A user of the Pixel 9 Pro XL has reported problems with the auto-brightness feature, explaining that he often needs to manually adjust the screen brightness to suit his comfort. He noted that he upgraded from the Pixel 7 Pro, where he did not face this issue.
Possible Cause
Reddit user matteventu suggested a potential cause for this problem. He believes that transferring a backup from the user’s previous device (Pixel 7 Pro) might have carried over its adaptive brightness settings to the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Since the two devices have different display panels with varying brightness capabilities and curves, this transfer could lead to incorrect auto-brightness predictions.
In terms of hardware specifications, the display panel of the Pixel 9 Pro XL can reach up to 2000 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM), while the Pixel 7 Pro can only reach up to 1000 nits under the same conditions.
Resetting Adaptive Brightness
If you are experiencing similar issues, you can try resetting the adaptive brightness by following these steps:
- Navigate to Settings > Apps > See all apps.
- Search for “Device Health Services” and select it.
- Go to Storage and cache.
- Tap on Clear storage, then select the ‘Reset adaptive brightness’ option to reset the adaptive brightness.
However, Aamir Siddiqui from AndroidAuthority points out that this method may not fully reset the model that the phone has been fine-tuning over time, requiring users to manually adjust brightness for a while until the model relearns user preferences. In situations where lighting conditions change often, users might consider turning off the auto-brightness feature to prevent annoyance.
Extent and Attention
The extent of this issue is uncertain, and it remains unclear if it has been brought to Google’s attention.
