Summary
- To prevent your iPhone’s screen from automatically turning off, open Settings, go to Display & Brightness, and select “Never” from Auto-Lock.
- Disabling the auto-lock feature reduces battery life and security since your iPhone will no longer lock automatically when not in use.
- If you encounter dimming screen issues, check if Auto-Brightness is enabled and disable it in Accessibility settings.
Does your iPhone screen keep going dark or turning off while reading something, checking a shopping list, or playing a game? There’s an easy way to turn off auto-lock on an iPhone in Settings.
How to Disable Auto-Lock on an iPhone
The reason your iPhone’s screen keeps dimming and turning off is because of a feature called Auto-Lock, which automatically puts the iPhone into sleep mode after a certain period of time. Two-thirds of the way through the set period, the screen dims to half brightness. To fix it, you need to turn the feature off.
First, open Settings on your iPhone. Swipe down in the middle of your iPhone’s Home Screen to use Apple’s built-in Spotlight Search (by typing “Settings”) if you can’t find the app on your device.
Tap “Display & Brightness.”
Scroll down and tap “Auto-Lock.”
If you have Low Power Mode enabled, Auto-Lock will be set to “30 seconds,” and you won’t be able to tap on the option to change it. To change that, first
disable Low Power Mode
under Settings > Battery.
Under Auto-Lock settings, you’ll see a list of time options. These determine the length of time your iPhone’s screen will stay lit before turning off and going into lock mode. Since we want to turn the setting off entirely, select “Never.”
Now, whenever you wake your iPhone, its screen will stay awake and the device won’t lock until you instruct it to by pushing the Side button.
If you keep having trouble with a dimming screen even after you disable Auto-Lock, it could be because Auto-Brightness is enabled. You can turn off the “Auto-Brightness” option on your iPhone under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size by switching “Auto Brightness” off at the bottom of the page.
It’s Usually Best to Enable Auto-Lock Again Later
Although useful at times, there are some drawbacks to disabling the Auto-Lock feature. The obvious one is battery life. Your iPhone will run out of battery charge much faster if you leave the screen on all the time. This is because your iPhone’s screen is one of the biggest battery drains.
The second is security: If you leave your iPhone on, and it doesn’t lock automatically, anyone can potentially use it. Auto-Lock is a nice safeguard so that when you put your unlocked iPhone down and walk off, there’s a good chance it will automatically lock before someone can get their hands on it.
Just be sure to turn “Auto-Lock” back on when you’re done. To do that, repeat the steps above and select a time limit from the list instead of “Never.”