Lowest brightness is too bright

Hi FP3 users,
My new phone works just fine!! I’m really happy to use it all day long since I received it! Great improvements have been made compare to the beginnings of the FP2 (that I never got). Congratulations!!
Among other small issues such as the one of notification LEDs that has already been reported (LED notifications do not work), I find that the minimum brightness is quite bright! Or at least much brighter than with my previous phones. It is really not good for the eyes when reading in the dark.
Do you know if it is a software issue that could be solved with an update or is it more likely a hardware matter and there is nothing we can do about it?
Cheers,
Nicolas

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There are apps that can create a dark overlay over the screen, but I’m not sure if that will work without #dic:root.

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I personally use an app called Red Moon on my phones to adjust brightness below whats officially supported. It isn’t an perfect solution but i really liked it on my oneplus 2 since i have pretty severe light sensitivity. Not sure if it works for the fairphone 3 but since its free and open source it can’t hurt to try! https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.jmstudios.redmoon/

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The Night Light setting reduces the brightness at least a bit at night…
otherwise like recommended apps like Twilight or Red Moon :slight_smile:

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I have the same issue/complaint. I will try the apps but I really think this should be tacked by the development team…

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The issue with these apps is that they don’t actually make your screen darker, they just add a grey layer over the pixels. The background led is still too bright. There is e.g. Brightness Tweak which lets you lower the background led, but it requires root and moreover it doesn’t work very reliably, so you have to activate it again after a couple of times locking and unlocking the phone.
Unfornunately it’s the only app I’ve found that does this at all :confused:

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Does anyone know how the app works internally? Perhaps the issue it has can be fixed. I checked out the APK, but I saw only a plethora of XMLs and PNGs.

@JeroenH Actually, it’s super simple. All it does is going to /sys/devices/mdp.0/qcom,mdss_fb_primary.171/leds/lcd-backlight and then setting the value inside the brightness-file to 1. 10 is the minimum you can get with the brightness slider. I can even edit the file manually, and as soon as I hit save the screen brightness changes (from 0-255, 0 turns off the backlight completely btw). So, in theory, all it needs is an app that constantly checks the brightness file and changes the value back to the value the user chose in case Android overwrites it.
Keep in mind that the path to the file probably varies. I have an FP2 with LOS15.1.

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Must be doable with something like Easer/Automate?

On normal Linux there has been inotify for ages (though you could use something convenient like entr(1)) . IIRC on macOS it works with launchctl as well.

I suppose you could also set it every time the screen goes on.

My old phone, now running Lineage 16, also has a much more comfortable min brightness. While the FP3 is brighter in general, it would be nice if the scale actually went from 1-255.

Is this something FP can fix or is it an Android issue?

Hello !
I too find the minimal brightness too bright. I found this app that adds a black layer above the apps you use.
It’s easy to use and does the trick while our complaint reach the Fairphone team :wink:

To people who’ve had their device for a while now: is the lowest brightness still too bright? Usually, the brightness of a new device goes down after a while. That is to say, the maximum brightness, but also the medium and low brightness are lower than the first time you put the device on.

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Yes, still to bright in my opinion. Could happily live with half of the apparent brightness in the evening, or even less.
Also the adaptive brightness after about two weeks of usage still manages to overbrighten my screen in almost every situation, so that I need to lower the brightness manually more or less every second time I have my phone in my hand.

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OK, well it is still listed in Improving the software of FP3

Funny, I have a theory about the culprit from my PoV. I need glasses (tried lenses) 24/7. However, they are also darkened against sun sensitivity (they do start to work better once I’m outside but they work 24/7). I wear them all the time, even when I use my FP3. So my perception of the FP3’s light (as well as other devices) is also 24/7 different.

Even then, I think the reason why I started with backlight full on because I don’t want to see myself in reflection because I find that annoying/distracting. The darker the screen, the easier it is.

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I diligently gave the “AI” two weeks to learn but then gave up and adjust it manually now.

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I totally agree! This has to be fixed.

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The Xposed module GravityBox has some brightness settings that allow the user to lower the minimum brightness level from the default (20) to anything they like, including 1. GB is available for Android Pie too, but it requires root and Xposed framework, so I think that’s a no-go for FP3 - at least for the moment.

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I’m happy with Twilight on FP3. It can be set to switch off automatically when using for ex. banking apps that require it.

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+1. I cannot use my phone anymore in my lovely dark room. With minimum brightness + additional minimum brightness from the app called ‘night screen’, I can still use it as a torch for things 5m away.
As workaround, paracetamol or a lamp.
I see this improvement as also good for the environment, with less electricity wasted powering a backlight that is too bright.

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I have the same problem on my new fp3+: the screen is way too bright while being in a dark room. Apps that put a grey filter over are not particularly interesting neither from a battery consumption point of view.

Did anybody find another solution (without rooting) to lower the actual minimal brightness to e.g. 6 instead of 10?