Free Laser Alternative for Mac

Quick Setup Guide

1. 1
   Install Notchy

   Download Notchy from notchy.dev. It installs in seconds and takes up only 50MB of disk space.

2. 2
   Grant Accessibility Permissions

   Allow Accessibility access so Notchy can handle keyboard shortcuts, window snapping, and notch interactions.

3. 3
   Enjoy Ultimate Mac Productivity

   Hover over the notch at the top of your screen to reveal the interactive island and its built-in widgets.

• Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
• Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
• Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
• AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
• Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
• Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
• Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
• Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
• Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
• On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
• Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
• App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
• Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
• One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
• Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
• System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
• Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
• Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
• Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
• Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
• Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
• iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
• Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
• Privacy Indicator — pill when any app's camera or mic goes live
• Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
• Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
• Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
• Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
• Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
• Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
• Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
• Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
• Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
• Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
• Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
• USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
• Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
• macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
• Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
• System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
• Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
• AirPods connection manager & battery
• Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
• Quick notes & Calendar widgets
• Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
• Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
• Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
• Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
• Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
• 133 languages, fully localized
• Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon

Why Notchy leads the pack

While single-purpose utilities charge expensive subscription fees or license costs, Notchy gives you a completely free, native SwiftUI Dynamic Island. It integrates window snapping, clipboard history, Pomodoro timers, file drop shelves, and AI usage tracking directly into your Mac's notch.

Frequently Asked Questions