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iPhone X - wallpaper images look dull/dark

S

sdilley14

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 8, 2007
1,242
201
Mesa, AZ
wallpaper2.png wallpaper1.png

I'm running into an issue with my iPhone X where is seems like image quality gets reduced when I set a photo from my Camera Roll as a wallpaper. The wallpaper images appear to be darker and more dull. I attached a couple pics to illustrate what I'm referring to. One image was taken from the Settings app (screenshot while I was trying to crop/center the image) and the other is the desktop/wallpaper.

Any idea why image quality would be reduced when I set a photo as a wallpaper? Is it by design so that app icons "pop" more against the wallpaper?

Side note - in general this seems to be pervasive on my iPhone X. My iPhone 6 seems like it's brighter and images are more "brilliant" (for lack of a better term). Whites seem brighter and colors seem to "pop" more on the iPhone 6. iPhone X display seems to be a bit darker (even on max brightness with TrueTone turned off) and dull.
 
Noticed the same thing on mine. I have an all black wallpaper with the Knicks logo in the middle. In the Photos app, the orange and blue in the logo pop, but once it's set as the wallpaper, the colors seem darker. This is WAD I guess.
 
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ayobonus said:
Noticed the same thing on mine. I have an all black wallpaper with the Knicks logo in the middle. In the Photos app, the orange and blue in the logo pop, but once it's set as the wallpaper, the colors seem darker. This is WAD I guess.
Click to expand...

It's an odd issue. On my phone I've noticed that whites in general look a little more beige than white in some apps. Not sure if the screen needs to "warm up" or get "broken in" or something? The overall color profile just seems off :/
 
It’s probably intentional to prevent idiots from trying to set very bright pictures as wallpaper and cause burn in.
Yes I noticed it too, it also makes the icons and text more legiable.
 
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It's not an issue people. Not every little thing you come across that you don't like is necessarily an issue.

iOS home screen icons and labels used to have drop shadows. When they got rid of them, there were legibility problems for some apps and the labels, so Apple has dimmed home screen wallpaper since iOS7. It dims the lock screen wallpaper too, to a lesser degree, to allow max legibility of the clock and notifications.

Dimming also helps them keep their battery usage claims within reach.
 
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Lol, people have only now started realizing the wallpaper is darker? It’s been like this since iOS 7.
 
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Freezer001 said:
Maybe this is the first iOS device they’ve ever had or didn’t have the earlier versions of iOS. Crazy, huh?
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This ^^^

I've been using an iPhone 6 up until last week. I've never noticed any difference in wallpaper brightness prior to upgrading to the iPhone X. But now I know why!
 
1096bimu said:
It’s probably intentional to prevent idiots from trying to set very bright pictures as wallpaper and cause burn in.
Yes I noticed it too, it also makes the icons and text more legiable.
Click to expand...

What? Does burn in only happen if the image displayed is specifically a wallpaper? Cuz I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works. I look at all kinds of brightly colored stuff on my phone all day sometimes. I’d say mostly everyone does the same (pictures, videos, apps, etc.) I’m fairly certain Apple just darkened the wallpaper ONLY so that other parts of the UI are still easy to read and see (not to prevent burn in from “idiots” who just want a cool wallpaper).
 
sdilley14 said:
View attachment 736218 View attachment 736217

I'm running into an issue with my iPhone X where is seems like image quality gets reduced when I set a photo from my Camera Roll as a wallpaper. The wallpaper images appear to be darker and more dull. I attached a couple pics to illustrate what I'm referring to. One image was taken from the Settings app (screenshot while I was trying to crop/center the image) and the other is the desktop/wallpaper.

Any idea why image quality would be reduced when I set a photo as a wallpaper? Is it by design so that app icons "pop" more against the wallpaper?

Side note - in general this seems to be pervasive on my iPhone X. My iPhone 6 seems like it's brighter and images are more "brilliant" (for lack of a better term). Whites seem brighter and colors seem to "pop" more on the iPhone 6. iPhone X display seems to be a bit darker (even on max brightness with TrueTone turned off) and dull.
Click to expand...
I've read apple puts a shade of grey on the wallpaper. Intended
 
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