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Free downloads · macOS · Apple Silicon

Apps we built because we needed them.

The same care we put into client work goes into the tools on our own Macs. These are native macOS apps, built in-house at Devpulse, and free to download. They live here rather than on the App Store because they reach into private Apple frameworks the store doesn't allow - the hardware access is the whole point.

100% offline

Neither app ever opens a network connection. There is no networking code in them at all - nothing to phone home with.

No analytics

No tracking, no telemetry, no crash reporting, no third-party SDKs. What happens on your Mac stays on your Mac.

No accounts, no strings

No sign-up, no licence checks, no update pings. Download the zip, install it, and the apps work forever - even air-gapped.

Fan control · Menu bar + app

FannyBoost

Your MacBook's fans, one step ahead of the heat.

FannyBoost monitors and boosts the cooling fans of Apple Silicon MacBook Pros - live CPU and GPU temperatures, custom fan curves, and one-click presets from a clean SwiftUI app and menu bar item. Spin the fans up before a long export or compile instead of waiting for macOS to react, and keep your machine cooler and quieter-throttling under sustained load.

It's engineered to be boring about safety: it can only ever make the fans spin faster than Apple's automatic control, never slower. A tiny root helper clamps every request, enforces a temperature-based floor, and a dead-man switch hands the fans straight back to macOS if the app ever stops responding.

Custom fan curves Live temperatures Presets Never below Apple's target Dead-man failsafe
Requires macOS 26+ Chip Apple Silicon Price Free
Download FannyBoost See the install notes first

Display brightness · Menu bar

ScreenBoost

Brightness keys that follow your mouse.

With several monitors attached, macOS points its one brightness control at whichever display it feels like. ScreenBoost points it at the display under your cursor instead: press the brightness keys and the right screen responds, with an instant HUD, per-display sliders in the menu bar, and every monitor's level remembered across reconnects. It speaks DDC/CI to third-party monitors and Apple's own display framework to panels like the Studio Display and Pro Display XDR.

It also goes far beyond the standard range. Apple caps everyday SDR content at 500 nits on the MacBook Pro's Liquid Retina XDR and the Pro Display XDR, yet those panels can sustain 1,000 nits and peak at 1,600 nits - ScreenBoost unlocks that headroom through EDR, the same native mechanism macOS uses for HDR video, so nothing is overdriven or damaged. Third-party monitors get a software brightness lift past their factory 100% too, and every display can dim below zero for late-night work.

Cursor-aware keys DDC/CI + Apple displays Instant HUD Sub-zero dimming Beyond factory brightness
Requires macOS 26+ Chip Apple Silicon Price Free
Download ScreenBoost See the install notes first

Before you install

Why these aren't on the App Store.

Both apps talk directly to the hardware through private Apple APIs - the SMC for fan control, and private display frameworks for brightness. Apple doesn't allow that from sandboxed App Store apps, so we distribute them here instead. The builds are signed but not notarised, which means macOS quarantines the download and needs you to vouch for it once.

  1. Unzip and move the app to your Applications folder.
  2. Clear the quarantine flag with the one-line command opposite. This is you telling macOS you trust the app because you know where it came from - only ever do it for software from a source you trust.
  3. Open the app. FannyBoost monitors immediately; controlling the fans installs its helper from Settings with one admin prompt. ScreenBoost asks for Accessibility access for its fallback key handling.

Built for our own Macs, shared as-is. Both apps are in daily use on our machines and designed to fail safe - FannyBoost can never slow your fans below Apple's own targets, and ScreenBoost reverts everything it changes when it quits. Still, they're free tools provided without warranty. Uninstalling either one removes everything it added.

Like what you see?

This is how we build everything.

The same obsession with detail, safety, and native performance goes into every client app we ship. If you want it pointed at your product, let's talk.

hello@devpulse.co.uk