SuperIsland Alternative: Go Native, Not Electron
SuperIsland wraps a web runtime around your notch: in our idle-CPU benchmark it consumed roughly 5× the CPU of native notch apps, taxing your battery all day. Notchy is 100% native SwiftUI — ~0% idle CPU, buttery ProMotion animations, and every feature SuperIsland has plus 30 more, for $0.
Why use Notchy instead of SuperIsland?
- Native SwiftUI vs Electron
Our published benchmark (Apple M2, macOS 26.5) measured SuperIsland at ~0.46% idle CPU versus ~0% for Notchy. A web runtime never sleeps; native code does. Your battery notices.
- A fraction of the memory
Electron apps ship an entire browser. Notchy is a ~50 MB native app tuned for Apple Silicon with near-zero RAM and no helper processes churning in Activity Monitor.
- More features, zero dollars
Clipboard history, file shelf, Pomodoro, synced lyrics, AI usage tracking, command palette, HUD replacement — all free, no account, no subscription.
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)
- 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