How to Fix (and Avoid) iPhone X OLED Screen Burn-in

The iPhone X’s edge-to-edge Super Retina Display is undoubtedly impressive. It’s also the first time that Apple has used an OLED display for one of its iPhones.

OLED technology offers a huge upgrade over LCD screens, with higher resolutions and contrast ratios, deeper blacks, better brightness levels and outstanding color accuracy.

But while its list of benefits might be long, OLED tech is not without its downsides. Thankfully, they’re not device-breaking by any means and they’re fairly easy to prevent.

Problems with OLED Displays

There are a couple of minor issues that can occur with OLED-based displays.

The first is the appearance of slight shifts in the display’s color and hue when viewing an iPhone X at an off-angle. No big deal. According to Apple, that’s normal behavior of OLED displays.

But a slightly bigger issue could be image persistence, which is commonly known as “screen burn-in.” This occurs when your display shows a faint ghostly image of things that have appeared on the screen before, even when you switch to a new image.

While slight burn-in is a characteristic behavior of OLED displays, the effect can get worse depending on how you use your smartphone.

Thankfully, Apple’s OLED tech has been engineered to reduce burn-in — but it can still happen. The company has given its own list of tips to ensure that your burn-in issues are minimal.

Here’s how to prevent and fix iPhone X OLED burn-in (a.k.a. image retention, ghost image, or image persistence).

How to Prevent Display Burn-In

1 Use the Latest Version of iOS

Apple recommends that you download and install the latest version of iOS anyway, for a multitude of reasons. But if you need another reason, Apple also implements measures in its mobile operating system that can mitigate the effects of screen burn-in over the lifespan of an iPhone X.

To download the latest version, just go to Settings > General > Software Update. If you don’t see anything, you already have the latest update installed.

2 Avoid Static Images and Max Brightness

Screen burn-in becomes much more common and extreme when viewing static images for long periods of time. That’s especially true when you’re using your iPhone at maximum brightness.

If you are using an app that keeps your display turned on for a period of time, Apple recommends that you manually adjust your brightness via the Control Center. Which brings us to our next point.

3 Turn Auto-Brightness On

Since high levels of display brightness can cause screen burn-in problems, Apple recommends that you use its Auto Brightness feature. This will adjust the brightness of your screen based on the lighting in your ambient environment.

By default, Auto Brightness is enabled in iOS. But if it’s off on your iPhone X for some reason, you can manually toggle it by going to Accessibility > Display Accommodations.

4 Use a Shorter Auto-Lock Time

While brightness is the primary culprit of burn-in, static images also play a part. Because of that, Apple recommends that you use a shorter auto-lock time for your iPhone X.

Sure, it can be a bit annoying, but it’ll help you avoid any image retention. By default, the iPhone X has a 30-second auto time timer. If you’ve changed it to a longer period, you should change it back via Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.

How to Fix Burn-In

If you’re already experiencing image retention on your iPhone X, you can try the following trick to alleviate it.

1. Turn off your iPhone X and leave it off for 10 minutes or longer.
2. Turn it back on.
3. If image retention persists, try shutting your iPhone down for a longer period (one to two hours).
4. Again, if you still see a problem, try leaving your iPhone off overnight.
5. At this point, if you still notice some burn-in, consider just using your phone as normal for a few days. With some OLED displays, a period of new activity can “flush” the burn-in.

Of course, if the image retention on your device is severe or especially persistent, it might be time to take your iPhone X into an Apple Store or an Authorized Service Provider to get it fixed. In the worst case scenario, they might have to replace your display.

Learn More: How to Hard Reset iPhone X