Apple offers a couple of different options when it comes to altering the appearance of your Mac display. The company introduced Night Shift in 2017 with macOS Sierra 10.12.4, which when on, switches your Mac's display to the warmer end of the colour spectrum in order to reduce the amount of blue light users are exposed to in the evening. Blue light is thought to have a negative effect on your circadian rhythm and sleeping patterns, so Night Shift was introduced to combat that.

True Tone was then introduced to the Mac in 2018 after it launched on iPad in 2016. It was introduced to automatically adjust the white balance of your Mac's display to match the light around you for a more natural and accurate viewing experience.

Then you have Dark Mode. This was introduced the same year as True Tone as part of macOS Mojave and it is a more dramatic change to the display. Night Shift and True Tone are subtle alterations, while Dark Mode changes the appearance of everything on the screen from light to dark, including programmes and apps.

Wondering how to change the appearance of your Mac, whether that's turning on Dark Mode on your Mac, scheduling Night Shift or turning True Tone on or off? Don't worry, we have you covered.

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How to turn on Dark Mode on Mac

Dark Mode is a great way to completely change the look of your Mac and it's a good option to select for retaining focus when you're working in low-light conditions, like a night flight.

  1. Tap on the Apple in the top left of your screen
  2. Open up System Settings on your Mac
  3. Tap on the Appearance option in the left menu column
  4. Select Dark from the options in the Appearance section
  5. You could also select Auto and Dark Mode will kick in once the evening arrives

How do you turn on and schedule Night Shift on a Mac?

If you're prone to using your Mac late at night and then find yourself struggling to sleep afterwards, Night Shift could be the setting for you. It's built into the macOS software but the controls are a little buried so finding the Night Shift settings can be a little tricky if you don't know where to look. Here's how to enable Night Shift on your Mac.

  1. Tap on the Apple in the top left corner of your screen
  2. Open up System Settings on your Mac
  3. Tap on the Displays option in the left menu column
  4. The Night Shift button is located at the bottom of the Display settings.
  5. You can toggle Night Shift on straight away until the next day
  6. Or you can choose to Schedule Night Shift. From the Schedule option, select either 'Sunset to Sunrise' or 'Custom'. The 'Sunset to Sunrise' option makes Night Shift to turn on each night when the sun sets and turn off when the sun rises based on your local times. To use this option, your location must be enabled under the Privacy & Security menu. As for the 'Custom' option, it lets you choose a start and end time for Night Shift to turn on every day.

How to turn on True Tone on Mac

As we mentioned, True Tone automatically adjusts the white balance of your screen to match the light around you for a more natural viewing experience. To find the True Tone setting on Mac and turn it off or on, follow the steps below:

  1. Tap on the Apple in the top left corner of your screen
  2. Open up System Settings on your Mac
  3. Tap on the Displays option in the left menu column
  4. Toggle True Tone on or off

How to quickly turn on Dark Mode, True Tone or Night Shift on Mac

There are a couple of quick ways to turn Dark Mode, Night Shift or True Tone on or off on Mac.

Control Centre

If you want to quickly enable or disable Dark Mode, True Tone or Night Shift, you can use the Control Centre. Simply click on the Control Centre menu bar icon (two lines with dots at either end) in the top right of your screen. When it slides out, tap on Display option within the Control Centre, which will see another pop up appear. From here, tap on the Dark Mode, True Tone or Night Shift icons to turn them on or off quickly.

Siri

You can also use Siri to turn on Dark Mode, True Tone or Night Shift. Click the Siri button in the menu bar, and then say "Turn on Dark Mode/True Tone/Night Shift" or "Turn off Dark Mode/True Tone/Night Shift" to turn the Dark Mode, True Tone or Night Shift features on or off, respectively.

Can you adjust the colour temperature of your Mac screen?

When you're in the Night Shift menu in System Preferences, you will see an option to adjust the colour temperature of Night Mode. It is set to the middle by default, but you can drag the slider to the left or right to get more blue light or more yellow light, respectively.

Keep in mind, Night Shift will also work on any connected external displays, as it mirrors your Mac settings, but it does not extend to connected TVs or projectors.

It's also possible to change the colour profile of your Mac display, depending on what your requirements are. To do this, tap on the Apple icon in the top left of your screen > Tap on System Preferences > Select the Colour Profile you want from the drop down. Options include Display P3, Adobe RGB, Apple RGB and ColorLCD, among several others.