Brightness Drift
Brightness keeps sliding back to 20%.
Open in Safari on your iPhone. Download the file, open it from Safari Downloads or Files, then follow the prompts to add it in Shortcuts.
What happens
At most once per clock hour, when they open one of their everyday apps, screen brightness is set to 20%. The allowance resets when the clock moves into the next hour; two runs near an hour boundary can be close together.
Setup
- Open this page in Safari on the iPhone, download the file (or AirDrop it), open it from Safari Downloads or Files, and tap Add Shortcut.
- Long-press it in Shortcuts → All Shortcuts → Rename and call it Brightness Helper, so it doesn’t give itself away.
- Run it while unlocked and choose Always Allow where offered; allow any other requested access. Confirm its effect before creating the automation.
- Shortcuts → Automation → + → App, pick 3–4 apps they open all day and choose Is Opened, select Run Immediately, tap Next and choose the shortcut.
Undo
Open Shortcuts → Automation, swipe left on the automation and tap Delete. Then delete the shortcut and restore brightness in Control Center.
State and testing
The saved state lives in Files → iCloud Drive → Shortcuts → shortcut-to-hell: brightness-drift-hour.txt. Keep iCloud Drive available. Manual runs affect the same counters as automation runs. Deleting this shortcut does not delete its saved state.
Test the trigger
Installing the file does not create its automation. After the manual test, trigger the event once and check the result. If the shortcut picker is unavailable, create a blank automation, add Run Shortcut, and select this shortcut. Menus, previews and app-opening actions may still need interaction or an unlocked phone even with Run Immediately selected. If it stops, run from the shortcut’s … editor to identify the failing action.
For another test in the same clock hour, delete only this prank’s hour file listed above, or wait until the next clock hour.