Software Alternatives & Reviews

Lunar.fyi VS Duet Display

Compare Lunar.fyi VS Duet Display and see what are their differences

Lunar.fyi logo Lunar.fyi

Control monitor brightness, adapt using the ambient light sensor, adjust volume, switch inputs and turn off displays without fiddling with clunky buttons.

Duet Display logo Duet Display

With Duet Display, you can transform your iPhone or iPad into a second display to expand the screen space of your PC or Mac system.
  • Lunar.fyi Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-24

Native brightness control

macOS can't control external monitors brightness natively. Lunar adds that capability so you can use the same familiar brightness keys to adjust all monitors at once, or fine tune each one.

Volume keys also work for adjusting monitor volume, and there are hotkeys for switching between monitor inputs/ports.

Adaptive brightness

By using the MacBook and iMac integrated Ambient Light Sensor, Lunar can automatically adapt your monitor brightness and contrast throughout the day so you can forget about fiddling with buttons.

Even if you have monitors with different brightness capabilities, Lunar can learn the differences between them and compute a custom brightness curve for each one so they're always at the same perceived luminance.

Break brightness limits

Displays that have more than 500nits of brightness are limited by macOS so they can't reach their full brightness. Lunar unlocks that through its XDR Brightness feature so you can work in sunlight.

The Sub-zero Dimming feature allows you to lower the brightness below the usual 0% so you can work comfortably during the night.

Turn off displays

Lunar's BlackOut feature can turn off individual displays (even the built-in MacBook display) so you can focus on single tasks:

  • No need to close the lid or press power buttons
  • Webcam, keyboard and trackpad keep working as usual
  • Monitors can still be adapted through the MacBook light sensor
  • Duet Display Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-02

Lunar.fyi

Website
lunar.fyi
$ Details
freemium $23.0 / One-off (Pro)
Platforms
Mac OSX
Release Date
2017 November

Duet Display

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
-
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

Lunar.fyi features and specs

  • Adaptive Brightness: Yes
  • Native Brightness Control: Yes
  • XDR Brightness: Yes
  • Dim brightness below zero: Yes
  • Switch monitor inputs: Yes
  • Sync brightness between displays: Yes
  • Turn off individual displays: Yes
  • External light sensor support: Yes
  • Scheduled brightness presets: Yes
  • Command-line integration: Yes

Duet Display features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Lunar.fyi videos

Lunar 5 Demo

Duet Display videos

Apple Sidecar vs Duet Display: What's the Difference?

More videos:

  • Review - Turning an iPad into a Second Monitor for Pc & Mac: Duet Display
  • Review - Duet Display Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Lunar.fyi and Duet Display)
Mac
100 100%
0% 0
Remote Desktop
0 0%
100% 100
Productivity
64 64%
36% 36
Remote PC Access
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Lunar.fyi and Duet Display

Lunar.fyi Reviews

  1. I can not live without Lunar.

    Have you ever felt down? Depressed? Like there's something missing?

    That's computing life before Lunar. You might still be depressed, but at least you'll feel control over your displays.

    Facelight, smart brightness sync across monitors, support for a DIY-ish light sensor, command line integration, APP SPECIFIC PRESETS (!) the ability to access the XDR brightness in your shiny new Macbook, and much more.

    Your screens deserve better, your eyes deserve better. There's simply no better way to manage how light gets into your eyes from your monitor.

    🏁 Competitors: DisplayBuddy, MonitorControl
    👍 Pros:    Cheap price|Great set of functions|Unique|Comprehensive functions
    👎 Cons:    You don't own it yet

Duet Display Reviews

Top 10 Duet Display Alternatives (Free and Paid) Reviewed | 2022
Duet Display vs SpaceDesk: While some users do claim that SpaceDesk is not as responsive as Duet Display, the overall experience is satisfactory. It’s interesting that splash top is available on both Mac and windows and requires two separate installations: One version mobile and one version Desktop.
Source: mediapeanut.com
8 Best SpaceDesk Alternatives for Duet Display (2022)
It is a well-known software operating since the time of SpaceDesk. Duet Display has advanced features that make it a perfect alternative for SpaceDesk. Previously the software was only compatible with iPads and MacBooks. But now, Duet Display is also available for Windows.
Source: techdator.net
Top spacedesk Alternatives & Similar Software (2020)
For quite some time now, Duet Display has been helping old iPads work as MacBook displays that are fast too. It’s only recently that they have been focusing on Windows and they are emerging as a good alternative to Spacedesk. It’s a smooth transformation of your iPad into a monitor of your Windows PC. It only involves a simple plug and play to be set up helping you avoid a...
6 Ways to Use Your Android as Second Monitor For Your Computer
Duet Display is a popular iOS app that allows you to mirror and extend your Mac’s display to your iPad or iPhone. And now that Apple is providing this feature natively via Sidecar, Duet Display is expanding its horizons with support for Android smartphones and tablets.
Source: techwiser.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Lunar.fyi seems to be a lot more popular than Duet Display. While we know about 77 links to Lunar.fyi, we've tracked only 4 mentions of Duet Display. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Lunar.fyi mentions (77)

  • Reverse Engineering a Software Crack
    It’s done in a similar way on macOS: a dylib is added to the bundle and an LC_LOAD command is added to the app binary. The dylib is the first thing that runs because of using the constructor attribute, like this: https://notes.alinpanaitiu.com/Injecting%20a%20DYLIB%20into%20a%20macOS%20app The nice thing is that a signed app will refuse to load a dylib that does not have the same signature. So crackers will be... - Source: Hacker News / 10 days ago
  • No I don't want 2, Emacs
    Pretty sure Lunar [0] can do this for you, and you can buy a lifetime license. [0]: https://lunar.fyi/. - Source: Hacker News / 18 days ago
  • Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch
    I've had good luck with the Lunar app - it manages my Dell and LG monitors on an M2. (No affiliation) https://lunar.fyi. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • PHOLED Will Transform Displays
    Wild! I am working on exactly the same thing now for Lunar (https://lunar.fyi), and I'm also calling it Night Mode ^_^ what a coincidence I've been trying to make "white regions in dark backgrounds" less painful for months, but doing that at the system level on macOS is incredibly hard. I see you're doing it with CSS filters, which make sense in the limited scope of an article. But applying something like... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing
    I was comparing anti-piracy measures with DRM, I don't have actual DRM in my app. I can't block users that really bought the app from using it (which is what DRM is notorious for). But I do have a license verification for the Pro features (https://lunar.fyi/#pro), and that is what people are cracking in the app. I only added more protection around this verification. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
View more

Duet Display mentions (4)

  • Does anybody know how I can rotate the ipad display vertically. I'm using acars?
    Third party app Duet (duetdisplay.com) allows vertical orientation. Source: about 1 year ago
  • do non apple tablets work for the new mac mini?
    The native Apple Sidecar monitor extension thing will only work within range of the host computer ("both devices must be within 10 meters (30 feet) of each other and have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Handoff turned on "). There's third party apps that kind of do what Sidecar does for older iPads AND Android devices. I like Duet duetdisplay.com - again, wired/wireless distance limitations restrict "portability". Source: over 1 year ago
  • r/ChromeOS 500k Giveaway - A Premium Chromebook, USI styluses, a Keyboard & Mouse Combo, giftcodes and more are up for grabs! Comment below to enter!
    Thanks to our friends at About Chromebooks, Penoval, the Crostini subreddit, Duet Display and MyScript for helping make this possible. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • "Duet Display connection" not allowing USB-C file transfer (UPDATED)
    - At one point I cleared the cache, and it appeared to fix the problem (I could USB-C transfer files to and from device). However, today I booted up my SN and got hit with the familiar "Duet Display connection; No installed apps work with this USB accessory. Learn more about this accessory at https://duetdisplay.com". Source: about 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Lunar.fyi and Duet Display, you can also consider the following products

DisplayBuddy - Control the real brightness of your monitors directly from your Mac - no need to touch the buttons on your Monitor.

spacedesk - spacedesk expands the Windows desktop computer screen to other computers over the local area...

rcmd - rcmd makes app switching instantaneous!When you have a lot of apps open, finding and switching to them might feel too slow using Command-Tab or the Dock.Hold down the right side |⌘ command| and press the first letter of the app name to focus it.

iDisplay - iDisplay is an app that turns a mobile device into a secondary desktop monitor. The app currently supports iOS, Android, Windows and MacOS, and it lets users connect a desktop computer to a mobile device over WiFi. Read more about iDisplay.

MonitorControl - Control your external monitor brightness&volume on your Mac

Air Display - Air Display allows extra screens to extend the display size of a Mac desktop. The company behind the product is Avatron Software, which was founded in 2008. Read more about Air Display.