Plus, the OS is likely to emulate a smooth transition by sending even more commands than the end-user dictated. This is not an option when using DDC/CI, where each brightness change is an isolated command. I would imagine they do a write when you exit the brightness change menu.

I hope the firmware authors weren't that dense. There's also a Location mode if you want the brightness to adjust automatically based on the sun position in your location.Īll this can be controlled through hotkeys which are visible in both the menu bar icon menu and the Hotkeys configuration page reachable by pressing the left arrow key 2 times in the Lunar UI. In Sync mode Lunar can sync that already adapted brightness to your external monitor so you don't have to worry about the brightness throughout the day. Where Lunar shines is with a MacBook or iMac where there is an ambient light sensor integrated in the device that adapts the builtin display brightness. If you simply want to turn down the brightness from time to time, you can set Lunar in Manual mode and use the brightness keys on your keyboard to adjust the monitor brightness. Lunar allows you to change the hardware brightness and contrast of the monitor (the one that can be controlled with the hardware buttons on the monitor)

It's hard to strike a balance between simplicity and configurability. Hey thanks for the feedback! I know the UI is a bit too complex at the moment. I have yet to try Lunar but I definitely will much appreciated. But, this is a rant for another day.Īnyway, I built my own very simple utility to poll the internal display for its brightness and write that same brightness to the LG via DDC, but never had the time/energy to make it more robust for publishing to the web. Thanks for writing this! When I got an iMac Pro in 2017 with an accompanying LG UltraFine 5K display I was shocked to learn three things: 1) adjusting the brightness on the internal display is easy but on the LG it's a pain in the ass, 2) despite having ambient light sensor hardware the LG does not automatically adjust its brightness like the internal display, and 3) macOS offers no built-in mechanism to sync the brightnesses of these two displays.īefore learning these things I was feeling excited about Apple's re-committing to the Mac around that time, but man these things made it feel like such 'commitment' was just surface level - such low-hanging fruit not being handled is a shame.

Adjust brightness mac external display