Micro-App Feature
The Best Mac Brightness HUD Replacement
Say goodbye to the ugly, center-screen macOS brightness popup. Notchymoves your brightness and volume indicators into a sleek, animated bar inside the notch. It's the perfect free HUD alternative.
Out of your way
The default macOS brightness indicator blocks the center of your screen when watching a movie or editing photos. Notchy moves it to the very top edge, animating beautifully out of the hardware notch.
All system HUDs supported
Notchy replaces not just your brightness HUD, but also volume, keyboard backlight, and even battery warnings with stunning Dynamic Island-style animations. Flip one switch and Notchy hides the stock macOS overlay entirely — its island becomes your only HUD.
Free HUD Alternative
While standalone HUD replacement apps exist, Notchy gives you gorgeous system HUDs alongside a full suite of productivity tools (like a clipboard manager) — all in one free app.
Native performance
Because it's written purely in SwiftUI, Notchy intercepts your media keys instantly with zero lag. The animations are buttery smooth at 120Hz on ProMotion displays.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- 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
- 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
Mac Brightness HUD — FAQ
How do I change the brightness indicator on Mac?
To replace the default center-screen brightness indicator, you need a third-party HUD app. Notchy intercepts your brightness keys and displays a sleek, animated brightness bar emerging from the MacBook notch.
Is Notchy a free alternative to Display Menu or MonitorControl?
Yes. While MonitorControl is great for external displays, Notchy specifically utilizes the notch area to beautifully display your brightness, volume, and keyboard backlight HUDs on your main MacBook screen.
Does it work with keyboard backlight brightness?
Yes! When you adjust your keyboard backlight brightness, Notchy displays an elegant HUD animating from the notch, ensuring your screen isn't blocked by the default popup.
Can Notchy hide the default macOS brightness popup completely?
Yes — turn on native HUD hiding in Notchy's settings and the stock center-screen overlay stays out of sight while Notchy's island handles brightness and volume. It's strictly opt-in and the system HUD is restored automatically when you turn it off or quit Notchy.