The notch apps for Mac in 2026, and which one to pick

The quick picks

• Want it free? Boring Notch, or Atoll if you’d like system stats in the notch too.
• Just nicer volume and brightness pop-ups? MediaMate.
• Just a place to drop files? NotchDrop.
• A polished notch and nothing else? Alcove or DynamicLake.
• A notch that does a lot, for little? Droppy.
• The notch, plus docks at every edge, widgets and a companion? SideDock.

SideDock

A live notch (music, what’s next, downloads, coding agents, your earbuds’ battery, timers and more), plus docks at every edge, more than 50 widgets and Pip, a companion that does things on your Mac with your own AI account. $9, $16 or $23 at launch for 1, 3 or 5 Macs, then $19, $29 or $39, once. 7-day trial. Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later.

Droppy

Live activities for music, meetings and more, a file tray, clipboard history, a floating player and dozens of free extensions, one of which follows coding agents. $9.99 once, for 2 Macs, with a 3-day trial. macOS 14 or later.

Alcove

A polished notch in the style of the Dynamic Island: live activities, notifications, swipe gestures, its own volume and brightness indicators, and Lock Screen widgets. $14.99 once, for up to 3 Macs, with a 72-hour trial. macOS 15 or later.

DynamicLake

Music, your schedule and the weather, a place for files, notifications for messages and calls, timers and its own volume pop-up, with a mini mode. $13.99 once, for up to 3 Macs, no trial. Intel or Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later. Buy it from dynamiclake.com: its makers warn about lookalike sites.

Boring Notch

Free and open source: music with a visualizer, your calendar and reminders, a file shelf with AirDrop, and its own volume and brightness indicators. Version 2.8, in testing, adds notifications. It isn’t signed with an Apple developer certificate, so the first launch takes an extra step.

Atoll

Free and open source, built on Boring Notch: media controls, live activities, timers, clipboard history, your calendar, and CPU, memory and network stats in the notch. For Macs with a notch only.

MediaMate

One job, done nicely: it replaces the volume, brightness and keyboard-light pop-ups with ones that live in the notch, and shows what’s playing. €6.99 once, for up to 5 Macs, with a demo to try first.

NotchDrop

Free and open source: a drop zone in the notch for files, with AirDrop a click away. Its last update was in November 2024.

And NotchNook?

It isn’t on this list because its situation is unclear right now: its original site is gone, and more than one place says it carries on. We’ll add it back once that settles.

A note on fairness

We make SideDock, so take our enthusiasm for it with a pinch of salt. Everything above comes from each app’s own website, App Store or GitHub page on October 14, 2026; prices and features change, so check theirs before you buy. All names are trademarks of their owners.