v5.0.0

This pre-release introduces advanced compositor filters, expanded display reporting and integration capabilities, HDMI-CEC control, improved per-display automation, app menu and OSD refinements, performance improvements, and updated styling for the latest macOS releases, including macOS 27 Golden Gate betas.

Important: BetterDisplay 5 requires an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26 or later. Intel Mac users and users running an earlier version of macOS should continue using BetterDisplay 4 – the latest version is v4.3.5.

BetterDisplay 5 is a free upgrade for Pro licenses purchased after January 1, 2025.

• If you update through the built-in updater with an already activated older Pro license, Pro will remain active and the app will display an outdated-license notice. You can purchase a current license at any time to remove the notice and ensure continued activation eligibility.
• If you are not yet ready to purchase a new license, you may continue using Pro on that Mac with the existing activation and outdated-license notice. Do not deactivate the license, as an outdated license cannot activate a new or deactivated BetterDisplay 5 installation.
• Free features remain available without a Pro license, as before.

More information: Outdated Pro License FAQ

Enhancements

• Added an HDMI-CEC TV controller for volume, mute, power, and input-source control on compatible HDMI ports and adapters (#3394)
• Added CLI commands for HDMI-CEC TV control, including volume, power, and input switching (#5506)
• Added per-display integration actions for running commands when a display is connected or disconnected and when the system wakes or sleeps (#5574)
• Added per-display ambient light sensor readings, including support for compatible external Apple displays such as the Pro Display XDR (#5565)
• Updated the ambientLight CLI feature to support individual displays (#5566)
• Added compositor filter-based rendering to the Video Filter window for improved performance, enabled by default (#5558)
• Added geometry and advanced color compositor filters to display group syncing, with CLI and Shortcuts access (#5551)
• Added additional compositor filter options (#5249)
• Improved the performance of the experimental compositor filter (#5491)
• Added a CLI option to export Display Information (#5485)
• Added link, bandwidth, DPCD, tiling, and DSC details to Display Information (#5484)
• Added a DPCD report (dpcdReport) CLI command, with credits to @joevt and AllRez (#5496)
• Added a CLI option to dump raw DPCD data (#5498)
• Added an EDID report (edidReport) CLI command (#5508)
• Added a DSC report (dscReport) CLI command (#5509)
• Added an HDMI-CEC report (cecReport) CLI command (#5510)
• Added an Apple display brightness controller report (AppleBrightnessReport) (#5507)
• Added a Color Table Control toggle and indicators showing which Image Adjustments sliders use color table control (#5557)
• Added support for overriding the nits values of built-in Apple displays to allow manual adjustment of synchronization ranges (#5573)
• Added a “Prevent Cursor Entering” option to keep the mouse cursor from entering a stream target display (#1442)
• Added mouse scrolling and swipe control for app sliders, except for the resolution slider (#5534)
• Added proper app menu slider snapping to highlighted values (#5522)
• Holding SHIFT while dragging an OSD slider now temporarily prevents synchronization (#5525)
• Clicking the minimum and maximum OSD slider icons now changes the slider value by 10% (#5620)
• Improved OSD behavior so it no longer remains visible merely because the mouse pointer happens to be underneath it when it appears (#5501)
• Updated OSD animations to match the animation style introduced in macOS 27 (#5529)
• Added an alternate method for forcing the System OSD on macOS 27 (#5619)
• Added a quick menu for opening Settings, quitting the app, and accessing other actions by right-clicking the app menu icon (#5622)
• Improved app menu behavior when repeatedly opening and closing it in quick succession (#5621)
• Improved app menu content pre-fetching (#5490)
• Added further app menu performance optimizations (#5432)
• Improved app menu animations (#5430)
• Updated app menu styling to better match macOS Tahoe (#5429)
• Updated app menu glass styling for macOS 27 (#5530)
• Updated app menu headers to use Liquid Glass merge effects (#5437)
• Restored icons to dropdown menu labels in Settings on macOS 27 (#5575)
• Renamed DDC “Turn Backlight Off/On” to “Turn Screen Off/On” and added the feature to the LG webOS controller (#5487)
• Updated VMM7100 reset functionality for macOS Tahoe (#5483)
• Added Paddle localizations for previously unsupported app languages (#5535)
• Updated app internals to use modern Swift and SwiftUI features (#5470)
• Dropped Intel Mac and pre-macOS 26 support and removed obsolete legacy features (#5431)

Fixes

• Fixed native audio controller fine adjustments producing unexpected OSD slider steps when using the default step sizes (#5602)
• Fixed incorrect OSD placement with certain “Automatically hide and show the menu bar” configurations on macOS 27 (#5569)
• Fixed built-in XDR display brightness calculations incorrectly reaching 2000 or 2400 nits instead of 1600 nits when software brightness upscaling and auto-brightness were enabled (#5552)

Included Localizations

• British English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
• Contributors: @afkeceli, @AndryTi, @andrwmai, @BingoKingo, @brzenio, @cfuentea, @chihuahua-experience, @cristianritco, @dimaitre, @dotWee, @DrRoglaa, @dvanzoerlandt, @elislays08, @enormous-rat, @giulianopires, @gpnunes75, @HaiBliss, @hshsilver, @hw0603, @ibrayd, @jacktechstudio, @JulyIghor, @Kcraft059, @MapleLeaf14, @marcinkardas, @maximsenterprise, @MazlumSerbest, @mickimnet, @mikevic18, @MonolitheMedia, @moriLiu, @MStankiewiczOfficial, @niklasbogensperger, @old-cookie, @PatrykM13, @pavlik000-collab, @PuzzledUser, @SakiPapa, @shindgewongxj, @skantek, @sm-moshi, @stonkol, @sup3rb3ar, @yeager, @waydabber. AI was used for updating some of the localizations.

For previous release notes, visit the GitHub Releases page. Outdated license FAQ.