Best MacBook Notch Apps in 2026

Your MacBook's notch is just sitting there. Apple gave the iPhone a Dynamic Island — live scores, timers, music controls — but on the Mac, the notch is still a dead black rectangle at the top of your screen. It doesn't do anything. It just... exists.

Thankfully, developers have stepped in. There are now several apps that transform the MacBook notch into something actually useful (or at the very least, less boring). But they all take very different approaches, and the right one depends on what you actually want out of that space.

We tested every major notch app available for macOS in 2026. Here's how they compare.

What Kind of Notch App Do You Actually Want?

Before diving into individual apps, it helps to understand that notch apps fall into three categories:

Utility apps turn the notch into a productivity hub — music controls, calendar, file shelves, widgets. These are built for people who want more functionality from their screen.
Visual apps add effects, animations, or cosmetic enhancements to the notch. They make it look cooler but don't add much in terms of features.
Companion apps put something alive in the notch — a character, a presence, a little moment of personality. These aren't trying to be useful in the traditional sense. They're trying to make your laptop feel different.

Most people don't realize there's a third category until they try it.

The Apps

NotchNook

Price: $3/month or $25 one-time purchase
Category: Utility
Best for: Power users and developers who want maximum functionality

NotchNook is the most feature-dense notch app available. It turns the notch into a full control center with music playback, calendar widgets, a mirror, a file shelf for drag-and-drop, Mac Shortcuts triggers, and custom HUDs that replace the default macOS volume and brightness popups.

The customization is deep. You can change how the notch opens (click, hover, or swipe), adjust widget spacing, set transparency levels, and toggle individual features on or off.

Boring Notch

Price: Free (open source)
Category: Utility
Best for: People who want basic notch functionality without paying anything

Boring Notch is an open-source project that adds music controls, a file shelf, calendar, battery indicators, and a camera mirror to the notch. The music integration is particularly nice — album art shows up with color-matched effects, and playback controls are accessible without leaving what you're doing.

Nochi

Price: $4.99/month or $24.99 lifetime
Category: Companion + Utility
Best for: Anyone who wants their MacBook to feel more personal — and still get useful features

Nochi takes a completely different approach. Instead of turning the notch into a dashboard, it puts an animated companion character up there. The character has over 30 animations — walking, skateboarding, cooking, sipping boba, doing pilates, reading, sleeping — and cycles through them based on time of day and context.

But Nochi isn't just a character. It also includes music controls, calendar, battery monitoring, a file shelf, a camera mirror, custom HUD replacements, and — uniquely — an AI chat feature powered by Claude. You can ask Nochi questions and get instant answers right from the notch, without opening a browser or switching apps.

TopNotch

Price: Free
Category: Visual (hider)
Best for: People who just want the notch to disappear

TopNotch does one thing: it makes the notch invisible by turning the menu bar area black, so the notch blends seamlessly into the top of your screen.

So Which One Should You Get?

Maximum control: NotchNook. The power-user option with the deepest customization.
Free & reliable: Boring Notch. It covers the basics and it's open source.
Personal & complete: Nochi. The only app that combines real utility features with something that makes your laptop feel alive.
Make it disappear: TopNotch. Install it and forget it exists.

Nochi is available for macOS. Download Nochi →