In this article, I want to cover several things: how to control brightness manually, how to control it automatically, and how to stop the iPad from dimming. how brightness affects battery levels and the lifespan of the iPad.
How To Manually Adjust Brightness on iPad
There are two options for how to do it: through the control center and through settings.
Using Control Center
- Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open the Control Center.
- Drag the brightness slider up to increase or down to decrease the screen brightness.

Using Settings
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Display & Brightness.
- Drag the brightness slider right to increase or left to decrease the screen brightness.

How To Stop iPad From Dimming Automatically
If you’ve noticed your iPad’s screen dimming unexpectedly, it might be due to the “Auto-Brightness” feature or low battery power-saving settings. Here’s how to adjust these settings:
Understanding Auto-Brightness
The “Auto-Brightness” feature adjusts your screen brightness based on the ambient light conditions. This helps conserve battery life and provides a comfortable viewing experience. However, it can be turned off if you prefer a consistent brightness level.
Turning Off Auto-Brightness
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Select Display & Text Size.
- Scroll down and toggle Auto-Brightness off.
Additional Considerations
If your iPad continues to dim, it might be due to low battery power-saving features. Ensure your battery is adequately charged or disable any power-saving settings.

True Tone

True Tone makes your iPad’s display automatically adjust to its surroundings. iPad adjusted the screen based on the ambient lighting conditions, which makes the colors appear more consistent. What does it mean? Well, depending on your surroundings, it will make your display appear slightly warmer or cooler.
How To Turn ‘Ture Tone’ on and off:
- Open ‘Settings’
- Tap on ‘Display & Brightness’
- Toggle ‘True Tone’ on or off, depending on your preference
Night-Shift

You might wonder what’s the difference between True Tone and Night Shift, well it’s quite simple – True Tone works on your surroundings, and Night Shift is scheduled. You can set your desired time when the iPad goes into Dark mode and Light mode.

Night Shift makes your display warmer. Why is it important? Well, the night shift has this amazing features that reduce the blue light that causes eye strain. Blue light before bedtime is not healthy. This is exactly why I would recommend using your iPad in dark mode, especially at night.
Night shift will make all the colors warmer, which will lead to the effect that your display feels dimmer. It’s a small price to pay for better sleep. This is a setting you should use if you use your iPad before bedtime, whether it’s watching movies or reading something.
Does Auto Brightness Save Battery Life?
Yes, auto brightness does save battery life. However, that’s entirely dependent on your use case. For instance, if you tend to keep your iPad on extremely low brightness settings manually, Auto Brightness will tend to brighten itself up in some cases, which can cause additional battery drain.
However, keep your device’s brightness on the higher end. You’ll be able to save up a lot on battery life as the ambient light sensor present for Auto Brightness will be able to detect the lighting environment of the room and adjust itself accordingly.
Certainly! Here’s a more polished and concise version:
How to Turn On Auto-Brightness on iPad
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Select Display & Text Size.
- Scroll down and toggle Auto-Brightness on.
With Auto-Brightness enabled, your iPad will automatically adjust the display brightness based on ambient lighting conditions, providing an optimal viewing experience and helping to save battery life.
Final Thoughts
The latest iPad Pro has peak brightness levels of up to 1600 nits. You can manually and automatically(Dark Mode, True Tone, and Night Shift.) control the brightness level on your iPad.
There’s a big difference between using iPads at the highest and lowest brightness. Here’s an example:


These pictures are taken 10 seconds apart. There were no lightning changes made in the room. The screen wasn’t cleaned, nothing. The picture on the left has iPad on the lowest brightness settings and the picture on the right has iPad on the highest brightness settings.
iPad on the highest brightness settings even lights up the room, and you can’t see any smudges and fingerprints on the screen.
The highest brightness settings make your iPad more enjoyable, but they also drain your battery faster.
FAQ’s
What should I do if my iPad keeps dimming even with Auto-Brightness turned off?
To stop iPad from dimming automatically you will also need to disalbe ‘Ture Tone’ and ‘Night Shift’ settings in order to stop your iPad from dimming automatically. You can do that in Settings>Display & Brightness
Why iPad screen dims after 30 seconds?
In order to prevent this from happening, you need to turn off auto-brigthness, true tone and night shift. You can also disable auto-lock function on iPad.
Does dark mode helps save battery?
Generally, Dark Mode significantly reduces your iPads’s overall battery consumption. Dark pixels consume less power than bright ones.
Is there a way to prevent my iPad from dimming during video playback or reading?
Yes, you can prevent your iPad from dimming during video playback or reading by turning off Auto-Lock in the Settings app under Display & Brightness, and adjusting the Auto-Lock setting to Never. Additionally, some video apps have settings to prevent dimming while the video is playing.
How does low power mode affect screen brightness on my iPad?
Low Power Mode on iPad reduces screen brightness on your iPad to conserve battery life.
Can I set different brightness levels for different apps?
No, the iPad does not allow you to set different brightness levels for individual apps. The brightness setting is system-wide and affects all apps equally.
Which iPad Has The Brightest screen?
As of the latest models, the iPad Pro 13-inch (7th generation) with the Ultra Retina Tandem OLED display has the brightest screen. Which can reach up to 1600 nits (peak). Which is also one of the best iPads overall and one of the best tablets overall.
I'm a writer and editor in iPads & Android Tablets, Windows Tablet section. I'm passionate about technology, especially about tablets. I'm on a mission to assist people in discovering their ideal tablets. In addition, I'm dedicated to producing helpful how-to guides and sharing top-notch tips and tricks. In my early carrier I founded and became and editor at worldoftablet and have been a guest author at many other tech blogs. In wolfoftablet I'm focusing on iPads, Tablets, Apple Pencil, Apps, Reviews, Buyers Guides and Tablet Accessories. In free time I like to play games on my PS5 or iOS.