Up to 1,600 nits · Every app

Increase your Mac's brightness
to work outside

MacBrightness makes your screen twice as bright. It works in every app, on the brightness keys you already use.

Download free trial See pricing

Free in Splitscreen Mode · macOS 13+ · No account needed

Stock · 50% MacBrightness · 100%
Drag to compare. Same screen, twice the brightness.

As seen in

Sound familiar?

Your screen vanishes the moment you step outside

You find the perfect spot. A sunny café table, a park bench, the balcony. Then your screen turns into a mirror. You crank it to max. Still can't read it. Your Mac can go twice as bright. macOS just won't let it.

Stock brightness · noon
2×
brighter, instantly
1,600
nits, sustained
30s
to set up
$5
once, no subscription

Why it works

All your brightness, none of the catches

Same keys, twice the range

No new shortcuts. No menu-bar hunting. Your brightness keys just go twice as far. Tap up a few more times and you're there.

Bright enough for real sunlight

Work on the patio, the deck, or the gate at the airport. The extra range keeps your whole screen sharp and readable in direct sun.

Your Mac won't even notice

No noticeable CPU overhead and no low-level hacks. It just opens the brightness range your display already keeps on hand for HDR.

How it works

Brighter in under a minute

  1. 01

    Download and open

    Grab MacBrightness and launch it. No account, no setup. About thirty seconds, start to finish.

  2. 02

    It opens in Splitscreen

    Half your screen jumps to full brightness, so you can see the difference side by side. Free, for as long as you like.

  3. 03

    Tap your brightness key

    Push past the old limit and light up the whole screen. Every app, wherever you work.

The difference is night and day

Stock macOS

  • Capped at about half brightness
  • A mirror in direct sun
  • Full nits locked to HDR video
  • You, hunched over chasing shade

MacBrightness

  • The full panel, system-wide
  • Readable on the sunniest patio
  • Every app gets the range
  • You, working wherever you want

Why I built this

It started on a terrace in Italy

A few summers ago I was in Italy, trying to clear my inbox from a sun-drenched terrace in Florence. Gorgeous view. Completely unreadable screen.

I cranked the brightness to max, tilted the lid every which way, and still ended up hunched in a doorway just to read what I was typing.

Back home I dug in and found something almost silly: my MacBook Pro could go nearly twice as bright the whole time. macOS just wouldn't let it. So I built MacBrightness to flip that switch. Now I take the terrace.

Alex Brufsky · Founder, MacBrightness

Don't take our word for it

From people who work in the light

I work from a different café every week, and MacBrightness is the only reason I can grab the table by the window. It's the first thing I install on a new Mac.
Sam Rivera Product designer, full-time traveler
I take standups from a park bench all summer now. The screen used to be a gray smear in the sun. Now it's just my screen. Easily worth five bucks.
Maya Chen Software developer
I bought a MacBook Pro I couldn't even use on my own balcony. MacBrightness fixed that in thirty seconds. Honestly, it should ship with the laptop.
Diego Santos Founder

The free trial

Free brightens half your screen

Install MacBrightness and it opens in Splitscreen Mode: one half of your screen jumps to full brightness, the other stays exactly as macOS left it, so you can see the difference side by side. Splitscreen stays free for as long as you want. Buy a license and the full brightness covers the whole screen, in every app.

Download free trial
Free · full brightness Unlocks with a license

Made for the MacBook Pros that travel with you

Pricing

Pay once, keep it forever

No subscription, no catch. Every license unlocks every feature and every update.

Free brightens half your screen in Splitscreen Mode. A license unlocks the whole thing.

Single

Just for your own Macs.

$5 one-time

  • Use on your personal devices
  • Every feature included
  • Free updates
Buy Single
Most popular

Team

Light up the whole team.

$30 one-time

  • Up to 5 devices
  • Just $6 per device
  • Every feature included
Buy Team

Company

For the whole company.

$50 one-time

  • Up to 10 devices
  • Just $5 per device
  • Priority email support
Buy Company

Requires a MacBook Pro 14″/16″ with an M-series Pro or Max chip, or a Pro Display XDR.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Can I try it before I pay?

Yep. MacBrightness opens in Splitscreen Mode, where half your screen reaches full brightness, free for as long as you want. Buy a license whenever you're ready to light up the whole thing.

Does it slow down my Mac or kill my battery?

It adds no noticeable CPU overhead. MacBrightness isn't a hack. It just uses brightness your display already supports. A brighter screen does draw more battery (the same as dragging the slider up), so that trade-off is yours when the sun's out.

Will it hurt my display?

No. It only enables the extra brightness range Apple already sustains for HDR editing, the same range used when you work with HDR photos or video. There are no low-level hacks, and macOS still eases off the peak brightness if the panel gets too warm.

Which Macs does it work on?

Any Mac with a display that can actually go brighter: the MacBook Pro 14″ and 16″ with M-series Pro or Max chips, and the Pro Display XDR. Their mini-LED panels sustain around 1,600 nits. Other screens top out at their normal max (the MacBook Air, Intel Macs, the M1 13″ Pro, the Studio Display), so there's no extra range to unlock.

Is it a subscription?

No. It's a one-time purchase. Every license includes every feature and free updates. Pay once and forget about it.

Isn't there a free or open-source version?

Maybe, if you want to wire one up yourself and keep it working through every macOS update. MacBrightness is $5, sets up in about thirty seconds, and just works. Try it free first and decide if that is worth skipping the DIY.

How do I pay?

Buy through the Mac App Store or directly here. Card checkout powered by Stripe is coming soon. Need licenses for a bigger team? Email support@macbrightness.com.

Still curious? Email support@macbrightness.com.

Guides

Get more from your screen

Best Mac apps for sunlight and outdoor use in 2026

The best apps to use your MacBook outside, from brightness boosters to simple settings tweaks. MacBrightness, Vivid, Lunar, and BetterDisplay compared for outdoor readability.

Read guide →

The best MacBook brightness apps in 2026

The best Mac brightness apps for unlocking your screen's full brightness, compared. Our top brightness app for Mac, plus how Vivid, Lunar, and BetterDisplay stack up.

Read guide →

BetterDisplay alternative for MacBook brightness

MacBrightness vs BetterDisplay: a side-by-side comparison for anyone looking for an alternative to BetterDisplay that does one job (full brightness on your existing keys) without the rest of the toolkit.

Read guide →
All guides →

Turn it up

Free to try in Splitscreen Mode. Pay once when you're hooked. No subscription, no account, no nonsense.

Download free trial See pricing
Free in Splitscreen Mode Download free trial