Turn The Lights Off! Mac OS
For years, MacBook keyboards have been heralded as the best in the business. Standard size, low profile, reliable mechanisms (apart from the Butterfly models), gorgeous typography, and beautiful backlighting — all contributed to the popularity of Apple’s Magic Keyboard.
Out of all the features, keyboard backlighting has probably raised the most eyebrows and received the most praise. Mac keyboard lights not only illuminate the perimeter of each key but also shine directly through the letters and symbols, making typing at night simple and easy on the eyes. What’s better, backlit Mac keyboards automatically turn on in low-light environments and turn off in bright ones.
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There are, however, instances when you don’t want to turn on keyboard backlighting. So here are a few easy ways to turn your laptop keyboard light off.
This is a Windows and Mac application to dim your whole personal desktop with one single click. This to protect your eyes at Night. To Learn More about the Turn Off the Lights for Desktop app, choose the operating system you are using now. Turn Off the Lights info, screenshots & reviews Alternatives to Turn Off the Lights Turn Off the Lights is a lightweight and useful add-in designed for a more comfortable watching experience. It works for all known video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Hulu, Metacafe, YouKu, etc. You can dim your Macbook's screen all the way down (just press brightness down repeatedly) and then connect the Macbook to your monitor with HDMI. Your screen will be off but the keyboard and trackpad built into the Macbook will still be on and available. Optionally, you can download the free app Amphetamine to keep your Mac from sleeping. In the same window, you also have the option to set Mac keyboard lights to turn off after a certain period of inactivity (from 5 secs to 5 min). If you’re using one of the latest MacBook models equipped with a Touch Bar, you might not see the F5 key or the correct icon to decrease the keyboard backlight due to the buttons contextually shifting.
Why Turn Mac Keyboard Lights Off?
Even though most people find a lot of value in having keyboard backlights turned on at night, this feature is not without downsides.
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When you turn off the lights in a room to watch a movie, for example, you don’t want your Mac keyboard light to distract you from what’s happening on the screen. Similarly, when you know all the keys by heart and have no problem typing blindly, even at night, you might not want to light up keyboard and drain your Mac’s battery life. Finally, if you notice that you have a light keyboard during the day — it’s just a pure waste of energy.
So let’s dive into what you specifically need to do in these situations.
How to turn off keyboard light on Mac
There are two essential ways to turn keyboard lights off: temporary and permanent. The temporary and the most accessible one is to use the keyboard itself:
Find the row with the F keys on your keyboard (top row)
Locate the F5 key with a small line and dots around it
Press and hold the F5 key or just tap it a few times. You’ll see an indicator on your screen showing how the brightness is decreasing.
However, with time you’ll find your keyboard brightness returning to its default value. To make whatever changes you’ve set permanent:
Click on the Apple logo in the menu bar ➙ System Preferences
Select Keyboard (or just click Option + F5)
Uncheck “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light”
In the same window, you also have the option to set Mac keyboard lights to turn off after a certain period of inactivity (from 5 secs to 5 min).
If you’re using one of the latest MacBook models equipped with a Touch Bar, you might not see the F5 key or the correct icon to decrease the keyboard backlight due to the buttons contextually shifting. In this case, look for a few standard icons (such as screen brightness and volume) at the right end of your Touch Bar. There should also be a left-pointing arrow beside them. Tap the arrow to expand the Touch Bar and reveal the standard icon set. Then follow the directions above. If you still don’t see the keyboard backlight icons, click on your desktop or open Finder to reset your Touch Bar.
How to turn on keyboard light on Mac
After you learn how you can turn off laptop keyboard lights, you might also wonder how to turn on backlit keyboard on Mac when you need to.
The process is largely the same, but in reverse:
Tap or hold F6 to increase brightness
Use Option + F6 to open the Keyboard System Preferences menu and see if you need the “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light” option
The “increase keyboard brightness” button is also present in the standard Touch Bar, right after the “decrease keyboard brightness” one.
How to fix backlit Mac keyboard not working
Sometimes, even if you follow all the directions above, you might find that your light keyboard keys are not working and your Mac displays a lock icon when you’re trying to use them.
Most commonly, the lock icon appears when your Mac can’t accurately detect the lighting conditions — when your lighting sensor is in direct sunlight, for example. Since the sensor is located right next to your MacBook’s front-facing camera, just try to move your Mac to a shade.
The next step is to take over the laptop keyboard light control:
Open the Keyboard menu in System Preferences (use Option + F5 or F6)
Turn off “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light”
Move the keyboard brightness up or down manually
If none of the above corrected the issue, you might need to reset your SMC (system management controller), which is responsible for lots of low-level tasks on your Mac.
To reset SMC on a MacBook with the T2 Security Chip (present on models from 2018 and newer):
Turn off the computer
Hold Control + Option + Shift for seven seconds
Keep holding the three keys and add the power button too. Hold all four keys for seven more seconds and release.
Turn your Mac on after a few seconds
To reset SMC on older MacBooks without controller devices:
Turn it off
Hold Control + Option + Shift keys
Hold the power button too
Keep holding for 10 seconds
Release all keys and turn on your Mac
How to control your Mac remotely
While following all of the above should get your laptop keyboard lights working, there’s also another way to manipulate virtually any option in your Mac — with an effortless tap on your phone.
Remote Mouse is a simple but powerful Mac (also iOS and Android) app that combines the versatility of your keyboard and mouse to control any software or feature on your Mac. Use your phone’s volume buttons to change your Mac’s volume or flip through the slides in a presentation. Waive your phone in the air to move the cursor on your desktop. Activate dozens of commands by voice throughout your day and even easily switch between your Macs — Remote Mouse is the ultimate controller you need.
How to work on Mac faster with shortcuts
While you can use your mouse to click through anything you want your Mac to do, it’s highly inefficient. Since you’re most likely repeating lots of the same actions every day again and again (copy-paste, close the app window, etc.), it pays off greatly to find or create keyboard shortcuts for them. It’s estimated that people who use shortcuts all the time, save up to eight working days a year compared to mouse-clickers. Luckily, there’s an easy way to bridge the gap.
Master keyboard shortcuts
Try Mouseless, an app that teaches you the most helpful keyboard shortcuts. Speed up anything you’ve ever done on Mac.
Mouseless is an interactive cheat sheet for every keyboard shortcut in every Mac app you use. But it not only simply gives you the shortcut list but also creates quick training sessions, so you can internalize using new shortcuts faster. Just refer back to the app a few times a day and you’ll find yourself being much more productive even after your first week.
By now you see it’s really easy to turn off keyboard light on Mac using a few keys and options. And if they don’t work, make sure to troubleshoot right away. Even better, you can turn your phone into an input device as well with Remote Mouse and learn even more outstanding shortcuts with Mouseless.
Best of all, Remote Mouse and Mouseless are available to you absolutely free for seven days through a trial of Setapp, a platform with more than 170 time-saving Mac utilities and apps, from task managers (GoodTask) to distraction dimmers (HazeOver). Try them all today at no cost and see for yourself!
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Dark Mode is a dramatic new look that's easy on your eyes and helps you focus on your work. Dark Mode uses a dark color scheme that works system wide, including with the apps that come with your Mac. And third-party apps can adopt it, too.
Turn on Dark Mode
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click General, then select one of the Appearance options at the top of the window:
- Light: Use the light appearance.
- Dark: Use the dark appearance.
- Auto: Automatically use the light appearance during the day, and the dark appearance at night.
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How Dark Mode works with some apps and features
Some apps and features have special Dark Mode settings or behaviors.
Mail. To use a light background for email messages while Dark Mode is turned on, open Mail and choose Mail > Preferences, then click the Viewing tab and deselect “Use dark backgrounds for messages.”
Maps. To use a light background for maps while Dark Mode is turned on, open Maps and choose Maps > Preferences, then select ”Always use light map appearance.” In earlier versions of macOS, click View in the menu bar in Maps, then deselect Use Dark Map.
Notes. To use a light background for notes while Dark Mode is turned on, open Notes and choose Notes > Preferences, then deselect “Use dark backgrounds for note content.”
Safari. When you use Dark Mode, Safari automatically shows a website in Dark Mode if the website has been designed to support it. If the website doesn't support Dark Mode, you can use Safari Reader to read articles in Dark Mode.
TextEdit.To use a light background for documents while Dark Mode is turned on, click View in the menu bar in TextEdit, then deselect Use Dark Background for Windows. (Requires macOS Mojave 10.14.2 or later.)
Dynamic Desktop. If you turn on Dark Mode while using Dynamic Desktop, the desktop may change to the dark still image. You can change this setting in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences.