boringNotch
Puts media controls, now-playing artwork and shortcuts into the notch area on hover.
What it does
boringNotch expands the notch on hover into a panel with now-playing controls and artwork, battery and charging state, a file drop shelf, and quick toggles — Dynamic Island behaviour, on a Mac.
It turns dead screen area into something functional, which is the entire argument for it.
Notes
- Free and open source, installed from the project’s own tap (
theboredteam/boring-notch). - Needs Accessibility and, for media detection, some additional permissions.
- It draws over the menu bar region, so it can interact oddly with menu bar managers like Vanilla. Configure one, then the other.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| NotchNook | Freemium | The most polished take on the same idea |
| Alcove | Freemium | Lighter, focused on media and AirDrop |
| TopNotch | Freemium | Solves the opposite problem by blacking the notch out |
Install
brew tap theboredteam/boring-notch
brew install --cask theboredteam/boring-notch/boring-notch