Unlock the full brightness of your MacBook Pro XDR display.
Free & open-source. Up to 1,600 nits. No subscription. No nonsense.
Website • Install • How It Works • Build
Your MacBook Pro's XDR display can go 3x brighter than macOS allows.
This app flips the switch.
Your MacBook Pro has an XDR display capable of 1,600 nits of brightness — but macOS only lets you use ~500 nits for everyday tasks. The extra brightness is locked behind HDR content playback.
Light Up My Life removes that limitation. Toggle it on and your entire screen gets brighter. Perfect for outdoor use, bright rooms, or just because you paid for those nits.
$0. Free. Forever. Apps like Vivid charge $20+ for this. We think it should be free.
| Feature | Light Up My Life | Vivid | BrightIntosh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $20+ | Free |
| Max Brightness | 1,600 nits | 1,600 nits | 1,600 nits |
| Brightness Slider | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Menu Bar App | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Display | Yes | Yes | No |
| Permissions Required | None | Accessibility | Accessibility |
| Open Source | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dependencies | Zero | Many | Some |
| App Size | < 1 MB | ~15 MB | ~5 MB |
- Full XDR Brightness — boost from 500 to 1,600 nits
- Menu Bar App — lives quietly in your menu bar, no dock icon
- Brightness Slider — fine-grained control over your boost level
- Live Nits Display — see exactly how bright your screen is
- Click the Sun — tap the sun icon or the toggle to switch on/off
- Remembers Your Settings — persists brightness level between launches
- Sleep/Wake Aware — automatically re-applies after your Mac wakes up
- Multi-Display — works across all connected XDR displays
- Lightweight — minimal CPU/GPU usage (~10 FPS solid color render)
- No Permissions Needed — no accessibility access, no admin privileges
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| macOS | 13.0 (Ventura) or later |
| Display | MacBook Pro 14"/16" (2021+) or Pro Display XDR |
| Chip | Apple Silicon recommended (M1/M2/M3/M4) |
Grab the latest .dmg from Releases — open it, drag to Applications, done.
brew install --cask light-up-my-lifegit clone https://github.com/ben4mn/light-up-my-life.git
cd light-up-my-life
./build.sh
open ".build/Light Up My Life.app"open Package.swift
# Hit Cmd+R to build and runswift build -c release
.build/release/LightUpMyLifeLight Up My Life uses a transparent Metal overlay window to activate your display's Extended Dynamic Range (EDR) mode:
- A borderless, click-through window covers your screen
- A
CAMetalLayerrenders in theextendedLinearDisplayP3color space - Color values above 1.0 tell the display to exceed standard brightness
- A
multiplycompositing filter blends the boost with your screen content
This is the same mechanism your display uses for HDR video — we just apply it system-wide.
The overlay is invisible to screenshots (won't appear in screen recordings), doesn't intercept mouse events, and works across all Spaces and fullscreen apps.
Will this damage my display?
No. The XDR display is designed to output up to 1,600 nits. Apple uses this range for HDR content regularly. We're just letting you use what you already have.
Does it affect battery life?
Yes, higher brightness = more power. This is true whether you're using this app or watching an HDR video. The display is doing the same thing either way.
Why not just use Night Shift or True Tone?
Those adjust color temperature, not peak brightness. Light Up My Life boosts your actual light output.
Does it work on external monitors?
Only on displays that support EDR (like the Pro Display XDR). Standard external monitors will be skipped automatically.
| Language | Swift 5.9+ |
| UI | SwiftUI |
| Rendering | Metal / MetalKit |
| Build | Swift Package Manager |
| Dependencies | Zero |
PRs welcome! The codebase is intentionally small (~550 lines) and simple:
Sources/LightUpMyLife/
├── LightUpMyLifeApp.swift # App entry point (MenuBarExtra)
├── ContentView.swift # Popover UI
├── BrightnessManager.swift # State management & notifications
├── OverlayManager.swift # Metal overlay windows
├── MetalRenderer.swift # EDR clear-color renderer
└── CustomStyles.swift # Amber toggle style
Inspired by Vivid, BrightIntosh, and BrightXDR.
Built with Claude Code.
MIT — do whatever you want with it.
If this saved you $20, consider giving it a star