The Ultimate Mac Setup
The Only Must-Have Mac App You Need
If you search for the "best Mac apps," you'll find lists recommending you install 10 different utilities costing over $70. Notchy replaces all of them with a single, blazing-fast, free Dynamic Island.
The $70+ "Essential" Stack vs Notchy
NotchNookDynamic Island
$25Included
AirBuddyAirPods Manager
$10Included
YoinkFile Drop Shelf
$9Included
SleeveNow Playing Widget
$6Included
Hand MirrorCamera Check
$5Included
Flow / FocusPomodoro Timer
$5Included
MaccyClipboard History
$10Included
ItsycalMenu Bar Calendar
FreeIncluded
AmphetamineKeep Awake
FreeIncluded
TopNotchHide the Notch
FreeIncluded
Total Cost
$70+Free
Notchy isn't just a notch app. It's a massive suite of productivity tools engineered directly into the hardware design of your MacBook. One menu bar icon, zero desktop clutter, and completely free.
At a glance
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
Compare Notchy vs 192 Mac Apps
See how Notchy replaces dozens of single-purpose paid Mac utilities for free.
Notch & Dynamic Island
vs NotchNookvs Boring Notchvs Atollvs Alcovevs DynamicLakevs SuperIslandvs Peninsulavs MewNotchvs Sapphirevs MacNotchvs NotchFlowvs Notchlyvs Notchifyvs Canopyvs Droppyvs Seamvs Perchvs DropNotchvs NotchBoxvs Crestvs NotchNestvs FavTrayvs TopNotchvs Notchmeistervs Browvs OneNotchvs NotchSpacevs NotchBayvs DynamicNotchvs Cyclopvs NotchBar