The short answer. If the goal is colour at night, f.lux is the reference implementation and Night Shift is the built-in version of it. If you want more control over Night Shift than the switch Apple gives you, Shifty. If you want to remove colour entirely for focus, grayscale mode tools. If the problem is that background windows distract you, a dimmer such as Hazeover solves a different problem from a colour filter. Decide which of those you mean before installing anything.
This guide covers 5 screen filter and dimming apps for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.
Quick comparison
| App | What it is | Pricing | Licence | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimsum | window manager | Open source | MIT | 1.0.1 |
| f.lux | Mac utility | Free | not published | 42.2 |
| Grayscale Mode | Mac utility | Open source | MIT | 2.1.0 |
| HazeOver | Mac utility | not published | not published | 1.9.8 |
| Shifty | Mac utility | Open source | GPL-3.0 | 1.2 |
What actually decides this
- Colour temperature or brightness. A warm colour temperature keeps contrast; dimming lowers luminance. They are different adjustments for different complaints, and the tools here do one or the other.
- Whether it extends or replaces Night Shift. macOS already has a colour temperature control. A tool that adds a schedule and finer control is useful; a tool that ignores the built-in entirely will fight it.
- What happens with multiple displays. Built-in Night Shift behaves inconsistently across displays, which is one of the main reasons people install a third-party tool at all.
- Whether the effect is a filter or a window state. A full-screen filter changes the whole display. A dimmer changes inactive windows. Both get described as focus tools and they are not the same thing.
- What it costs while a colour-managed app is open. A filter applies after the fact, so what a photo editor shows you is not the colour that will be printed. Any tool in this group has to be paused before colour work, which is worth checking is a one-click action.
Our picks
- f.lux — It is the tool the whole category was built around, and the behaviour it introduced is now a system feature. Choose it when you want the display colour to follow the time of day and do not want to think about it again.
- Shifty — Its record describes finer control over Night Shift specifically, rather than a second competing filter. Choose it when Night Shift is nearly right but its schedule and strength are not.
- Grayscale Mode — Removing colour is a stronger intervention than warming it, and it is a different setting from the same menu bar. Choose it when you want colour gone completely, not shifted.
- HazeOver — It dims background windows, which addresses attention rather than display calibration. Choose it when the complaint is that other windows distract you rather than that the colour is wrong.
The apps
Dimsum
Dimsum is a window manager for macOS. Minimalist menu bar app that dims inactive windows to highlight the focused one. It is released under MIT.
What it does. Minimalist active window highlighting mac app.
Dimsum is listed with current version 1.0.1.
Full profile and verified facts for Dimsum →
f.lux
f.lux is a Mac utility for macOS. Makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day. It is free.
What it does. Software to warm up your computer display at night, to match your indoor lighting.
f.lux is listed with current version 42.2.
Full profile and verified facts for f.lux →
Grayscale Mode
Grayscale Mode is a Mac utility for macOS. Toggle a grayscale screen filter from the menu bar or a shortcut. It is released under MIT.
What it does. Quickly toggle grayscale mode from status bar on any screen. Configurable shortcut (⌥⌘G). Option to disable Grayscale Mode for selected apps.
Grayscale Mode is listed with current version 2.1.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Grayscale Mode →
HazeOver
HazeOver is a Mac utility for macOS. App that dims your background app windows so you can focus more on your main task! Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Turn distractions down and focus on your current task. HazeOver automatically highlights the active window by dimming background windows.
HazeOver is listed with current version 1.9.8.
Full profile and verified facts for HazeOver →
Shifty
Shifty is a Mac utility for macOS. A macOS menu bar app that gives you more control over Night Shift. It is released under GPL-3.0.
What it does. A macOS menu bar app that gives you more control over Night Shift. With Shifty, Night Shift becomes a power user feature! Free download.
Shifty is listed with current version 1.2.
Full profile and verified facts for Shifty →
How to choose
- Free of charge. f.lux — no payment is required.
- No licence fee, source available. Dimsum, Grayscale Mode and Shifty — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
- Pricing not published in our data. HazeOver — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.
Open source: Dimsum, Grayscale Mode and Shifty (3 of 5).
Common mistakes
- Installing a colour filter and leaving Night Shift on. The two compound and the result is an orange screen nobody can read.
- Expecting a display filter to help eye strain that comes from sitting too close. It is a colour change, not a posture change.
- Using a full-screen grayscale filter on a machine where you also edit photos. The colour you are checking is not the colour on screen.
- Assuming a per-display tool will control an external monitor it has never seen. DDC support varies by monitor and cable.
How this guide was put together
Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.
A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.
The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose between these screen filter and dimming apps?
There is no single answer — it depends on what you need. This guide covers 5 screen filter and dimming apps: Dimsum, f.lux, Grayscale Mode, HazeOver and Shifty. They differ mainly in pricing model, licence and the trade-offs each one carries. Pick by the trade-off you care about rather than by rank.
Are these screen filter and dimming apps free?
Pricing across this group: open source (Dimsum, Grayscale Mode and Shifty), free (f.lux) and not published (HazeOver). Where we list pricing as not published, the developer does not state a model we could verify — check their own site before assuming anything about cost. We quote a price only where the record carries one from a stated source, and we never estimate one. Prices change and vary by region and by store, so always check the developer’s own page for the current figure.
Which of these screen filter and dimming apps are open source?
Dimsum (MIT), Grayscale Mode (MIT) and Shifty (GPL-3.0) are open source.
Do these screen filter and dimming apps support Apple Silicon?
Our data does not carry an explicit Apple Silicon statement for any app in this group, so we do not claim one. The absence of a statement is not the same as the absence of support.
How do I choose between them?
Start with how you pay: the guide groups these apps by pricing model, because the budget is the constraint most people actually have. Then check the trade-offs listed for each app: the limitations are the part that decides most people’s choice, because they describe what the app will not do for you.
