The Dynamic Island has been one of many features I’ve enjoyed since upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro Max last year. Replacing the notch that first appeared in the iPhone X in 2017, the animated pill lets me control my podcasts, notifies me when battery life is low, and much more. When I found out about an app that can add a Dynamic Island to my MacBook, I was trepidatious, but after a day, I was sold.
Called NotchNook, the app offers a two-day free trial, after which you’ll need to pay a $25 lifetime license or a $3 per month subscription fee. The app instantly surrounds your MacBook’s notch with a customizable menu. However, if you have a Mac that doesn’t feature a notch, such as an M3 iMac, the app will appear as a small menu where the Notch usually is. If you use Spotify or Apple Music, you can launch either app, and once you play a track, it will automatically show in the notch exactly as it does within an iPhone’s Dynamic Island. There’s also a fun ‘Mirror’ feature, which switches on your Mac’s FaceTime camera so you can give yourself a glow-up before you jump into a video call.
What I’m really impressed by from NotchNook, though, is the ‘Tray’ feature. Say you’ve got a few photos within a folder that you want to move to Safari, Apple’s web browser. You can drag these files to NotchNook to the ‘Tray’, and once you return to Safari, it’s a simple matter of dragging and dropping the files from the notch and onto a web page. It’s a fantastic way of using this Dynamic Island thanks to NotchNook, and makes me hope that Apple implements something similar for iPhones in the future.
Although I’ve only been using NotchNook for the past 24 hours, it’s already changed how I use my MacBook Pro.
There’s a Notch for that
Some of the iMore team have fallen out of favor with the Dynamic Island on the best iPhones. Yet, as mentioned above, I’ve been a constant fan of it since upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The last time I was so enamored with an app was Whisky, and before that, MacWhisper. NotchNook is already impressing me, but looking through its settings, there’s even more you can do — as well as hints of what’s coming in future updates.
When you go to the ‘Nook’ section, you’re given the option to enable other apps and resize them so you can fit others within the Dynamic Island. For example, when I hover the mouse over the notch, the Dynamic Island appears and will show today’s Calendar entries, a Now Playing widget, and the Mirror toggle. If I wish, I can also swap the Now Playing widget for a Shortcuts one instead. This means I can add a ChatGPT shortcut and enable OpenAI’s assistant within NotchNook instantly.
If you swipe to the end of these toggles, some widgets show as unavailable, such as Apple Notes, To-do’s, and a Quick App launcher, with a note saying that these will be enabled in the near future. I use Notes all the time, so the ability to launch it within the Notch anywhere on my MacBook is very enticing.
Finally, there’s a Live Activities option in NotchNook’s settings. This feature shows apps on the Dynamic Island that are running in the background, such as Music and UberEats. NotchNoo applies the same method to your Mac’s notch. Music playing will show here as you play a game or browse the web on your Mac, as well as upcoming events from the Calendar app. Again, it’s a very useful feature that makes use of my MacBook Pro’s static notch after owning the laptop for three years.
Got a Mac with a Notch? Buy this now
I could go on, but you likely know my feelings about NookNotch already. It is a fantastic app that, despite its small set of features, is already helping me manage files, play music, and check on Calendar entries. It’s so well designed that it seamlessly fits with macOS and my Mac’s notch without being out of place. I’ve already ensured that, whenever I need to restart my Mac, NookNotch will start up as soon as macOS allows it to.
I’m excited to see future updates to the app that it’s already alluded to, such as Notes and the Quick Apps launcher. For now, though, I’m more than happy to pay the $25 lifetime fee to transform my notch into something useful, and you should too.
