Select Settings icon. Swipe through to find Backlight. Select Backlight. You will have option for backlight to come on Manual/Notification/Button. I set mine to Button. You can also set the number of seconds. Of course, the light is probably in the top 3 battery draining features of the watch after GPS and the buzzing notification feature, so that’s why it always so dim. I can get two weeks of battery life if I do not use the GPS or notification features.