Display Brightness zero possible on iMac?

[Sorceress]

Hi,

I am not really new here. Was very active for a few years but lost access to my old account. After stopped writing comments for many years. But that is not my problem.

Now because of my health sutiuation I am using my Mac mainly on a little desk standing next to my bed. I just wanted a bigger screen, so I switched from 16" M2 Pro MBP to 24" M3 iMac.

I very often listen to video or audio stuff at night before sleeping and on the MBP I could just turn the display off by setting the lowest brightness option. On the iMac this is not possible anymore. The only solution I found is to set a "Hot Corner" and move the mouse courser into that corner, what often doesn't work directly because the slightest mouse movement is turning the display on again. Same for every keystroke.

At best I would like to keep the mouse courser on the pause/play button or at least be able to pause/play with pressing the space bar and also use the volume up/down keys while the display stays dark.

Why is this possible on MBP and not on iMac? I don't understand this and didn't find a good solution for this.

I would be very happy if someone might help me. Maybe I just overlooked something. My concenstration is sadly very bad for doing intensive research at the moment.

Thanks in advance and kind regards,
Julie

 

[HDFan]

Do you have any other Apple devices? Supposedly you can control Apple Music on a Mac with an Apple watch. I couldn't get it to work through.

Apple Watch User Guide

Here’s everything you need to know about Apple Watch and the Apple Watch app on iPhone, straight from Apple. This definitive guide helps you get started using Apple Watch and discover all the amazing things it can do.

support.apple.com

 

[Sorceress]

Thanks for your answer.

The difference to a MacBook is that the iMac's display can just be put to sleep and everything you'll do will wake it, even controls from an external device I think.

On a MacBook the display is turned off on lowest brightness setting and you can still use it without turning on again automaticly to use it with an external display. I think that's called "clamshell mode" because you can even use it closed then.

Maybe there's any "hack" or an app that makes this mode available on an iMac too. I try to search for it again if my concentration is a little better. But would be happy if someone already knows a solution.

The only thing I want is playing a video or audio and be able to use the volume keys and pause/stop it somehow while the display stays dark.

 

[ger19]

It doesn't go entirely black, but it seems like it would be dark enough. One thing you might try is to have a dark wallpaper, no widgets and a disappearing dock. Then with the brightness down as low as possible, it will be pretty close to blacked out.

 

[Ben J.]

If you find a screensaver that you're happy with, the F7-F12 keys on a apple magic keyboard will work on the frontmost, active app playing back - without stopping the screensaver.
They have tiny icons, so they're easily missed:
F7-previous
F8-play/pause
F9-next
F10-mute
F11softer
F12-louder

Other F-keys that I use often:
F3-Mission control (lets you "zoom out" to see all apps and all their windows at once, and lets you move windows to new 'spaces', create/remove spaces, etc)
F5-Notification center. (same as clicking the date/time in the far right of the menu bar; shows what you have chosen to have in the notification center, time, date, weather, appointments, etc.). Hitting F5 will also not stop the running screensaver.

My personal favourite unobtrusive screensaver comes with macOS, I'm not sure what it's called in english; translated from my language it's "sliding". Could also be glimmering, gliding, something like that. There should be an option to set a color as screensaver, like there is in setting desktop background.

IHTH