This pre-release version brings improved compatibility with the new PROLED MacBook Pros, Touch and Live Activity support and macOS 27.3 public beta 1 support.
The update also includes other usability improvements, color profile feature updates, PIP enhancements and Apple logo light control for the PROLED MacBook Pro with a new content-based Ambience mode lets the logo lighting follow what is on screen, adding an ambient glow when watching video in a dark room. Additionally it includes a large collection of optimizations and bug fixes.
To enjoy some of the new features and proper PROLED MacBook Pro support, please update to the current macOS 27.3 beta.
Upgrading to BetterDisplay 5
BetterDisplay 5 is a free upgrade for Pro licenses purchased on or after January 1, 2025. Read the BetterDisplay v5 upgrade FAQ for details about license coverage, existing activations, and upgrade options. BetterDisplay 5 supports Apple silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 26.3 or later, including macOS 27.3.
Explore betterdisplay.pro/guide for a detailed App Menu reference and Settings reference, step-by-step tutorials, and answers to frequently asked questions. Learn what each BetterDisplay 5 feature does, set up your displays, and find practical troubleshooting advice.
PROLED MacBooks, Touch and Live Activities
- Improved PROLED display support. Added proper identification of MacBook Pro models with Dynamic Island, updated display cutout controls for switching between Full and 16:10 presentations, and adjusted brightness-control compatibility for these displays. (#5976, #5982, #5992)
- A more natural Touch experience. The app menu adapts when opened with touch, with more room between controls, larger slider knobs, and improved touch interaction throughout menus and submenus. (#5993, #5996)
- Live Activity feedback. Show brightness, volume and other adjustments as a Live Activity in the menu bar or Dynamic Island on macOS 27.3 or later, with configurable automatic expansion and compact presentations. (#5977)
- Automatic Dynamic Island feedback. Supported OSD styles now prefer the active display's Dynamic Island when it is available and the display uses the Full aspect ratio. Other configurations keep the selected OSD style. (#6048)
Apple Logo Light Control
- Choose the right amount of glow. Adjust or turn off the illuminated Apple logo on supported PROLED MacBooks, with an option to limit its brightness according to screen brightness. (#5985)
- Lighting that follows your video. Experimental Content Based Ambience adjusts the logo light to the brightness of screen content, adapting over time and reducing the influence of brief bright flashes. Set the maximum light strength and enjoy an ambient glow while watching movies in a dark room. (#5995)
Other Improvements
- Native brightness-key handling. Added optional pass-through for Apple display brightness keys, allowing macOS to handle supported adjustments and their usual system feedback. (#6002)
- Keyboard controls follow the active screen. Brightness and video shortcuts now default to the screen with the focused window or desktop, making them more natural to use with Touch and Dynamic Island. Existing settings and eligible multi-display setups retain their previous targeting behavior. (#6040)
- Continuous mouse selection. Click and hold the menu bar icon, drag into the app menu or a submenu, then release to activate an item in one gesture. (#6041)
- More flexible OSD placement. Added an option to show on-screen feedback on the display with the mouse pointer, including when volume keys control the current audio output. (#5972)
- Finer combined-brightness adjustment. Supported built-in displays now use a 12.5% software-dimming switchover by default, leaving more of the slider range for hardware brightness. Custom switchover values support two decimal places. (#6047)
- Cleaner screenshots. Added an option to temporarily hide dimming overlays during screenshot capture. (#3023)
- Expanded Yamaha AVR controls. Added a dedicated remote and additional settings for supported Yamaha receivers. (#5973)
- Color Profile Retouch. Create a customized color profile with saturation, hue, contrast, gamma and color balance adjustments, with live preview and no compositor filter required. (#5966)
- Experimental LUT color profiles. Create a color profile from an imported LUT as an alternative to applying the LUT through the compositor filter. macOS does not officially support LUT color profiles, and compatibility varies between apps. (#5975)
- Clearer custom-control setup. Feature choices now follow the same logical ordering as synchronization settings. (#5989)
Fixes
- Display connections and wake. Improved brightness recovery, identification, user switching and disconnect safeguards. (#5945, #5959, #5988, #6003, #6004)
- Resolutions and layouts. Fixed mode-change memory leaks, display targeting, layout protection and group behavior. (#5981, #6006, #6007, #6009, #6013, #6018, #6022, #6031)
- Menus and OSD. Fixed positioning, resizing, clipped icons and stale menu state. (#5947, #5984, #5997, #5998, #5999)
- Color and video. Fixed rendering glitches, profile-save cleanup and ColorSync-related freezes. (#5994, #6029, #6044)
- Virtual screens and streaming. Improved reconnection stability, mirroring, shortcuts and settings validation. (#5946, #6008, #6024, #6027, #6030)
- Audio. Improved Software Audio recovery and CEC/Philips TV volume handling. (#5950, #6017, #6020)
- Device control. Fixed DDC/CEC issues, stale readings, backlight restoration and Samsung service-menu freezes. (#6010, #6012, #6014, #6019, #6023, #6033, #6037)
- Settings and activation. Fixed import, cleanup and license activation issues. (#5980, #6005, #6032, #6034)
- Scripts and custom controls. Fixed crashes, hangs, timeouts and dropped updates. (#6011, #6015, #6016, #6026, #6028, #6036)
- HTTP and URLs. Fixed response delivery, URL decoding and oversized-request handling. (#6021, #6025, #6035, #6038)
Included Localizations
Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English (British), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
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