The iPhone X was recently released, boasting an impressive compilation of hardware. Unfortunately one of the biggest draws of the iPhone X, its OLED screen, has one massive flaw! Screen burn-in. If you have recently purchased an iPhone X and want to minimise the risk of screen burn-in, this guide will show you some simple steps you can take to reduce the risk.  

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How to Password Protect Notes on iOS 11. 

If you are unfamiliar with ‘Screen Burn’ or ‘Screen Burn-in’ it’s the permanent discolouration of a screen, usually holding a ghost like shadow of an image left on screen too long. Screen burn used to be a very common problem on earlier CRT displays and some LED and Plasma TV screens, it’s also the reason ‘screen savers’ were first invented. Anyone who grew up in the 80's and 90's will understand the phenomenon very well. 

Most people probably thought screen burn was a thing of the past and until recently, it was pretty much extinct. However, sometimes when technology takes two steps forward, it also takes one step back. In this case, OLED screens. Thankfully, as screen burn isn’t  an entirely new problem, there are quite a few different ways you can reduce the chance of getting it on your iPhone X to practically 0. 

Note: You can view Apple's official statement regarding the iPhone X OLED Screen burn-in issue here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208191

How to Prevent Screen Burn, Screen Burn-in on iPhone X. (Or Any Other Device With an OLED Screen)

As the new iPhone X OLED is highly sensitive, it’s very important to make sure that you don’t display a static image (an image that doesn’t move) on your screen for too long. A perfect example from earlier screen burn-in days, would be leaving a video game paused whilst going to have dinner. Unfortunately, as there’s no set amount of time screen burn-in can occur in, you should always make sure you do the following, as some screen can burn an image faster than others, even the exact same display types.

Set Auto-Brightness to Prevent iPhone X Screen Burn.

The first thing you can do to minimise screen burn on your iPhone X OLED display is to make sure you have auto-brightness enabled. This will make sure there are constant fluctuations in screen brightness reducing the risk of screen burn. To enable Auto-brightness on iOS 11 go to Settings > Display & Brightness and toggle the Auto-Brightness option to On.

Note: The brighter you have your screen, the quicker screen burn-in can happen.

how do you reduce screen burn risk on iphone x 

Set a Sensible Lock Screen Timer on iPhone X To Prevent Screen Burn. (Screen Auto-Off Timer)

The next thing you should make sure you set up on your iPhone X is a screen off timer, generally, this will be set by default, however, if it is more than 2 minutes or if you have changed it to never, you will need to change it back. Anything under 1 minute is a good suggestion.

To change your Lock Screen Timer settings go to: Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-lock and set your desired time.

how to reduce iphone x screen burn risk

Conclusion.

After you have set both of the above options, the rest is common sense, just try to reduce the chance of a static image being stuck on the screen for too long. And remember some apps and programs will lock your screen on, preventing the lock screen from engaging, even if you have a Lockscreen timer set. These are the instances you will be most likely to get screen burn.