OLED Diagnostics
Run the fullscreen burn-in test, check for OLED burn-in and image retention, and decide whether the mark needs a retest, mitigation, or escalation.
Use gray, color, and moving-gradient patterns to check whether a ghosted shape fades like temporary retention or keeps coming back like permanent OLED wear.
Use a dim room, start with gray patterns, and repeat the same check at your normal brightness before you decide the mark is serious.
Reflections make faint ghosting harder to read and easier to misjudge.
First pass helps reveal faint marks. Second pass tells you whether the issue matters in everyday use.
Gray is the fastest way to spot lingering bars, logos, HUDs, and status areas that stay put.
Do not flick through the test too fast. Give your eyes time to settle before deciding a mark is real.
The main question is not whether you can see ghosting. It is whether the ghosting fades after varied content or keeps returning in the same place like permanent OLED wear.
Looks like a ghost, but weakens after varied content or a cooldown period. The shape may still match a status bar, logo, or HUD, but it does not stay equally strong.
Use this as the mental model for fading ghosting that becomes harder to see after retesting.
The same shape keeps showing up in the same place after a proper retest. Permanent burn-in is mainly an OLED or AMOLED wear problem, not a generic LCD issue.
Use this as the mental model for a stable mark that survives the cooldown and repeat check.
OLED and AMOLED panels can wear unevenly when the same bright shapes stay on-screen for long periods. LCD and LED screens are more likely to show temporary image retention, uniformity issues, or another panel quirk instead of true permanent burn-in.
Signal
What happens after 30 to 60 minutes of varied content
Temporary retention
Often fades or softens noticeably.
Likely permanent burn-in
Stays in the same place with little change.
Signal
What it usually looks like
Temporary retention
Faint bars, logos, or UI shapes that are harder to see over time.
Likely permanent burn-in
Stable ghosting, tint shift, or uneven wear that keeps showing up.
Signal
What is actually happening
Temporary retention
Short-term image memory or charge imbalance.
Likely permanent burn-in
Permanent OLED wear from uneven sub-pixel aging.
Signal
Best next move
Temporary retention
Retest later and keep an eye on the pattern.
Likely permanent burn-in
Move into severity, evidence, and next-step planning.
Burn-in usually follows repeated shapes. The device matters because TVs, monitors, phones, and laptops tend to wear in different places.
Logo ghosting and ticker wear matter most here. Judge the issue from your normal seat, not only from close range.
Taskbars, app chrome, and game HUDs are the most common repeat patterns. If the shape matches your desktop layout, take it seriously.
Status bars, nav bars, keyboards, and app shells are the usual suspects. Mild retention is common, so retesting matters more here.
Dock, taskbar, browser chrome, and long-lived work layouts are the patterns to look for. Check at your normal desk brightness before deciding.
Not every suspicious shape is burn-in. Rule these out first so you do not confuse glare, residue, or general panel behavior with permanent OLED wear.
Bright room glare can create shapes and streaks that look like faint retention until you change angle or dim the room.
Change angle and lighting. If the “artifact” moves with you, it is not burn-in.
Residue on a glossy screen can look like uneven wear on gray patterns.
Clean the panel and rerun the gray pass before you decide the mark is real.
Low-quality source material can introduce blocks, streaks, or banding that are not tied to the panel itself.
Use the built-in patterns, not random videos or screenshots, when making the call.
Uniformity issues can make one area look slightly different without it being a burned-in logo or UI shape.
Look for a recognizable shape that stays put. General unevenness alone is not enough.
Curved and glossy panels can change appearance as you move, especially on darker patterns.
Judge the result from your normal viewing position, not from a sharp side angle.
Match what you saw to the closest pattern. The goal here is to translate the screen behavior into a usable read before you decide whether to retest, mitigate, or escalate.
What you saw
The mark fades after varied content
What that usually means
That points more toward temporary image retention than permanent wear.
Best next move
Retest later and avoid treating it like confirmed burn-in yet.
What you saw
The mark stays in the same place after retesting
What that usually means
That is the stronger burn-in signal.
Best next move
Use the severity and next-step sections to decide whether to monitor, mitigate, or escalate.
What you saw
It only shows up at extreme brightness
What that usually means
The issue may be mild, borderline, or not important in normal use yet.
Best next move
Check again at your normal brightness before you overreact to the first pass.
What you saw
It is visible during normal use
What that usually means
The issue has moved beyond a test-only nuisance.
Best next move
Treat the result as more actionable and document what you are seeing.
What you saw
It matches a logo, taskbar, HUD, or status bar shape
What that usually means
That pattern fits retention or burn-in far better than a random panel issue.
Best next move
Use persistence and retest behavior to decide which side it falls on.
One pass is often enough to notice ghosting. It is not always enough to call it permanent. Use retest timing, repeatability, and normal-brightness checks to decide how much confidence the first result deserves.
Score
0
Read it as
Nothing persistent found
What it usually means
The test did not surface stable burn-in or retention.
Retest rule
Retest only if you still notice something in normal use.
What to do
Keep using the display normally.
Score
1-25
Read it as
Low score
What it usually means
Often points to mild retention, borderline ghosting, or something that still needs a cleaner retest.
Retest rule
Retest after 30 to 60 minutes of varied content before you escalate.
What to do
Treat it as provisional until the repeat check agrees.
Score
26-60
Read it as
Middle score
What it usually means
The screen is showing more repeatable ghosting, but confidence still depends on whether it persists after retesting.
Retest rule
Retest at the same brightness and viewing setup before deciding this is permanent.
What to do
If it stays put, move to mitigation or evidence gathering.
Score
61-100
Read it as
High score
What it usually means
The artifact is prominent and more likely to matter in normal use.
Retest rule
One clean retest is still worth doing, but the issue is already serious enough to plan around.
What to do
Document it and move into the right next-step path.
Once the result is clear, stop retesting for reassurance and move into the path that fits what you saw.
Give the screen time, run varied content, and repeat the same check later before you call it permanent damage.
If the mark keeps returning after retesting, move into mitigation next. That is the right time to open the burn-in fixer, not before.
If the issue is visible in normal use and survives the retest, start documenting it and compare the device against current policy guidance.
If the issue behaves like a single point defect instead of a ghosted shape, you are probably on the wrong test page.
FAQ
Short answers on OLED burn-in, image retention, retesting, and what to trust in a browser-based check.
Reviewed and maintained by Jacob Dymond
Founder, ScreenDetect
Last reviewed March 28, 2026
ScreenDetect maintains this page as a diagnosis-first burn-in workflow for OLED-heavy screen ghosting issues. The goal is to help users separate temporary image retention from likely permanent wear, understand how much confidence the result deserves, and choose the next step without overstating what browser testing can prove.
Source basis