Brightness Sync sets the real hardware brightness of every display on your Mac, Apple or not, from one menu. Save presets for day and night and switch every screen at once with a single key.
Illustration. Light output (cd/m²) assumes maximums of 700 (built-in), 600 (Studio Display) and 350 (Dell), each with its own response curve; real displays vary.
Every display has its own backlight, its own scale and its own menus. Set them all to the same number and they still don't match, so your eyes keep readjusting every time you look from one screen to the next.
Third-party monitors hide brightness behind a joystick or a row of buttons on the back, one screen at a time.
The Mac's brightness keys only reach Apple displays. Everything else stays where it was.
The levels that feel right in daylight glare after dark, and fixing it means redoing every screen, every evening.
Brightness Sync lives in your menu bar, behind a small rising sun. Balance your screens by eye once, save the result, and bring it back in a keystroke.
One slider per display, with −/+ buttons for the last fine touch. Move them until every screen looks equally bright, whatever the numbers say.
A preset remembers a level for every display. Make one for bright mornings, one for evenings, one for late-night work.
Each preset gets a global shortcut, F16 to F20 by default, or any key combination you record. Every screen changes at once, from any app.
Brightness Sync changes the same setting as the buttons on your monitor or the brightness keys on your Mac. It talks to each display the way that display understands.
Uses the same brightness control as macOS itself, but with finer steps. No setup needed.
On Apple Silicon Macs, speaks the monitor's own control protocol (MCCS luminance, VCP 0x10) over the video cable, exactly like its on-screen menu.
Replies from the monitor are validated and the brightness is read back after each change. If something fails, the app tells you instead of pretending it worked.
Everything you need to keep a multi-display desk comfortable, and nothing that gets in the way.
Every connected screen in one compact menu, in the order you choose. Hold − or + to keep stepping.
Named sets with a separate level for each display. Apply one from the menu, the Dock, or a shortcut.
A shortcut per preset that works from any app.
Changes apply to the screens as you make them and save automatically. Press Escape to put everything back.
Pressed a button on the monitor? The sliders follow the real hardware, and the preset checkmark clears.
Drag displays and presets into place. The order survives restarts and screens that come and go.
Show the app where you like it. In the Dock, a click opens the same panel right next to it.
Connection, native and render resolution, refresh rate, identifiers and control method for each screen.
Starts with your Mac if you like, and finds your displays as you plug them in or wake from sleep.
Most likely. Here is what Brightness Sync needs, and the few connections that get in the way.
4268254d5eb18360e86a6669035650bc2b721aec3607a55a6c0e8aaf634c5774
Double-click Brightness-Sync.dmg in your Downloads.
Drop Brightness Sync onto the Applications folder, then open it from there.
Look for in the menu bar. That's it.
Changing the brightness of external monitors needs direct access to the display hardware, which sandboxed App Store apps don't get. So Brightness Sync is distributed here instead, signed with our Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so your privacy is still protected and macOS opens it without warnings.
The display didn't answer brightness commands. Check that DDC/CI is turned on in the monitor's own menu, and try a direct DisplayPort or USB-C cable instead of a dock, adapter or HDMI port. Open Settings → Displays to see the details and advice for that screen.
No. It dims the display's backlight itself, exactly like the brightness buttons on the monitor, so colors and contrast stay intact. When a display can't be controlled in hardware, the app says so rather than faking it with a software filter.
Yes. Brightness Sync notices changes made elsewhere: the sliders follow the hardware, and the active preset is cleared so you know the screens no longer match it. Note that other brightness apps and some monitor picture modes can override its changes.
Yes. Those change the color of the picture; Brightness Sync changes the brightness of the backlight. They combine nicely, for example with a Night preset after dark.
Quit it from the power button in its menu, turn off Launch at Startup if you enabled it, and move Brightness Sync from Applications to the Trash.
Something else? Get in touch.