a dark surrounding.

This or similar issues exist since series 5 and there are many postings in different forums. You Tube videos show an other strange effect: If you open the dial pad of the phone app, brightness turns to 100% .By pressing the crown to go to the app selection screen directly from the dial screen, brightness stays at 100%.

I am not sure, why this issues are not addressed by Apple. The Apple support told me, that they are not aware of the topic. This sounds strange to me, because you can find many postings and videos about it by a simple Google search.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your answer, too – saw this one after the other reply. Hearing that not all Ultra watched have this issue, I'm getting a bit more frightened now again that it could be a hardware defect – however, I don't think that mine goes all the way down to THAT extreme low (not being able to read the display anymore) so that your problem may be another hardware issue ...?

Will keep my eyes open, thanks again!
 
As already mentioned, the auto brightness settings have changed since series 5.
But it is for sure no „getting used to it-effect“ if you can not read the characters on your watch display as long as you are in a dark surrounding.
And the dimming of the display should definitely give you enough time to read the screens content.
 
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EyeOS said:
As already mentioned, the auto brightness settings have changed since series 5.
But it is for sure no „getting used to it-effect“ if you can not read the characters on your watch display as long as you are in a dark surrounding.
And the dimming of the display should definitely give you enough time to read the screens content.
Click to expand...
I just tried the telephone app trick also mentioned by you and in the reddit thread in the very last post of the MacRumors discussion you've linked - now also my Apple Watch is much brighter! (and consistently so)

If this is the way it SHOULD be or a kind of "bug" which makes the watch brighter, but not the way it is intended – I don't know ... Probably second, as this would be now TOO bright for my low setting, I guess.
 
lars666 said:
To be fair, I just got my Apple Watch Ultra and maybe I'm still missing something, but I don't understand the auto brightness behaviour of my AWU. It starts to dim the display very soon while I am using it, meaning constantly pressing something so that it can't be because of the 15 / 70 second limit (which probably would put the AW to sleep anyway). Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember this with my Apple Watch Series 4 which kept the brightness constant while using it. The whole brightness regulation on my new Apple Watch Ultra seems a bit "hyperactive". I am sitting in a constant lightning situation right now.

Do I have to worry about a faulty brightness sensor? Or is this normal? Maybe I am imagining things and it was the same with my Series 4, but I'm a bit confused.
Click to expand...
You’re not alone. It’s really conservative about how long to keep the brightness up. It’s not that it gets too dark for me to read, I keep my brightness pretty high, but what’s the point of lighting up the display if your]’re going to just dim it again before it’s useful.
 
Analog Kid said:
You’re not alone. It’s really conservative about how long to keep the brightness up. It’s not that it gets too dark for me to read, I keep my brightness pretty high, but what’s the point of lighting up the display if your]’re going to just dim it again before it’s useful.
Click to expand...
Yes, what "stresses" me is the unnecessary dimming "action" while using the watch. I also chose low setting as default, doesn't have to be bright, but please keep the level consistently while I'm using the watch.
 
I guess, it is a bug.
There is no reason, why only the dial pad turns brightness to 100%.
And why brightness stays at 100% independent of the brightness around you.

What worries me is the fact, that this bug exists since months and is not fixed.
The auto brightness issues may be a hardware problem of some watches, but this bug seems to be a general issue.
 
I see no difference in how the screen adjust brightness on my Ultra compared to my series 7 SBTi, except if it is bright outside or the Sunday hits the screen the brightness goes nuclear! Brightens screen I have see on any watch. I love it.
 
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