If you are trying to read a long recipe while cooking, or staring at a lengthy article on your iPhone, you have likely experienced the screen suddenly dimming before turning completely black. This is Apple’s “Auto-Lock” feature, designed to save battery life and secure your device. If you find this constant dimming frustrating, you can adjust the timer or turn it off entirely.
How to Change the Auto-Lock Timer
By default, most iPhones are set to dim and lock after just 30 seconds of inactivity. You can easily extend this.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Display & Brightness.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the menu and tap on Auto-Lock.
Here, you will see a list of time intervals ranging from 30 Seconds up to 5 Minutes. If you select 5 Minutes, your phone will wait a full five minutes without any touch input before it begins to dim the screen.
How to Stop the Screen from Ever Dimming
If you are actively referencing something on your screen and want the display to stay bright indefinitely, you can completely disable the feature.
In the same Auto-Lock menu, scroll to the very bottom of the list and tap Never.
Warning: Selecting “Never” means your iPhone screen will remain brightly lit until its battery completely dies, or until you manually press the physical side power button to lock it. This setting can drain your battery rapidly, so it is highly recommended to switch it back to a standard time limit once you are finished reading your recipe or article.
Why is “Auto-Lock” Grayed Out?
If you go into your Settings and find that the Auto-Lock button is grayed out and stuck on “30 Seconds,” it means your iPhone is currently in Low Power Mode. Apple strictly enforces a 30-second screen timeout when Low Power Mode is active to conserve the remaining battery. You must turn Low Power Mode off (Settings > Battery) before you can change the screen dimming timer.