volumeHUD alternative: the HUD back, and still maintained
volumeHUD does one thing well — it restores the volume and brightness overlays macOS Tahoe took away — and its developer has marked it finished. Notchy replaces the same HUDs in the notch, ships updates, and brings the rest of the island with it. Both free.
| volumeHUD | Notchy | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — open source | Free — optional donations |
| Replaces volume HUD | Yes | Yes |
| Replaces brightness HUD | Yes | Yes |
| Keyboard backlight, battery, caffeine HUDs | — | Included |
| Still developed | No — feature-complete, development stopped | Yes — active releases |
| Anything else | Nothing — it does one job | 50+ tools in the same island |
From volumeHUD’s own GitHub repository and README, checked against Notchy’s shipping build.
The problem both apps are solving
Tahoe swapped a 25-year-old full-size overlay for a small popover tucked in a corner. It is easy to miss on a light background and gone before your eye finds it. Putting feedback back where you are already looking is the whole point of a notch volume HUD.
“Feature-complete” cuts both ways
A finished tool is honest and stable. It is also nobody's job when the next macOS changes how the keys are handled — and this is an app whose whole method is intercepting those keys. Worth knowing before you rely on it.
It is not just volume and brightness
Notchy gives the same compact treatment to keyboard backlight, brightness, caps lock and battery — one consistent overlay language instead of the stock mixture.
One app instead of a collection
A HUD app, a clipboard app, a timer app and a file shelf is four menu bar icons and four things to keep updated. Notchy is one, free, and the HUD is a toggle inside it.
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 |
| AI Usage Tracker (Claude / Codex / Cursor) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Command Palette (⌃⌥K) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Localized (134 languages) | 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 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Synced Lyrics | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Image Converter (HEIC/JPG/PDF) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Apple Reminders Capture | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Audio Output Switcher | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Device Battery (Mouse/Keyboard) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Download Finished Alerts | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Run Apple Shortcuts | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Camera Mirror / Webcam Preview | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Zip & Unzip Files | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hide the Notch | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Window Snapping (drag to notch) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| App Launcher Tab | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| OCR + Searchable Clipboard | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Text Snippets / Expander | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Menu-Bar Icon Hiding | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| System-Wide Mic Mute | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Live System Stats (CPU/RAM) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| iPhone-Style Call Island | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Built-In Terminal | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Camera/Mic Privacy Indicator | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
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 volumeHUD — FAQ
What is volumeHUD?
A free, open-source Mac app that brings back the classic volume and brightness overlays macOS used for about 25 years. macOS Tahoe replaced them with small Control Center popovers in the corner of the screen, which are easy to miss against a light background, and volumeHUD puts the old behaviour back.
Is volumeHUD still being updated?
Its developer describes it as feature-complete and no longer under active development. That is a fair place for a single-purpose tool to land, but it does mean nobody is committed to fixing it if a future macOS release changes how the HUD works.
Is volumeHUD free?
Yes — open source on GitHub, installable via Homebrew, and free. Notchy is free as well, so this is not a price comparison. It is a question of whether you want one overlay fixed or the whole notch working.
Does Notchy replace the macOS volume HUD too?
Yes. Notchy renders compact volume and brightness HUDs on and around the notch, and can suppress the stock macOS overlay entirely — restoring it the moment you quit. It also covers keyboard backlight, battery and caffeine indicators the same way.
How does volumeHUD hide the system HUD?
From version 3.0 it intercepts the volume and brightness keys and applies the change itself, rather than letting macOS handle it and draw its own popover. Notchy suppresses the native overlay by the same broad approach, and puts it back when the app quits.
Should I use volumeHUD or Notchy?
If all you want is the old overlay back and nothing else on screen, volumeHUD is a clean single-purpose answer. If you would rather the notch also handled media, clipboard, timers, file drops and device battery, Notchy does the HUD job as one of 50+ tools — also free.
Compare Notchy vs 146 Mac Apps
See how Notchy replaces dozens of single-purpose paid Mac utilities for free.