Feature Spotlight
The Best Mac Pomodoro Timer
Stay in the zone. Notchy places a sleek, distraction-free Pomodoro focus timer right inside your MacBook notch. It's a subscription-free alternative to Flow and Be Focused.
Always visible, never in the way
The problem with most Mac timers is that they get lost behind windows or clutter the menu bar. Notchy lives in the notch. Your remaining focus time is always visible at a glance.
The TomatoBar & Be Focused Alternative
Why pay a subscription for a timer like Be Focused or Flow, or clutter your menu bar with TomatoBar? Notchy gives you a native, customizable Pomodoro timer—plus clipboard history and music controls—with no subscription, right inside your notch.
Beautiful animations
When a session ends, the notch smoothly expands into a Dynamic Island to let you know it's time for a break. It feels like a native part of macOS.
Customizable intervals
Set your own work, short break, and long break durations to match your personal productivity style perfectly.
Everything Notchy does, in one app
- 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
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- 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
- Custom islands through the local developer API (off by default)
- 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
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
Mac Pomodoro Timer — FAQ
Can I play focus sounds during a Pomodoro?
Yes, since 1.0.195. Focus Sounds plays rain, brown noise, wind or waves from the Timer tab or Home, and can stop when the Pomodoro ends. Since 1.0.191 you can also start focus from a one-click quick-access button or your own keyboard shortcut, and Pomodoro Only hides the standard timer.
Does Mac have a built-in Pomodoro timer?
No, macOS does not have a native Pomodoro timer. While it has a Clock app, you need a third-party app to get structured work/break sessions.
Why put a Pomodoro timer in the notch?
Putting the timer in the MacBook notch keeps the countdown visible without taking up screen space or cluttering your menu bar. It stays out of the way until you need it.
Is Notchy an alternative to Flow?
Yes. Notchy provides a beautiful, native Pomodoro timer as part of one $24.99 one-time purchase. Unlike Flow or Be Focused, it doesn’t require a subscription or paid pro version to unlock basic features.
What happens when a session ends?
The notch asks what you want next — take the break, add five more minutes, or skip straight to the next session. Long breaks arrive on the schedule you set, and your session stats are there to look back on.
Does music keep playing through a session?
Yes. The Now Playing controls stay beside the timer, so pausing or skipping a track doesn’t mean leaving your session.
Can I customize the Pomodoro intervals?
Yes. Notchy lets you configure your work sessions, short breaks, and long breaks to fit your specific productivity workflow.