How to hide the MacBook notch (and when to use it instead)

Since 2021, MacBook Pros, and since 2022 MacBook Airs, have a notch at the top of the screen for the camera. macOS puts the menu bar on either side of it, which works fine, but some people would rather not see it. Here are the ways to hide it, from simplest to most thorough.

1. Make the top of the screen black

The notch disappears when everything around it is black. You can get there two ways:

• Pick a wallpaper with a black band at the top. Many dark wallpapers work; the notch blends into the bar.
• Use a free app such as TopNotch. It adds a black strip to the top of your current wallpaper, including dynamic wallpapers, so the menu bar looks black and the notch vanishes. Your menu bar items stay where they are.

This is purely visual: the screen area beside the notch is still the menu bar.

2. Scale an app to fit below the camera

macOS has a built-in option for apps that put things behind the notch:

1. Quit the app.
2. In Finder, open Applications and select the app.
3. Choose File → Get Info.
4. Turn on Scale to fit below built-in camera.

When that app is open, macOS draws black bars on both sides of the notch and fits everything, menu bar included, below the camera. Two things to know: while the app is running, the setting applies to everything on that screen, and the option disappears for apps that already support the notch properly.

3. Use full screen

In a full-screen app, macOS hides the menu bar and the area around the notch turns black, so the notch disappears into it. Move the pointer to the top to bring the menu bar back.

Or put the notch to work

If the notch bothers you because it’s wasted space, another option is to make it useful. Notch apps turn it into a place for music, files, timers and alerts. With NotchMind, for example, the notch stays solid black when nothing is happening, so it looks just like the camera housing, and you can hide its activities in full-screen apps so nothing appears over a video.

If you do use one, pick a finish that matches how you want it to look: Black blends into the hardware, while glass finishes show your wallpaper through it. See how to change the notch’s finish.

Which should you pick?

• You just never want to see it: a black wallpaper band or TopNotch.
• One app hides its menus behind the notch: Scale to fit below built-in camera for that app.
• You’re watching or presenting: full screen.
• You’d like the space to earn its keep: a notch app.