Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macak

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 9, 2018
38
12
Canada
I disabled the automatic brightness adjustment. Despite of this. Every time I open the lid of my M1 MacBook Air the brightness is always set to 50%. It doesn't matter what setting I had chosen before. Has anyone noticed the same phenomenon?
 

donawalt

Contributor
Sep 10, 2015
1,284
628
From my experience any of the three settings in system preferences/display - automatically adjust brightness (of course), True Tone, and night shift will adjust brightness on you. Mine only started staying the same when I had all 3 off.
 

Gill Bates

macrumors regular
Aug 28, 2014
106
13
Thanks for this.
It's been irritating me too that brightness wasn't fixed even though I have "automatic brightness adjustment" off (or what its called).
My guess is that it's the night shift doing it
 

donawalt

Contributor
Sep 10, 2015
1,284
628
I actually experimented - first adjust brightness was always off. Then I just did Night Shift on - still happened. Turned that off and put True Tone on - still happened. Both off - does not happen, ever.
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
3,325
I always disable all those things when setting up macOS. I like to have manual control. It’s only a couple of clicks to change anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gill Bates

Gill Bates

macrumors regular
Aug 28, 2014
106
13
I just tested.
Night Shift is off.
True Tone is off.
Automatic brightness is off.

Set brightness to 90%.
Close lid.
Open lid.
Brightness is set to 50%.

Ok set brightness to 30%.
Close lid.
Open lid.
Brightness is still 30%.

What gives..
I want my brightness fixed.
 

Gill Bates

macrumors regular
Aug 28, 2014
106
13
Ok it seems disabling "slightly dim display while on battery power" removed any changes happening to the brightness after close/open lid.
Or maybe it's a mix of that and disabling those other things.
But at least it now stays where I left it
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sanpete

donawalt

Contributor
Sep 10, 2015
1,284
628
Hmm. I have always had "Slightly dim..." turned on, and I have had not problems with night shift and True Tone turned off. As an experiment, I just turned Night shift and True Tone back on, and turned off "Slightly dim..." - I care more about Night Shift and True Tone if I am able to use them. I'll report back, just in case "Slightly dim..." is the real culprit. I never thought of that since I have issues when not on battery.
 

Macrumorsss

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2018
64
18
OMG YES, I agree with you, this is so annoying. I always need full brightness and that is how I set it, but once it goes to Sleep or Powers off and I power it back on the brightness is recalibrated even though all settings to auto recalibrate are disabled. Looks like a BUG to me.
 

Macrumorsss

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2018
64
18
I disabled the automatic brightness adjustment. Despite of this. Every time I open the lid of my M1 MacBook Air the brightness is always set to 50%. It doesn't matter what setting I had chosen before. Has anyone noticed the same phenomenon?
Hi, I'm not sure if this is a permanent solution, but I just updated the software to version 11.0.1 and this resetting of the brightness issue appears to have been resolved. Again, just one day of testing this out so not sure this is a long term solution yet. As with every updated proceed with caution.
 
  • Like
Reactions: delsoul and Sanpete

Macrumorsss

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2018
64
18
Hi, I'm not sure if this is a permanent solution, but I just updated the software to version 11.0.1 and this resetting of the brightness issue appears to have been resolved. Again, just one day of testing this out so not sure this is a long term solution yet. As with every updated proceed with caution.
Actually, I guess this has nothing to do with the update. My issue was resolved with a setting. Once I unchecked the Slightly Dim the Display While on Battery Power, the issue has gone away.
1606409228537.png
 
Last edited:

delsoul

macrumors 6502
Mar 7, 2014
453
709
If you use your screen brightness very high, this might explain...


  • Turn on “Slightly dim the display while on battery power”. This setting lets your Mac adjust the display brightness to 75% when you unplug the computer from power.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.