Übersicht Alternative: Desktop Widgets You Don't Have to Build
Übersicht is a blank canvas — every widget is yours to write and maintain. Notchy ships the widgets finished and native.
Why use Notchy instead of Übersicht?
- No HTML, CSS or JavaScript
Übersicht widgets are files you author and debug. Notchy's are native WidgetKit widgets — right-click the desktop, Edit Widgets, drag one in.
- Widgets worth having on day one
AI Usage (Claude, Codex, Copilot, Cursor and more), Activity rings, and a live Timer — kept current in the background even while the notch panel is closed.
- The desktop isn't the only surface
The same data lives in the notch, in Notification Center, and on the lock screen — so you see it where you already look, not only on a bare desktop.
- This is about effort
Übersicht is free and open source; Notchy is $24.99 one-time. The difference is whether you spend an evening building a widget or thirty seconds adding one.
How Notchy stacks up
Honest, feature-by-feature comparison of every major macOS notch app — no affiliates.
Swipe the table sideways to see every app.
Everything Notchy does, in one app
- 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
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- 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
- Custom islands through the local developer API (off by default)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- 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
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
Übersicht alternative — FAQ
Is Notchy a good Übersicht alternative?
If you want desktop widgets without writing them, yes. Übersicht is a canvas — you build each widget in HTML, CSS and JavaScript and refresh it on a timer. Notchy ships finished widgets (AI Usage, Activity rings, Timer) that you drag onto the desktop or into Notification Center, no code involved.
Do I have to write code to get Notchy’s widgets?
No. They’re native WidgetKit widgets, so you add them the same way you add Apple’s: right-click the desktop, choose Edit Widgets, and drop them where you want. Übersicht widgets are coffee-script or JS files you drop into a folder and debug yourself.
Does Notchy keep the widgets up to date when it’s closed?
The app refreshes them in the background, so an AI Usage or Timer widget stays current even while the notch panel is closed. Übersicht re-runs each widget’s shell command on the interval you configure, which is more flexible and more expensive.
Should I run both?
Sure — they don’t conflict. Übersicht is unbeatable if you want a fully bespoke desktop HUD. Notchy is the better fit if you want the numbers you actually check (AI spend, timers, activity) without maintaining any of it.
Compare Notchy vs 221 Mac Apps
See how one Notchy license replaces dozens of single-purpose Mac utilities.