# BetterDisplay v5.0.2

- Product: BetterDisplay (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/betterdisplay)
- Vendor: waydabber
- Date: 2026-08-11
- Version: v5.0.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/releases/tag/v5.0.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/betterdisplay/releases/v5.0.2
- Labels: Pre-release; Platforms: macOS

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

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- **added** — Restored Intel Mac support in BetterDisplay 5 for Macs capable of running macOS 26
- **added** — Added controls for connecting and disconnecting displays directly from Settings
- **added** — Added an "Apply All Protections" action to the Tools/Groups menu, with an option to apply protections automatically after group configuration changes
- **added** — Added a "Trigger Group UI Scale Matching" action to the app menu for manually initiating group resolution-scale synchronization
- **added** — Added support for applying custom 3D LUTs to Image Adjustments and Stream/PIP video filters using compositor filters
- **added** — Added a built-in app console for quick access to CLI features
- **added** — Added a keyboard shortcut for quickly opening the app console
- **added** — Added exit and clear app console commands
- **added** — Added optional app logging output to the console
- **added** — Added an HDMI-CEC TV controller for volume, mute, power, and input-source control on compatible HDMI ports and adapters
- **added** — Added CLI commands for HDMI-CEC TV control, including volume, power, and input switching
- **added** — Added per-display integration actions for running commands when a display is connected or disconnected and when the system wakes or sleeps
- **added** — Added per-display ambient light sensor readings, including support for compatible external Apple displays such as the Pro Display XDR
- **added** — Added a "Prevent Cursor Entering" option to keep the mouse cursor from entering a stream target display
- **changed** — Improved the detection, recovery, removal, and reintroduction of soft-disconnected displays when their hardware connection state changes
- **changed** — Improved app UI compatibility with touch interaction on macOS 27
- **changed** — Improved default nits values for built-in displays on Intel Macs
- **changed** — Improved the performance of the experimental compositor filter
- **changed** — Added mouse scrolling and swipe control for app sliders, except for the resolution slider
- **changed** — Holding SHIFT while dragging an OSD slider now temporarily prevents synchronization
- **changed** — Clicking the minimum and maximum OSD slider icons now changes the slider value by 10%

This updated BetterDisplay 5 pre-release restores Intel Mac support on macOS 26 and adds improved soft-disconnected display handling, direct display connection controls in Settings, new display-group actions, and better touch compatibility on macOS 27 Golden Gate. Other highlights in BetterDisplay 5 include advanced compositor filters, expanded display reporting and integration capabilities, HDMI-CEC control, improved per-display automation, app menu and OSD refinements, performance improvements, custom 3D LUT filters, a built-in app console, and compatibility updates for the latest macOS 27 beta.

**Important: BetterDisplay 5 supports both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 26 or later. Users running an earlier version of macOS should continue using BetterDisplay 4 – [the latest version is v4.3.6](https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/releases/tag/v4.3.6).**

**BetterDisplay 5 is a free upgrade for Pro licenses purchased after January 1, 2025.**

- If you update through the built-in updater with an already activated older Pro license, Pro will remain active and the app will display an outdated-license notice. You can purchase a current license at any time to remove the notice and ensure continued activation eligibility.
- If you are not yet ready to purchase a new license, you may continue using Pro on that Mac with the existing activation and outdated-license notice. Do not deactivate the license, as an outdated license cannot activate a new or deactivated BetterDisplay 5 installation.
- Free features remain available without a Pro license, as before.

More information: [Outdated Pro License FAQ](https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/discussions/5632)

This cumulative changelog includes both every change since the latest stable BetterDisplay 4 release and changes compared to the previous v5.0.1 pre-release version.

###### Enhancements

- Restored Intel Mac support in BetterDisplay 5 for Macs capable of running macOS 26 (#5667) `v5.0.2`
- Improved the detection, recovery, removal, and reintroduction of soft-disconnected displays when their hardware connection state changes (#5685) `v5.0.2`
- Added detection for exclusive virtual screens, such as High Performance virtual screens, and correctly marked affected soft-disconnected displays as non-connectable (#5690) `v5.0.2`
- Added distinction between displays soft-disconnected by BetterDisplay and displays soft-disconnected by the system or another app (#5693) `v5.0.2`
- Added controls for connecting and disconnecting displays directly from Settings (#5695) `v5.0.2`
- Added an “Apply All Protections” action to the Tools/Groups menu, with an option to apply protections automatically after group configuration changes (#5679) `v5.0.2`
- Added a “Trigger Group UI Scale Matching” action to the app menu for manually initiating group resolution-scale synchronization (#5682) `v5.0.2`
- Improved app UI compatibility with touch interaction on macOS 27 (#5678) `v5.0.2`
- Moved additional controller settings into dedicated sheets to simplify the display Settings pane (#5676) `v5.0.2`
- Improved default nits values for built-in displays on Intel Macs (#5684) `v5.0.2`
- Added support for applying custom 3D LUTs to Image Adjustments and Stream/PIP video filters using compositor filters (#4284) `v5.0.1`
- Added a built-in app console for quick access to CLI features (#5642) `v5.0.1`
- Added a keyboard shortcut for quickly opening the app console (#5644) `v5.0.1`
- Added `exit` and `clear` app console commands (#5645) `v5.0.1`
- Added optional app logging output to the console (#5646) `v5.0.1`
- Added an HDMI-CEC TV controller for volume, mute, power, and input-source control on compatible HDMI ports and adapters (#3394)
- Added CLI commands for HDMI-CEC TV control, including volume, power, and input switching (#5506)
- Added per-display integration actions for running commands when a display is connected or disconnected and when the system wak

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/releases/tag/v5.0.2]_