Displays
Change your refresh rate in one menu
60, 120, 144 — pick a rate without a trip through System Settings, and without your resolution changing underneath you. Notchy, free.
Your resolution stays put
Only rates available at the resolution you are already running are offered. No surprise window shuffle, no scaled-down desktop as the price of more hertz.
Internal and external
CoreGraphics, not DDC — so the MacBook's own panel switches too, and there is no permission prompt or private framework involved.
Battery when you want it
Drop to 60 Hz on the road, go back up when you plug in. Notchy's own animation already backs off in Low Power Mode, so the saving isn't cancelled out.
Alongside the rest of the monitor
Sits with brightness and input switching and colour temperature in one place.
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
Mac refresh rate — FAQ
Will switching rates change my resolution?
No, and that is the point. Notchy only offers rates that exist at your current resolution, so picking 120 Hz can never relayout every window as a side effect — a trap in tools that list raw display modes.
Does it work on the built-in MacBook display?
Yes. This is CoreGraphics display-mode switching, not monitor DDC, so it covers the internal panel and external displays alike — no private API and no permission prompt.
Why don't I see a refresh rate menu for a display?
Because that panel exposes exactly one rate at your resolution. A one-item menu is not a choice, so the row is hidden rather than shown greyed out.
Does the rate survive a reboot?
Yes. The switch is committed permanently, the same as if you had set it in System Settings — so a 120 Hz choice is still 120 Hz tomorrow.
Can I drop to 60 Hz to save battery?
You can, and it is a real saving on a high-refresh panel. Notchy pairs well with that: it already parks decorative animation in Low Power Mode, so the app itself isn't undoing the battery you just bought.
What else can it do to my monitor?
Brightness and contrast over DDC, colour temperature presets, and input switching — so a monitor that ignores your Mac's keys can still be driven from the notch. See external display control and monitor colour temperature.