How to get a notch on a Mac without one
Notch apps aren't only for MacBooks. On a Mac mini, an iMac, a Mac Studio or an external display, several of them draw their own floating notch at the top of the screen. Here's which ones do, and how to set it up so it feels native.
The short answer
Install a notch app that draws a floating notch: a black, notch-shaped panel at the top centre of the screen that opens on hover, click or a keyboard shortcut. Several apps say on their own sites that they do this:
- NotchStack (ours)
- OmniNotch
- Notchy
- DynamicNotch
- Vibe Island
- Alcove, which uses a pill shape
Then pick which display it lives on, choose a size, and decide how it opens. The details are below.
Why you’d want a notch on a desktop Mac
On a MacBook, the notch is dead space that notch apps turn into a panel of quick tools. On a desktop Mac there’s no notch to reuse, but the idea still works.
One glance, no app switching. Glanceable things live one hover away instead of in separate windows or a crowded menu bar:
- the song that’s playing
- your next meeting
- today’s sales
- your AI usage limits
The same setup on every Mac. If you use a MacBook on the go and a Mac mini at your desk, your tools sit in the same spot on both.
It stays out of the way. A closed floating notch is small, roughly the size of a real one. It opens only when you ask.
Notched MacBooks include the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2021 on and the MacBook Air from 2022 on. Everything else needs a floating notch: Mac mini, iMac, Mac Studio, Mac Pro, older MacBooks, and any external display.
Notch apps that work without a notch
| App | What its site says | Price |
|---|---|---|
| NotchStack | Draws a floating notch at the top centre of the screen | €4.99 early bird, then €9.99 |
| OmniNotch | “Draws its own floating notch at the top of the screen” | $19.99 (sale $9.99) |
| Notchy | “No notch? Notchy floats the same island as a pill.” | Free |
| DynamicNotch | Supports “non-notched MacBooks, iMac, Mac mini, or external monitors” | Free, open source |
| Vibe Island | Shows “a compact floating bar” without a notch | $19.99 |
| Alcove | Added “a pill shape for notchless displays” | $14.99 |
Some popular apps don’t say they support it, or say they don’t:
- Atoll lists a “MacBook with a notch” in its requirements.
- Boring Notch’s README doesn’t mention Macs without a notch.
If you’re on a Mac mini or an iMac, start with the table above. For a full comparison of features, see the best Mac notch apps in 2026.
Setting it up well
The steps below use NotchStack’s settings, under Settings → Notch. Most good notch apps offer similar choices.
1. Choose the display
With more than one screen, decide where the notch lives. NotchStack’s Show the notch on setting has three options:
- Built-in notch, else main display: the default. On a MacBook it uses the real notch; at a desk it falls back to your main display.
- Main display: always the display you set as main in System Settings → Displays.
- Display with the pointer: the notch follows you to whichever screen your pointer is on.
The last option is handy with two large monitors. If you use a MacBook with the lid closed in clamshell mode, the first option does the right thing on its own.
2. Pick a size
A floating notch doesn’t have to match a MacBook’s. On a 27-inch or larger display, a slightly bigger panel is easier to read from a normal sitting distance. NotchStack offers Automatic, Small, Medium and Large. Automatic picks a size from your screen.
3. Decide how it opens
You have three ways to open it:
- Hover is the most natural. Set a short delay so it doesn’t open every time your pointer passes the top of the screen on the way to the menu bar.
- Click is better if you use the menu bar a lot and find hover too eager.
- A keyboard shortcut works from anywhere. In NotchStack it’s ⌃⌥⌘Space.
4. Watch the menu bar
A floating notch sits at the top centre, over the menu bar. On wide displays the menu bar rarely reaches the middle, so there’s no conflict. On a smaller display, with an app that has many menus, the last menu titles can run under the notch. If that happens, choose click-to-open, or move the notch to your larger display.
5. Full-screen apps
NotchStack’s notch stays available over full-screen apps, so your tools are still one hover away when you’re presenting or watching something. If you’d rather it stayed out of the way, closing it is enough. Closed, it’s just a small black shape.
What to put in a desktop notch
A floating notch shines with things you check often but don’t want a window for:
- Now Playing. Control music without hunting for the app.
- Calendar. Today’s events and what’s next.
- Timers. A focus session, or a countdown for a call.
- Clipboard history. Paste something you copied an hour ago.
- Revenue and AI limits. For founders and developers, the numbers you’d otherwise check in a browser tab.
- The closed notch. Even before you open it, NotchStack’s closed notch can show your music and timers, or your coding agent’s status next to today’s revenue.
Does it cost performance?
A well-made notch app should cost almost nothing when it’s closed. We measured NotchStack at 0% CPU with the notch closed, on a Mac mini (M4) with an optimised build. When you open a tool it uses a little while it draws, then settles.
If an app keeps your fans busy with the notch closed, something is redrawing when it doesn’t need to. Activity Monitor will show it.
Hiding a notch instead
Some people search for the opposite: they have a MacBook and want the notch to disappear. That’s a different problem. The usual trick is a wallpaper with a black strip along the top, so the menu bar and the notch blend into one black band. There are small apps that do this for you. A notch app, by contrast, makes the notch useful rather than invisible, and the two approaches can coexist: a black top strip makes a notch panel look even more like part of the hardware.
Common questions
Will it look like a real notch? Close enough. It’s a black shape at the top centre with rounded corners, and the good ones match the real notch’s curves. It won’t hide a camera, because there isn’t one there.
Can I use one on an external display while my MacBook is open? Yes. With NotchStack, choose Main display or Display with the pointer. With Built-in notch, else main display it stays in the MacBook’s real notch.
Do I need a specific macOS version? It depends on the app. NotchStack and OmniNotch need macOS 14, Alcove needs macOS 15, and DynamicNotch needs macOS 14.6.
Sources
App claims are quoted from each app’s own site, checked October 9, 2026:
NotchStack’s settings and the CPU figure are from our own app and measurements.