Know what happened without looking up
One notification sound for everything means checking the screen every time. Notchy gives each category of alert its own sound, so an approval, a call and a finished download are three different noises.
Nine categories, nine choices
Agent approvals, AI usage alerts, calls, messages, timers, battery, downloads and files, updates, and everything else. Each one picks its own sound — an agent asking for approval can chime while a finished download stays silent.
System sounds or your own file
Pick from the alert sounds every Mac ships — Glass, Hero, Ping, Purr, Pop, Tink, Submarine and the rest — or point a category at your own audio file. Silence is a first-class option on any of them.
Locking and unlocking, too
The lock and unlock pill carries its own pair of sounds, previewed the moment you pick one, so shutting the lid gets the confirmation the lock screen otherwise leaves silent.
Quiet when you asked for quiet
Sounds follow the same rules as the islands themselves: Focus and Do Not Disturb are respected, and a category set to none never plays.
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
Custom alert sounds on Mac — FAQ
Can I set a different notification sound per alert on macOS?
System Settings gives you one alert sound for the whole Mac. Notchy's islands carry nine sound categories — agent approvals, AI usage, calls, messages, timers, battery, downloads and files, updates, and everything else — each set independently.
Can I use my own sound file?
Yes. Any category can point at an audio file of your own instead of a macOS system sound, and it previews as soon as you choose it.
Can I turn sounds off entirely?
Yes. Every category can be set to none, so you can run the islands completely silent or keep a sound only on the one alert you never want to miss.
Is there a sound for locking and unlocking the Mac?
Yes — the lock and unlock pill has its own sound pair, chosen from the system sounds or your own file.
Do the sounds play during Focus?
No. Notchy respects Focus and Do Not Disturb, so alerts stay quiet the way the rest of the system does.
Do timers make a sound when they finish?
Yes, and the Timers category is what decides which one.