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Software or hardware problem, screen dimming with auto brightness off?

Kal-037

Kal-037

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 7, 2015
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Depends on the day, but usually I live all over.
i just bought an iPad Pro 10.5” I set it up and did a full reset as it seemed like while using in normal use (photos/safari) the brightness went down a few nits by itself. I turned off True Tone and auto brightness right when I set up the iPad. I have had iPads do this before I returned them... question is it a hardware or software problem?
The brightness is not turned up all the way it’s only about 75%


Kallum.
 
If the CPU is working intensively, it can dim the screen to reduce heat. If normal use, like you say, it should not dim by itself. Been using my 10.5 for a while now and have it set on auto.
 
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Newtons Apple said:
If the CPU is working intensively, it can dim the screen to reduce heat. If normal use, like you say, it should not dim by itself. Been using my 10.5 for a while now and have it set on auto.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree with this assessment. My iPad Pro 12.9/2015 dims itself on idle when I go in a dark room, and brightens in a bright room. This is the first post I’ve seen on this and am curious for the reason myself.
 
Kal-037 said:
Like I posted above I spoke to Apple and they immediately suggested I send it in for repairs. So some dimming is normal when it’s being used for very intensive tasks... but not for normal use like looking at photos (not RAW or huge file photos.)


K.
Click to expand...

Good to know. If you have Apple repair your iPad, please update us on what happens. I’d like this issue to stop. I don’t have auto-brightness on but I do have TrueTone set for only a certain window of time.
 
Same problem on newest replacement, goes dim by 25-35%... I’ll be taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow. This time I may just return it. I’ll probably head to staples and hope staples’ iPad batch will not have this issue. Plus may as well see if they will do a PM with Microcenter (then maybe I can even snag a 256GB model)

Just Incase people want to judge and think I’m only returning this just for a price adjustment... I’m not. As I’d only save $50.00, (not worth a hassle of driving out and returning something or playing the “hope this model has no problems” game again.) Darn now that I think about it, I am not looking forward to that.


Kallum.
 
Kal-037 said:
Same problem on newest replacement, goes dim by 25-35%... I’ll be taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow. This time I may just return it. I’ll probably head to staples and hope staples’ iPad batch will not have this issue. Plus may as well see if they will do a PM with Microcenter (then maybe I can even snag a 256GB model)

Just Incase people want to judge and think I’m only returning this just for a price adjustment... I’m not. As I’d only save $50.00, (not worth a hassle of driving out and returning something or playing the “hope this model has no problems” game again.) Darn now that I think about it, I am not looking forward to that.


Kallum.
Click to expand...
Lol, I doubt you'll find an iPP that wont self-adjust its brightness. Mine's doing the same thing on normal (non-intensive) usage. True-Tone Off, sometimes I'm set to full brightness, sometimes at around 75%. That genius you were talking to clearly had no idea this is happening to these devices. I have a feeling its the horrible iOS11. Anyway, good luck and keep us posted.
 
Well my 2018 9.7” less powered Ipad isn’t doing it and I’ve been putting it through the ringer, it hasn’t adjusted brightness once. So besides iOS 11 having issues I also never had my original gen 2, 12.9” dim at all either so as much as I’d like it to be software, no other iPad I’ve owned has done this (not the 2017) not the 2015 or 2016 iPPs.
If it happens again I’ll skip this iPad and wait for the next update.


K.
 
Kal-037 said:
Well my 2018 9.7” less powered Ipad isn’t doing it and I’ve been putting it through the ringer, it hasn’t adjusted brightness once. So besides iOS 11 having issues I also never had my original gen 2, 12.9” dim at all either so as much as I’d like it to be software, no other iPad I’ve owned has done this (not the 2017) not the 2015 or 2016 iPPs.
If it happens again I’ll skip this iPad and wait for the next update.


K.
Click to expand...
Did you pick up another 10.5? I hope you got this sorted. Glad to hear it is not happening on the 2018 iPad.
 
walkthruwalls said:
Cool! Keep us posted.
Click to expand...
Contacted Apple support just to let them know of the issue. As usual they are so darn polite and professional, anyway... both advisors I chatted with believe it is a software issue and will pass the problems I described to their engineers. I am afraid to upgrade to iOS 11.3 now though. While I love the better features, I am scared and might stick with iOS 10 for a bit, lol.


Kallum.
 
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Kal-037 said:
Contacted Apple support just to let them know of the issue. As usual they are so darn polite and professional, anyway... both advisors I chatted with believe it is a software issue and will pass the problems I described to their engineers. I am afraid to upgrade to iOS 11.3 now though. While I love the better features, I am scared and might stick with iOS 10 for a bit, lol.


Kallum.
Click to expand...
I had to upgrade to 11.3on my iPP yesterday because my 12.9 was freaking out (on screen keyboard would constantly pop up, crashes etc.).

I have noticed the dimming when my iPad idles or gets warm (it was getting warm yesterday while I was annotating pdfs), though I suspect my recent issues are due to gaming (seems like my iPP does not like Fruit Ninja or Smash Hit. They play even worse on my iP7+).

I will keep an eye on things though and report back if there are any issues. I hope your 10.5 behaves.
 
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kazmac said:
I had to upgrade to 11.3on my iPP yesterday because my 12.9 was freaking out (on screen keyboard would constantly pop up, crashes etc.).

I have noticed the dimming when my iPad idles or gets warm (it was getting warm yesterday while I was annotating pdfs), though I suspect my recent issues are due to gaming (seems like my iPP does not like Fruit Ninja or Smash Hit. They play even worse on my iP7+).

I will keep an eye on things though and report back if there are any issues. I hope your 10.5 behaves.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your kind posts Kazmac, I’m sorry to hear your iPad is not acting super perfect either. I hope that IF my iPad must dim, it doesn’t do so during non intensive tasks, and I really hope Apple addresses this in iOS 11.4 or iOS 12.



Kallum.
 
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