Yet another Hacker News

Show HN: A tiny macOS app that turns off the MacBook display [free license]

5 points sliqqq 1 hour ago 11 comments

Hi, I made a tiny app that lets you turn off the MacBook screen when you work on external monitors.

It does NOT just dim the brightness to zero, the screen is actually turned off via the Apple hardware API, the according desktop is removed, so you have a clean "one big monitor" setup.

- Safe fallback if you turn off the external monitor(s), unplug the monitor cable(s), the app crashes or anything else happens. - Keyboard, touchpad and TouchID still work fine. - Automatic restart. 2 Megabyte size. - Totally niche, I know, but it helps me to concentrate.

The app is commercial ($9 once), but everybody who DMs me here gets a *FREE* lifetime license, and everybody who uses in the feedback form (to report if the apps works on your setup) gets a free lifetime license too.

Thanks ;)

https://blackoutapp.io

theplumber 20 minutes ago | parent

But you can just close the lid? What am I missing ?

bubblemoth 13 minutes ago | parent

LLM bros want to turn off The monitor but keep their LLMs running.

jdiff 7 minutes ago | parent

This only works with an external monitor.

nsoam 12 minutes ago | parent

You save the 20 cents in tokens it would cost you to replicate this app.

gloxkiqcza 11 minutes ago | parent

> Keyboard, touchpad and TouchID still work fine

In case you close the lid those no longer work I suppose.

harikb 11 minutes ago | parent

My guess would be that it allows continued use of other things like finger-print sensor, or possibly camera?

Mac also cannot run with lid closed if power is not connected, but I am not sure if it will power display-out when power is not there.

QuantumNomad_ 12 minutes ago | parent

What guarantees that the monitor comes back on if your app crashes?

jdiff 6 minutes ago | parent

DMs? This site has DMs?

TekMol 6 minutes ago | parent

    2 Megabyte size

I would have expected this to be just a few lines of code.

Let's say it is 100 lines because it has a bunch of convenience or edge case handling. Lets say with an average length of 20 chars, that would be 2KB.

How can it fill 1000 times of that to get to 2MB?

ranger_danger 3 minutes ago | parent

sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1

Saved you $9