Notchy

rockstar

Free forever · 100% native · macOS 13 Ventura+

Notchy — Dynamic Island for your Mac.

Notchy turns the notch into a fluid Dynamic Island — music, clipboard, timers, AI usage, and HUDs. Native, light as air, and completely free.

How to get the Dynamic Island on your MacBook → · Now Playing on the notch → · Try the live demo →

v1.0.36 · Updated July 5, 2026

Looking for a free Alcove alternative, NotchNook replacement, Boring Notch alternative, DynamicLake alternative, or MediaMate alternative? See the full 2026 roundup.

Notchy - Mac dynamic island with music, timers, clipboard, file drops | Product Hunt
Real screen recordings

See every feature.
In action.

Hover a card to preview — click to watch full-screen.

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Notch becomes a pill

Morph your Mac's notch into a fluid, iPhone-style Dynamic Island that lives where the notch used to be.

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Now Playing Mac

Music collapses onto the notch with buttery animations — media controls Mac notch lets you switch tracks and scrub.

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Synced lyrics

Time-synced lyrics scroll right under the notch as your song plays — Apple Music, Spotify, anything Now Playing. Free, via LRCLIB.

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Notch teleprompter

Cuely scrolls your script right under the camera on the notch — stay on message with your eyes up and hands free.

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Caffeinate on tap

Flip a switch on the pill to keep your Mac awake — or let it drift off to sleep when you're done.

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Mac clipboard history

Every copy lands in a scrollable Mac clipboard history shelf on the pill — paste anything you grabbed earlier.

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Drag-and-drop shelf

A temporary file shelf in the pill — stash files, then drag them out wherever you need, conveniently.

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HUDs & full control

Volume, brightness, AirPods, battery — compact islands replace bulky overlays. Customize every detail to taste.

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macOS pomodoro notch

Run focus sessions straight from the pill — the macOS pomodoro notch timer ticks down, no app to switch to.

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Quick notes

Jot a quick note straight from the notch without breaking your flow or switching apps.

Clip coming soon

Hide the notch

Hide the Mac notch by turning the menu bar black on hardware notch Macs, while keeping your tools active.

Features

Everything you need.
Built right in.

30+ features in one lightweight native app. No subscriptions. No bloat.

AI Usage Tracker

Track Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Copilot rate-limit windows, tokens, and cost from the notch — from local CLI logs or a provider API key (stored in the Keychain), with alerts before you hit a limit.

Command Palette

Press ⌃⌥K anywhere and type — jump to any tab, toggle Caffeine, start a timer, or run a Shortcut. Every Notchy action is one keystroke away, with ⌘1–9 tab switching built in.

Knock to Control

Tap your trackpad — or knock the chassis — to open the notch, the Shelf, Clipboard, Caffeine, or play/pause. Single, double, and triple taps each run their own action, with an adjustable sensitivity and typing protection so it never false-fires. A double-tap-a-key mode works on any Mac too.

Menu Bar Detach

Pop any tab — Clipboard, Timer, AI Usage, Cuely — out of the notch and into a standalone menu-bar popover, plus a one-click Caffeine toggle right beside the clock.

Clipboard History

Every copy lands in a scrollable history shelf inside the notch, with smart actions for links, colors, and emails. Pin favorites to keep them forever — pins survive the cap and even Clear.

Zoom Teleprompter

Cuely scrolls your script right beneath the webcam inside the notch, keeping your eyes perfectly aligned for Zoom calls.

AirPods Manager

Detect nearby cases, show per-bud battery, and connect with one tap. A beautiful iOS-style experience on Mac.

Pomodoro Timer

Run focus sessions directly from the notch — with session chaining, a stopwatch, streaks, and a 7-day focus chart. A beautifully animated countdown keeps you on track.

Menu Bar Calendar

A fast, native calendar widget that drops down from the notch. See upcoming events from iCloud, Google, or Exchange.

Camera Mirror

Quickly check your appearance before joining a video call. A high-quality local camera feed instantly drops down.

Hide the Notch

Hide the Mac notch by turning the menu bar black, while keeping all your Dynamic Island tools active.

100% Native

Built purely in SwiftUI. Blazing fast, zero battery drain (~0.1% CPU), and perfectly tuned for Apple Silicon.

Liquid Glass UI

A premium, Apple-like Liquid Glass aesthetic built purely in SwiftUI — and a resizable panel: set the expanded island's width and height with a live preview.

Quick Notes

Jot a thought straight from the notch without switching apps. Notes drop into the pill instantly and stay there until you're done.

File Shelf

Drag files onto the notch to stash them, then drag out wherever you need. Shelf items survive quits and relaunches — the fastest clipboard for files.

Keep Awake

One tap from the pill keeps your Mac awake — indefinitely, for a set duration, or until a clock time you pick. Auto-disables so you never forget.

Live Weather

Local temperature and conditions on the Home tab, updated automatically. No extra app or widget needed.

Focus Mode

Notchy detects when Focus changes and shows a compact island — and while DND is on, low-priority alerts stay quiet so only what matters shows.

Battery HUD

A compact live activity replaces macOS's chunky low-battery alert. See charge level and charging state right on the notch.

Apple Reminders

Capture a reminder and see what's due without leaving your work. Syncs to real Apple Reminders through iCloud.

Image Converter

Drop a photo on the shelf and convert HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF or PDF — fully offline, drag the result straight back out.

Audio Switcher

Switch sound output — speakers, AirPods, monitor — with one tap from the notch. No diving into System Settings.

Device Battery

Magic Mouse, Keyboard and Trackpad charge, right next to your AirPods — plus third-party Bluetooth headphones and speakers. Every wireless device at a glance.

Download Alerts

A clean island pops the moment a download lands in your Downloads folder — Reveal in Finder with one tap. Works with every browser, no extension.

Apple Shortcuts

Run your Apple Shortcuts straight from the notch — a colorful grid of one-tap chips with live run feedback. No Shortcuts app, no menu digging.

Zip & Unzip

Select files on the shelf and compress them into a Finder-friendly zip — or expand an archive — without ever opening Finder. Powered by native ditto.

Screenshot Shelf

Every screenshot you take is auto-staged on the notch as a draggable island — drop it into a chat or doc without hunting the Desktop.

Drive Eject

Plug in a USB drive and an island pops with a one-tap Eject. A clean 'Safe to disconnect' confirms when it's done.

Why Notchy

The Only Free Dynamic Island for MacBook

Notchy is the definitive free, 100% native macOS notch app that brings a fluid Dynamic Island to your MacBook. Unlike NotchNook, Boring Notch, or Alcove — which cost $10–$25 — Notchy is completely free, built in SwiftUI, and idles at near-zero CPU (~0% on an Apple M2).

Whether you need Now Playing controls on your Mac notch, a Pomodoro timer, clipboard history, AirPods battery, or a Zoom teleprompter — Notchy puts it all in the notch. Works on every MacBook with a notch (macOS 13 Ventura+) and as a floating pill on non-notch displays.

Looking for a NotchNook alternative, Alcove alternative, or Boring Notch alternative? Notchy replaces all of them — for free. No subscription, no trial, no credit card.

Install via Homebrew: brew install --cask vishvavariya/notchy/notchy. Or download the DMG directly. Auto-updates included. See the full 2026 Mac notch app comparison →

Battery & performance

Light enough to forget it's running

Notchy idles at essentially 0% CPU with near-zero timer wake-ups — built to the same efficiency bar as the best native notch apps, and far lighter than Electron-based ones. No background battery tax for keeping it on all day.

~0%
idle CPU
~0
wakeups / sec when idle
100%
native SwiftUI — no Electron

Idle CPU across notch apps

Apple M2 · macOS 26.5 · May 2026
Notchynative SwiftUI
~0%
Alcovenative
~0%
NotchNooknative
~0%
SuperIslandElectron
0.46%

Method: each app run alone, no user input, CPU summed across its processes and averaged over several 10-second idle windows. Paid apps measured in their trial build. These values sit near the measurement floor — the takeaway is that native notch apps (Notchy included) are all very light at idle, while the Electron-based one costs noticeably more. Reproduce it yourself: ps -o cputime= -p <pid> sampled over a fixed idle window.

Side-by-side

How Notchy stacks up

Honest, feature-by-feature comparison of every major macOS notch app — no affiliates.

FeatureNotchyAlcoveNotchNookBoring NotchDynamicLakeMediaMate
Price100% Free$17 one-time$25 (or $3/mo)Free (Open Source)PaidPaid
Minimum macOSmacOS 13 Ventura+macOS 14 Sonoma+macOS 14 Sonoma+macOS 14 Sonoma+macOS 14 Sonoma+macOS 14 Sonoma+
ArchitecturePure SwiftUI (Native)Swift (Native)Swift (Native)Swift (Open Source)Swift (Native)Swift (Native)
Now Playing ControlsYesYesYesYesYesYes
AI Usage Tracker (Claude / Codex / Cursor)Yes—————
Command Palette (⌃⌥K)Yes—————
Localized (134 languages)Yes—————
Clipboard HistoryYes—————
Pomodoro Focus TimerYes—————
File Stash / Drop ShelfYes—Yes———
System HUDs (Volume/Brightness)YesYesYesYesYesYes
AirPods Connected RevealYesYesYes———
Lock Screen WidgetsYesYes————
Quick NotesYes—————
Calendar WidgetYes—YesYesYes—
Caffeine ToggleYes—————
Synced LyricsYes—————
Image Converter (HEIC/JPG/PDF)Yes—————
Apple Reminders CaptureYes—————
Audio Output SwitcherYes—————
Device Battery (Mouse/Keyboard)Yes—————
Download Finished AlertsYes—————
Run Apple ShortcutsYes—————
Zip & Unzip FilesYes—————
Hide the NotchYes—————

Speaks your language

Localized in 134 languages

Notchy follows your macOS language automatically — every panel, HUD, and setting is fully translated. No configuration needed.

  • EnglishEnglish
  • AfrikaansAfrikaans
  • AkanAkan
  • አማርኛAmharic
  • العربيةArabic
  • অসমীয়াAssamese
  • AymaraAymara
  • AzərbaycanAzerbaijani
  • БеларускаяBelarusian
  • БългарскиBulgarian
  • भोजपुरीBhojpuri
  • BamanakanBambara
  • বাংলাBangla
  • BosanskiBosnian
  • CatalàCatalan
Loved by users

What people say about Notchy

Real quotes from real users. No paid placements.

“This looks surprisingly polished for a free tool. Wishing you a successful launch day and lots of happy Mac users!”
Marianna Tymchuk · Product Hunt
“That looks really good. I think you should let users add their own tabs.”
Jay Gangwar · Product Hunt
FAQ

Frequently asked

Quick answers. Full list on the FAQs page.

Can I install Notchy with Homebrew?+

Yes — Notchy ships through a personal Homebrew tap. Run `brew install --cask vishvavariya/notchy/notchy` and you're done. Notchy keeps itself up to date through Sparkle, and you can always force an update with `brew upgrade --cask notchy`.

What should I do if I encounter a bug?+

Report any issue by emailing us at variyavishva98@gmail.com or starting a discussion on our GitHub feedback board. Include your macOS version and steps to reproduce.

Who makes Notchy? Is it the same as notchy.xyz or notchy.app?+

Notchy for Mac is built by indie developer Vishva Variya (vishvavariya.com), and its only official website is notchy.dev. It is not affiliated with notchy.xyz, notchy.app, or any other similarly named project — those are unrelated products by different developers. The only official downloads are notchy.dev/Notchy.dmg and the Homebrew cask vishvavariya/notchy/notchy.

How does Notchy compare to other notch apps?+

Unlike alternatives like NotchNook, Boring Notch, or Alcove, Notchy is a 100% free, native SwiftUI app designed to be blazing fast and completely ad-free. It delivers the closest experience to the iOS Dynamic Island on macOS without any subscription fees.

How much does Notchy cost?+

Nothing — Notchy is completely free. No license, no trial, no credit card. But it takes real time and effort to build and maintain. If Notchy saves you even a little frustration, please consider donating to keep it going.

Have an idea for Notchy?

Request a Feature

Tap to draft — ideas ship in the next release

Opens Mail with a pre-filled template → variyavishva98@gmail.com

Notchy is free.
Your donation keeps it that way.

One developer. No VC money. No subscriptions. If Notchy saves you even one moment of frustration, chip in — it genuinely makes a difference.

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100% optional. Notchy stays free forever regardless.

See the changelog · press kit · uninstall guide