How to Fix Samsung S20 Brightness Keeps Changing

A few days ago, we wrote a guide for Samsung Galaxy S21 users who experience issues with the adaptive brightness. The problem was that their smartphone’s adaptive brightness wasn’t working, and for some users, it had some other malfunctions.

Then we saw a similar issue on Samsung community again (sadly). This time it is Samsung Galaxy S20 users like you.

The problem is very similar to what Galaxy S21 users have experienced wherein they have reported that on their Samsung S20, the brightness level keeps changing. Some have even secured a screen video as a piece of evidence.

Since the problem is quite specific and narrowed down (unlike for Galaxy S21 users), we thought to give you some solutions to fix this problem.

If your Samsung Galaxy S20 brightness keeps changing, just follow the solutions in this guide to get the brightness to work without any problem.

Note: The solutions in this guide are also applicable to other Samsung Galaxy S20 models (S20+, S20Fe, and S20 Ultra)

Why Samsung S20 brightness keeps changing?

As you may know, there is a light sensor on top of your S20’s screen. The Android system uses the data of this sensor to control the brightness level based on the light coming to the sensor.

This feature is called the adaptive brightness or auto brightness. Now, the reason why your S20’s brightness level keeps changing is a malfunction of this feature.

If you ask what causes the feature to malfunction, there can be one or a few causes. Most of the time, it is a software-related problem (likely a glitch in the Android system). Also, the device health service, which controls the auto-brightness, can get faulty due to third-party apps or software updates.

You don’t need to worry about the cause very much. It is because we have given solutions for every cause possible.

Let’s start troubleshooting.

Solutions to fix the Samsung S20 brightness keep changing

First, we will work around to fix the issues with the device health care service. Then, we will tell you how to fix the issues with the Android system itself as well as software updates that can cause the brightness to keep changing.

Let’s get started

Fix 01: Reset Adaptive brightness

As you know now, the device health care service on your Samsung S20 is responsible for the auto brightness. The reason behind this malfunction is corrupted data in the service. So, what you need to do is to clear its data first, then try to reset the adaptive brightness.

Open Settings
Tap on Apps
Tap on the filter button (as shown in the images below)
Toggle on “Show system apps”

Scroll down and find the “Device health care services”
Tap on it
Once inside, tap on “Storage”
Then, tap on Clear data to wipe out all corrupted/outdated data

Clear all data in Device health services

Finally, tap on the “Reset adaptive brightness” button (if it is visible to you)

Once you complete all the steps above, restart your Samsung S20, then, swipe down the notification panel and check whether the brightness still changes or the solution has fixed the issue.

Fix 02: Uninstall any third-party apps that interfere with auto brightness

Take a look at the installed apps on your Samsung S20 because sometimes users have downloaded utility apps such as battery savers, optimizers, etc. that resulted in this brightness issue.

To make this easy, we will give you some examples (apps) that users have reported interfering with the brightness of their Samsung S20 smartphone.

Easy Eyes, Twilight, lumen, sFilter, Night Screen, Dimmer, Blue Light Filter, Screen Filter, Brightness Control & Dimmer, Light Delight.

These are the most popular ones, hence, there could still be a lot of other apps that are related to brightness and you have to find it in the App list of your Samsung S20 and uninstall it. Here is how you can do that:

Open Settings
Tap on Apps
Scroll down and find the app that could interfere with the brightness
Tap on it
Tap on uninstall to remove it from your device

After you uninstall the app, make sure to give your device a restart, then check the brightness.

Fix 03: Turn off Adaptive brightness

If the adaptive brightness still fluctuates (keeps changing), then you can get rid of it by disabling the adaptive brightness on your device.

We know that changing brightness manually can be bothersome to you. However, even Samsung has stated that if the auto brightness is not working correctly, you just have to turn it off.

Swipe down the notification bar
Toggle off the adaptive brightness right below the brightness level bar

Or you can disable it by going to Settings. Here is how:

Go to Settings
Tap on Display
Under display settings, toggle off “Adaptive brightness”

Once you disable this feature, you won’t get any issue with the brightness fluctuations. However, don’t lose the hope of using it again because you can check for a software update which can fix this problem permanently. And let’s see how you can do that.

Fix 04: Update the device software

Software updates carry a range of bug fixes, security improvements and performance improvements for your device. You can simply go to settings and check for available updates.

Tip: See our Samsung Galaxy S20 software update tracker

Follow the steps below:

Open Settings
Tap on Software updates
Tap on the three dots at top right corner
Tap on “Download and Install”

Now, your Galaxy S20 will start looking for software updates, if there is any, the update service will notify you. Then, you can go and update the software update.

Keep in mind to charge your phone before updating the device software. It is because if the battery level goes to zero while your device is updating, the process may abort and your device will go into a state where you cannot turn it back on. The minimum battery level should be around 80% when installing an update.

Conclusion

Having one of the best Android smartphones and getting issues like this can be annoying for you. To save your day, we decided to come up with this guide.

Which method worked best for you? Leave a comment below so others who read this guide will also get some benefits.

As we usually say, if you have any questions regarding this guide, the comment section is all yours.

Have a nice day!

How to Fix Samsung S20 Brightness Keeps Changing

Why Samsung S20 brightness keeps changing?