How to adjust the flashlight brightness and beam on iPhone or iPad

Learn how to adjust the brightness level of your iPhone flashlight to provide the perfect lighting for any situation.

Holding iPhone with its flashlight activated

Your iPhone’s camera LED doubles as a torch, helping you read or see things in the dark. However, one brightness does not suit all conditions.

For instance, you may want the flashlight to have a lower brightness to maintain your night vision or when you’re reading something up close. Alternatively, when you need to find things around the room, you may want it to illuminate the area in full brightness.

Note that lowering the flashlight brightness uses less battery compared to full brightness.

Also see: How to use your Apple Watch as a flashlight

Adjust flashlight brightness on iPhone with Dynamic Island

iOS 18 and later have removed the ability to adjust the flashlight brightness in one uninterrupted motion on iPhones with Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 Pro and later). However, the process is still easy.

  1. Switch on the flashlight from the iPhone Lock Screen or Control Center.
  2. A huge flashlight controller appears at the top of the screen. If it’s not visible, tap the Dynamic Island with the flashlight icon. Now, put one finger on the controller and slide down to lower the brightness and slide up to increase it.
Changing flashlight brightness on iPhone in iOS 18

You can also adjust the beam area by swiping left or right.

Adjusting flashlight beam area on iPhone

Change flashlight brightness on all other iPhones and iPads

These steps work for iPhones without Dynamic Island and all iPads with a flashlight running a recent version of iPadOS.

  1. Open Control Center on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap the flashlight icon to turn on the LED.
  3. Now, touch and hold the flashlight icon until the slider appears, then move it up or down to increase or decrease the brightness.
Changing flashlight brightness in one continuous motion on iPad

Tip: You can also touch and hold the flashlight icon, and it will turn on the LED. Now, without lifting your finger, just drag the slider to adjust the brightness in one continuous motion. I do this all the time and prefer it over the Dynamic Island flashlight slider, as the old approach is quicker and happens without me having to lift my finger off the screen.

Can Siri change the flashlight brightness?

You can ask Siri to turn the flashlight on or off; however, it cannot be used to adjust the flashlight brightness.

Aside from illuminating low-light scenes captured with your iOS device’s camera and doubling as a flashlight, the LED light located on the rear side of your iOS device can even be configured to blink whenever you receive a new message or incoming call.

On a related note: How to add a huge flashlight button to your iPhone Home Screen