Mac fan control · macOS 13+
Keep your Mac cool
when macOS won't.
Your fans spin up the moment your Mac runs hot, then ease off as it cools. Always one click away in your menu bar.
One-time payment, lifetime updates.
You choose when and how hard.
Why take control
macOS decides when you've earned cooling.
Apple tunes modern Macs for silence. The fans sit parked at 0 RPM while the chip soaks up heat, and only spin once things are already hot. That's a fine default, but it's the wrong call when you're about to export a video, compile something big, or sit in the sun. ChillBlades gives you the dial macOS never did.
Stock macOS
- When fans spin
- When macOS decides.
- Long exports
- The chassis cooks while the fans stay parked.
- On a call
- They kick in late and loud, right while you're talking.
- Your say
- None. macOS has no fan dial.
ChillBlades
- When fans spin
- When you say so.
- Long exports
- Pin both fans high before you hit render, drop back after.
- On a call
- A steady pre-spin instead of a late roar.
- Your say
- A slider per fan, clamped to Apple's own limits.
The product
A fan in the menu bar. The controls in one window.
Menu bar
Where it lives
A fan in the menu bar, nothing in the Dock. Click it for the current temperature at a glance, plus Settings and Quit. Close the menu and it keeps watching in the background.
The controls
Open Settings and it's all there: each fan with its own Auto/Custom switch and a slider across the fan's real range, and Auto Boost, where you pick a temperature band and a fan speed. No tabs, no graphs.
How it works
Three steps, click to cool.
Click the fan
Click the menu bar icon for the current temperature at a glance, then open Settings. Every fan shows its live RPM, with the temperature up top, refreshed every couple of seconds.
Set the speed
Flip a fan to Custom and drag the slider, or switch on Auto Boost and pick a temperature band and one fan speed for every fan. The sliders cover each fan's real range and nothing beyond it.
Walk away
Auto Boost watches the sensors while you work, spinning the fans up when your Mac hits your band and easing them off as it cools. Quit the app and every fan returns to macOS control.
The controls
Four things, done properly.
No dashboards, no graphs you'll never read, no twenty-tab preferences window. Direct control, temperature bands, live readings, and hard safety rails. That's the app.
Feature 01
A slider per fan
Every fan gets its own Auto/Custom switch and a slider that runs that fan's real range, read straight from the hardware. Pin one fan, leave the other on auto, or drive both. The number you set is the RPM you get.
Feature 02
Auto Boost
No fiddly thresholds to guess at. Pick a band (Warm, Hot, or Very hot, set from real Apple Silicon temperatures) and a fan speed. When your Mac reaches it, every fan spins up and eases off as it cools. That is the whole setup.
Refreshed every 2 seconds
Feature 03
Live readings
Actual RPM per fan and the live temperature at the top of the Fan Control section, refreshed every two seconds. The temperature is the hottest CPU or GPU sensor on your machine, the same reading Auto Boost acts on.
Targets never leave the fan's own range.
On quit → back to macOS control.
Feature 04
Safe by design
Targets are clamped to each fan's own minimum and maximum, the limits Apple ships in the hardware, so you can't push a fan past spec or stop it dead. Quit the app and every fan returns to macOS automatic control.
Specs
Exactly what ChillBlades is.
Real facts, no marketing rounding. If a row matters to you, this is what's actually behind it.
Control
Per-fan target RPM
Auto or Custom per fan, slider across the fan's real minimum to maximum
Auto Boost
Temperature bands
Pick a band (Warm, Hot, Very hot) and one speed; every Auto fan runs at it once your Mac reaches the band, then eases off
Sensors
Live RPM and temperature
Actual speed per fan plus the live temperature, every 2 seconds
Safety
Clamped to Apple's limits
Targets stay inside each fan's hardware range; macOS takes back over on quit
Network use
License check only
Validates your license key; sensor data and fan settings never leave the Mac
Requirements
macOS 13 or later
Apple Silicon (M1 through M5) and Intel, one-time helper approval in System Settings
Fan hardware on macOS can only be written by a privileged helper, so you approve ChillBlades once in System Settings on first run. The helper takes fan commands from ChillBlades and does nothing else; it can't see your screen, your files or your network.
Why this exists
Built because my MacBook was cooking and the fans didn't care.
Halfway through a long export, my M3 Pro was hot enough to feel through the keyboard, and the fans were sitting at zero. Not slow. Parked. macOS was waiting for some internal line to be crossed before it would lift a finger, and there was no way to disagree with it.
So I built the dial. Open Settings from the menu bar, drag a slider, and the fans do what you said, at the speed you said. Or turn on Auto Boost once and stop thinking about it: pick a temperature band like 90°C, pick a fan speed like 60%, and every fan spins up when your Mac hits that heat until things cool down. The newer Apple Silicon Macs actively guard their fan controls, and ChillBlades handles that properly rather than pretending the setting worked.
And because forcing your fans should never be a trap, the safety rails are not optional. Every target is clamped to the limits Apple ships in the fan hardware itself, and the moment you quit, macOS takes the wheel back. It's a dial, not a jailbreak.
Early users
What early users are saying.
"I export video most afternoons and my MacBook used to throttle halfway through every render. Now I pin both fans before I hit export and the times stay consistent. First fan app I've tried that actually works on an M3."
Marcus T.
Video editor
"Auto Boost is the bit I rate. I picked the 90 degree band at 60% once and forgot about it. The fans come up before the laptop gets properly hot instead of screaming after, which on calls makes a real difference."
Elena K.
iOS developer
"I just wanted a slider. Every monitoring app I tried buried fan control under graphs and dashboards I never opened. This is a fan icon, a slider per fan and an Auto Boost band. Set it, quit it, the fans go back to normal. Done."
Sam W.
Data analyst
Questions
Things people ask.
No. Every target ChillBlades sets is clamped to the minimum and maximum Apple ships in the fan hardware itself, so a fan can never be pushed past spec or stopped dead. Running fans faster than macOS would have chosen just trades a little noise for cooler silicon. And the moment you quit the app, every fan returns to macOS automatic control.
Yes, and that matters more than it sounds. On the M3 and M4 generations, macOS actively guards the fan controls, which is why several older fan utilities silently stopped working there: the setting looks applied and nothing happens. ChillBlades handles the newer mechanism properly, and supports Apple Silicon from M1 through M5 plus Intel Macs.
Fan hardware on macOS can only be written with elevated privileges, so ChillBlades ships a small helper that does exactly that and nothing else. You approve it once in System Settings on first run, no password prompts after that. The helper only accepts commands from ChillBlades itself, and it cannot see your screen, your files or your network.
Every fan is handed straight back to macOS automatic control, exactly as if ChillBlades had never run, and the helper goes back to sleep. Nothing keeps running behind your back.
That is normal on Apple Silicon. macOS parks the fans completely at idle and only starts them once the machine is properly warm. It is also exactly the behavior ChillBlades exists for: when you would rather have airflow before the heat builds up, you can have it.
Within limits, and I would rather be straight about them. You can hold the fans below the speed macOS would have picked, which means less noise at the cost of more heat, and you can pre-spin them gently so they ramp early instead of roaring late. What no app can do is make a spinning fan quieter than its own minimum speed.
You pick one of three bands, set from real Apple Silicon temperatures: Warm (80°C), Hot (90°C), or Very hot (100°C). Apple Silicon happily sits in the 40s and 50s, climbs through the 70s under load, and only nears its limit around 100°C, so those three points cover the range that matters. When the hottest CPU or GPU sensor reaches your chosen band, every fan spins up to the speed you set, then eases back off once it cools a few degrees below. No thresholds to guess at: pick how hot is too hot for you, pick how hard the fans should work, done.
There is no account, no analytics and no telemetry. The only network calls ChillBlades makes are validating your license key and an anonymous check for the latest version. Your temperatures, fan speeds and settings stay on your Mac.
ChillBlades is $30, paid once. That gets you the app and every future update for as long as I keep building it. There is no subscription, no annual license, and no separate seats to buy.
Yes. Every Mac gets a free 7-day trial, no card on file. It is the same app as the paid version. After the week, you can either let it expire or pay $30 once.
No. Controlling fan hardware needs a privileged helper, which App Store sandboxing does not allow, so a direct download is the supported way to install it.
Stop waiting for macOS
Get airflow before the heat.
Not after.
Set your fans by hand, or pick an Auto Boost band once and let ChillBlades watch the temperature for you. No more waiting for your Mac to get hot before anything spins up.
Lifetime license $30One-time payment, lifetime updates.