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No doubt, iPhones are engineered to dissipate heat. You need to understand that sometimes they can overheat, depending on a couple of factors. A good one is when you have an old/faulty battery. In a way to help you cool your iPhone, the screen will dim to reduce the power demand and cool your phone.
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Is it normal for my iPhone screen to dim by itself?
Several different factors could make your iPhone screen dim by itself. So, if you’re currently experiencing this issue, you need not worry too much as you’re not alone.
Having checked through various social media platforms and forums, I found out that the screen dimming issue is one of the common issues that iPhone users experience. Here are a few of the similar complaints below:
AnthonyAllstate, an iPhone X owner on Apple Community, mentioned that his device “randomly dims for about 10-15 minutes and then brightens up again by itself.” Adding to that, the user also mentioned that the iPhone misbehaves irrespective of whether or not the auto-brightness is on.
Here’s a brief of what the iPhone X user said regarding the screen dimming issue below:
“My iPhone X Screen dims on its own For about 10-15 minutes then gets brighter again All on its own! I do not have auto-brightness on. I do not have tutone on. I have no settings that would affect the screen.”
You can also check here (1,2,3,4,5) to see more complaints regarding the iPhone screen dimming issue.
As you have seen above, the iPhone screen dimming issue is a very common problem png iPhone users. Also, you need to understand that this issue has been around for a while.
The good news is that there are a couple of ways that you can go about fixing the issue. The only problem, however, is that before you can be able to address the problem, you need to first understand where the issue is coming from.
Here are some causes of iPhone screen random dimming issue
Is the auto-brightness on?
The very first question you need to ask yourself when you notice your iPhone misbehaving and dimming randomly by itself is – is my auto-brightness turned on?
Auto-brightness is a feature that was first introduced to iPhone 11. It helps to adjust your iPhone screen brightness, depending on your ambient light. If the auto-brightness feature is toggled on, it’ll make your phone screen dim randomly as your light conditions change.
If auto-brightness is the cause of your screen dining issue, then it’s safe to say that it’s normal for your iPhone to behave this way.
Did you just repair or replace your iPhone?
Another common reason iPhone screens dim randomly has a lot to do in the situation where an iPhone has just been repaired. Yes, an iPhone could dim randomly – if it’s not properly set.
Apart from that, you need to also understand that a damaged backlight circuit could be also the culprit of the dimming issue. Another thing that could cause the issue is if you have a low-quality screen installed on your iPhone.
Overheating
Overheating is one of the common issues of iPhones. You’ll mostly experience this issue if your phone battery is faulty. That’s not all; having too many applications running simultaneously on your iPhone could also cause overheating.
Unfortunately, overheating could make your iPhone screen dim randomly. This mostly happens irrespective of whether or not you have the auto-brightness feature enabled on your phone.
Why does my iPhone screen dim when hot?
As you now know, your iPhone screen could dim randomly if the device is overheating. There are a couple of reasons why that’s possible. However, before talking about that, let’s quickly look at some common causes of the iPhone overheating issue.
Causes of iPhone overheating
A lot of things could cause your iPhone to overheat. One of the common factors is a faulty phone battery. A faulty battery could overwork itself; if this happens, one of the warning signs that you’ll get is iPhone overheating.
To be sure if “faulty battery” is the reason your phone is getting hot, go to your “settings app” and tap on “battery” to know your battery status.
Do you have too many applications running on your iPhone? If yes, you need to understand that this could also be the reason that your iPhone is overheating unnecessarily. If this is the case, I’ll advise that you remove the unused apps running in the background.
Are you currently streaming on your iPhone? If yes, you need to understand that over streaming could also result in excessive heat for your iPhone.
Furthermore, if your iPhone is not up to date, it could cause a series of issues to your iPhone. Software updates are rolled out regularly to help fix bugs, deliver security patches, and improve the functionality of your phone. So, if you fail to update your iPhone at the right time, it could cause overheating.
Here’s why iPhone screens dim when hot
As you now know, a lot of things could make your iPhone overheat when working. There’s a limit to the amount of heat that your iPhone can hold. This explains whilst iPhone screens dim when hot.
The main reason why the screens dim during overheating is to help reduce power demand and cool down the phone. After a few minutes of cooling the phone, the dimming will go and your iPhone will become bright again.
How do I stop my iPhone screen from dimming randomly?
You can always stop your iPhone screen from randomly dimming by using any of the methods below. Of course, you need to understand that the effectiveness of each of the methods depends, to a large extent, on the cause of the iPhone dimming issue.
Turn-off auto-brightness
As you already know, auto-brightness is one of the common causes of the iPhone screen dimming issue. To fix this issue, all you need is to go to your settings app, locate auto-brightness, and turn it off.
You can do that by navigating this way: Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. Under “Display & Text Size,” scroll to the bottom of the page and tap the toggle button in front of auto-brightness to switch it off.
Remove apps running in the background
Could it be that your iPhone screen automatically dimmed itself because the phone is hot? If yes, then you need to find out the causes of the overheating.
- As you now know, having too many apps running on your iPhone could cause overheating. If this is the case, the best way to address this issue is to remove the unnecessary apps that are making your iPhone misbehave.
- Faulty battery, as earlier mentioned, is another culprit of iPhone overheating. Now, you need to check your battery health status. If after that, you notice that the battery is faulty, you need to consider replacing it.
- Have you recently updated your iPhone? If not, maybe this is the cause of the overheating. Consider updating to the latest software so you can get improved functionality and security patched to keep your iPhone working perfectly.
By fixing the issue of overheating on your iPhone, you’ll be able to address the screen dimming issue you’re currently experiencing.