Which Macs does Solis work with?
The full brightness boost: any 14″ or 16″ MacBook Pro from 2021 on (they're all Apple Silicon, and all have the Liquid Retina XDR panel), plus the Pro Display XDR on an Apple Silicon Mac. These panels can reach 1000–1600 nits, but macOS caps everyday content far lower — Solis unlocks the rest. On other Macs (MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Pro, Intel Macs, iMac, Studio Display, regular monitors) there is no hidden brightness — those panels already run at their maximum, and no app can change that. Solis is honest about it: on those Macs it offers the Night tools instead — warmth, astronomy red, and dimming to true black.
Is it safe? Will it drain my battery or overheat my Mac?
It's designed to be. macOS itself enforces a hard limit on the panel's temperature and pulls brightness back long before anything could be harmed. Solis works within that, and goes further: it's the only app that also reads the panel's own thermal signal and eases the boost off early, treats the very top end as a sprint (full 1600 when you ask, gently settling to a panel-friendly 1200 for long sessions; one touch brings the peak right back), and tapers on battery. Honest note: running any display at high brightness all day uses more power and, over years, gently ages the LEDs. That's true of every boosting app, which is why Solis backs off automatically when it doesn't need to be bright.
Is it safe? Why isn't it on the App Store?
Solis is signed and notarized by Apple, so it installs cleanly with no scary warnings. Its smart features (the panel's thermal data, the brightness keys) need capabilities the App Store sandbox doesn't allow, which is exactly why Lunar, BrightIntosh, BetterDisplay and f.lux are all direct downloads too.
How is this different from Night Shift?
Night Shift only warms the screen, on a fixed Kelvin range, and can't combine with brightness. Solis warms at your real local sunset, goes much warmer (down to a deep ember, well past Night Shift's limit), pairs it with brightness, and adds a deep-red astronomy mode. Bright and neutral by day, dim and warm at night.
Does it mess with my colors?
Brightness is the display's real backlight, the same control the firmware uses, so it's color-true at every level, from near-black to the 1600-nit peak (no gamma trick or washed overlay). Warmth and the red astronomy mode use macOS's own built-in color filter for a true, blacks-stay-black tint. While they're on you'll see macOS's "Color Filters" shown as active in System Settings, and Solis restores it exactly when you turn them off.
Does Solis read any sensors or send data anywhere?
It reads your Mac's ambient-light sensor (only when Sunlight is on, to adapt brightness) and your battery/thermal state, all in real time, on-device. An optional 10-second calibration measures how much of the sensor's reading is the screen's own glow, so Sunlight responds to your room, not to itself. Nothing ever leaves your Mac: no account, no tracking, no analytics, no server. See the privacy policy.
For M-series MacBook Pro 14″/16″ · Pro Display XDR