How to Turn on the Keyboard Light on a Mac

The Disappearing Brightness Keys

Working in a dimly lit room, on a late-night flight, or in a dark auditorium is incredibly frustrating if you cannot see the keys you are pressing. Apple introduced backlit keyboards to the Mac lineup many years ago to solve this exact problem.

For a long time, turning on the keyboard light was incredibly simple: you just tapped the dedicated F5 or F6 keys on the top row of your physical keyboard to adjust the brightness. However, as Apple continually redesigned its laptops—introducing the Touch Bar, removing the Touch Bar, and rearranging the function keys—the dedicated keyboard brightness buttons vanished from many modern MacBooks.

If your Mac keyboard has suddenly gone dark and you cannot find the physical buttons to turn the light back on, here is exactly where Apple hid the settings in macOS.

Method 1: Using the macOS Control Centre

If you own a modern MacBook (released in 2020 or later) that does not have dedicated keyboard brightness keys on the physical keyboard, the control is now entirely software-based.

1. Look at the menu bar in the extreme top right corner of your Mac’s screen (next to the date and time).
2. Click the Control Centre icon. (It looks like two small horizontal slider switches facing opposite directions).
3. A small drop-down menu will appear showing your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and screen brightness settings.
4. Look for a module labeled Keyboard Brightness.
5. Click and drag the slider to the right to turn the backlight on and increase its brightness. Drag it all the way to the left to turn the light completely off.

Note: If you do not see “Keyboard Brightness” in your Control Centre, you need to add it. Go to the Apple Logo > System Settings > Control Centre. Scroll down to Keyboard Brightness and turn on the toggle that says “Show in Control Centre”.

Method 2: Using the System Settings Menu

If you want to fine-tune how the keyboard light behaves (rather than just turning it on and off), you can access the full settings menu.

1. Click the Apple Logo in the top left corner of the screen.
2. Select System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions of macOS).
3. Scroll down the left sidebar and click on Keyboard.
4. Look for the Keyboard brightness slider and adjust it to your preferred level.

How to Automate the Keyboard Light

In the same Keyboard settings menu, you will see two very useful automated features that can save your laptop battery:

• Adjust keyboard brightness in low light: If you turn this on, your Mac will use the ambient light sensor located near the webcam. If you walk into a bright room, it will turn the keyboard light off to save power. If you walk into a dark room, it will automatically turn the light on.
• Turn keyboard backlight off after [X] seconds of inactivity: If you turn this on, the keyboard light will instantly shut off if you stop typing to read an article or watch a video. The moment you touch a key or the trackpad, the light will instantly flare back on.

Why Won’t My Keyboard Light Turn On?

If you dragged the brightness slider to the maximum setting, but your keyboard remains completely dark, you are likely experiencing a sensor override.

If you have “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light” turned on, and you are sitting in a well-lit room or near a bright window, macOS will completely disable the keyboard light. It assumes you do not need the backlight because the room is already bright, and it prevents you from turning it on to save battery.

To force the light to turn on, simply uncheck the “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light” box in the settings, or hold your hand over the camera at the top of your screen to trick the sensor into thinking the room is dark.