Well, you can turn the brightness off completely. It does not lock the screen and the device still displays but no LCD backlight makes it almost impossible to see.
- (void) changeSystemBrightness: (NSString *) switchValue {
if ([[UIScreen mainScreen] respondsToSelector:@selector(setBrightness:)]) {
    if (switchValue) {
        if ([switchValue isEqualToString:@"saveDefault"]) {
            //
            self.userBrightness = [UIScreen mainScreen].brightness;
            //NSLog(@"User Brightness: %1.1f", userBrightness);
        } else if ([switchValue isEqualToString:@"restoreDefault"]) {
            [UIScreen mainScreen].brightness = self.userBrightness;
            //NSLog(@"Restore Brightness: %1.1f", userBrightness);
        } else if ([switchValue isEqualToString:@"min"]) {
            //[UIScreen mainScreen].brightness = 0;
        } else if ([switchValue isEqualToString:@"max"]) {
            [UIScreen mainScreen].brightness = 1;
        } else if ([switchValue isEqualToString:@"mid"]) {
            [UIScreen mainScreen].brightness = 0.5;
        }
    } else {
        [UIScreen mainScreen].brightness = self.userBrightness;
        //NSLog(@"Restore Brightness: %1.1f", userBrightness);
    }
}
}
First save user's system brightness level
[self changeSystemBrightness:@"saveDefault"];  
After that you can simply turn off the screen:
[self changeSystemBrightness:@"min"];  
Restore brightness:
[self changeSystemBrightness:@"restoreDefault"];  
iOS restores default system brightness once the screen is turned off normally (lock/unlock) so you have to detect and handle that.