Just got off the phone with a senior Apple Support Advisor. He was not aware of this change yet and wasn't able to do much since it the model is so new. He agreed it should be something that should be fixed in a software update but just directed me to submit feedback to apple.com/feedback
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Can't calibrate new XDR MacBook Pro display - missing 'Color' button, calibration option.
- Thread starter Sowelu
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Is your brightness locked to full brightness after messing with the profiles?
After tinkering around a bit, I think I found a workaround that will allow you to calibrate your MacBook Pro's XDR display using the built in Calibration Assistant…
The Display Calibration Assistant app is still sitting on your MacBook Pro's hard drive, and is located here:
Go to this folder, locate the Display Calibrator app, hold down the Option key, then right click on this app and select ‘Open’ (this will launch the calibrator in Expert Mode).
Calibrate and save the newly created color profile as you normally would using the Display Calibration Assistant.
Now, launch the ColorSync Utility app in the Utilities folder, click on 'Devices' on the tool bar, then click the drop down arrow next to 'Displays' on the left side of that window.
Click on 'Color LCD' (this is the default profile that your MacBook Pro is currently using), and then go to the right side of that window, and click the drop down arrow next to 'Current Profile' and choose 'Other'.
This will bring up the folder window where the default color profile (and now your newly created color profile) is saved. Select your newly created color profile and click 'Open'.
The system will bring up TouchID for authentication, but on my MacBook it just sort of hung there, so I chose ‘Use Password’ instead.
Your new profile should now be selected and will be the main color profile used until you create and select a new one using this same method, and process.
This has worked for me and has stayed put after a few restarts, so hopefully it works for you all as well.
Hopefully Apple addresses this soon. So many unnecessary steps when we could have just hit two or three buttons had they not removed (or hid) the Color Calibration Assistant and access to color profiles in the Display Preferences!
Oh Apple... ‘It just works!’
The Display Calibration Assistant app is still sitting on your MacBook Pro's hard drive, and is located here:
Go to this folder, locate the Display Calibrator app, hold down the Option key, then right click on this app and select ‘Open’ (this will launch the calibrator in Expert Mode).
Calibrate and save the newly created color profile as you normally would using the Display Calibration Assistant.
Now, launch the ColorSync Utility app in the Utilities folder, click on 'Devices' on the tool bar, then click the drop down arrow next to 'Displays' on the left side of that window.
Click on 'Color LCD' (this is the default profile that your MacBook Pro is currently using), and then go to the right side of that window, and click the drop down arrow next to 'Current Profile' and choose 'Other'.
This will bring up the folder window where the default color profile (and now your newly created color profile) is saved. Select your newly created color profile and click 'Open'.
The system will bring up TouchID for authentication, but on my MacBook it just sort of hung there, so I chose ‘Use Password’ instead.
Your new profile should now be selected and will be the main color profile used until you create and select a new one using this same method, and process.
This has worked for me and has stayed put after a few restarts, so hopefully it works for you all as well.
Hopefully Apple addresses this soon. So many unnecessary steps when we could have just hit two or three buttons had they not removed (or hid) the Color Calibration Assistant and access to color profiles in the Display Preferences!
Oh Apple... ‘It just works!’
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Thank you soooo much. I'll have to keep messing with it to get it where I want, but I feel like I'm pretty close to being happy with my gamma and white balance after following your steps. This was driving me bonkers and I feel so much better now having this option at the very least
Apple: "You're using it wrong!" ?
Thank you, you are the MVP! Now to figure out how to edit the presets to go above 500 nits in SDR.
Edit: No matter how much I play with it, I cannot get the crisp whiteness of my 13" M1 MBP. Always there's a red tint or green tint. This thing is going back to the store.
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Hello, good idea !
When I tried it in apple store , indeed I discover they remove the ability to add our own icc color profile. Instead, there are presets like the pro display xdr. Question : when you copy an icc color profile to path "Library/color sync/profiles/displays/color"
Will it appears among the defaut presets ? Thanks
Do you have a new M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro with XDR Display?
No, there doesn't seem to be a connection between these new presets (which are buggy, wonky and not very intuitive) and the traditional color profiles. Even when I created a few new color profiles, they were not visible or accessible in the Display Preferences - just in the ColorSync utility as I detailed above.
So one thing I found interesting while (finally) having the opportunity to calibrate using the Display Calibration Assistant is that the visual color hues do not match where you push the little dot.
In other words, if you're looking to add a bit more red and move the dot into that direction, the display shifts green - so you actually have to go in the opposite direction of the pictured color hue to achieve what you want. Same for target white point. You have to raise the white point numbers to reduce it, which of course is opposite of how it's normally measured. So a white point of 7000 looks like 5000, etc.
Basically, you have to make adjustments in the opposite direction of what you see on screen to correct and calibrate the display to your liking - very odd and I've never seen this before.
So, with this, I am wondering if Apple knows that there is something wonky with the Display Calibration Assistant with the XDR displays, and decided to hide it until they sort it out? I don't have Monterey on any of my other Macs yet, so I am assuming this is odd behavior is tied to the new display hardware.
Your screenshot isn't from a new MacBook Pro (there's no notch on the pic of the MacBook); which is why it works for you. This behaviour is exclusively related to the XDR screens in the new 14 and 16 MacBook Pros.
How did you come to that conclusion? It's a screenshot, no possible way you could tell there's a notch or not.
You can see the thick bezels in his screen shot - and for some reason, this poster isn't getting that this thread is for XDR displays only, and keeps posting about using the very utility that Apple has hidden on these new machines and that we are trying to access. 🙃
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Thanks but we can done your trick and choose our own icc color profile !
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Because if it were an XDR laptop, it would have a picture of a notched display in his screenshot, but it doesn't, it's an older machine.
EDIT: never mind, I see what you were talking about now. The icon in the screenshot, not the screenshot itself
Not sure what's happening with mine, but when I open the ColorSync folder, all I have is a folder called Profiles nothing to the tune of Calibrators. Seems odd, can't find it..
Interesting thread. I am still waiting for my ordered MBP M1 16".
The question I have is whether anyone has managed to calibrate/profile the built-in XDR display with separate (not the Display Calibrator) calibration software and a colorimeter [e.g. basiCColor display 6 with Squid 3 (identical in construction to X-Rite i1Display Pro)]?
The question I have is whether anyone has managed to calibrate/profile the built-in XDR display with separate (not the Display Calibrator) calibration software and a colorimeter [e.g. basiCColor display 6 with Squid 3 (identical in construction to X-Rite i1Display Pro)]?
I don't have or use a 3rd party or physical calibrator, but I am thinking that if the one you use has the ability to create a color profile, then you should be able to save it then browse and select it using the method I detailed above. Just jump to the 'ColorSync' app step.
I am thinking about looking into alternative calibrating methods, software and devices, so I am curious to know how this works out.
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, the calibration software creates an ICC profile based on the colorimeter measurements. This is done by setting the desired parameters in the software (color temperature, gamma, etc.). Then the colorimeter is used to measure the display, with the software producing various color samples in a measuring range on the display. Based on the measurement results, an ICC profile with correction data is generated. This must then be set as the monitor profile.
I can only say that I am very satisfied with this calibration so far. At least on my MacBook Pro 2015.
I don't know if links are allowed here - I use the software "basiCColor 6". With a google search you should find info about it.
I'll see when the new MacBook arrives, I'll be surprised.
By the way, thanks for your workaround with ColorSync!