5 Ways to Turn Off Keyboard Light on MacBook Air/Pro

Keyboard backlighting is pretty helpful. Especially when working at night or the low-light environments, it comes in super handy – making it a bit more convenient for your eyes to spot the keys and allowing your fingers to go about the job without any fumbling. However, there are times when you would like to turn it off – whether while watching a movie or enjoying a video call with your loved ones. That said, let me show how it’s done the quick way: 

Disable the Keyboard Backlight on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro

Luckily, there are multiple ways to disable the backlight on Mac. Hence, you can choose the desired method that is in line with your convenience. Spoiler alert! There is an auto-play as well to ensure the keyboard light stays away.

1. Turn OFF Keyboard Backlighting on MacBook from the System Settings

  • To get started, click on the Apple logo at the upper left corner of the screen -> System Settings
  • Scroll down and select Keyboard in the sidebar. 
  • Finally, drag the brightness slider all the way to the left to turn off the keyboard backlighting. 
Adjust keyboard brightness on Mac

2. Turn OFF Keyboard Backlighting from the Menu Bar/Control Center on MacBook

For enhanced convenience, you can add the “Keyboard brightness” icon to the menu bar and control center in order to fine-tune the backlighting without having to dig into the System Settings every single time.

  • Just open the System Settings app -> Control Center -> Now, scroll down to the Keyboard Brightness section.
  • Then, ensure that the toggles for Show in Menu Bar and Show in Control Center are enabled. 
Add keyboard brightness icon to menu bar on Mac
  • From now on, you can quickly disable the keyboard backlighting by dragging the slider all the way to the left. 
Fine tune the keyboard brightness on Mac from the menu bar

3. Automatically Disable Keyboard Backlighting on MacBook

If you often forget to disable the backlighting on your Mac, go for the automatic option. When enabled, it automatically turns off the keyboard backlighting after a period of inactivity.

  • To get going, fire up the System Settings -> Keyboard
  • Now, click on the drop-down menu next to “Turn keyboard backlight off after inactivity” on the right.
Disable keyboard brightness on Mac after a period of inactivity

4. Disable Keyboard Backlight on Mac With Ease

On your Mac’s keyboard, press and hold the decrease brightness key.

5. Turn OFF Keyboard Backlighting Using the Touch Bar on MacBook Pro

Taking control of the backlight on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is pretty easy.

  • In the Touch Bar, you need to first expand the Control Strip.
  • After that, touch and hold the decrease brightness button.

Bonus: Automatically Adjust Backlighting in Low Light Conditions on Mac

What’s more, there is also a neat way to automatically adjust the backlighting in low light conditions on Mac.

  • Head over to the System Settings app on your Mac -> Keyboard.
  • Now, turn on the toggle next to “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light”.
Auto adjust the keyboard brightness on Mac in low light

And that’s pretty much it! Hopefully, you’ve found the right way to fine-tune the backlighting of your Mac’s keyboard.

Read more: 33 Best Tips to Fix iPhone Continuity Camera Not Working in macOS Sonoma & iOS 17

Posted by
Rajesh Mishra

Editor-in-Chief: Rajesh Mishra (Your beloved “R.K” 360 Reader Voice) is a Shakespearean poet at heart who turned a tech nerd while having a secret rendezvous with iPhone 4. When that rendezvous turned obsession, he let go of his hard-core political journalism in favour of the lifelong love-affair with technology. In a career spanning one and a half decades, Mr. Mishra has crafted over 8K articles and around 2K YouTube videos. He is probably the only journalist alive with this unique achievement. When he is not at his desk, you may find him either engrossed in a Deathmatch or chasing Wordsworth!

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