MuteKey alternative: same hotkey, one fewer app
MuteKey is a good free single-purpose mute key. Notchy gives you the same global shortcut with the muted state shown on the notch — and the other fifty tools you were going to install separately.
| MuteKey | Notchy | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — optional tip | Free — optional donations |
| Global mute hotkey | Yes | Yes |
| Visible muted state | Menu bar icon and HUD | On the notch, where you are looking |
| Works across all apps | Yes | Yes |
| Extra menu bar icon | Yes | No — it lives in the notch |
| Anything beyond muting | No | 50+ tools in the same island |
From MuteKey’s own Mac App Store listing, checked against Notchy’s shipping build.
Both are free, so this is about clutter
There is no price argument to make. MuteKey costs nothing and does its job. The only real question is how many single-purpose menu bar icons you want running before one app doing all of it starts to look sensible.
The state matters more than the key
Everybody has talked into a muted mic. A shortcut is easy; knowing whether it worked is the hard part. Notchy shows mute state on the notch, inches from the camera you are already looking at.
The rest of the call, too
Check your webcam with the camera mirror, watch the mic and camera indicator, and read notes from the teleprompter — same app.
Don't give two apps the same shortcut
If you try both, assign the mute hotkey in only one. Two apps toggling the same input device from the same keypress cancel each other out and it looks like a bug.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- 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
Notchy vs MuteKey — FAQ
Is MuteKey free?
Yes — free on the Mac App Store, with an optional tip. Notchy is free too, so nobody is paying anything here. The question is whether you want a dedicated mute app or the same hotkey inside an app you already run.
Does Notchy mute the microphone with a hotkey?
Yes. One global shortcut toggles the mic, and the notch shows the state clearly so you can see at a glance whether you are live — which is the part people actually get wrong on calls.
Does it mute system-wide or just in the app?
Both Notchy and MuteKey work at the system input level rather than inside one conferencing app, so the mute holds whether you are on Zoom, Teams, Meet or recording locally.
Why not just use the mute button in Zoom?
Because it only exists while Zoom is focused. A global hotkey works when you have tabbed away to something else, which is exactly when you need it. A visible indicator matters for the same reason — the classic failure is talking for thirty seconds while muted.
What does Notchy add over MuteKey?
MuteKey does one job cleanly. Notchy puts mic mute beside media controls, clipboard history, timers, a file shelf, camera mirror, system stats and 50+ other tools — so it is one menu bar presence instead of a collection.
Can I run both?
You can, but assigning both apps a mute hotkey will get confusing and they may toggle each other back. Pick one to own the shortcut.
Compare Notchy vs 146 Mac Apps
See how Notchy replaces dozens of single-purpose paid Mac utilities for free.