How to change keyboard backlight brightness on a newer MacBook

On newer MacBooks, keyboard backlight brightness lives in System Settings, then Keyboard, as a "Keyboard brightness" slider. You can also add a Keyboard Brightness control to Control Centre or the menu bar. There's no dedicated key any more on the MacBook Air from the M1 model onward or the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2021, which is why so many people go looking for it.

If you'd like it back on something physical, Slidr's bottom trackpad edge changes keyboard brightness with a one-finger slide.

Which MacBooks lost the keyboard backlight keys?

Older Intel MacBooks had two keys for the backlight on F5 and F6. When Apple launched the M1 MacBook Air in November 2020, those became Dictation and Do Not Disturb, and Launchpad's F4 key became Spotlight (9to5Mac covered the change at launch). The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models announced in October 2021 dropped the Touch Bar for a full row of function keys, with the same Spotlight, Dictation and Do Not Disturb shortcuts (MacRumors).

You can check your own Mac against Apple's guides. The current MacBook Air keyboard page and the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro keyboard page both list F1 and F2 as display brightness, F5 as Dictation/Siri and F6 as Do Not Disturb. No keyboard backlight key on either.

If your F5 and F6 keys still carry keyboard backlight symbols, you have the older layout and those keys still work. Skip to the automatic settings below.

Where is the keyboard brightness control now?

Apple's guide to turning your keyboard's backlighting on or off lists the options. On all Mac computers with a backlit keyboard:

1. Choose Apple menu, then System Settings.

2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar (you may need to scroll).

3. Drag the "Keyboard brightness" slider. All the way left turns the backlight off.

That works, but it's four steps for something you might change every evening. Two shortcuts make it quicker:

Add it to Control Centre or the menu bar. Apple's same guide covers both. Once added, Keyboard Brightness is a click away instead of buried in Settings. If you change it often, the menu bar is the better spot.

Or let macOS do it automatically. Also in Keyboard settings: "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light" uses the light sensor near the camera, and "Turn keyboard backlight off after inactivity" switches it off after a delay you choose. Apple's tip is not to cover the sensor area at the top of the screen.

Why does my backlight keep changing on its own?

Usually it's one of those two automatic settings doing its job. If the backlight dims when you don't want it to, turn off "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light". If it switches off while you're reading, lengthen the inactivity timer or turn it off.

Some people remap F5 and F6 back to backlight controls with a keyboard remapping tool such as Karabiner-Elements. That works for some, but you lose Dictation and Do Not Disturb on those keys, and it's more setup than most people want.

Can I control keyboard brightness from the trackpad?

Yes, with Slidr. It's a menu bar app (macOS 12 or later) that turns the edges of your trackpad into sliders. Right edge is volume, left edge is display brightness, and since version 1.4 the bottom edge is Keyboard Backlight by default: slide one finger left or right along the bottom of the trackpad to change keyboard brightness. On supported Macs you get a level overlay as it changes.

It uses the Mac's own keyboard illumination controls, so it behaves like the old keys did. It only changes the built-in MacBook keyboard, not a separate one. On a Mac without keyboard illumination, the bottom edge defaults to Media instead (double-tap to play or pause, slide to skip tracks), and you can switch it to Media, Switch Apps, Scrub Video or Off at any time from the Slidr icon in the menu bar.

Slides use one finger, so they stay out of the way of two-finger scrolling and the other multi-finger gestures macOS already uses. Palm rejection and typing detection stop it firing while your hands rest on the deck.

Which method should I use?

If you set the backlight once and forget it, the automatic low-light setting is enough. If you change it by hand most evenings, add Keyboard Brightness to the menu bar; it's free and takes ten seconds. If you'd rather never look up at all, the trackpad edge is the closest thing to having the keys back.

Slidr comes with a 3-day free trial from the download page, then $4.99 once for up to 3 Macs. The other edges are covered in changing volume from the trackpad and screen brightness without the keyboard, and the FAQ covers requirements.