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The iPhone and iPod touch displays have precise brightness controls, and thanks to a light sensor, they're smart enough to automatically adjust brightness depending on environmental lighting conditions. But it's not always perfect especially if you use it at night, and if you're in frequently changing lighting conditions that behavior can reduce battery life. To put an end to those auto-adjustments and to change the brightness level yourself, you can head to the iOS Settings app:
- Open Settings and tap on "Brightness & Wallpaper"
- Adjust the brightness slider for immediate response
- Flip "Auto-Brightness" to OFF to have the screen stop automatically adjusting brightness
Combining the adjustment with Auto-Brightness OFF means the screen will stay at the exact level that has been set by the slider, it won't change depending on exterior lighting conditions. Similarly, setting the brightness level with the slider and keeping auto enabled makes it function as an upper limit, whereas the screen will not go brighter than what is indicated.
The screen can be extremely bright which makes it possible to easily read in direct sunlight, but for most uses and for a longer battery life you'll find a setting as low as 1/3 or 1/4 is more than adequate for indoor and outdoor situations.,
This is actually a fairly decent way to keep battery life consistent, since maintaining a tolerably lower brightness level can have a significant impact on battery life of the iphone and just about all other mobile devices, and preventing the really bright upward swings will draw less power. You may want to adjust the auto-locking feature as well, which can also dim the screen and turn it off after a specified period of time of inactivity.
iPad and iPhone owners know that adjusting the screen brightness is not a universal process across iOS devices, and on iPad the brightness level is always accessible in the task bar. Why that feature isn't the same on an iPhone or iPod touch as well is a bit of a mystery, but future versions of iOS may correct that.
