“What song is this?” from the notch
Something good is playing and you have about eight seconds to catch it. Notchy listens from the notch, matches it with ShazamKit, and hands you the track with a way into Apple Music — without a menu bar icon or a trip through Control Center.
One gesture, start to finish
Start listening and the island becomes a live listening indicator, so you can see it is working rather than wondering. When it matches, the same island turns into the track — artwork, title, artist and an Open button. No window opens, nothing takes over the screen.
Nothing is kept
ShazamKit turns the audio into a signature on your Mac, and only that signature goes anywhere. The recording never leaves the machine, no history is written, and the microphone tap is closed the moment the session ends — a match, a timeout, or a cancel.
It ends by itself
A session that finds nothing closes with a plain message instead of listening indefinitely. That matters for a microphone feature — you should never have to wonder whether something is still open.
Already know what is playing?
For audio playing on the Mac itself, Now Playing already shows the track, and synced lyrics scroll underneath it. Listening is for the music that is not yours.
How it compares to Shazam
Shazam's own Mac app is free, keeps every song you have ever identified, and has Auto Shazam. Notchy is faster to reach and stores nothing, which is the trade. The full comparison is on the Shazam alternative page.
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
Identifying songs on Mac — FAQ
How do I identify a song on my Mac?
Start listening from the notch. Notchy taps the microphone, the island turns into a live listening indicator, and the moment it matches you get the title, artist and artwork with a button straight into Apple Music. It uses ShazamKit, the same matching engine behind Shazam itself.
Is it free?
Yes. Song identification is part of Notchy, which is free with no trial, licence key or subscription — funded only by optional donations.
Does it record me?
No. ShazamKit computes an audio signature locally and only that signature is matched — the recording itself never leaves your Mac, nothing is stored, and the microphone tap is torn down the instant the session ends, whether that is a match, a timeout or you cancelling.
Does it keep a history of what I identified?
No, and that is a real difference from the Shazam app. Notchy shows you the answer for the current session and does not build a library. If you want a permanent list of everything you have ever identified, Shazam keeps one and Notchy does not.
What if it can't find the song?
The session closes itself with a readable message rather than leaving you staring at a listening indicator forever. Noisy rooms, live performances and very obscure tracks are the usual reasons a match fails.
Can it identify music playing on the Mac itself?
It listens through the microphone, so it hears whatever is audible in the room — including your own speakers. For audio playing in an app on your Mac, Notchy's Now Playing already shows the track directly without needing to listen at all.
Shazam for Mac vs Notchy — which should I use?
Shazam's own Mac app is free, keeps a full history, has Auto Shazam and links out to Spotify, Deezer and YouTube Music. Notchy identifies from the notch without a menu bar icon or a trip to Control Center, and stores nothing. If you want the library, use Shazam; if you want the answer, the notch is faster.