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It’s not dark mode, but you can enable a helpful low light filter on your iPhone right now [Video]

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There’s still no dark mode in iOS, but if you find yourself regularly navigating your iPhone while in a dark environment, then you’ll appreciate the ability to enable a low light filter to darken the screen beyond normal brightness levels.

In a previous tutorial, we showed you how to map the low light filter to a triple-click of the Home button. While having such a shortcut is convenient, it slows down Home button response time when using the normal double-click function.

In the following brief tutorial, we’ll show you how to map low light filter access to a three-finger triple-tap instead. While not as convenient, the benefit is that this method won’t interfere with normal Home button functionality.

How to use the low light filter and retain Home button responsiveness

Step 1: Open Settings →  General →  Accessibility →  Zoom.

Step 2: Enable the Zoom switch.

Step 3: Perform a three-finger double-tap to zoom out, if not already.

Step 4: Exit the Settings app.

Step 5: Perform a three-finger triple-tap to invoke the Zoom overlay.

Step 6: Tap Choose Filter → Low Light in order to enable the filter to dim the display beyond normal brightness levels.

Video tutorial

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To go back to normal brightness levels, perform another three-finger triple-tap and select Choose Filter → None.

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By using this method, you’ll have to perform Steps 5 and 6 any time you wish to switch to lower brightness. This method is slightly more time consuming than the other method that we shared with you, but it lets you retain full Home button responsiveness.

Until we get a true Dark Mode in iOS, I think this is the next best thing. What do you think?

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Avatar for Jeff Benjamin Jeff Benjamin

Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He initially joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.