NotchMindThe Dynamic Island arrived on the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022: a black pill around the front camera that grows to show what’s happening, like music, a timer, a call or a delivery. MacBooks have had a notch around their camera since the 2021 MacBook Pro, so the question came up straight away: why doesn’t the Mac do the same?
Does macOS have a Dynamic Island?
No. macOS puts the menu bar on either side of the notch and leaves the notch itself empty. To get a Dynamic Island on a Mac, you use an app.
What a Mac Dynamic Island app does
The idea is the same as on the iPhone. The notch stays small until something happens, then grows to show it:
- Music: the artwork and a tiny equalizer while something plays, and the full player when you hover.
- Live activities: a timer counting down, a download filling up, a call running, an AirDrop sending.
- Short alerts: AirPods connecting, the charger plugged in, a drive ejected safely.
- A home of its own: open it with nothing happening and you get pages like weather, files or a calendar.
Because the notch is right where your eyes go when you look up, it’s a good place for things you want to glance at without switching apps.
Which apps do it
There are about a dozen now. The ones leaning hardest into the iPhone look are Alcove and DynamicLake Pro; others, like Droppy, OneNotch, NotchBay and NotchMind, which I make, use the island as a home for files, clipboard history, calls and more. Boring Notch and Atoll are free and open source. I compared ten of them, with prices and trials, in the best Mac notch apps in 2026.
What about Macs without a notch?
Several of these apps, including Droppy, DynamicLake Pro, OneNotch, NotchBay and NotchMind, show a floating island at the top centre of the screen on an external display or a Mac without a notch. It works, but it’s no longer hiding a camera, so it feels more like a widget than part of the hardware. If you mainly use an external monitor, try a couple before you buy.
When the island shows two things at once
What happens when music plays, a timer runs and a call starts at the same time depends on the app. In NotchMind each activity has a priority you can change, and the highest one shows while the others wait their turn. See activity priorities.