Apple’s new Edge Light feature turns your Mac display into a smart ring light

Edge Light

Video calling has become one of the most common everyday tasks on a Mac, driven by remote work, global teams and online education. With macOS 26.2, Apple is introducing a new video effect called Edge Light, designed to make on-camera lighting look more natural without requiring extra hardware.

Edge Light is now available in the current beta and will roll out to users later this year. The feature uses the Mac’s display to add a soft fill light to your face, similar to what a physical ring light would provide. Users can manually adjust brightness and choose between warmer or cooler tones depending on their environment or personal preference.

What makes Edge Light interesting is how intelligently it behaves. The light dynamically recedes from the edge of the screen when your mouse pointer gets close, ensuring it never blocks access to on-screen content. This keeps the effect unobtrusive while still improving how you appear on camera.

Apple silicon plays a key role here. The Apple Neural Engine detects faces, understands their size and position in the camera feed, and works alongside the Image Signal Processor to assess ambient lighting conditions. Together, they automatically fine-tune brightness levels so the lighting looks balanced rather than artificial.

Edge Light joins Apple’s growing suite of built-in video conferencing features on macOS, including Studio Light, Portrait mode, virtual backgrounds and Voice Isolation. Like those tools, it works across video calling apps rather than being limited to a single platform.

The feature is available on all Macs with Apple silicon. On Mac models introduced in 2024 and later, Edge Light can even turn on automatically when the system detects low-light conditions.