Crisp1.6.0

Control external monitor brightness, scaling, audio volume, HDR, and display layouts from Crisp’s menu bar panel. It provides DDC hardware brightness with software fallback, brightness-key control for the display under the pointer, every display, or a selected subset, plus per-monitor volume sliders and keyboard volume control when an external monitor is the audio output. Crisp is a lightweight System Tools utility for macOS 14 Sonoma or later, running on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

It applies Retina-style HiDPI resolutions to external screens, automatically on 2K-and-higher displays while retaining the panel’s full refresh rate. A shortcut can toggle HiDPI on the display beneath the pointer without Accessibility permission, and XDR MacBooks or HDR monitors can be pushed beyond 100% brightness by unlocking their extra HDR range. Users can also adjust HDR, gamma, contrast, gain, and ICC profiles separately for each display.

Presets save resolution, brightness, and arrangement for one-click reuse, with optional global shortcuts, while a drag-to-arrange canvas supports main-display switching. The panel changes Dark Mode, Night Shift, and True Tone, and creates HiDPI virtual displays for streaming, Sidecar setups, or headless Macs. Included crispctl reads or sets brightness, HDR, and Extra Brightness and connects or disconnects displays from the terminal, scripts, or Apple Shortcuts.

Crisp suits people who regularly move between external-monitor layouts, HDR or XDR work, streaming setups, and headless systems. Version 1.6.0 is freeware and open source under the MIT license, with every feature available without a Pro tier or paid license.