Uploading photos and videos in HDR can be a great way to show off your new phone’s gorgeous display and test how bright it can be. But sometimes, especially at night, you may not want your screen to be lit up with blinding glare just because someone posted a random HDR Instagram video. (Devices are increasingly set to shoot HDR video by default, so let’s not blame each other.)
With the upcoming One UI 7 update, which is currently in beta, Samsung is giving Galaxy phone owners a system-wide switch to turn off HDR content. According to 9to5Google, a new “Super HDR” switch has appeared in the settings menu.
The description – “automatically adjusts the display to display the full range of colors and contrast in photos taken on Galaxy devices” – is a bit misleading, as it appears that enabling this option will control the brightness of the display in all applications. But this is exactly the end result I would like.
As for the iPhone, Apple does not currently have a setting that is specific to HDR. It is possible to avoid HDR content by enabling low power mode on your iPhone, but this will result in many other system changes that may be excessive.
If you’re looking for a reprieve from HDR on Instagram, you can turn it off in the app’s settings under Media Quality. (I’m the one who took credit for this, as I complained about this issue a few years ago). However, this only applies to iOS. There is no such option on Android, which makes Samsung’s new switch even more useful.
