New in 1.0.172
An Emoji Picker That Remembers You
Type a name, press Return, and the emoji is already in the message you were writing. Notchy's Emoji tab leads with the twelve you actually send, keeps your skin tone, and searches the same names macOS uses. Free.
Recents first
The emoji you use most sit at the top, with your skin tone already applied, so the everyday ones are one click away — no scrolling through categories.
Pastes where you were typing
Choose an emoji and Notchy puts it into the app that had focus before the panel opened. The paste stays out of your clipboard history.
Every emoji your Mac can draw
The catalog is built from the emoji your Mac's font actually has, named by the same Unicode table as the Character Viewer — so it grows with every macOS update and never lists a glyph that shows up as a box.
Flags by country name
Search “japan” or “brazil” and the flag comes up, with country names in your own language.
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
- 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
- 133 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon
Mac Emoji Picker — FAQ
Isn't there already an emoji picker on Mac?
Yes — ⌃⌘Space opens the Character Viewer. Notchy's Emoji tab, new in 1.0.172, is quicker for the emoji you use daily: it leads with your twelve most recent and inserts on Return.
Can I copy an emoji without pasting it?
Yes. Right-click an emoji and choose Copy when there's no text field to paste into, then paste it wherever you like.
Does it support skin tones?
Yes. Pick a tone once; it applies to every emoji that supports one, and recents are saved with it.
Is this a free Rocket alternative?
For search-and-insert, yes. Rocket's free version adds Slack-style :colon: autocomplete in any text field, and Rocket Pro ($10) adds GIFs and snippets. Notchy has no colon trigger.
Is it free?
Yes. Notchy has no trial, licence key, subscription or in-app purchase.