How to make your phone screen as dim as possible

18 October 2026

To dim your phone screen below its minimum brightness, turn on Reduce White Point on an iPhone or Extra dim on Android. Both sit in the Accessibility settings, and both take the screen darker than the normal brightness slider allows. Set them up before the film starts, and you can switch them on with a few taps in the dark.

Start with the brightness slider

The settings below work on top of your normal brightness, so turn that right down first.

iPhone: Apple says you can open Control Center and drag the brightness down, or go to Settings, tap Display & Brightness, and drag the slider.
Google Pixel: Google’s help pages put the slider in Settings, under Display and touch, then Brightness level. Quick Settings, which you open by swiping down from the top of the screen, has a brightness slider too.

Apple notes that iPhone adjusts brightness to the light around you when Auto-Brightness is on, using the ambient light sensor. If your screen keeps creeping up in the dark, you can turn it off in Settings, under Accessibility, then Display & Text Size. Apple warns that turning Auto-Brightness off may increase power use.

iPhone: turn on Reduce White Point

Apple describes Reduce White Point as a way to tone down the intensity of bright colours. With brightness already at its lowest, it makes whites and pale text darker still.

Open the Settings app.
Tap Accessibility.
Tap Display & Text Size.
Scroll down and turn on Reduce White Point.
Drag the slider that appears under it. AbilityNet’s guide explains that the slider sets the white point level. Move it until the screen is as dim as you want.

The lowest brightness and the strongest setting together can make the screen hard to read, so try it at home before you rely on it in the cinema.

iPhone: put it on a triple-click

You won’t want to dig through menus in the dark. The Accessibility Shortcut lets you turn Reduce White Point on and off with the side button.

Go to Settings, then Accessibility, then Accessibility Shortcut.
Select Reduce White Point.
Triple-click the side button on an iPhone with Face ID, or the Home button on other models.

Apple says that if you choose only one feature, the triple-click turns it on or off straight away. If you choose several, a menu appears and you tap the one you want.

Android: turn on Extra dim

Google describes Extra dim as a way to dim your screen beyond your phone’s minimum brightness, so it is more comfortable to read. Where you find it depends on the phone.

Pixel 9 and earlier: open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, and turn on Extra dim.
Pixel 10 and later: Google says Extra dim is part of the brightness slider.
Samsung Galaxy: Samsung gives the path as Settings, then Accessibility, then Vision enhancements, then Extra dim. It says the feature arrived with One UI 4.0 and may not be supported on every model.

For quick access, add Extra dim to Quick Settings. Google’s steps are to swipe down twice from the top of the screen, tap Edit, scroll to find Extra dim, and add it. After that, one swipe and a tap switch it on.

Menu names vary

The menu names above come from Apple’s, Google’s and Samsung’s own help pages as we found them. Menus move between software versions, and other Android makers use their own names and layouts. If you can’t find a setting, open Settings and search for “white point” or “extra dim”. If that fails, check your phone maker’s help pages.

It is also worth turning on a dark theme. Apple calls its version Dark Mode and Google calls its version Dark theme. A white web page is the brightest thing you can put on a phone screen.

Remember to switch it off

When you walk back out into daylight, a screen set this dark can be almost unreadable. Turn the setting off when you leave the cinema, or use the triple-click or Quick Settings tile you set up earlier.

An app that is already dark

A dim screen helps most on the walk back from a break, when you want to know what happened while you were out. Our guide to using your phone in the cinema covers when to read and when to put it away, and our guide to the best cinema seat for a quick exit covers getting back to your row.

The Bit You Missed is built for that walk. Every screen is dark with dim amber text, there is no light mode, and it never raises your phone’s brightness. You pick your film, drag a dial to roughly how far in you are, and read short lines, one per scene. For other ways to catch up, read our guide to catching up on a part of a film you missed, or see whether you can leave the cinema and come back in. You can also see how the app works.

Stepped out mid-film?

Pick your film, drag the dial to roughly how far in you are, and read what you missed. Open the web app