Macbook keyboard backlight auto turn-on when room is dark?

Question

Macbook keyboard backlight auto turn-on when room is dark?

I have a late 2013 13" Retina Macbook Pro (running Mavericks) and am a relatively new OSX user. I know that I can modify keyboard backlight settings and have the brightness level adjust automatically (similar to how the screen brightness adjusts) however I don't actually want the keyboard's backlight on when the room is light. The fact that the auto-adjust setting makes the keyboard brighter in a light room is annoying to me.

Is there any way to have the backlight automatically turn on ONLY when the room is BELOW a certain brightness threshold. Perhaps there is a 3rd party app that can add this functionality? Manually pressing F5 and F6 works fine, but ideally I'd like to have this automated somehow.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Mar 6, 2014 5:23 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 6, 2014 5:26 PM in response to brendoncampbell

Sometimes the angle of the light is a factor. My MBP keyboard light sometimes will go on even with a light in the room, but if I set the display-half just a few degrees further open, the light is detected in the sensor near th camera and keyboard light is out.

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Answer 2

Mar 6, 2014 5:37 PM in response to billy_budd_ii

Billy_budd, Unfortunately it's not even that things are finicky for me. I haven't experienced any auto-turnon functionality at all. Are you running Mavericks? I've seen some older posts referring to this being a possibility. Is there a specific way you've enabled this option? I don't see anything in my settings.

If I select the tickbox I've highlighted in the screenshot below, the brightness of the keyboard mimicks the auto-audjust behaviour of the screen's backlight. With it unchecked, I have to use F5 or F6 to see any keyboard brightness changes. I haven't experienced the keyboard automatically turning on when the lights turn off.

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Answer 3

Mar 6, 2014 6:02 PM in response to brendoncampbell

I have a test install of Mavericks. Keyboard lights in a dark room turned on, but off later if I use a flashlight on the sensor.

With the setting unchecked, always on.

SMC reset might fix something that is confused: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

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Answer 4

Mar 6, 2014 6:11 PM in response to billy_budd_ii

I'll have to give that a try I guess, thanks. Just out of curiousity, what does the text next to the tick box say in your installation?

In older OSX versions the wording was different. I'm guessing this may also correspond to different functionality. Maybe Apple has removed the capability I'm seeking.

Old: "Automatically illuminate keyboard in low light"

vs.

New: "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light"

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Answer 5

Mar 6, 2014 6:23 PM in response to brendoncampbell

The second one.

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Answer 6

Apr 25, 2015 8:06 PM in response to billy_budd_ii

I've tested, the keyboard only turns off when light sensor reading is above 150 lx (data got from istats menu), otherwise the keyboard gets brighter as the reading goes up, which, if I adjust (with F5F6) the keyboard light to level 1 when reading is 0 lx, gives me full level of keyboard light when reading goes to 140 lx.

But according to my experience indoor ambient light level is below 150 lx through the whole day, so the keyboard basically is shining all day at a very high brightness level, while I only need keyboard light only when ambient light level is below 10 lx.

What's more annoying is that if I turn down the level during the day (don't like to be looking at a light-leaking keyboard when it's not dark), when night comes the keyboard light would adjust itself to an uncomfortably low level obliging me to press F6 again.

It's like I'm a slave of this naughty kid called "auto brightness".

Any comments on this?

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