Every iPhone since the iPhone X and every Apple Watch uses an OLED screen, where each pixel makes its own light. That delivers perfect blacks — but over years, pixels that display the same thing constantly (a keyboard, a status bar, a game’s HUD) can age unevenly and leave a faint permanent ghost. This is burn-in, and a burn-in test makes it visible.
The test walks your screen through flat fields of grey, white and primary colours, the conditions under which retention and burn-in stand out most. If you see a faint outline that shouldn’t be there, the built-in fixer cycles colours and moving patterns across the whole display to exercise the pixels evenly, which can reduce mild, recent image retention. Severe, aged burn-in is permanent, but catching it early — and knowing it’s there before you buy a used device — is exactly what this tool is for.
How to use it
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1Maximise brightness
Turn screen brightness all the way up and disable auto-lock first — burn-in shows most clearly on a bright, steady screen.
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2Start the test
Tap “Start burn-in test”. Step through the solid colour and grey slides by tapping. Grey and white reveal retention best.
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3Look for ghosts
Watch for faint shapes that don’t belong — an outline of the keyboard, status bar icons, or app elements lingering over the flat colour.
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4Run the fixer
If you spot mild retention, exit and tap “Run fixer”. Let the moving colour patterns run for 10–30 minutes. Repeat over a few days for the best chance of improvement.
Why This Test Exists
Screen faults and software faults look identical from the outside. A flickering panel, a column of dead subpixels, a patch that never refreshes — on a device running a beta, the first assumption is always that the beta did it. Usually it did not. This test drives the panel directly from the browser, which takes the operating system almost entirely out of the question.
Getting a Reliable Result
Run it in a dark room at full brightness and give each colour a few seconds. Dead pixels stay black on every colour; stuck pixels hold one colour while the rest change. Dust on the glass moves when you tilt the device; a fault does not. Photograph anything you find — a fault that only appears intermittently is very hard to demonstrate at a service appointment without evidence.
Reading the Outcome
If the same defect appears on this test, in the camera app and on the lock screen, it is the panel. If it appears only inside one app, or only after a specific beta build, it is software — and our troubleshooting guides are the better place to start.
Nothing Leaves Your Device
This tool runs entirely in your browser. There is no upload step, no account, no cookie set for it and no record kept of anything you test — which is a consequence of how it is built rather than a policy you have to trust. It also means it works on any device, on any operating system version, whether or not you are running a beta.
If a test here points at software rather than hardware, that is useful in itself: it means the next step is a beta build or a setting rather than a repair. Our troubleshooting guides cover the common ones, and your device's page sets out what to expect from your specific model on the current release.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if my iPhone screen has burn-in?
Run the test and study the flat grey and white slides. Genuine burn-in appears as a faint, fixed ghost of something you use constantly — the keyboard, the status bar, a navigation bar — that stays in place regardless of what colour is shown. If it only lingers briefly and then fades, it’s temporary image retention, not permanent burn-in.
Can burn-in actually be fixed?
Mild, recent image retention can sometimes be reduced by the fixer, which cycles colours to age the surrounding pixels more evenly. Permanent burn-in that has developed over years cannot be removed in software — but the fixer is still worth running, and catching retention early gives the best odds.
Is the burn-in fixer safe for my OLED screen?
Yes. Cycling colours and patterns is normal display activity and won’t harm the panel. Run it at comfortable brightness; there’s no benefit to running it for hours on end in one sitting — several shorter sessions work better.
Do LCD iPhones and iPads get burn-in?
True burn-in is an OLED phenomenon, so it mainly affects iPhone X and later, all Pro iPads with OLED or mini-LED behaviour differs, and Apple Watch. LCD screens (older iPhones, most standard iPads) can show brief image retention but essentially never permanent burn-in.