Backglow v3.0.2

3.0.2 is signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens without a Gatekeeper warning. macOS asks for Screen Recording permission once more because the signature changed; from now on it stays across updates. 3.0.1 fixed a crash at launch in 3.0.0.

The first release under the name Backglow: a native rewrite of the earlier macOS Ambient Lighting app. It mirrors the edges of your Mac's screen onto an LED strip behind the monitor.

Website and setup guide: https://backglow.jandeboer.de/en/ · Deutsch

Highlights

• Native SwiftUI app with sidebar and Liquid Glass, in English and German
• ScreenCaptureKit capture and GPU zone averaging with Metal (CPU fallback)
• Live preview with numbered zones and the calculated LED colors
• Letterbox detection that ignores black bars only once they are stable
• Spring smoothing on its own output clock and an anti-flicker filter, following HyperHDR
• Color calibration with eight reference colors, color temperature, minimum backlight and a power limit
• New ESP32/ESP8266 firmware that keeps the LED layout and colors in a profile on the controller; the original led/les sketch still works
• New Liquid Glass app icon

Install

1. Download Backglow-3.0.2.dmg below and drag Backglow into Applications.
2. Open Backglow and allow Screen Recording when asked, then restart it.

Flash the firmware and wire the strip as described in the guide.

Requirements and limitations

• macOS 26 on a Mac with Apple silicon. The download is arm64 only; on an Intel Mac, build from source.
• The controller profile stores the LED layout and the color look (saturation, gamma, brightness, smoothing, channel gains). Color temperature, the eight-color calibration, backlight and power limit stay in the Mac's settings for now.
• Settings from builds named AmbientLightingV3 are imported on first launch.