MonitorControl

MonitorControl changes the brightness and volume of external displays from a Mac. You can use the sliders in its menu bar menu or the keyboard, including the brightness and media keys on Apple keyboards, and it shows the native macOS on-screen display when you do.

For most monitors it uses DDC/CI to change the real backlight, contrast and volume over USB-C, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI or VGA. Apple displays and built-in screens use Apple's own protocol. Where hardware control is not possible, such as most TVs, DisplayLink docks, AirPlay and Sidecar, it falls back to software dimming. It can combine hardware and software dimming to go below a display's minimum brightness, dim all the way to black, copy brightness changes from the built-in screen's ambient light sensor to an external display, and set every display with one slider. Custom shortcuts live under Keyboard in Settings, and Show advanced settings unlocks more options.

It suits anyone with a desktop monitor whose brightness buttons are awkward to reach. Some ports do not pass DDC: the built-in HDMI port on the 2018 Intel Mac mini, on M1 Macs and on the entry-level M2 Mac mini. On those Macs, connect over USB-C or use software dimming.

MonitorControl is MIT licensed and maintained on GitHub by waydabber, who also makes BetterDisplay. Accessibility permission is only needed if you want to use the Apple keyboard keys. Version 4 runs on macOS 10.15 with some limits and fully on macOS 11 Big Sur or later. On macOS Tahoe the native on-screen display is only partly supported.