NotchMindIn macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple replaced the big volume and brightness square in the middle of the screen with a smaller indicator in the top-right corner, under Control Centre. Some people like that it stays out of the way. Others find it hard to see, especially with more than one display, where it appears on the active screen rather than the one you’re looking at.
macOS has no setting to move it back. These are the alternatives.
Apps that bring back the classic overlay
A few small apps, such as Hudlum and VolumeHUD, recreate the old centre-of-screen volume square alongside Apple’s new one. If you simply miss the old look, start there.
Apps that put it in the notch
On a MacBook with a notch, the top centre of the screen is where your eyes go anyway. Notch apps can show volume and brightness there, as a slim bar that grows out of the camera housing.
- MediaMate focuses on exactly this: new volume, brightness and keyboard backlight HUDs, with themes, plus Now Playing in the notch. Its store page said it wasn’t for sale when I checked on 4 October 2026.
- Alcove and Boring Notch include custom HUDs as part of a wider notch app.
- NotchMind, which I make, does too.
How it works in NotchMind
Press the volume or brightness keys and the change appears in the notch instead of the macOS indicator. You choose:
- Style: Standard, Compact, Minimal, Expanded Compact or Expanded Detailed.
- Indicator: a bar or a circle, in white, the level’s color or your accent color.
- How long it stays: separately for volume and brightness.
- Sound: the familiar volume click, or silence.
It needs the Accessibility permission to take over the keys, so the macOS indicator doesn’t appear as well. See volume and brightness in the notch.
Which should you pick?
- You miss the old square: an app that recreates it.
- You want it where you’re already looking: a notch app.
- You don’t mind Apple’s version: leave it; it’s the least work.