BetterDisplay's 1000 nit unlock died in macOS 26.3.
Here is what actually changed.
For almost six years a custom display preset could tell a Liquid Retina XDR panel to run its full 1000 nits sustained as normal SDR brightness. BetterDisplay built its XDR unlock on that preset. macOS 26.3 now deletes any preset that raises sustained SDR brightness above the stock 500 or 600 nits, and the developer has said he will not chase it for now. This page explains the mechanism, what still works, and the trade-offs of each route.
Written by the developer of Solis, a brightness app that uses a different mechanism. Read the trade-offs before you take my word for anything.
Three ways to reach the extra nits, one of them now closed
Custom display presets (closed)
macOS ships reference presets such as "Apple XDR Display (P3 1600 nits)". BetterDisplay's trick was a custom preset that raised the sustained SDR level to 1000 nits, and macOS simply honored it. It was clean: real backlight, real HDR, auto-brightness untouched. In 26.3 the OS validates presets against the panel's stock SDR rating and removes the ones above it. The preset is gone after every boot.
EDR overlays (still work, with costs)
Vivid and similar boosters draw an always-on HDR layer so macOS runs the panel in HDR mode and the whole screen rides the EDR headroom. It reaches the peak, but the system still believes the display tops out at 500 or 600 nits SDR, so real HDR highlights clip, auto-brightness misjudges the room, and the image looks washed at the top end. Since 26.3 BetterDisplay falls back to this route too.
Direct backlight control (still works)
The panel exposes its brightness level and its brightness caps through the display driver, the same registers macOS writes when you press F2. Solis raises those caps and drives the level directly. No preset, no overlay, no HDR layer over your desktop. Color stays true from near-black to 1600 nits because nothing is remapping the pixels. Full disclosure: it is the mechanism BetterDisplay used on Macs where presets did not apply.
Does real HDR content still look right?
What Solis does
Solis watches the display's EDR headroom. When macOS raises it for real HDR content, an HDR film, an HDR photo, an HDR game, Solis steps back and lets macOS drive the panel exactly as stock, then resumes the boost when the content stops. Highlights render the way Apple intended and nothing clips. The trade is honest: during real HDR playback you are at stock brightness, not a boosted 1600. That is deliberate. Two controllers writing the same backlight is the flicker you may remember from other apps.
What overlays do
An overlay keeps the panel in HDR mode permanently, so real HDR content has no headroom left above your already-boosted desktop. Highlights compress or clip and HDR looks like bright SDR. If HDR playback matters to you, this is the difference to test first.
Before you trust any brightness app on 26.3
Ask these
Does it drive the backlight or draw an overlay? Does color stay neutral at the top end? What happens when HDR content plays? What happens on battery, and when the panel gets warm? Does it restore stock brightness when it quits or crashes? Solis answers: backlight, neutral, steps aside, tapers, and restores, including from a crash handler.
What no app can change
Apple rates these panels for 1000 nits sustained and 1600 peak. macOS enforces its own panel temperature limit and pulls brightness down before harm. Any app, including Solis, works inside that. Running bright all day uses more power and, over years, ages LEDs a little. Solis backs off automatically so it is not bright when it does not need to be, but the physics is the same for everyone.
Solis is the dedicated version of that one feature
Real backlight to 1600 nits on any 14 or 16 inch MacBook Pro since 2021, ambient light adaptation, battery and thermal tapering, and Night tools. No monitor management, no presets, no subscription. Runs on macOS 13 through macOS 27.
Still on BetterDisplay for its other tools? Keep it for that and quit any other brightness booster while Solis runs. Two apps on one backlight will fight. Check whether your Mac has the XDR reserve →