Displays is a Mac menu-bar utility from Jibapps that lets you switch monitor resolutions, refresh rates, and display arrangements in seconds — no trip to System Settings required.
What is Displays?
Displays is a lightweight macOS application that lives in your menu bar and gives you instant, one-click access to every resolution and refresh rate your monitor supports. If you have ever dug through System Settings → Displays → hold Option to reveal hidden resolutions, you will immediately understand why this app exists. It collapses that whole archaeological expedition into a clean dropdown you can reach in under two seconds.
The app covers single-monitor setups just as well as complex multi-display rigs — switching between a 4K native resolution and a scaled HiDPI mode, or toggling from 60 Hz to 120 Hz on a ProMotion-capable display, becomes a keystroke-level habit rather than a five-click annoyance.
What does Displays do best?
Displays excels at eliminating the resolution-switching tax for anyone who frequently moves between contexts — presentation mode, focused coding, a second monitor for reference, a TV over HDMI for a demo.
- Instant resolution switching — every mode your GPU and panel support, listed and selectable from the menu bar with a single click.
- Refresh rate control — toggle ProMotion, 60 Hz, or any intermediate rate your display advertises, without opening a preference pane.
- Multi-display awareness — each connected screen gets its own submenu, so you can tune a side monitor independently without touching the primary.
- Arrangement shortcuts — quickly mirror or extend displays without wading through the graphical arrangement editor in System Settings.
I use it every time I connect a projector. The moment I plug in HDMI, I can drop to 1080p on the external output and keep my MacBook display at its native resolution — no awkward hunting for the right toggle mid-presentation.
How much does Displays cost?
Displays is available as a free download, making it an exceptionally low-risk addition to your menu-bar toolkit. Jibapps has historically kept the app free or offered optional upgrade tiers for power features — check the App Store or the developer's site for the current pricing model before downloading.
Even at a modest paid tier, the productivity math is straightforward: if you switch resolutions more than twice a week, the time savings justify the cost within days.
Who should use Displays?
Displays earns its place on any Mac used in more than one physical context. That covers a wide audience:
- Designers and photographers who need to proof at different pixel densities or switch between colour-accurate and scaled modes.
- Developers who want to test UI layouts at different resolutions without spinning up a simulator.
- Presenters who regularly connect to projectors or external screens with mismatched native resolutions.
- Multi-monitor power users juggling ultrawide, 4K, and a laptop panel simultaneously.
- Anyone with a MacBook Pro who has ever wished toggling ProMotion on and off did not require System Settings.
If you exclusively work at a single desk with one monitor that never changes, Displays is probably redundant — macOS handles static single-display setups perfectly well without it.
What are the best Displays alternatives?
Displays competes in a small but capable niche. Resolution Changer is a long-standing free alternative with a similar menu-bar approach, though its interface feels more spartan. SwitchResX is the veteran power tool in this space — it unlocks custom resolutions beyond what macOS exposes and offers deep EDID editing, but its interface is genuinely complex and it costs considerably more. RCDefaultApp and Display Menu cover adjacent ground. For most users, Displays hits the sweet spot: approachable enough that you will actually use it daily, capable enough that you will not outgrow it quickly.
Built-in macOS does offer resolution switching — it just buries it. If Displays feels like one menu-bar icon too many, macOS Sequoia's Control Centre shortcuts have improved somewhat, but they still do not match the speed of a dedicated utility.
How does Displays compare to SwitchResX?
SwitchResX is the specialist surgeon's scalpel: it can create custom resolutions that macOS refuses to show, edit monitor EDID data, and save complex display profiles for automatic switching. If you need any of that, it is the only real choice. Displays, by contrast, is the tool you reach for when you just want the resolutions your monitor actually supports — surfaced cleanly, switched quickly. It installs in thirty seconds and does not require a system extension or a reboot. For the majority of Mac users, that is the better trade-off.
