> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.minimalmacropad.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Change Your MinimalPad's Lights

> Switch the MinimalPad's lights on or off and change their colour, brightness and effect, from MinimalPad Studio for Mac, the pad's own keys, or the dial.

The pad lights up from underneath. It keeps the colour, brightness and effect you choose, so they stay that way on any computer, with or without an app open.

This is the pad's own lighting. In Studio for Mac, a key or a layer can also have a colour of its own on top of it: see [Key and layer lights](/mac/key-and-layer-lights).

## In Studio for Mac

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Lights on Default">
    Select **Default** in the sidebar, then click **Lights** above the pad, next to **Dial**. It shows **Off**, **Resting**, or the brightness, such as **60%**. From any other layer, open its **Colour** and choose **Open Lights on Default**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Change what you like">
    Switch the lights on or off, and set the brightness, colour, effect and speed. The pad changes as you drag. While Lights is open, every key shows the pad's own lighting, even one with a colour of its own, so you see what you change.
  </Step>

  <Step title="That's it">
    There's nothing to save. The pad keeps your lighting, and ⌘Z takes a change back.
  </Step>
</Steps>

| Effect | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Solid** | One steady colour |
| **Breathing** | The colour fades in and out |
| **Colour cycle** | The whole pad moves through every colour |
| **Rainbow swirl** | A rainbow moves across the pad |

A setting the effect doesn't use is greyed out and says why. Breathing sets its own brightness, Colour cycle and Rainbow swirl choose their own colours, and Solid has no speed.

For everyday changes you don't need the window: the menu bar pop-out has a **Lights** switch and a brightness slider.

<Note>
  **Lights** in Studio for Mac needs MinimalPad firmware **0.7.0**. On older firmware it asks you to update, and Studio for Mac [installs it for you](/mac/updates).
</Note>

## On the pad

Hold the bottom-right key to reach **Connections & LEDs**, then:

* **Third row:** lights on/off, next effect, colour down, colour up.
* **Fourth row:** brightness down, brightness up, previous effect.
* **The dial:** turn it for brightness, press it to switch the lights on or off.

The whole layer is in [Your pad](/getting-started/hardware-overview). In Studio for browser, you can put any of these on a key of your own: see [What a key can do](/configure/key-actions).

On a Mac, the dial can change the lights on any layer too: brightness, colour, saturation or speed. See [The dial](/mac/change-a-key#the-dial).

When you change the colour, effect or speed from the pad, every key shows the pad's own lighting for about 3 seconds, even where a key or layer colour covers it, so you see the change.

## When the lights go out by themselves

After 30 seconds without a key press or a turn of the dial, the lights fade out to save power. They're resting, not off: your next key press brings them back. Studio for Mac says **Resting** rather than **Off**.

Lights you switched off yourself stay off until you switch them on.

## When a change is kept

The pad saves your lighting about a minute after your last change, however you made it. While it waits, the lights stay on so you can see them. If you unplug or restart the pad within that minute, it may go back to what it had before.

A key or layer colour is kept sooner, about 2 seconds after your last change.

## Key and layer colours

In Studio for Mac, every key can have a light of its own, and every layer except Default a colour, [app profiles](/mac/profiles#profile-colours) included. The pad keeps them and shows them over its own lighting. See [Key and layer lights](/mac/key-and-layer-lights).

* They follow the pad's brightness, so dimming the pad dims them too.
* They fade out when the pad rests, and stay dark if you switched the lights off. A colour never switches the lights on.
* While **Lights** is open in Studio for Mac, they step aside, so you see the lighting you're changing.

## The lights stay off

* **They're switched off.** Hold the bottom-right key and press the dial, or use the **Lights** switch in Studio for Mac. This is also the fix if they stay off after a firmware update.
* **They're resting.** Press a key or turn the dial.

More in [Studio for Mac problems](/help/mac-studio#trouble-with-the-lights).


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