OpenRGB For Mac

Device manufacturers seem to make it a point to create RGB software that is as bloated and difficult to manage as possible. Not only that, but if you have two or more peripherals that can’t be controlled by the same software, you end up with multiple resource-hungry apps running at the same time.

OpenRGB is the open-source community’s answer to this problem. It serves as a single interface from which you can control all your RGB devices on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It features a lightweight GUI, support for a wide range of devices, and the ability to control lighting from third-party software.

Proprietary RBG software is often packed with unnecessary features, with some even being coded in Electron, which results in abnormally high resource usage. OpenRGB is designed with simplicity in mind, and the application itself comes in a small package.

The UI consists of just a few tabs, with the first being used for configuring all your devices. That being said, it’s certainly not the finest-looking GUI, with some text being difficult to read and device names not being displayed fully.

The biggest advantage of using OpenRGB is avoiding proprietary RGB apps. This is especially helpful if, for instance, you have a mouse, keyboard, and headset made by different manufacturers. This would normally mean installing three separate RGB control apps, many of which have to be running at all times.

With this open-source alternative, you can manage everything from one interface. Most popular devices are supported, and more functionality can be added via plugins. The OpenRGB SDK even allows integration with third-party software, such as games, music players, and so on.

At first glance, the app might not seem that impressive, and it does still seem to have some bugs. For instance, it would always crash when trying to rescan devices during testing.

Overall, though, OpenRGB is a great alternative to bloated RGB software, particularly if you use multiple devices from different brands. It might be less intuitive initially, but once you get it running, it should be smooth sailing.