How to Turn up Brightness on Mac With Keyboard

There are several ways in which you can turn up the brightness of your Mac to match the environment you’re in. You can adjust the brightness using the control center, system preferences, keyboard shortcuts, and the touch bar if you have a Mac that supports it.

You can turn up brightness on Mac with Keyboard using simple shortcut keys. Tap on the F1 button to decrease the brightness and the F2 button to increase the brightness. Similarly, on Mac desktop PC, you can use F14 and F15 for the same function. Furthermore, you can also use the Control center to control the brightness.

This article details the various ways you can adjust the brightness of your Mac. Keep reading to find out more. 

How to Turn up Brightness on Mac With Keyboard

1. On Intel MacBook

You can adjust the brightness on your Intel-powered MacBook using the F1 and F2 buttons. The F1 button decreases the brightness, and the F2 button increases it.

If you have a Mac desktop PC, you need to use the F14 and F15 buttons to do the same. The keys are pretty recognizable on the keyboard. Look for the key with a sun-like diagram with rays all around it.

There should be two side-by-side, one to decrease the brightness and the other to increase it.  The procedure is the same for all the MacBooks released yet, including Macs using Apple’s Silicon chips like the M1, M1 Max, and the M2. 

2. Using System Preferences

This method is straightforward.

• First, head over to the System Preferences from the Menu bar or use the shortcut on the dock.
• Click on the Displays tab and use the slider beside the Brightness option to increase or decrease it as per your preference. 

Read iCloud Drive Take Up Space on Mac

3. Using the Control Center On Mac

You have another option, which is using the control center located on the Menu bar.

• Click on the control center icon.

• Use the slider below the Display section to alter the brightness of your screen. 

4. Using The Touch Bar

If you have a MacBook with a touch bar, you can also use that to change the screen’s brightness. Click on the brightness icon on the touch bar, which is depicted by a sun-like icon. Use the slider to adjust the brightness of your screen. 

5. On MacBook Air

If you use a MacBook with an Intel Processor, you can use the F5 and F6 buttons to adjust your keyboard’s backlight. The F5 button decreases the keyboard brightness, and the F6 button increases it. To switch off the Keyboard backlight, simply tap the F5 button till you see the backlight turn off. 

Read How to Get Rid of Microphone Icon on Mac

How to Alter The Backlight on an Apple Silicon Mac

Macs released in 2020 with Apple’s proprietary silicon chips like the M1, M1 Max, or the M2 have a slightly different method than the Intel variants.

With the release of the new MacBooks, Apple has redesigned the keyboard and replaced the keyboard brightness and Launchpad buttons with Spotlight, Dictation, and Do-not-Disturb buttons. 

The best way to adjust the keyboard brightness on a Mac running on Apple’s Silicon chip is to change it via the control center.

• Head over to the Menu bar, click on the Control Center icon and click on the Keyboard Brightness tab.

• Use the slider displayed to adjust the backlight of your keyboard.

Alternatively, you can adjust several other keyboard backlight preferences using System Preferences.

• Head to System Preference from the Menu bar and click on the Keyboard tab.
• If you want the keyboard backlight to switch off automatically after a certain amount of time when it is not in use, then check the box next to the Turn keyboard backlight off after and use the dropdown box next to it to set the duration.
• Check the box next to the Adjust keyboard brightness in low light option to adjust the keyboard backlighting in low-light situations automatically.

Using Third-Party Software

You can also use third-party software to remap the function keys to adjust the keyboard brightness. Karabiner-Elements is one such application that allows you to remap the keys and set it to change the keyboard backlighting. It supports all the latest versions of the macOS, including macOS Ventura. 

If you have a MacBook with a touch bar, you can adjust the keyboard backlighting directly; click on the < button to display all the buttons on the touch bar. You will find icons like half-sunsets that can be used to control your keyboard’s brightness. 

Read How to Save a Voice Memo on Mac

Why is the keyboard backlight not working on my Mac?

There can be several reasons for the keyboard backlight not working on your Mac. Such as low brightness, a bright light-source right in front of the light sensor, and more.

• If you notice that your keyboard’s backlight is not working, try restarting your MacBook first and check if it fixes the issue. 
• Another method can help if restarting does no good, but this is solely for Intel-powered MacBooks. First, shut down your Mac completely and wait for a few seconds. Press the Shift-Left Option-Left control keys and the power button, hold them for seven seconds, and release them when you hear the Mac startup sound. This resets your Mac’s SMC, restart your Mac, and check to see if it fixed the issue. 
• Simply visit the nearest Apple service center to get your laptop looked at, as it may be due to some hardware issue. For example, there is a chance that some wiring attached to the keyboard has been disconnected or damaged due to physical damage. 

Conclusion

That’s it for this article, folks. We hope the methods helped you out with adjusting the brightness on your MacBook. The simplest way to increase the brightness on your Mac without a touch bar is to use the F1 and F2 keys.

 Alternatively, if you have a Mac with a touch bar, you can use the slider present on the touch bar or the brightness option within the control center. Moreover, adjusting the keyboard brightness is much easier on Intel Macs as compared to Silicon Macs since they do not have dedicated buttons for it.

You may like the following mac articles:

• How to Cut Out an Image on Mac
• How to Convert WMV to MP4 on Mac
• Convert RAW to JPEG on Mac
• Why Are There Horizontal Lines on Mac Screen
• How to Hide Dock at bottom of Screen on Mac