Notchy

Micro-App Feature

The Best Free Mac Caffeine App

Stop large downloads from failing when your screen turns off. Notchy includes a simple, beautiful one-tap caffeine toggle right inside your MacBook notch.

One-tap awake

No complex rules or triggers. When you need your Mac to stay awake for a large file download or a rendering task, just swipe down on the notch and tap the coffee cup icon.

The simpler Amphetamine alternative

Amphetamine and KeepingYouAwake are great, but they clutter your menu bar. Notchy bundles a caffeine toggle into a complete suite of notch tools.

Visual status

With a quick glance at the drop-down, you can see if your Mac is currently being forced awake, alongside your volume, brightness, and battery HUDs.

Native architecture

Notchy uses the native macOS `caffeinate` APIs under the hood, ensuring perfectly stable and system-safe operation without burning CPU cycles.

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 Caffeine App — FAQ

How do I keep my Mac awake without changing system settings?

Instead of changing your macOS display sleep settings, you can use Notchy. Swipe down on the notch and tap the 'Caffeine' icon to instantly prevent your Mac from going to sleep.

Is there a simpler alternative to Amphetamine?

Yes. Amphetamine is a powerful app, but it adds another icon to your menu bar and can be overly complex. Notchy provides a simple one-tap caffeine toggle built directly into the notch drop-down.

Can I keep my Mac awake until a specific time?

Yes. Long-press the caffeine toggle to pick a duration — or an exact clock time, like 'until 6:30 PM'. Notchy keeps your Mac awake until then and switches off automatically so you never forget it on.

Does Notchy drain battery while keeping my Mac awake?

Notchy itself is extremely lightweight and uses ~0.1% CPU. However, naturally, keeping your Mac's screen forced on will consume more battery than letting it sleep.