Crest, the notch app for MacBook (crestnotch.app), is our pick for the best Mac notch app in 2026. It turns the notch into a Dynamic Island that also fills your passwords with Touch ID, types your two-factor codes in and answers Claude Code.
By the makers of Crest · updated 27 October 2026 · prices checked 3 October 2026 · full disclosure
Checked 6 November 2026 on each app's own site: getnotchnook.com, getdroppy.app, tryalcove.com and The Boring Notch's README on GitHub. “Not listed” means the site does not say it.
Full comparison and details
You paid for a beautiful screen and Apple cut a black bar out of the top of it. The good news is that the notch can be one of the most useful spots on your Mac, because a notch app turns it into a Dynamic Island with media controls, a file shelf, widgets, system stats and more. The bad news is that plenty of them drain your battery or freeze after sleep. Here's an honest look at the best Mac notch apps, what each does, where each stops, and how to choose.
Last updated: 27 October 2026 · prices checked 3 October 2026, NotchNook’s on 9 October 2026, Droppy and the App Store apps on 14 October 2026, and NotchNook, Droppy, Alcove and DynamicLake again on 27 October 2026
Full disclosure: this guide is published by the makers of Crest, one of the apps below. We've kept every other entry accurate, with what each app really does and where it stops. Every price, trial and macOS requirement below was read off each app's own site, store page or GitHub on 3 October 2026, NotchNook's again on 9 October 2026, and Droppy's and the four Mac App Store apps' on 14 October 2026.
What actually matters in a notch app
They all look slick in a screenshot. The differences that bite you later are:
Battery & performance. A notch app runs all day. The most common complaint across the category is battery drain and high CPU, especially after macOS updates.
Stability after sleep. Many notch apps freeze or need a restart after your Mac sleeps and wakes.
Signed & notarized. If an app isn't notarized by Apple, macOS throws a "can't be opened" warning on every install and update.
Features vs. focus. Some are full productivity hubs, others do one thing (like the volume HUD) and stop there.
Price. Free, one‑time, or subscription, and whether there's a free tier or just a trial.
The short answer
Our pick is Crest. It is $14.99 once, less than NotchNook’s $15 once or $2 a month, and it puts more of your day in the notch: Passwords that sign you in with Touch ID in Safari and your two-factor codes typed in for you (free for your first month, then with Crest Passwords or a Crest Cloud plan), encrypted Drop links that open in any browser, Crest Cloud for your files, and Allow or Deny for Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI. You can try all of it free for 7 days with no card. If the app has to cost nothing, The Boring Notch and Atoll are free and open source.
macOS 14+Signed & notarizedClaude in the notch22 widgetsOn‑deviceHomebrew cask
In one sentence: Crest is a notch app for the Mac, on macOS 14 or later, that turns the MacBook notch into pages of widgets: music, a file shelf, a clipboard, window snapping, Passwords with Touch ID, the Authenticator (your two-factor codes, typed in for you), Drop and Crest Cloud for encrypted files, and the allow and deny prompts of Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI. It has a 7-day trial with no card and installs from crestnotch.app or with brew install --cask crest.
Crest 6 makes the notch itself the app: one island that grows out of the notch. Hover it for a quick peek. Click and it opens into a row of pages, Now, Home, Work and Code, and you swipe with two fingers, use the arrow keys or click the dots to move between them. Each page holds widgets you arrange yourself. Add them from the gallery, stretch one to resize it, hold to edit and drag to move. There are 22 to pick from: Now Playing, a file Shelf, a Clipboard, notes, to-dos, calendar, system stats, and Claude, which you can ask, or just talk to, on your own Claude subscription.
Crest 6 open on the Home page: music, the weather, the calendar and batteries.
Crest 6.6 added the things we kept reaching for other apps to do. Drop sends a file to a friend’s notch, or as an encrypted link anyone can open in a browser. Passwords keeps your logins next to the Authenticator and fills both in Safari after Touch ID. Crest Cloud, a separate plan, keeps files from the notch, encrypted on your Mac, and hands them back on any Mac you sign in to.
The trial is the whole app: Now Playing, the file shelf, the Clipboard, window snapping and answering Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI, for 7 days with no card. After the trial, Crest pauses until you buy it, but your saved passwords, codes and notes stay readable and receiving files with Drop still works. Buying Crest unlocks the Pro widgets, the Authenticator among them, on 2 Macs, with updates through Crest 7. Opening Crest starts the 7‑day trial, with no account and no card, so you test the lot before deciding.
Where Crest is built differently is the stuff that bites you with other notch apps. It's engineered to be light on your Mac: decorative animations stop in Low Power Mode and whenever they are out of sight, and its monitors suspend while your Mac sleeps and re‑pin themselves on wake, directly targeting the battery‑drain and "froze after sleep" complaints that dog the category. It's also a properly signed and notarized Mac app, so there are no Gatekeeper warnings on install or updates, and everything runs on‑device with no tracking. On a Mac without a notch it sits in a small pill at the top of the screen.
Strengths: one app in place of several: Passwords with Touch ID, your two-factor codes typed in for you, Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI approvals, Drop for encrypted files and 22 widgets, notarized, $14.99 once with your first month of Passwords and 2FA free.
Best for: anyone who would rather have one app than stack a notch app, a password manager, an authenticator and an agent monitor. Download Crest free and unlock Pro whenever you like.7-day trial, no card · macOS 14 or later
macOS 14.6+48‑hour trial, no card2 Macs per licence
NotchNook is a paid notch app: an expandable hub with widgets, a files shelf/Tray, an AirDrop drop zone, calendar, clipboard, battery info and deep customization (colors, layouts, haptics).
Watch‑outs: no free tier, only a 48‑hour trial. In reviews of earlier versions, the most common complaints were stability and battery: crashes or freezes after sleep/wake (notably on recent macOS), high CPU/battery after some updates, and media detection that occasionally needed an app restart. It was never on the Mac App Store, and the Setapp build reportedly had fewer options than the standalone one.
Update, 9 October 2026: NotchNook is on sale again from a new site, getnotchnook.com, at $15 once or $2 a month (checked 24 October 2026), each licence on two Macs, macOS 14.6 or later, with a 48‑hour trial and no card. Its old page, lo.cafe/notchnook, still answers “not found”, and lo.cafe’s home page shows a statement from NotchNook’s co-founders about a dispute over control of the company behind the app. We are not taking sides in the dispute. For what else to use, we keep a page on exactly that: NotchNook alternatives for Mac.
Where it stops: customization, with no password manager or two-factor codes. Its Pro approves Claude Code and Codex, and its site lists nothing for Claude’s questions (read 6 November 2026). Deep dive: Crest vs NotchNook
The Boring Notch (boring.notch) is a free, open‑source option built by a volunteer community. It covers a lot of ground: a music center with album art and a live audio visualizer, a file shelf, calendar, an HUD replacement for volume/brightness/keyboard backlight, battery and Bluetooth status, a camera mirror and more.
Watch‑outs: because the team doesn't have an Apple Developer account, the app isn't notarized, so macOS flags it as from an unidentified developer and you have to bypass Gatekeeper on install and updates. As a volunteer project it can be buggier and less polished than paid apps (reports of notch misplacement, file‑shelf glitches, AirDrop quirks, and Now Playing missing some apps).
Atoll is a free, open‑source notch app that grew out of The Boring Notch's code (its README credits it as the foundation) and has gone its own way since. It covers media controls, live activities for charging, Focus, screen recording and downloads, lock screen widgets, CPU, GPU, memory, network and disk stats, timers, clipboard history, a colour picker and calendar previews, with a lot of say over layout, animation and shortcuts.
Watch‑outs: its README lists a MacBook with a notch as a requirement, and it moves fast, so check its issue tracker for your version of macOS before you settle in.
Where it stops: it needs a notched MacBook, with no password manager, two-factor codes or agent approvals. github.com/Ebullioscopic/Atoll
macOS 14+2 Macs per licence14‑day refundHomebrew cask
Droppy started as a file shelf, and the tray is still its centre: drop files on the notch, then zip or convert them where they sit, or jiggle any drag to call up a floating basket anywhere on screen. Around that it has a clipboard manager with OCR, now playing (on the lock screen too), live activities, volume and brightness HUDs, and 44 free extensions it calls droplets, one of which follows Claude, Codex, Cursor and Antigravity sessions and their usage limits.
Watch‑outs: the trial lasts 3 days and there is no free tier after it, so you decide fast.
Where it stops: it watches coding agents but its docs describe no way to answer them, and the trial lasts 3 days. getdroppy.app · Crest vs Droppy, compared
Alcove leans into the Dynamic Island look: notifications that animate around the notch (or a floating pill on notchless Macs), Now Playing with a waveform and seek bar, live activities, a calendar widget, and even lock‑screen support. It's a native Swift app that stays close to the Dynamic Island idea.
Watch‑outs: there is only a 72‑hour trial and no permanent free tier, and by design it mirrors Dynamic Island rather than adding deep productivity tools, so it does less than a full hub.
Where it stops: a look, not a toolkit, with no password manager, two-factor codes, developer tools or agent approvals, and it needs macOS 15. tryalcove.com
DynamicLake goes for the Dynamic Island look and piles on extras: notifications, calls, a slim music player, AirDrop and drag and drop, a file converter, timers, weather and calendar alerts, a compact mode it calls miniLake, a Liquid Glass style and, newest, plugins. It sells through Gumroad, where the checkout read $13.99 on 3 October 2026 (the price in its own site's page data was $16.90), with refunds inside 14 days.
Watch‑outs: no free tier, its site does not spell out a trial, and its refund policy asks for a written reason.
Where it stops: small island extras, with no password manager, two-factor codes or agent approvals. dynamiclake.com
Notchy is free with no tiers, no trial and no account, paid for by optional donations, and it runs on macOS 13 Ventura. Its site lists 74 features: now playing with album art and scrubbing, clipboard history, timers, HUDs, window snapping, lock screen widgets, a command palette, an AI usage tracker for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Copilot limits, and, newest, Face Unlock, which unlocks the Mac when it sees you. Version 1.0.178 shipped on 25 September 2026.
Watch‑outs: free is not open source here (its own FAQ says so), so you can't read the code the way you can with The Boring Notch or Atoll. Face Unlock needs your login password, which the site says stays in your Keychain.
Where it stops: not open source, with no password manager, two-factor codes or agent approvals. notchy.dev
MediaMate€6.99 one‑time (about $8) · by Wouter Hennen
macOS 13+Works on any Mac5 Macs per licence
MediaMate does one job: it replaces macOS's clunky volume, brightness and keyboard‑backlight HUDs with iOS‑style indicators, plus a Now Playing controller. It offers four indicator styles (including a notch style) with per‑display rules, and works on any Mac, notch or not.
Watch‑outs: it's intentionally narrow, with no file shelf, clipboard, widgets or broader hub features. Touch Bar Macs need a separate mode the developer notes may be less reliable.
Where it stops: volume, brightness and Now Playing HUDs, and nothing else. MediaMate
Notchmeister is a novelty. From the Iconfactory, it adds playful animated effects around the notch when your cursor passes near it: a glow that lights your way, a Knight‑Rider scanner, festive animations, even clickable fidget dice. It's free, tiny, and needs essentially no setup.
Watch‑outs: it's purely cosmetic, so it doesn't hide the notch or add any utility (no media controls, shelf or clipboard).
Where it stops: effects only, with no media, shelf, clipboard, passwords or two-factor codes. Mac App Store
Four more you will see named
Google’s AI answers for “notch app for mac” also name these four, all on the Mac App Store. They are smaller or single‑purpose, so they get a short entry each. Facts read off each app’s Mac App Store page on 14 October 2026.
A full notch hub from the Mac App Store: media controls with album art, a file shelf with AirDrop, a Pomodoro timer, clipboard history, the calendar, a camera mirror and network speed. The low macOS requirement and the $4.99 Pro price are its draw. It is new enough that the store shows no rating count yet, so there is little track record to go on.
NotchNestFree · Pro $14.99 once, $2.99 a month or $14.99 a year · macOS 14+
A notch hub that leans on Apple Intelligence: an on‑device AI clipboard and calendar briefings, plus media controls, a file tray with AirDrop, notes and a Pomodoro timer. The catch: its store page lists version 1.2.5 from 11 August 2025, so it has gone 14 months without an update.
FocusNotchFree · in‑app purchases $5.99 and $29.99 · macOS 13+
Not a hub: a focus timer that lives in the notch, with a website blocker. For a timer next to music, files and the rest, Crest’s Focus timer widget and NotchBox both have one.
The opposite of every other app here: it hides the notch by moving the menu bar below it, with AppleScript, Shortcuts and deep links to switch it on and off. We compare the ways to do that, including what macOS can do on its own, in how to hide the notch on a Mac.
Do notch apps drain your battery?
This is the question people ask most about the whole category, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what an app does while you are not looking at it. The notch itself costs nothing. The battery goes on three things: a timer that polls system state on a fixed interval whether or not anything changed, animation that keeps running while you are on battery, and monitors that keep ticking through sleep instead of standing down.
You can check any notch app yourself in about a minute, and it beats taking anyone's word for it. Open Activity Monitor, switch to the Energy tab, and read the app's Avg Energy Impact along with its 12 hr Power figure after a normal day of use. A notch app sitting near the top of that list is doing work it does not need to do. Compare it against a couple of browser tabs and you will know quickly whether the notch app is really the thing costing you the hour.
Does The Boring Notch drain your battery?
For some people, yes, and because the app is open source the reports are public. As of 25 September 2026 its GitHub tracker holds two open ones. The first, #1260 from May 2026, reports a very high 12 hr Power reading on an M4 MacBook Air running the stable v2.7.3 on macOS 26.4.1; several people have added similar readings since, and a maintainer replied that a collapsed notch should sit at 0 to 1 percent CPU on Apple Silicon and asked for samples to find the cause. The second, #1607 from 24 September 2026, reports extreme energy use in the v2.8 release candidate, confirmed by a second user on macOS 27.0. An older idle drain report, #338, was fixed in a July 2025 release.
What that means in practice: if you are on the stable 2.7.3 and it is nowhere near the top of Activity Monitor's Energy tab, it is not what is costing you battery. If it is near the top, you are not alone, and the maintainers are asking for exactly the samples described in #1260. If you installed the 2.8 release candidate or a nightly, going back to 2.7.3 until #1607 is resolved is the safe call. Reports like these tend to cluster after macOS updates, so check the tracker for your version rather than trusting a summary, this one included.
What Crest does about it
Crest's animations reduce when your MacBook is unplugged or in Low Power Mode, and its recurring monitors suspend when your Mac or its screens go to sleep, then resume and re‑pin the panels on wake. That second one is the direct answer to the "froze and drained overnight" pattern that runs through this whole category, and it is why the sleep behaviour sits in the checklist at the top of this page.
Can I get a Dynamic Island on a Mac?
Not from Apple: macOS has no Dynamic Island, so a notch app adds one. Crest, the notch app for MacBook (crestnotch.app), turns the notch into a Dynamic Island with your music, timers, calendar and coding agents, and on a Mac without a notch it sits in a small pill at the top of the screen. More on that in Dynamic Island for Mac.
How to choose
Want one app that does it all? That's exactly what we built Crest for: Passwords with Touch ID, your two-factor codes typed in for you, Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI approvals, Drop for encrypted files and 22 widgets, in one native Mac app with a 7-day trial and deliberate battery and sleep behavior.
Choosing one of the others? Every other app on this page stops short of that list: none of them has a password manager, two-factor codes typed in for you and agent approvals together, so you would be adding apps to cover the rest.
Also worth knowing: NotchDrop is a small free, open‑source app, also on the Mac App Store, that does one thing: a drop zone for files and AirDrop in the notch.
Now Playing, the file shelf, the Clipboard and window snapping are all in the 7-day trial and in every paid plan, with no card to start. Crest is signed, notarized and easy on your battery, and if you like it, Crest Pro is $14.99 once.
