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unable to color calibrate 2020 M1 Macbook Pro

I'm a professional photographer/videographer, and just bought the new M1 MacBook Pro. It seems developers are having issues getting their color calibration devices to work with M1 based Macs. Has anyone found a work around? I'm using a colormunki display from xrite - which currently works on my intel based MacBook Pro. DisplayCal software also incompatible with M1. Both apps are unable to detect the M1's display. I sincerely hope this gets rectified soon - color calibration is a must for any graphics professional.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Dec 11, 2020 7:10 AM

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19 replies

Dec 21, 2020 8:33 PM in response to Foo Fighters

I also bought a Mac Mini with the M1 chip and I am unable to calibrate my Dell monitor using the Colormunki Display. Looks like the Colormunki has been discontinued, even though mine is only about 3 or 4 years old and was working fine with my older Mac Pro, which was replaced by the new Mac Mini M1. So if Xrite discontinued the Colormunki Display a while back and the new ARM Macs can’t run the old drivers, I can only assume Xrite won’t give a crap about updating its drivers and software for a discontinued product on a brand-new platform. I guess I’m out of luck. I’ll probably just begin looking for a new product (not from Xrite) that will work on the M1 chip, though my guess is that such a hypothetical product won’t come out until Q2 in 2021 at the earliest. Best of luck, ya’ll, with your new paper weight from Xrite!

Dec 22, 2020 5:37 AM in response to elKavernikola


I have the colormunkie display as well, but it will work with the idisplay pro drivers. You have to download the xrite i1Studio software once they’ve updated it work with M1 Macs. Colormunki also works with displaycal - again, once they’ve updated it for M1. The above mentioned apps work well on intel Macs running Catalina and above - so hopefully this will translate to an extended life of the colormunkie.

Dec 26, 2020 11:44 AM in response to Foo Fighters

I hava a MacBook Pro M1 and trying to calibrate it with my i1DisplayPro (that works ok on my iMac27 and all others Mac I have). Even if the software recognize the i1DisplayPro as connected than the software gives an error saying that there is no a licensed display connected (it refers to the i1 display pro), it is for sure an hardware/software bug... But if after more then 1 month the top tools for creatives (refer to mine i1DisplayPro) don't works with the new M1 it is a really bad news!!!


Dec 31, 2020 9:50 AM in response to Foo Fighters

Hi there, I found a workaround.


If you have a previous profile created with DisplayCAL, open DisplayCAL (even on your M1), load your old profile, enable Show Advanced Options in the Options menu, go to the Profiling tab, and select Single curve + matrix as the profile type and enable black point compensation. Then use "Create profile from measurement data" from the File menu and save the new profile.


If you don't have a DisplayCAL profile, use another computer to create a "Single curve + matrix" profile with the instructions above.


Once you have a single curve + matrix profile, navigate to

~/Library/Application Support/DisplayCAL/storage/

and copy the appropriate ICC or ICM file to

~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles


I have done both and I'm quite pleased with the results (𝞓E < 2) on my relatively cheap monitor, especially by creating a new profile from scratch from my windows machine.

Jan 13, 2021 4:38 PM in response to Foo Fighters

I was able to create a profil for my MacBook Pro M1 built-in screen using Datacolor SpyderX device and the SpyderX Pro version of the app.

I've got a Benq sw270c screen that is hardware calibrated. I didn't manage to get it works on the regular way.


First of all, I tried calibrate the screen with an intel inside 2015 MacBook Pro then moving the icc profil to the M1 Macbook Pro, this done a pink screen messed-up.


Then I tried with a HP 640 G1 laptop (Intel HD4600 graphics inside, plus a built-in DisplayPort 1.2 output), then moving the windows icc profil to the M1 MacBook Pro, and this time it's works well. I can't calibrate without trouble and crash on the M1 MacBook with the current apps, but I'm able de run a proofing. The proofing tells that the gap between intel HD4600 graphics over display port and M1 graphics alternate display mod over USB type C is lower than the gap between intel Macs and the M1 Macs.


∆E max. 1.16

∆E med. 1.83

Jan 20, 2021 8:02 AM in response to JonathanDHN

There is an issue at the moment with X-Rite calibration devices and the M1 chipped Macs.

Apple have changed the way thet monitors are addressed within the operating system and because of this the X-Rite applications can't detect a monitor.

This is also effecting dual monitor set-ups where the OS can't see the second screen! Also some monitor manufacturers have see their displays not being driven in full 8bit color.

So there are a few issues with displays on the M1 systems.

X-Rite are working on a fix and should be available for thie i1 Profiler and i1 Studio (this app can be used with older ColorMunki Display and Photo devices) shortly.

Jan 26, 2021 2:01 PM in response to abowmancolorconfidence

I spoke to XRite Europe today and they explained that the dev team didn’t get hold of an M1 Mac until the middle of December in the US. They’ve been tentatively redeveloping the display address protocols and are confident of a patch early February.


however, it could all be scuppered if apple make some other patch in the meantime which makes all this progress obsolete.


apple should involve these reputable companies with more insight for collaboration.

Jan 30, 2021 7:00 AM in response to Foo Fighters

Datacolor SpyderX and Spyder5 software (the current 5.7 releases) work properly on the new M1 Macs. You can calibrate the built-in display on the laptops, as well as an external display. If you have the M1 Mini, you'll be able to calibrate one or two displays, however many you have attached. (The other actively supported Datacolor Spyder products - SpyderCheckr and SpyderPRINT - also work properly on the M1 systems).


There's one issue in Big Sur running on M1 systems only, in which the normal API inside MacOS that provides information about attached displays doesn't return the expected information. The Spyder software works around this by catching the problem and simply providing an initial naming of "UNKNOWN-X" (with 1 and 2 appended, to signify either the main or secondary display). You can leave that as-is or, you can type over it with anything that you like. Otherwise, all functionality works as expected and calibration proceeds as normal. (Hopefully this gets fixed in a future version of Big Sur on the M1)


(Calibrating displays on other systems, and moving the display profiles over to an M1, isn't going to work reliably - I'd recommend against it :-)



David M.


[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]




Feb 4, 2021 7:07 AM in response to crmne

crmne wrote:

Hi there, I found a workaround.

If you have a previous profile created with DisplayCAL, open DisplayCAL (even on your M1), load your old profile, enable Show Advanced Options in the Options menu, go to the Profiling tab, and select Single curve + matrix as the profile type and enable black point compensation. Then use "Create profile from measurement data" from the File menu and save the new profile.

If you don't have a DisplayCAL profile, use another computer to create a "Single curve + matrix" profile with the instructions above.

Once you have a single curve + matrix profile, navigate to
~/Library/Application Support/DisplayCAL/storage/
and copy the appropriate ICC or ICM file to
~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles

I have done both and I'm quite pleased with the results (𝞓E < 2) on my relatively cheap monitor, especially by creating a new profile from scratch from my windows machine.

Does this workaround actually trigger your xrite color calibration device to work? Or are you basically using the displayCal software to analyze and modify older color profiles and then importing them to the M1?

Mar 29, 2021 6:06 AM in response to abowmancolorconfidence

They have added the following to their site:


Software download for i1Display Pro and Pro Plus – The i1Display Pro and Pro Plus instruments use i1Profiler software (not i1Studio software). To download i1Profiler software for your i1Display Pro or Pro Plus instrument, please go to: xrite.com/geti1Profiler  and please also take the opportunity to register the product here for warranty and prompt on-going support.


unable to color calibrate 2020 M1 Macbook Pro

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