Vivid, the brightness app that has helped my MacBook Pro go even brighter, is celebrating its one-year birthday with a great discount.
Until April 11, you can buy the app for $5, which allows MacBook Pro and Pro Display XDR users to enable the full 1,000 nits of brightness to their XDR display.
Developed by Jordi Bruinand Ben Harraway, Vivid has been something I've been using non-stop since its debut in April 2022. Since then, it's come out with updates that have also enabled lower brightness settings, called 'Eclipse', for those times when you need to use your Mac when it's late at night.
There is also a version available for iOS, where you can browse the web on your iPhone with its full HDR brightness switched on - but the macOS app is the one I use the most, for good reason - but there's an elephant in the room to talk about.
No, higher brightness doesn't mean lower battery
There's an understandable fear with these types of apps that they could ruin your Mac's display as it goes beyond Apple's brightness settings, burning out the display beyond use and voiding the warranty. However, Bruin has reassured me in the past that there's no truth to this - your display will not burn out after excessive use.
I've used it for a bunch of apps and games, from Streets of Rage 4 to watching Mandalorian on Disney Plus through the Clicker app. Everything pops even more on my MacBook Pro, and if I need to switch it off, I can either use the brightness toggle on my keyboard or go to Vivid's settings in the Menubar.
It would be great to see an iPadOS version in the future that goes beyond the simple web browser that's available on iOS. However, Vivid on macOS is well-designed and feels like it's been part of the Mac all along.
However, a year on there are no new features I'm desperate to see from Vivid - it does the job and does it well - and for $5, you can't go wrong.
