When you look at a sheet of white paper under bright fluorescent office lights, it takes on a cool, bluish hue. When you look at that exact same piece of paper under warm, incandescent living room lamps, it takes on a soft, yellowish tint. Your brain automatically compensates for this, allowing the paper to look “white” in both environments. To mimic this natural phenomenon and reduce eye strain, Apple introduced True Tone technology to the iPad display. True Tone utilizes advanced multi-channel sensors to dynamically measure the ambient light in your room and actively adjust the color temperature and intensity of your screen to match it.
Why You Might Want to Disable True Tone
For casual reading, web browsing, and writing emails, True Tone is an incredible feature that makes the glaring iPad screen feel much more like reading a physical book.
However, if you use your iPad Pro for professional photo editing in Adobe Lightroom, color grading video in Final Cut Pro, or digital painting in Procreate, True Tone is actively working against you. By constantly shifting the white point of the display based on your room lighting, it destroys color accuracy. A vibrant blue sky might look perfect to your eyes while editing in a warm coffee shop, but when you export the photo, you will discover the file is completely ruined. For any color-critical work, you must disable True Tone.
How to Disable True Tone via Settings
You can toggle the feature permanently from the main Settings app.
- Open the Settings app on your iPad.
- Scroll down the left-hand navigation pane and tap on Display & Brightness.
- Look under the “Brightness” slider at the top of the right-hand panel.
- Locate the toggle switch labeled True Tone.
- Tap the switch so it turns gray (Off).
You will likely notice an immediate, jarring shift in your screen’s color temperature as it snaps back to a harsh, absolute white point.
How to Disable True Tone via Control Center
If you only edit photos for a few hours a day and want to turn True Tone back on for nighttime reading, navigating through the Settings app every time is tedious. Fortunately, you can toggle it instantly from the Control Center.
- Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPad screen (where the battery icon is) to open the Control Center.
- Locate the vertical brightness slider.
- Press and hold your finger directly on the brightness slider to expand it to full screen.
- In the bottom right corner beneath the giant slider, you will see a dedicated True Tone icon (it looks like a small sun).
- Tap the icon to turn it off or on instantly.
- Tap anywhere on the blurred background to exit the menu.