StillColor for macOS: Disable Temporal Dithering

Written by: Tushar Sharma

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What's a temporal dithering and why it's bad for our eyes?

Temporal dithering is a technique to produce more colors than what a display's panel (or display connection) can support (for example showing colors with 10 bit color depth – "billions of colors" – on an 8 bit – "millions of colors" – panel). When the display does not have the capability to show the full color depth, it will emulate missing colors by rapidly changing between two adjacent color levels, thus creating a middle ground.

Temporal dithering is a trade-off: it improves apparent color depth but can introduce subtle flicker that stresses the eyes. Tools like StillColor help remove it for a smoother, more comfortable viewing experience on Apple M1/M2/M3.

Step 1. Check Dithering Status

Run the following command in Terminal:

            ioreg -lw0 | grep -i enableDither

          

If dithering is enabled, you will see results like:

            "enableDither" = Yes
"enableDither" = Yes
"enableDither" = Yes
"enableDither" = Yes

          

Step 2. Download StillColor

Go to the StillColor releases page.
Download the latest .zip file (e.g., Stillcolor-v1.1.zip).
Extract and move Stillcolor.app into your Applications folder:

mv Stillcolor.app ~/Applications

Step 3. Verify Dithering is Disabled

Run the same command again:

            ioreg -lw0 | grep -i enableDither

          

Now you should see:

            "enableDither" = No
"enableDither" = No
"enableDither" = No
"enableDither" = No

          

Step 4. Launch StillColor

Open StillColor from Launchpad to keep dithering disabled. You can now enjoy a flicker-free display.