6.8.5

Improvements

Return early if manual location is being used for coordinates
Flush stdout when using lunar listen CLI command

Fixes

Fix auto-learning in Location mode before sunrise and after sunset

6.8.4

Improvements

Add support for MacBook Pro M4 2024

Known issues

Lunar's Shortcuts actions don't seem to appear on macOS 15.1 for some people. There was no change in Lunar's Shortcuts code that caused this, it's a problem that appeared with a macOS update.

I'm still looking for ways to debug this.

6.8.3

Fixes

Fix overlay dimming not appearing on virtual displays like DisplayLink

6.8.2 Fixes

Fix crashes related to DDC resets
Improve stability in multi threaded code
Fix "Set screen as Main" Shortcut when used with "screen with cursor"
Make sure System Adaptive Brightness gets re-enabled correctly when getting below 800 nits manually
Move hang detection to 40s instead of 60s to avoid constant app hang restarts
Hide Sub-zero Dimming OSD instantly when going above 0% to avoid duplicate OSD

Improvements

Run re-adaptation routines both on wake and on monitor connect/disconnect

6.8.1

Improvements

Allow disabling the nits reading in the brightness OSD for the MacBook screen

Fixes

Fix overlay staying on the wrong screen after changing main display or the resolution
Fix Not conditions in Shortcuts not working correctly
Fix XDR Contrast being applied on Unmanaged displays erroneously (resulting in darkening of monitors when XDR was enabled)
Remove unnecessary brightness refresh when some background apps are launched/quit

Features

New Get ambient light in lux Shortcut action
Make lunar displays CLI faster in specific scenarios
Add -q/--quiet to lunar displays to quickly check if specific displays are connected or not

6.8.0

Features

Re-organize advanced settings
Isolate App Info UI into its own little window and hide it by default on first launch

Improvements

Ask about Full Range XDR at onboarding and default to it for new users
Make HDR redraw dot less visible when using XDR Brightness
Allow disabling "bad display" detection through the ignoreDisplaysWithMissingMetadata setting:

defaults write fyi.lunar.Lunar ignoreDisplaysWithMissingMetadata false

Only to be used in cases where:

BlackOut wrongly reconnects the screen 5-10 seconds after disconnecting it
screen remains black after disabling BlackOut

Fixes

Adapt software dimming dynamically if Invert Colors is used often while Lunar is running (previously it needed an app restart when changing the Invert Colors setting)
Fix Full Range XDR for macOS Sequoia beta 3
Fix re-applying the wrong stored brightness after wake

6.7.9

Improvements

Disable volume keys handler on sleep and re-enable on wake to prevent CoreAudio from hanging and cause system lag
Speed up CLI startup time

Fixes

Fix a long-standing issue where LED Cinema and Thunderbolt displays would overflow the brightness value, causing the display to go dark at specific brightness levels (39 and 78)
Fix Location Mode not being selectable when using manual coordinates

6.7.8

Fixes

Move max DDC brightness back to 255 for Cinema and Thunderbolt displays
Fix brightness being sent to the monitor continuously in Sensor Mode, even if the value hasn't changed
Ensure the Sensor Mode Lux update interval is correctly used with wireless sensors

6.7.7

Fixes

Fix nits OSD appearing erroneously when HDR state is being changed

6.7.6

Fixes

Fix flickering in smooth transitions when holding the brightness keys
Fix nits value not updating all the time

6.7.5

Features

Smoother Sync Mode brightness adaptation

Fixes

Fix printing SentryCrashExceptionApplication by mistake in the CLI output
Fix nits OSD not appearing where it should after resolution change
Ensure Full Range remains enabled even when the system reports an incomplete status

Improvements

Add hidden setting syncModeBrightnessKeyPressedExpireSeconds

Showing OSD on target monitors in Sync Mode requires only taking into account the changes that happen within a waiting period after the brightness key press.

That period was previously 0.5 seconds, which was now increased to 1 second and made configurable via the syncModeBrightnessKeyPressedExpireSeconds hidden setting. Some systems take longer to propagate the brightness change events and this setting should help with that.

Optimise code path leading from the Sync source brightness change to the Sync target brightness adaptation
More intuitive nits range calculation in Sync Mode

6.7.4

Fixes

Fix color adjustments not being applied anymore on some screens
Don't show nits values by default in the OSD since it can cause it to not appear on some screens
Revert the max DDC brightness for LED Cinema and Thunderbolt displays back to 100 instead of 255
Make DCP matching on IODisplayLocation optional to avoid DDC not working with some displays
Fix Full Range toggle disappearing sometimes after a display connection
Fix volume hotkeys not working anymore if CoreAudio times out

Improvements

Move the CoreAudio device fetching back to main thread where if it stalls, it will restart the app automatically
Allow hiding the nits value from the brightness OSD

6.7.3

Hotfix

Ensure UI is not instantiated until the user opens it
- Fixes too much energy usage on some systems

6.7.2

Features

Allow setting main monitor using the CLI. Example: lunar displays LG main true
Show when brightness is locked by the reference preset in the UI

Improvements

More accurate nits readings for Apple displays
Precise nits-based Sync Mode even when HDR content is visible
Improved detection of virtual displays
Improved DDC-to-monitor matching by using the hardware port where possible
More responsive Full Range switching in cases where the system generates a lot of logs
Allow skipping missing displays when using the "Set Monitor as Main" shortcut

Fixes

Prepare for upcoming macOS 15
Don't use Gamma APIs unless absolutely necessary to avoid unwanted HDR clipping
Fix app presets taking too long to apply
Fix possible crash when fetching reference presets on external monitors
Fix system lag when CoreAudio devices take too long to respond

6.7.13

Features

Allow HDR monitors to use the superior Apple Native brightness control instead of DDC on macOS Sequoia

Fixes

Ignore displays named "Unknown Display" which may appear when the monitor's connection is not ready for DDC

Improvements

Ensure Software Dimming does dim the screen instead of whiten it when Invert Colors is enabled in Accessibility settings
- This will force a white Overlay instead of Gamma dimming since gamma tables can't be inverted in a precise enough way
Make sure menu does not end up behind the menu bar when that is set to autohide

6.7.12

Improvements

Improve Auto Blackout by ignoring displays with empty or incomplete name
Print CLI location and restart shell after installation

Fixes

Fix Software Dimming not being applied instantly when using the lunar displays CLI

6.7.11

Fixes

Fix Sync Mode not using nits on MacBook Air and iMac (Apple Silicon only)

6.7.10

Improvements

Shave off another 250 milliseconds from the CLI startup time

Fixes

Fix menu appearing on the main display instead of the one where the icon was clicked, on fullscreen apps
Fix positioning of the new "Disable volume keys on display sleep" setting
Fix resolution being changed erroneously

6.7.1

Hotfix

Fix crash on launch if Auto Mode was previously enabled

6.7.0

Features

Ambient Light Sensor support for Intel Macs
Faster event based lux reading (up to 100ms between reads)

Improvements

Improve launch time of the app
Faster CLI launches

Fixes

Fix not showing Lunar Pro popover correctly when clicking on XDR or Full Range
Fix Full Range XDR not being re-enabled automatically after wake/connect/launch
Go back to Xcode 15.2: some Shortcuts stopped working when compiled with the latest Xcode 15.3

6.6.5

Hotfix

Remove leftover usage of a non-standard command-line tool that was prompting unnecessary installation of Xcode Command Line Tools

6.6.4

Improvements

Add support for MacBook Air M3 models

Fixes

Fix Power off screen (in software) Shortcut
Fix BlackOut not being able to re-apply previous resolution
Fix missing resolutions from the list
Add hidden setting allowAdjustmentsWhileLocked for who may need it
Fix "Change Adaptive Mode" and "Rotate Screen" shortcuts not working on some systems

6.6.3

Fixes

Fix disabling presets on Studio Display
Remove duplicate values from the lunar CLI help text

6.6.2

Features

Force enable Night Shift and True Tone on external monitors that support them but don't work out of the box

Improvements

Allow Auto Blackout to work in more edge cases like:
- when coming back from standby, the monitor connects too slowly and for a few seconds it appears as there's no display available
- when opening the lid of the MacBook while clamshell mode is disabled
Stop brightness and lux CLI listeners when the socket closes

Fixes

Fix specific features like observing brightness on the 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15"
Fix keyboard backlight being turned on when it shouldn't
Fix a bug that caused the builtin to come out of Blackout intermitently on Intel Macs
Disable Full Range XDR on Pro Display XDR screens since it is not working there
Fix Full Range XDR and Gamma Dimming not being available sometimes after coming back from blackout
Workaround a macOS bug that can cause system slow downs because CoreLocation is timing out
Make sure the DIY light sensor install script gets the correct enclosing dir
Make sure lunar toggle-connection returns immediately after disconnect
Fix built-in not reconnecting after disconnecting all monitors in specific cases
Fix Auto Mode not selecting Sensor Mode when the built-in is disconnected
Fix Sync Mode setting external displays to a very low brightness when activating XDR Brightness
Delay specific actions after wake/login to avoid system hangs. Actions that are delayed include:
- watching for screencapture events when using overlay dimming
- checking for zero gamma issues
- adapting brightness if the Delay after wake setting is enabled

6.6.1

Improvements

Add nits output to the lunar listen CLI command

Fixes

Fix MediaMate integration on Full Range XDR Brightness
Fix external sensor disconnecting every 5 seconds in specific cases
Fix Whites and Blacks not being re-applied after app restart

6.6.0

Security

Fix a possible vulnerability in the restart logic

A rogue application could have exploited the restart logic to gain Accessibility Permissions.

Features

Full Range XDR Brightness

This is a new approach for unlocking the 1600nits of brightness in Apple's XDR displays, developed in collaboration with @waydabber from BetterDisplay.

It has the following key differences from the previous XDR Brightness method:

It doesn't clip colors in HDR content - no more washed out colors
The system adaptive brightness keeps working and uses the full range
There's no lag when going from SDR to XDR brightness
Can be kept on all the time without any downsides
Can work in tandem with f.lux

Downsides:

It only works on MacBook Pro XDR screens
The screen will flash one or two times when toggling Full Range

The system will still adapt the maximum nits of brightness based on the ambient light, so you might get a max of 800 nits in a dark room and 1600 nits in sunlight.

Disabling the system adaptive brightness will turn off this behaviour.

Preset unlocking

The Change Screen Preset Shortcut now allows you to unlock various functions that are locked by macOS when using reference presets:

Brightness Control
Adaptive Brightness
Night Shift
True Tone

Improvements

Allow overlay dimming to work on Airplay screens when the MacBook is in Blackout
Automatically use the mirroring method for Blackout when the MacBook is connected to an wireless display

Fixes

Disable Dark Mode after disabling Night Mode
Ensure Night Mode does disable after unchecking it
Fix app hanging when initializing Location Services in some cases
Fix Dark Mode being disabled erroneously
Make sure to re-enable keyboard backlight after disabling Blackout
Fix CLI not working after a few standby cycles
Fix rounded corners not being applied on app launch

6.5.0

Features

Night Mode: minimize jarring flashes of white regions on dark backgrounds. This is a combination between:
- lower whitepoint: lower the whitepoint of the screen to make white regions appear less bright
- warm colors: filters blue light to further minimise eye strain on bright colors
- enhanced contrast: keeps text readable even at such low brightness levels

The following video shows the difference between simply having Dark Mode on with a low brightness, and having Night Mode on top of that.

If you pay attention to the hand that is scrolling, you'll notice that the flashes of light from the white regions have less effect with Night Mode enabled. In the same way, your eyes will see less of a difference in perceived brightness between the dark background and the bright regions that may appear unexpectedly while scrolling on a web page.

The technique is quite similar to what f.lux does, but with the added benefit of enhancing contrast for readability.

How to activate Night Mode:

using the CLI: lunar night-mode toggle
using the Night Mode Shortcuts action
from the Right Click menubar icon menu

Fixes

Important fix on DDC commands causing a crash when the queue is full
Allow http on non-local custom domains/IPs of light sensors
Fix not keeping Disconnect API disabled with DisplayLink running
Fix built-in screen having 100% brightness after waking up from sleep in some cases
Make sure external sensor available state is kept up to date
- Fixes a problem where both internal and external sensor data would be used at the same time

Improvements

Limit Gamma whites and blacks sliders to avoid full black/white screens
Allow disabling Sub-zero dimming by setting Min Brightness to 0

6.4.5

Features

Adaptive sleep on smooth DDC transitions

Fixes

Ensure Shortcuts keep working after automatic and manual app restarts
- Looks like using exec to restart the app invalidates the XPC connections that Shortcuts opens, who knew..

Improvements

Ensure location coordinates update often enough
Preserve privacy better by using reduced location data with a maximum of city level accuracy
- The coordinates never leave the computer, this is just to preserve privacy in case of a rogue program or app

6.4.4

Features

Advanced gamma Shortcut for creating any type of color profile

Sample Shortcut here: Gamma Preset

6.4.3

Hotfix

DDC and Sync Mode responsiveness fix

6.4.2

Hotfix

Fix a crash introduced in 6.4.1 related to presets

6.4.1

Fixes

Fix custom preset not being applied correctly if saved with the same name as a previously deleted preset
Allow saving the preset by pressing Enter in the text field

6.4.0

Features

Support for the new M3 MacBook Pro and M3 iMac
Cleanup UI
- Use a warmer color palette
- Make the menubar UI less wide
- Add option to Dim non-essential UI elements

Add lunar lux --listen command for automations based on readings from the internal ambient light sensor

Improvements

Disable Lunar adjustments when screen is locked
Add new identifiers for the M3 MacBook Pro and iMac
Make cursor cling to the middle of the slider knob instead of lagging behind
Enable lunar listen to react to display connection changes
Disable autoRestartOnFailedDDC and make it opt-in by default
- New macOS updates have fixed most of the issues that created the need for it

Fixes

Fix Auto XDR appearing erroneously in non-Pro builds
Fix locked volume OSD when locking brightness

6.3.0

Features

Try to use lux sensors of Apple-vendored external monitors when available

Improvements

Use window average for sensor lux when adapting Auto XDR
Smaller menubar icon
Allow hiding the nits limits from the slider

Fixes

Work around Sonoma display connection bug when fetching display info while disconnected
Fix OSD chiclets disappearing sometimes on Sonoma
Fix app hang on saving display state while restarting from a crash
Don't cache isLG to avoid not showing LG specific inputs
Fix UI spacing in the Clean layout
Fix XDR Contrast going flashing to 0 while in Sub-zero Dimming

6.2.7

Fixes

Fix some Shortcuts not working
Fix some typos

6.2.6

Features

Option to Force keep HDR enabled for external monitors

Option to Use static values instead of offsets for App Presets

Improvements

Detect possible clamshell sleep and preemptively pause adaptive brightness to avoid flickering
Add Skip action if screen is missing for Shortcuts

Fixes

Fix macOS Sonoma layout issues

6.2.5

Features

Enhance contrast in Sub-zero Dimming

Keyboard backlight setting for BlackOut

Improvements

Only adjust keyboard backlight in Sub-zero Dimming when keyboard backlight was previously on

Fixes

Add missing LG specific inputs in Shortcuts

6.2.4

Features

Dim keyboard backlight to minimum when Sub-zero dimming is used
Automatically detect a light sensor running as the official HomeAssistant Addon
Add support for the following boards:
- Feather ESP32 S2
- Feather ESP32 S2 Reverse TFT
- NodeMCU ESP32 S2
- Adafruit HUZZAH32 Feather ESP32

Improvements

Make the reset button do a full reset by default (instead of resetting just the non-display specific settings)
Replace watchdog with restartOnCrash signal handler

6.2.3

Features

Turn off keyboard backlight when blacking out the MacBook screen

Improvements

Return the current state after toggling boolean values in Shortcuts

Fixes

Fix JSON number formatting in lunar listen CLI command
Make watchdog more resilient so that Lunar restarts after crashes

6.2.2

Features

Add alternate menubar icon for people with trypophobia

Improvements

Don't automatically activate XDR when holding the brightness up key
- It still activates when pressing the key after 100% brightness

Fixes

Fix Main Screen ID fetching

6.2.1

Fixes

Fix auto-learning logic for contrast
Ensure brightness and contrast values don't overshoot the min/max values

6.2.0

Improvements

Don't beep when doing fine volume adjustments

Features

Add --source-address to lunar ddc command for monitors that allow some DDC commands only on the service port (e.g. most newer LG models)
Add LG specific inputs for those models where input switching only blinks the monitor but doesn't actually switch the input

The new inputs can also be accessed from macOS Shortcuts or from the CLI using commands like:

lunar displays lg input lgHdmi1

# Newly added inputs:
#   lgHdmi1 lgHdmi2 lgHdmi3 lgHdmi4
#   lgUsbC1 lgUsbC2 lgUsbC3 lgUsbC4
#   lgDisplayPort1 lgDisplayPort2 lgDisplayPort3 lgDisplayPort4

Some LG models respond to the 3 and 4 inputs while others use the 1 and 2 inputs. For example 32UD99 uses USB-C 3 and DisplayPort 3 while 32QN650 uses USB-C 1 and DisplayPort 1.

Fixes

Fix VCP code for LG specific inputs
Fix zero coordinates in UI even when location is available
Fix sensor flasher not assigning the correct IDs to the sensors
Show when Location Mode doesn't have permissions to request actual coordinates

6.1.5

Features

Cleaning Mode: disable screens, keys and clicks to help cleaning the keyboard and screens

Improvements

Default max brightness to 500 for Dell Alienware monitors
Keep HDR enabled after standby for external monitors when using XDR brightness
Allow customizing I2C sensor pins
Add support for more hardware light sensors:
- BH1750
- LTR390
- MAX44009
- TCS34725
- TSL2561
- TSL2591

Fixes

Fix Auto XDR blinking when battery is lower than 20%

6.1.4

Improvements

Add disableExternalSensorWhenNoExternalMonitor hidden setting
Disable the new Disconnect API when DisplayLink is running

Fixes

Fix the Force Sleep when lid is closed functionality

6.1.3

Fixes

Fix volume OSD not appearing in Sub-zero Dimming
Fix Sub-zero Dimming not working with the dark overlay in some cases
Fix Lunar not responding for some users

Features

MediaMate integration:
- lunar listen CLI command for getting realtime brightness/contrast/volume changes
- hideOSD setting forces Lunar to not show any OSD whatsoever

6.1.2

Fixes

Fix Overlay Dimming not working anymore

6.1.1

PWM flicker minimization

By combining hardware and software dimming at specific thresholds, Lunar can help people sensitive to PWM flickering.

The below video shows how you can use the Halide iOS app to find the lowest brightness where flickering starts to appear.

How to use it

For 2021 Apple Silicon MacBooks, adjust the Min Brightness to 38 in Display Settings to get advantage of this.

Lunar will then use Sub-zero Dimming below that value, which keeps the LED voltage steady while blocking light using the LCD.

For external monitors and other screens, play with the Min Brightness setting until you find the threshold under which PWM flicker becomes noticeable.

Then set the minimum brightness to the lowest value that doesn't cause flicker.

Improvements

Added sidecar option to lunar toggle-connection CLI command

Fixes

Fix Sub-zero Dimming being overridden by the system adaptive brightness
Fix contrast jumping from max to min when going to/from Sub-zero Dimming
Fix flashes and sudden transitions when going in and out of Sub-zero Dimming

6.1.0

Clock Mode improvements

Added Sub-zero dimming range (can be disabled from the Controls menu)

Algorithm Variations

Fully Automated

This makes Clock Mode override any manual adjustments done by the user.

It also makes it re-apply the brightness of the previous schedule after standby/wake or after a screen reconnection.

User Controlled

This makes Clock Mode respect manual adjustments done by the user.

Brightness will always transition to the next schedule starting from the user adjusted brightness.

Also if the system wakes within 30 minutes of a passed schedule, the brightness of that previous schedule is re-applied

Features

Add Send volume to all monitors setting
- Helpful for setups with multiple similar monitors, where the audio device can't be matched to the correct monitor

Improvements

Remove Menu button and allow Control+Click on the menubar icon to see the menu
- Right Click or Two Finger Trackpad Click also works
Renamed Options button to Settings
Renamed Preferences button to Display Settings
Fix an annoying macOS bug that keeps resetting the brightness of Apple displays to 50% after wake
Remove the jitterAfterWake setting since it's no longer needed
When disconnecting a screen, re-apply previous scaling on remaining screens one by one instead of all at once

6.0.3

Features

Watchdog: restart Lunar when it hangs
Trigger Sleep when the lid is closed feature
- for those people that want the Mac to sleep when closing the lid while connected to a monitor and charging

Sleep the Mac Apple Shortcut

Improvements

Allow for steeper curves in Sync/Sensor/Location modes

Fixes

Sync Mode should not flicker anymore

6.0.2

Features

Watchdog: restart Lunar when it crashes
- some crashes happen because of causes outside Lunar's control
- this will ensure Lunar keeps running until the user quits it explicitly
- when crashing too often, the Watchdog will be disabled automatically
Fix Monitor Arrangement Shortcut to aid in repairing horizontal arrangements that get swapped around by the system

Improvements

Better performance and lower CPU usage when the menu is not visible
Show "Possibly disconnected" displays:
- these are displays that have Auto Disconnect enabled but can't be detected as having the cable connected or not
- they are always shown until connected to make sure there's always a way to disable Auto Disconnect

6.0.1

Features

Show useful info about the adaptive mode in the menu header

Improvements

Improved Reconnect and Toggle Connection Shortcuts by returning the UUID of the connected screen
- This can be observed in use on the new Lunar Shortcuts webpage

Fixes

Fixed some crashes and hangs

6.0.0

This is a free major version update. Existing Lunar Pro users can keep using their existing license without any action on their part.

Sync Mode: new algorithm

Nits syncing

(Apple Silicon only)

Lunar can now read the real brightness value in nits from Apple displays and sync it more accurately to other monitors.

Most external monitors don't provide a way to read their min and max nits limits, so they start with a default range of 30-350 nits. Those limits can be adjusted from the Lunar interface:

Sync without a source

Sync Mode can now be used on all setups, even on those where there's no Apple display to sync from.

An All Displays slider will show up which will control the brightness and contrast of all screens in sync. Brightness keys will also control this special slider by default.

Any manual adjustment done to other monitors will be learnt and used by the All Displays slider.

Optimizations

The adaptive algorithm is now faster and more efficient, with an almost instantly responsive auto-learning curve. This is thanks to using better researched math formulas and new data structures tailored to brightness syncing.

The native brightness OSD will now show up on all monitors instead of only on the source display.

Polling is not used anymore, relying completely on a brightness change event based system, for less battery and CPU usage.

Sensor Mode: more sensors

Integrated sensors

(Apple Silicon only)

Lunar can now read ambient light lux values from sensors of Apple displays like:

Studio Display
Pro Display XDR
LG UltraFine for Mac
Thunderbolt Display
LED Cinema

Wireless sensors

DIY ambient light sensors will now connect faster to Lunar, and keep a more stable connection between standby/wake states.

The sensor can also be configured more flexibly using the defaults command on the Mac where Lunar is running. This is especially helpful for when the lunarsensor server.

There are three settings that affect where Lunar looks for the sensor:

sensorHostname set by default to lunarsensor.local
sensorPort set by default to 80
sensorPathPrefix set by default to /

For example, if you would like to have Lunar listen for sensor events at homeassistant.local:8123/lunar/events you would run the following commands:

defaults write fyi.lunar.Lunar sensorHostname homeassistant.local
defaults write fyi.lunar.Lunar sensorPort 8123
defaults write fyi.lunar.Lunar sensorPathPrefix /lunar

Lux-to-nits curve

Sensor Mode now starts with a better researched and tested curve that converts the ambient light to real nits for each display.

On Apple Silicon, the estimated nits limits from Sync Mode will also be taken into account to compute an accurate brightness value for each display.

BlackOut

On Apple Silicon devices running macOS Ventura, BlackOut now uses a new API that can disconnect the screen completely.

The power button will show the action that it will do based on the modifier keys that are pressed:

Auto Disconnect

When a screen is disconnected, it will appear at the bottom of the Lunar menu, with an option to enable the Auto Disconnect feature.

This will ensure the display stays disconnected between standby/wake and lid open/close cycles.

For the MacBook built-in screen, this also enables the previous Auto BlackOut feature which disconnects the MacBook screen when a monitor is connected, and turns it back on when all monitors are disconnected.

Sidecar

If you ever wanted to use a keyboard shortcut for connecting a Sidecar device, Lunar now supports that.

There's a new action in Apple Shortcuts that can connect a specific Sidecar iPad, and the Connection actions have been updated to support the most recently used Sidecar:

BlackOut can also natively disconnect/reconnect Sidecar devices on Apple Silicon.

DDC

Support for brightness/volume control using DDC has been stabilised for the integrated HDMI port of the M1 and M2 chips.

The previous logic was also improved to avoid possible flickering and speed up DDC port matching.

Other improvements

Settings

Some settings have been regrouped, and some are now hidden if they aren't relevant to the hardware in use.

It's also possible now to use the Reset button from the Options menu to:

Reset All Settings by Option-clicking
Reset display-specific Settings by Command-clicking

Logging

Lunar is now using the native unified logging architecture on macOS.

Logs can now be viewed in Console.app or in the terminal with the following command:

log stream --level debug --source --style compact --predicate 'subsystem == "fyi.lunar.Lunar" AND category == "default"'

There is no log file on disk anymore, logs can be collected on demand when they're needed to avoid excessive disk writes.

5.9.5

Features

Support for M2 Pro/Max

Both Thunderbolt/DP and HDMI connections on M2 Pro/Max should support DDC in this version.

Disconnect screens

You'll notice two new actions in macOS Shortcuts: Disconnect screen and Reconnect screen.

This new method can really disconnect and power off the screen just like closing the MacBook lid or disconnecting a cable would do, freeing up the GPU resources.

You retain the ability to use the MacBook keyboard/trackpad/webcam as usual, and disconnected external monitors usually keep the ability to charge the laptop.

These are the effort of reverse engineering the MacBook's clamshell mode which you can read about in this article

I'm planning to integrate them into BlackOut eventually but there's a lot more testing I have to do first.

Improvements

Make the arrangements/layouts in Shortcuts work when the main display is not the built-in display
Add "Set screen as main" Shortcut
Add a way to disable sensor checking on the network

5.9.4

Improvements

Add adaptiveSubzero display property that allows disabling using Sub-zero Dimming range automatically in adaptive algorithms
Add UI checkbox for the adaptiveSubzero setting

Fixes

Volume slider was not showing for network controlled monitors
Lock the panel manager when using resolution/preset Shortcuts

5.9.3

Sorry for the fast paced updates.

Here's a reminder of how you can switch to checking for updates less often:

Fixes

Fix wireless sensor detection
Fix manual adjustments not being reset
Fix Sync Mode polling interval 0 not working on Apple external displays
Fix Apple displays brightness value not getting updated inside Lunar
Fix Network Control not working
Fix "Find Screen" Shortcut comparators
Fix "Set Resolution" Shortcut
Fix dragging Sub-zero Brightness slider not triggering the auto learning algorithm in adaptive modes

5.9.2

Improvements

Use new "Launch at Login" API on macOS Ventura and later

Fixes

Skip nil EDID UUID in DCP service (fixes "Non-responsive DDC" on some setups)
Disable logging to file in non-verbose mode
- This should avoid some crashes and decrease load on disk
Fix crash caused by using CFRunLoop unnecessarily
Fix BlackOut not disabling mirroring when turning back on the display
Fix DDC services not being assigned correctly to slower monitors
Fix crash in network control code

5.9.1

Hotfix

Fix non-responsive DDC for some specific monitor models

Features

Adaptive Sub-zero Dimming

Full support for using Sub-zero dimming automatically inside adaptive modes like Sync/Sensor/Location.

The Auto-learning algorithm can now learn Sub-zero brightness values and apply them in the future based on the current ambient light or sun position.

Native OSD

for Sub-zero dimming, XDR Brightness and Contrast adjustments

macOS Shortcuts

Control brightness, volume etc. of a screen
Change Lunar adaptive modes and apply global presets
Plus actions that can be done exclusively in Shortcuts:
- Swap monitors
- Mirror any combination of screens
- Arrange screens in various layouts
- Change resolution and frame rate with a hotkey
- Change presets with a hotkey (easily access reference presets like Design & Print or Photography)

New DDC algorithm

Adds compatibility for the built-in HDMI port of the newer Apple Silicon Mac devices
- Remember to enable DDC from the Controls menu of the HDMI display if it was previously disabled
Improves writing speed with an algorithm that adapts to each monitor's I²C max speed
Improves DDC Read reliability

Improvements

Allow changing the ambient light sensor hostname from the command line
- defaults write fyi.lunar.Lunar sensorHostname mysensor.local
Make BlackOut without mirroring a bit faster
Better detection for MCDP29XX chips
Better detection for projectors and virtual displays
Deactivate license on oldest device automatically when activation fails

Fixes

Fix custom hotkeys not allowing hold to change continuously
Fix possible crash when MPDisplayMgr can't lock access to displays

Full list of macOS Shortcuts

5.9.0

Features

Adaptive Sub-zero Dimming

Full support for using Sub-zero dimming automatically inside adaptive modes like Sync/Sensor/Location.

The Auto-learning algorithm can now learn Sub-zero brightness values and apply them in the future based on the current ambient light or sun position.

Native OSD

for Sub-zero dimming, XDR Brightness and Contrast adjustments

macOS Shortcuts

Control brightness, volume etc. of a screen
Change Lunar adaptive modes and apply global presets
Plus actions that can be done exclusively in Shortcuts:
- Swap monitors
- Mirror any combination of screens
- Arrange screens in various layouts
- Change resolution and frame rate with a hotkey
- Change presets with a hotkey (easily access reference presets like Design & Print or Photography)

New DDC algorithm

Adds compatibility for the built-in HDMI port of the newer Apple Silicon Mac devices
- Remember to enable DDC from the Controls menu of the HDMI display if it was previously disabled
Improves writing speed with an algorithm that adapts to each monitor's I²C max speed
Improves DDC Read reliability

Improvements

Allow changing the ambient light sensor hostname from the command line
- defaults write fyi.lunar.Lunar sensorHostname mysensor.local
Make BlackOut without mirroring a bit faster
Better detection for MCDP29XX chips
Better detection for projectors and virtual displays
Deactivate license on oldest device automatically when activation fails

Fixes

Fix custom hotkeys not allowing hold to change continuously
Fix possible crash when MPDisplayMgr can't lock access to displays

Full list of macOS Shortcuts

5.8.0

Fixes

Fix some memory leaks in the DDC AVService matching logic
Fix volume not respecting the DDC configured range in some cases

Improvements

Resume Adaptive Paused after toggling from Manual to any other adaptive mode
Print lux from external light sensor if available when using the lunar lux CLI command
Add exception for VX2453 being detected as projector
Add Auto Restart workaround for when DDC fails on rare setups
- The option is enabled by default and can be configured from Advanced settings
Disable logic for fuzzy matching audio output devices when volume hotkeys are disabled
Install CLI in the home dir to avoid permission errors
When brightness transition is set to Slow, use faster Smooth transitions for manual brightness key adjustments

Features

Replace buggy fuzzy-matching logic with the Smith-Waterman algorithm written in Rust from Skim v2
- This should fix some crashes and make some monitor matching logic faster
Add ALS support for SparkFun Thing Plus

5.7.9

Fixes

Improve text visibility in dark mode

5.7.8

Fixes

Fix Options menu overflowing the screen
Fix Options menu forcing light mode UI

5.7.7

Hotfix

Fix Options menu not allowing slider dragging
Decrease decay time when adjusting the Sync Mode curve to increase responsiveness

5.7.6

Hotfix

Fix Options menu not being readable in Dark Mode

5.7.5

Features

Allow keeping the Options menu open

Improvements

Move to a floating window approach for the menu bar to avoid blocking clicks under it

Fixes

Fix a crash caused by a recursive UI error

5.7.4

Features

Beep feedback when pressing volume keys (follows system setting)
- Hold Shift while pressing volume keys to invert behaviour

Improvements

Detect when user doesn't want XDR to be auto disabled in low battery situations
Allow XDR/Subzero/BlackOut OSD to overlap the Dock
- This avoids overlapping the native brightness OSD
Delay XDR and Sub-zero until next key press if brightness is already at max/min
Disable Location Mode if permissions have been denied

Fixes

Option+Shift now uses 1% step for Subzero and XDR
Update sensor firmware installer
- Add support for MagTag and Funhouse boards
Stop checking for coordinates if location permissions have been denied

5.7.3

Features

Support for the M2 CPU family and the new T811xIO controller

Fixes

Allow streaming HTTP body in CLI implementation

5.7.2

Hotfix

Fix XDR Brightness detection for older MacBooks

5.7.1

Hotfix

Copy ESPHome configuration outside the app folder to avoid altering the bundle
- This fixes cases where the app was deactivated and deleted after installing the firmware on the ambient light sensor

5.7.0

Features

Add lunar facelight CLI command
Add a mute/unmute button when hovering the volume slider
Add option to toggle Dark Mode when using XDR Brightness for lowering power usage and LED heat
The Night Shift disabling feature in XDR can now re-enable Night Shift if within the user schedule
Add ALS support for Feather ESP32-S2 boards
Add configurable mute workarounds for monitors where mute doesn't work because of non-standard DDC implementations

Improvements

Minimise INFO logging
Add log file rotation
Add a way to stop sending the mute command and rely only on the volume value when muting audio
Don't take volume DDC range into account when sending the mute workaround value
React to screen sleep events faster to work around some buggy monitors that don't enter standby

Fixes

Don't show the Notch Disabled button on non-MacBook screens

5.6.8

Hotfix

Fix deadlock caused by the new delayDDCAfterWake setting
Use HUD window level for the rounded corners mask window
Forcefully disable the Refresh values from monitor settings option because it makes Lunar hang for too many users
- This setting is only helpful when brightness is changed outside of Lunar and is not needed in 99% of the cases
- Most of the monitors don't support DDC reading and Lunar can hang and lag because of waiting too long for a response from the monitor
- People that actually need the setting can re-enable it from the Advanced settings tab inside the Options menu
Implement screen round corners using 4 corner mask windows instead of one large hidden window
- This is done to work around a macOS bug preventing clicks on dialog buttons even though the window is set to allow clicks through it

5.6.7

Features

AutoXDR OSD: Show an OSD when enabling XDR automatically based on ambient light
- Allows aborting the automatic XDR enabling by pressing the Esc key
- Can be disabled from the HDR tab of the Options menu

Add "Main display" and "Non-main displays" choices for brightness keys

Add Disable usage of Gamma API completely setting for people that have trouble with macOS bugs related to the Gamma API
Add an Unlock button to quickly unlock brightness or contrast sliders

Add Delay DDC requests after wake setting for people that have trouble with monitor firmware bugs related to losing signal on simple DDC commands

Improvements

Make sure brightness doesn't remain locked in non-DDC controls
Show when brightness or contrast is locked
Make it clear that DDC reading is experimental and should not be used unless really needed

Separate the HDR and XDR settings into a new tab

Detect manual changes in XDR state and honor them in the Auto XDR logic

Fixes

UI fixes in preparation for macOS Ventura
Known issues:
- Scrolling over the slider feels clunkier and less fluid in macOS 13, hoping this is an OS bug that will get addressed in next beta
- Some animations feel slower

5.6.6

Features

Auto XDR based on ambient light
- XDR will automatically enable when the ambient light is really bright
- It will also disable when the ambient light is low enough for visibility in normal brightness
- The feature will only work on the MacBook Pro 2021 when it is used alone (without external monitors)

Add option to use non-Apple monitors as sources for Sync Mode

Improvements

Automatically set Curve Slope to middle point on target monitors identical to the source
Print single property on multiple displays when using the displays CLI command
Add Hide Menubar Icon setting on the Configuration page

Fixes

Fix CLI hanging
Run some UI logging async to avoid blocking the main thread

5.6.5

Improvements

Allow switching to the old BlackOut mirroring system for setups incompatible with the new API

Fixes

Update Paddle to fix a crash happening when there was no network connection
Allow setting min brightness to 0 for external monitors
Fix CLI hanging
Stop disabling logging when using the CLI
Fix min brightness set to 1 instead of 0 on BlackOut

5.6.4

Hotfix

Fix crash caused by EDID UUID fetching on invalid displays

Improvements

Smoother XDR Brightness, Sub-zero Dimming and Software Dimming
Update Paddle SDK to v4.3.0
Don't show licensing UI more than once to avoid locking the UI
Remove redundant Advanced Settings screen
Restrict HDR compatibility workaround only for setups with EDR-capable displays
Add a way to enforce DDC if the detection logic gives a false negative

Better sensible defaults for contrast in Apple displays
Add option to keep Night Shift on when using XDR by default

Show XDR slider even on 100%
Hide XDR/Subzero text if XDR has just been disabled
Minimise chances of triggering the screen blanking bug by adding an artificial delay between Gamma API calls
Add detection for the screen blanking issue

Disable all Gamma reset calls when disabling the HDR compatibility workaround
Disable Software Dimming automatically if DDC/AppleNative works
Ensure CLI doesn't get stuck on a blocked socket
Show Screen Blanking dialog even if the zero gamma workaround worked
More reliable light sensor checker

Fixes

Stop handling brightness keys and forward them to the system when the adjustment limit is reached
Restore Gamma slider values properly
Fix resetting the remaining adjustments limit

5.6.3

Hotfix

Fix crash caused by slider hover handler
Fix more crashes caused by refresh/resolution string
Smoother XDR contrast

Changes from v5.6.2

Licensing model

Some clarifications are needed after the last change:

I don't have any plans on releasing a major version this year
If for some reason I have to do that, everyone who paid for the 1-year of free updates before the change will receive the update for free if it's within their update period

Features

XDR Contrast Enhancer slider

Improve readability in direct sunlight when using XDR Brightness.

The contrast slider allows adjusting the pixel value formula for the brightest/darkest areas, to get even more contrast out of the miniLED display.

New XDR Brightness algorithm

Developed in collaboration with the creator of BetterDummy, using a more native approach to provide:

Stable experience when toggling XDR
Compatibility with higher brightness non-Apple HDR monitors
Dynamic EDR pixel values to maximise the nits allowance based on the current brightness

Improvements

Show that XDR needs Pro license instead of doing nothing
Choose alpha upgrades over beta ones when the alpha channel is used
Move DDC reads outside the main thread
Improve brightness reponsiveness check
Collect average DDC read/write time for features that depend on DDC timing (e.g. smooth transitions, refreshing values from monitor memory etc.)
Better support for scroll up/down to adjust sliders
Multi-user Fast Switching support
- Retry display list reconciliation when the system provides invalid IDs
- Disable Sync Mode if polling seconds is 0 and brightness observer fails to start
- Observe log in/out events and stop calling screen wake listener if logged out
- Pause HDR workaround while logged out
- Pause Lunar if the user switches to another user
Make brightness text clickable in the menu bar
Ensure sub-zero dimming works if Allow zero brightness is off
Use less restrictive EDID patterns for finding DDC ports
Improve DDC compatibility on monitors with missing metadata
Increase slider reponsiveness

Fixes

Fix overall keyboard latency
Pause some functions when switching users or going to standby
- Light sensor detection
- CLI server
- Color and Gamma reader
- Brightness observer
Fix app info not hiding on first launch
Fix crash on fetching the refresh rate string for the resolution dropdown

5.6.2

Licensing model

Some clarifications are needed after the last change:

I don't have any plans on releasing a major version this year
If for some reason I have to do that, everyone who paid for the 1-year of free updates before the change will receive the update for free if it's within their update period

Features

XDR Contrast Enhancer slider

Improve readability in direct sunlight when using XDR Brightness.

The contrast slider allows adjusting the pixel value formula for the brightest/darkest areas, to get even more contrast out of the miniLED display.

New XDR Brightness algorithm

Developed in collaboration with the creator of BetterDummy, using a more native approach to provide:

Stable experience when toggling XDR
Compatibility with higher brightness non-Apple HDR monitors
Dynamic EDR pixel values to maximise the nits allowance based on the current brightness

Improvements

Show that XDR needs Pro license instead of doing nothing
Choose alpha upgrades over beta ones when the alpha channel is used
Move DDC reads outside the main thread
Improve brightness reponsiveness check
Collect average DDC read/write time for features that depend on DDC timing (e.g. smooth transitions, refreshing values from monitor memory etc.)
Better support for scroll up/down to adjust sliders
Multi-user Fast Switching support
- Retry display list reconciliation when the system provides invalid IDs
- Disable Sync Mode if polling seconds is 0 and brightness observer fails to start
- Observe log in/out events and stop calling screen wake listener if logged out
- Pause HDR workaround while logged out
- Pause Lunar if the user switches to another user
Make brightness text clickable in the menu bar
Ensure sub-zero dimming works if Allow zero brightness is off
Use less restrictive EDID patterns for finding DDC ports
Improve DDC compatibility on monitors with missing metadata
Increase slider reponsiveness

Fixes

Fix overall keyboard latency
Pause some functions when switching users or going to standby
- Light sensor detection
- CLI server
- Color and Gamma reader
- Brightness observer
Fix app info not hiding on first launch
Fix crash on fetching the refresh rate string for the resolution dropdown

5.6.1

Hotfix

Fix crash caused by brightness/volume key listener
Fix XDR nits-to-gamma coefficient

Changes from v5.6.0

Licensing model

I'm removing the 1-year of updates restriction and will give everyone unlimited free updates for Lunar 5.

Lunar will move to a major-version upgrade licensing model, where you will only have to pay for a new license if a new major version is launched (e.g. Lunar 6).

If that ever happens, you will also be able to use your previous license as a coupon to get a substantial discount if you previously bought Lunar.

Features

XDR Brightness

Enhance contrast to make the dark-background/bright-text case more usable in the sun
Make XDR more seamless: simply increasing the brightness over 100% with your keyboard should now enable XDR smoothly and without many flickers
Keep XDR enabled when the screen comes back from standby
HDR content overblowing is now fixed as long as Gamma is not used
- Note: this is still a macOS bug that is awaiting a fix from Apple, all I've done is work around it
Disable XDR on non-Apple monitors until the forced-monochrome bugs are fixed

BlackOut subsystem rewrite

Now using the same private framework used by System Preferences
More stable mirroring
Tight integration with the newest version of BetterDummy

Auto BlackOut OSD

Allow the system to settle screen configuration
Allows the user to press esc to cancel Auto BlackOut

App Info section

License status
Version and Check for updates button
Auto update settings
Menu density selector

Advanced settings tab

Menu Density

Improvements

Save last resolution before mirroring and re-apply it after mirroring ends
- This works around a system bug where a non-native resolution is applied when mirroring is disabled
Lower CPU usage further by reducing UI structure update when menus are not visible
QuickActions menu becomes scrollable when it reaches the bottom of the screen
Assign remaining DDC ports sequentially for monitors that can't be matched by EDID

Fixes

Lower CPU usage by fixing a recursive call on the resolutions dropdown
Lower memory usage and the number of threads spawned

5.6.0

Licensing model

I'm removing the 1-year of updates restriction and will give everyone unlimited free updates for Lunar 5.

Lunar will move to a major-version upgrade licensing model, where you will only have to pay for a new license if a new major version is launched (e.g. Lunar 6).

If that ever happens, you will also be able to use your previous license as a coupon to get a substantial discount if you previously bought Lunar.

Features

XDR Brightness

Enhance contrast to make the dark-background/bright-text case more usable in the sun
Make XDR more seamless: simply increasing the brightness over 100% with your keyboard should now enable XDR smoothly and without many flickers
Keep XDR enabled when the screen comes back from standby
HDR content overblowing is now fixed as long as Gamma is not used
- Note: this is still a macOS bug that is awaiting a fix from Apple, all I've done is work around it
Disable XDR on non-Apple monitors until the forced-monochrome bugs are fixed

BlackOut subsystem rewrite

Now using the same private framework used by System Preferences
More stable mirroring
Tight integration with the newest version of BetterDummy

Auto BlackOut OSD

Allow the system to settle screen configuration
Allows the user to press esc to cancel Auto BlackOut

App Info section

License status
Version and Check for updates button
Auto update settings
Menu density selector

Advanced settings tab

Menu Density

Improvements

Save last resolution before mirroring and re-apply it after mirroring ends
- This works around a system bug where a non-native resolution is applied when mirroring is disabled
Lower CPU usage further by reducing UI structure update when menus are not visible
QuickActions menu becomes scrollable when it reaches the bottom of the screen
Assign remaining DDC ports sequentially for monitors that can't be matched by EDID

Fixes

Lower CPU usage by fixing a recursive call on the resolutions dropdown
Lower memory usage and the number of threads spawned

5.5.5

Features

Seamless XDR Brightness: enable XDR by simply increasing the brightness further after reaching 100%
Allow disabling automatic Sub-zero Dimming and XDR Brightness from the Options menu

Improvements

Make sure Auto Blackout works after screen wake by waiting for the system to settle the screen reconfiguration
Restore XDR Brightness after screen wake
Allow volume/mute hotkeys to work on the cursor display
Move QuickActions options into a popover to lower height of the menu

Fixes

Fix hiding the mute OSD

5.5.4

Improvements

Don't apply app presets while XDR is enabled
Lower CPU usage when checking for screenshot action on monitors that use Overlay

5.5.3

Features

Disable Notch
- Use hidden screen resolutions of the MacBook Pro to remove the notch completely

Files

CHANGELOG.md

Latest commit

History

CHANGELOG.md

File metadata and controls

6.8.5

Improvements

Fixes

6.8.4

Improvements

Known issues

6.8.3

Fixes

6.8.2

Fixes

Improvements

6.8.1

Improvements

Fixes

Features

6.8.0

Features

Improvements

Fixes

6.7.9

Improvements

Fixes

6.7.8

Fixes

6.7.7

Fixes

6.7.6

Fixes

6.7.5

Features

Fixes

Improvements

6.7.4

Fixes

Improvements

6.7.3

Hotfix

6.7.2

Features

Improvements

Fixes

6.7.13

Features

Fixes

Improvements

6.7.12

Improvements

Fixes

6.7.11

Fixes

6.7.10

Improvements

Fixes

6.7.1

Hotfix

6.7.0

Features

Improvements

Fixes

6.6.5

Hotfix

6.6.4

Improvements

Fixes

6.6.3

Fixes

6.6.2

Features

Improvements

Fixes

6.6.1

Improvements

Fixes

6.6.0