rockstar
Free forever · 100% native · macOS 13 Ventura+
Notchy — Dynamic Island for your Mac.
Stop paying $25 for battery-draining notch apps. Notchy turns your MacBook notch into a fluid Dynamic Island — music, clipboard history, timers, and HUDs. Completely free.
How to get the Dynamic Island on your MacBook → · Now Playing on the notch →
v1.0.22 · Updated June 7, 2026
Looking for a free Alcove alternative, NotchNook replacement, Boring Notch alternative, DynamicLake alternative, or MediaMate alternative? See the full 2026 roundup.
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In action.
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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.
Now Playing Mac
Music collapses onto the notch with buttery animations — media controls Mac notch lets you switch tracks and scrub.
Notch teleprompter
Cuely scrolls your script right under the camera on the notch — stay on message with your eyes up and hands free.
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.
Mac clipboard history
Every copy lands in a scrollable Mac clipboard history shelf on the pill — paste anything you grabbed earlier.
Drag-and-drop shelf
A temporary file shelf in the pill — stash files, then drag them out wherever you need, conveniently.
HUDs & full control
Volume, brightness, AirPods, battery — compact islands replace bulky overlays. Customize every detail to taste.
macOS pomodoro notch
Run focus sessions straight from the pill — the macOS pomodoro notch timer ticks down, no app to switch to.
Quick notes
Jot a quick note straight from the notch without breaking your flow or switching apps.
Hide the notch
Seamlessly hide the Mac notch by turning the menu bar black on hardware notch Macs, while keeping your tools active.
Everything you need.
Built right in.
14+ features packed into a single, lightweight 7MB app. No subscriptions. No bloat.
Clipboard
Every copy lands in a scrollable history shelf inside the notch. Never lose a copied link or text snippet again.
Zoom
Cuely scrolls your script right beneath the webcam inside the notch, keeping your eyes perfectly aligned for Zoom calls.
AirPods
Detect nearby cases, show per-bud battery, and connect with one tap. A beautiful iOS-style experience on Mac.
Pomodoro
Run focus sessions directly from the notch. A beautifully animated countdown keeps you on track without distraction.
Menu Bar
A fast, native calendar widget that drops down from the notch. See upcoming events from iCloud, Google, or Exchange.
Camera
Quickly check your appearance before joining a video call. A high-quality local camera feed instantly drops down.
Hide
Seamlessly hide the Mac notch by turning the menu bar black, while keeping all your Dynamic Island tools active.
100%
Built purely in SwiftUI. Blazing fast, zero battery drain (~0.1% CPU), and perfectly tuned for Apple Silicon.
Liquid
A premium, Apple-like Liquid Glass aesthetic built purely in SwiftUI. Enjoy buttery smooth animations and vibrant frosted materials.
Quick
Jot a thought straight from the notch without switching apps. Notes drop into the pill instantly and stay there until you're done.
File
Drag files onto the notch to stash them temporarily, then drag out wherever you need. The fastest clipboard for files.
Keep
One tap from the pill keeps your Mac awake indefinitely or for a set time. Set a timer to auto-disable so you never forget.
Live
Local temperature and conditions on the Home tab, updated automatically. No extra app or widget needed.
Focus
Notchy detects when Focus changes and shows a compact island — Do Not Disturb, Work, Sleep, and every custom mode.
Battery
A compact live activity replaces macOS's chunky low-battery alert. See charge level and charging state right on the notch.
The best free Mac notch app in 2026
Notchy is the 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 →
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.
Idle CPU across notch apps
Apple M2 · macOS 26.5 · May 2026Method: 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.
How Notchy stacks up
Honest, feature-by-feature comparison of every major macOS notch app — no affiliates.
| Feature | Notchy | Alcove | NotchNook | Boring Notch | DynamicLake | MediaMate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 100% Free | $17 one-time | $25 (or $3/mo) | Free (Open Source) | Paid | Paid |
| Minimum macOS | macOS 13 Ventura+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ |
| Architecture | Pure SwiftUI (Native) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Open Source) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Native) |
| Now Playing Controls | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Clipboard History | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pomodoro Focus Timer | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| File Stash / Drop Shelf | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| System HUDs (Volume/Brightness) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AirPods Connected Reveal | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — | — |
| Lock Screen Widgets | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Quick Notes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Calendar Widget | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Caffeine Toggle | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hide the Notch | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
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
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!”
“That looks really good. I think you should let users add their own tabs.”
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.
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.
How can I support Notchy?+
Donate. Seriously — even a small one-time donation makes a huge difference. Notchy is built and maintained by one developer, and donations are the only thing funding its future. Chip in at https://ko-fi.com/vishvavariya — it takes 30 seconds.
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. Notchy took months to build and costs real time to maintain. If it saves you even one moment of frustration — please chip in. It genuinely makes a difference.
100% optional. Notchy stays free forever regardless.
See the changelog · press kit · uninstall guide