José Adorno/BGR

Recent MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops feature a notch at the top of the display. Unlike the one available from the iPhone X to the iPhone 14, which gained a few interactive experiences thanks to Live Activities, Apple has made this cutout more of a design choice than a feature. Fortunately, developers decided to experiment with the MacBook notch by releasing apps that help you boost productivity, control your music, or just have some fun.

While the MacBook's notch seems even more left behind by Apple than the company's Touch Bar, this notch also represents a bigger change on the MacBook and the Mac ecosystem, as in late 2021, Apple redesigned the MacBook Pro with an all-new industrial look. Besides the notch, it added several new ports, including an SD card slot, an HDMI port, and MagSafe support, while later doing the same with the MacBook Air in mid-2022.

However, more than just improving the appearance of these computers, the most important change was the addition of Apple's own silicon, which makes the company's processors much more powerful while being incredibly power-efficient. Owning a MacBook Pro M1 Pro for almost five years now, these are some of the most interesting notch apps I've found over the years, and that you might like too.

Bartender is one of the most well-known utility Mac apps, as it helps users to handle the menu bar with ease. It's highly customizable, from styling to different presets and how users might group multiple menu bar items. This is why, in May, the developers behind the app decided to expand their product offering with Bartender Pro, which also takes over the MacBook's notch, transforming it into a very useful Dynamic Island.

With Bartender Pro, users get access to Top Shelf, a new way to interact with the notch that lets them store files, manage the clipboard, use AirDrop, see widgets, and other Live Activities, just like people would on the iPhone. Bartender Pro also includes audio controls, upcoming calendar appointments, and more. If you're running Claude Code or Codex sessions, want to take a look at a timer, or other ongoing activities, you can just expand the bar by a notch and get a full insight into what's going on.

For Bartender Pro, the company decided to offer it at a $15/yearly subscription, in addition to access to Bartender 6 and all future upgrades. Customers can also choose to make a one-time purchase as part of its Mega Supporter offering.

NotchBox is another productivity tool to help you get the most out of the MacBook's notch. Among its top features, users can take advantage of music playback control, quick tools, file handling, and more. What makes this app so interesting is that whenever you're playing a song, Notchbox makes the album art present with beat-synced animations, so you can tell exactly what's playing. It also supports several streaming platforms, like the Apple Music and Spotify apps, as well as these and other services through Safari.

Users can also drag files into the notch while they're working on something else, then return to them later to arrange them in a document, presentation, or e-mail. Some of the quick tools available with NotchBox include the ability to find information without switching windows, a smart timer so you can focus on your work but also take short breaks to become even more productive, a camera mirror to check how you look, network speeds with your Wi-Fi signal and speed charts, a clipboard manager, app shortcuts with just one click, and even other reminders like drinking water every once in a while, some quick notes, and even saved links.

What makes NotchBox unique is its cool UI, which integrates with your life by helping you track your habits, workouts, and even a countdown to important dates. The app is free to download but requires an in-app purchase to unlock all the features.

MediaMate is a simpler, yet very stylish option for turning your MacBook notch into a useful tool. With this software, you can get visual information about the songs playing and your Mac's volume, as well as display and keyboard brightness. Users can choose among four themes (iOS, circular, notch, and classic) to get the most out of their preferred version. The app blends into your desktop, so you can get the important information at a glance.

According to the developer, users can add shortcuts to control the keyboard and to access several other settings, customizing the app to their needs. The app also understands when a Focus Mode is actively hiding its UI so you don't get disturbed when working, studying, or doing another important task.

MediaMate also has hundreds of good reviews, and unlike other software, the developer decided to make it available for as much as you think it's fair to pay. There's a demo mode that lets users check the app before deciding to purchase it. Besides that, while Apple is about to phase out Intel Macs, MediaMate only requires macOS 13, meaning Intel and Apple Silicon Macs are supported.

Do you remember the early days of the iPhone App Store, where we would drink a fake glass of beer, light up a fake lighter, and people would even pay a ton of money for an app just to show they had enough money to spend? This was a time when apps did not necessarily need to be useful but could just be playful. NotchMeister, developed by The Iconfactory, brings this playfulness to the MacBook's notch. Basically, users can choose from eight different interactions, so whenever you're bored or just want to take a break from a dull task, you can interact with your notch.

The effects available for your MacBook notch include Glow (a light cursor), Cylon, Plasma Leak, Festive (which makes your Mac celebrate holidays in binary), Nano Radar (to help you see where your mouse has gone), Expando, Fusion Dice, and AutoToot. Each of these interactions promises to bring you a little joy during your day, while taking just a little of the system's and visual resources.

NotchMeister is also available for MacBook models without a notch, and the developer says that these Mac users should be warned that "side effects of this feature include making you want a new Mac even more than you already do." 

Last but not least, another notch app for your MacBook Pro is DynamicLake. As the name suggests, it transforms Apple's boring notch into a proper Dynamic Island. The developer released the app a couple of years ago and continues to deliver regular updates to this productivity software. The focus of DynamicLake is to offer HUD controls on the notch, a solid integration between the software and the calendar, support for music apps control, interactive notifications, and a few other nice-to-have features, like file conversion and a shareable link generator.

In February, the app received a major update that completely reshaped how users receive notifications from iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, and email. So, instead of using WhatsApp, users can manage their chats within the Dynamic Island. Among the benefits, the developer says it means you'll have fewer apps running at the same time while keeping everything available in the same interface.

The app also improved its drag-and-drop feature to support converting multiple files at once. Users can convert videos, images, and PDFs into different formats. The developer also teases that a big update is coming to "push the boundaries of what a Dynamic Island for Mac can truly become." The app is available as a one-time purchase, and users can choose how much to pay, as long as they pay at least $13.99. The purchase gives users three licenses to use on different Macs simultaneously.