Google is changing how Extra Dim works on the Pixel 10, and it's so much better

Google’s new Pixel 10 series introduces some surprise display upgrades, focusing more on viewing comfort than on major hardware changes. While the display panels themselves are largely unchanged, they should be easier on the eyes thanks to new features like Adaptive Tone and an enhanced PWM dimming rate. Another notable change is to Extra Dim, a feature that makes the screen even dimmer than its lowest hardware brightness setting. On the Pixel 10, Google has integrated Extra Dim directly into the brightness slider, making it much easier to control than on previous Pixel phones.

Extra Dim is an accessibility feature Google introduced in Android 12 back in 2021. It dims the display “beyond your phone’s minimum brightness” by altering the red, green, and blue pixel data before it’s rendered. This process reduces the intensity of bright colors, making the content appear dimmer without actually lowering the screen’s hardware brightness level.

On most Android phones, you enable Extra Dim by navigating to Settings > Accessibility > Extra Dim or by adding its shortcut to the Quick Settings panel. Because it must be turned on manually, you also have to remember to turn it off. This can be inconvenient, as many people likely forget to disable it in the morning, leaving their screen dimmer than it should be during the day.

Google’s solution to this problem is to integrate Extra Dim directly into the brightness slider, removing the need to manually turn it on or off. Android will automatically enable Extra Dim when you move the slider to its absolute minimum and disable it as soon as you raise the brightness again. Since adjusting brightness is a frequent action for most users, there’s little chance of accidentally leaving Extra Dim enabled during the day.

Google has been working on integrating Extra Dim into the brightness slider for over a year now, with the feature even making an appearance on the Pixel 9 in early previews of Android 16. However, with the stable release of Android 16, the feature was nowhere to be seen on the Pixel 9 or any other Pixel phone, as I noted in my review.

With the launch of the Pixel 10, however, Google has finally enabled the new feature. Upon setting up the device, multiple users were greeted by a new dialog that read, “Extra dim is now part of the brightness slider.” This dialog appears when users attempt to tap the Extra Dim shortcut in Quick Settings. It says that “you can now make the screen extra dim by lowering the brightness level even further. Since this feature is now part of the brightness slider, extra dim shortcuts are being removed.”

Although this feature is only available on the Pixel 10 series so far, it’s possible Google could bring it to older Pixel devices in a future update. After all, Google briefly tested it on the Pixel 9 series a few months back, and there shouldn’t be any hardware limitations preventing it from working on existing devices. The delay could be because the feature relies on an updated display vendor implementation that has yet to roll out to older Pixels, but we aren’t entirely sure. If Google does introduce this feature on older Pixels, we’ll be sure to let you know.