DisplayBuddy for Mac can now control brightness on Samsung smart monitors

For those unfamiliar, DisplayBuddy is a tool that lets users adjust the brightness of third-party external displays directly from macOS. Earlier this year, the app was updated twice with a new interface, presets, and widgets. Now DisplayBuddy is getting another important update, this time with support for Samsung smart monitors.

DisplayBuddy adds support for Samsung monitors

As detailed by the developer, the latest version of DisplayBuddy enables full brightness control on Samsung monitors such as the Samsung M5, M7 and M8. It also works with the ViewFinity S9, Samsung’s 5K monitor that competes with the Studio Display – and you can read the full review of it here on 9to5Mac.

Typically, external monitors can be controlled by software through the DDC/CI protocol. However, Samsung never supported this protocol in its monitors, making it impossible for users to adjust things like brightness and volume from the computer.

But DisplayBuddy can now do this by connecting to the display as a wireless remote control. The developer explains:

DisplayBuddy uses a special connection to these monitors over Wi-Fi to give you full control over the monitor’s real volume, input sources, power, and even a full remote control. DisplayBuddy is the only Mac app out there that can do this, and it’s been really interesting to bring this capability to life.

UltraBright

There’s another new feature coming with this update, and that’s UltraBright. As the name suggests, it lets users unlock the full brightness (or HDR brightness) of a MacBook Pro or Pro Display XDR, which can be very useful when working outdoors.

If you want to give DisplayBuddy a try, an individual license for the app costs $18.99. It’s also available as part of the Setapp subscription, which lets you try out the app for free for seven days. The upgrade to version 2.0 is free for users who have purchased previous versions of the app.

You can learn more about it on the app’s website.