Dynamic Island Rebuilt

Your MacBook notch,
finally doing things.

NotchBay is a Dynamic Island-style hub for the Mac — live activities for music, calendar, calls and AirPods, a clipboard tray for everything you copy, and on-device dictation that types into any app. Nothing leaves your Mac.

Download for macOS See it live
Everything, one glance up

Live activities that
actually live.

Music, meetings, batteries, screenshots, dictation — NotchBay turns the dead pixels around your camera into the most useful strip on your Mac.

Now Playing

Artwork, waveform and controls for Music, Spotify and anything else that plays — without touching the mouse mid-song.

Meeting controls

Mute, stop video or leave a Zoom or Google Meet call from the notch — while you're in a different app entirely. No other notch app we know of does this.

AirPods & devices

Connect chip with per-bud battery, charge ring, and levels for mice, keyboards and headphones.

Privacy indicators

A quiet chip the moment any app uses your camera or microphone. Device state only — the feed is never touched.

Lock-screen presence

Media controls and weather stay live on the lock screen. Skip a track without logging in.

The small stuff, handled

Caps Lock, Focus, download progress, charge warnings — tiny confirmations where your eyes already are. On for seconds, then gone.

⇪ Caps On☾ Focus↓ 24.7 MB⚡ 80%

Every feature,
from day one.

Free while in early access — one-time purchase at launch. No subscription, no account, nothing leaves your Mac.

Get early access
How it works

Set up once.
Glance up forever.

NotchBay turns the MacBook notch into a Dynamic Island for Mac in under a minute — no account, no cloud, no configuration required.

1

Install and launch

Download the signed app, drag it to Applications, and the island appears around your notch instantly. It runs quietly in the menu bar — native Swift, no Electron, negligible battery impact.

2

Grant only what you use

Each feature asks for its own permission the first time you use it — calendar for meetings, microphone for dictation, screen recording for captures. Turn any feature off and its permission is never requested.

3

Look up, not around

Music, meetings, dictation, clipboard history and battery levels live where your eyes already are. Hover to peek, click to expand, or press the shortcut to start dictating into any app.

⌥⌘M dictate anywhere
100%on-device processing
0accounts or cloud calls
60clips in the Tray
1×purchase, no subscription
The Tray

Copy anything.
Find it in one keystroke.

Every copy — text, links, colors, files — and every screenshot and screen recording lands in the Tray, auto-tagged by type and searchable in one keystroke. It keeps your latest 60 clips; pinned ones stay forever.

Screenshots are OCR'd on-device, so the words inside your images are searchable too. Cmd-click to gather a multi-clip, then drag anything back out into any app.

search · pin · OCR · drag out · AirDrop
Transcribe

Speak. It types.
Anywhere.

Hit ⌥⌘M in any app, talk, and finished phrases are typed straight into whatever field has focus — Slack, Mail, your IDE, a form.

Powered by the on-device speech engine built into macOS: no cloud, no audio upload, works offline, no per-minute anything. A live amplitude waveform sits in the notch while it listens.

🎙 Transcribe0:38
● Typing into Mailon device
Shipping the beta on Friday — can you review the notes before standup?
■ Stop⧉ Copy
Meetings

Mute Zoom
from anywhere.

On a call but working in another window? The notch keeps a live call timer, mute, camera and leave controls for Zoom and Google Meet — no window hunting when someone says your name.

Your next meeting shows up before it starts, with a one-click Join right in the island.

Design Sync18:25
● On airCamera on👥 5
🎙 Mute📷 Stop VideoLeave
App skins

It knows what you're in.
And dresses for it.

The frontmost app takes over the island — its identity on the left, its live state on the right.

Browsers

Tab identity with back, forward and page controls — right where your eyes are.

Safari Chrome Arc Brave Comet

AI tools

Session state and token burn while Claude Code or Codex works — even from the background. Claude plan limits included.

Claude Code Codex

Meetings

A live call timer with mute, camera and leave — for Zoom and Google Meet, without hunting for the window.

Zoom Google Meet Teams Soon
Honest comparison

The best notch app
for your Mac?

Short answer if you want ambient live activities, Alcove is polished; if you want free music controls, Boring Notch works. NotchBay is for getting things done from the notch — it's the only one with Zoom/Meet call controls, a clipboard + screenshot tray with OCR, and fully on-device dictation, as a signed one-time-purchase app that never draws a fake notch.
NotchBayRecommended Alcove NotchNook Boring Notch
PricingOne-time$16.99 one-time$25 or $3/moFree (OSS)
Live activities (music, battery, AirPods)Music only
Zoom & Google Meet call controls
Clipboard + screenshot tray with OCRFile shelf
On-device dictation into any field
Lock-screen media & weather
External displaysFloating islandFloatingDraws fake notchNotch Macs only
Developer ID signedUnsigned

Competitor details from their public sites, July 2026. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.

FAQ

Asked, answered.

Is there a Dynamic Island for Mac?
Not natively — macOS doesn't ship one. NotchBay brings a Dynamic Island-style experience to the MacBook notch: live activities for music, calendar, calls and AirPods, plus a clipboard tray and on-device dictation.
Does it work on Macs without a notch, or on external displays?
Yes. On notchless Macs and external displays NotchBay runs as a floating island at the top of the screen — it never draws a fake notch over your display.
Is NotchBay a subscription?
No. NotchBay is a one-time purchase with updates included — and it's free while in early access.
Will it drain my battery or slow my Mac down?
NotchBay is native Swift — no Electron, no web views. It polls adaptively (slower when nothing's happening) and renders only what's on screen, so it idles at a negligible CPU share.
Can it really control Zoom and Google Meet?
Yes — mute, stop video, or leave the call from the notch, with a live timer, even while you're working in another app. as of mid-2026 no other notch app we know of offers in-call controls.
Is the voice transcription private?
Completely. Dictation uses Apple's on-device speech engine built into macOS — audio never leaves your Mac, it works offline, and finished phrases are typed into whatever field has focus.
What exactly does the Tray keep?
What you copy — text, links, colors, images, files — plus screenshots and screen recordings as you take them, auto-tagged by type. It holds your latest 60 clips: pin what matters and it never expires; the rest rolls off.
How is NotchBay different from Alcove, NotchNook and Boring Notch?
Alcove focuses on ambient live activities, NotchNook on widgets and its shelf, Boring Notch on free music controls. NotchBay covers live activities and adds a productivity layer none of them have: call controls, a tray with OCR, and dictation — see the comparison table above.
Can it show AirPods battery on my Mac?
Yes — connect AirPods and the notch shows both buds with a charge ring and per-bud + case percentages. Mice, keyboards and headphones get a connect chip too.
Does NotchBay show anything on the lock screen?
Yes — media controls and weather stay available while your Mac is locked, so you can skip a track without unlocking.
Is it safe to install?
NotchBay is signed with an Apple Developer ID, and each permission (calendar, microphone, screen recording) is requested only when the feature that needs it is turned on. Everything runs locally — no accounts, no cloud.
Which Macs are supported?
Any Mac on macOS 26 Tahoe or later. A physical notch isn't required — you'll get the floating island instead.
Pricing

One price.
Yours forever.

Early access
Free

while in early access — $19 one-time at launch

  • Every feature, from day one — nothing gated
  • All updates included, no subscription ever
  • Native Swift app, Developer ID signed
  • Everything runs on your Mac — no accounts, no cloud
Get early access

macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later · In active development

Look up.
It's all right there.

Download for macOS