MEMORY NOTCH BLOG

Dynamic Island for Mac: the apps that add one

macOS has no Dynamic Island, but apps add one to the notch. What each shows, from music and timers to a file shelf and a live transcript.

Published November 9, 2026 · By Mahmoud Halat

The short answer

macOS doesn’t have a Dynamic Island. The notch on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro is just a black cut-out for the camera. To get an iPhone-style live area there, you need an app.

The main ones are NotchNook, Alcove, DynamicLake Pro, Droppy, Boring Notch and Atoll. They differ in what they show: music, timers, charging, notifications, a file shelf, or a recording in progress.

Memory Notch, our app, does one of those jobs: it shows a recording and its live transcript in the notch.

Checked November 9, 2026, on each app’s own site, Gumroad page or GitHub repository.

What is a Dynamic Island on a Mac?

On the iPhone, the Dynamic Island is the pill at the top of the screen that grows to show what’s happening: a song, a timer, a call, a delivery. Apple calls those updates Live Activities.

A Mac “Dynamic Island” app copies the idea. The black area around the notch becomes a panel that stays small most of the time, shows a short status when something changes, and opens when you hover or click. Because the notch is already black, the panel looks as if it comes out of the hardware.

These apps draw their own window at the top of the screen. They don’t use Apple’s Live Activities system, so each one decides for itself what it can show.

Which live activities do the apps show?

The table lists what each vendor says its app shows. A blank means the vendor doesn’t list it, not that it’s impossible.

App	Music	Timers	Battery or charging	Notifications	File shelf	Calendar	Recording
NotchNook	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes
Alcove				Yes
DynamicLake Pro	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Droppy	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes	Screen recording
Boring Notch	Yes				Yes	Yes
Atoll	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	Screen recording indicator
Memory Notch							Audio, with a live transcript

Here is what each one does, in a sentence or two:

NotchNook: music controls, a calendar with join buttons for video calls, timers and Pomodoro, a tray with AirDrop, and live activities. Pro is $19 once or $3 a month; Classic is $15 once or $2 a month.
Alcove: live activities, instant notifications, swipe gestures, custom HUDs and lock screen widgets. $12.99 once, macOS 15 or later.
DynamicLake Pro: notifications, calls, AirDrop, a timer, battery and calendar alerts, volume and brightness, music, and a file converter. $13.99 once on its Gumroad page.
Droppy: live activities, a file tray, a clipboard manager, a floating music player, calendar, weather, Pomodoro, screen recording and meeting controls. $9.99 once.
Boring Notch: music with a visualizer, calendar, a file shelf with AirDrop, and a replacement for the volume and brightness pop-ups. Free and open source.
Atoll: media controls and live activities for playback, Focus, screen recording, privacy indicators, downloads (in beta) and charging, plus system stats and timers. Free and open source.

Prices and macOS versions for all of these are in our best Mac notch apps roundup.

Media and music

Music is the most common activity: NotchNook, DynamicLake Pro, Droppy, Boring Notch and Atoll all show it. Alcove’s site lists live activities but doesn’t name music. When a song plays, the notch shows the artwork and a small waveform; open it and you get play, pause and skip. Boring Notch began as exactly this. MediaMate, a smaller app at €6.99, does only this part: it replaces the volume and brightness pop-ups and adds a Now Playing panel that can sit inside the notch.

Timers, charging and alerts

Timers and charging are the classic iPhone live activities. NotchNook, Droppy and Atoll show timers. DynamicLake Pro and Atoll show battery or charging status. Alcove and DynamicLake Pro push notifications into the island, which is closest to how the iPhone behaves.

A file shelf

This one has no iPhone equivalent. You drag a file to the notch, it waits there, and you drag it out later or send it with AirDrop. NotchNook, Droppy, DynamicLake Pro and Boring Notch all have one. NotchDrop, free on the Mac App Store, does nothing else.

A live recording in the notch

A recording is a natural live activity: it has a start, a running time, and something to show while it runs. Atoll and Droppy show that a screen recording is happening. Droppy can also record the screen itself.

Memory Notch puts an audio recording there. Click the notch to start. The panel shows the timer and the transcript as it’s written, with numbered speaker labels. Close the panel and a compact tab keeps the recording status in view. Turn on “Glow while recording” for a halo around the notch, so you can tell at a glance that it’s still going.

What sits behind that:

It records both sides of a call. It captures your microphone and the Mac’s audio, with no bot joining the meeting. System audio needs Screen Recording permission.
It transcribes on the Mac. On-device speech models write the transcript, and recording works offline.
It keeps plain files. Each recording is saved as .m4a audio, a transcript and a Markdown note in ~/memory.
It also does dictation. Double-tap ⌘ in any app, say a phrase, and it’s pasted where you’re typing. See dictation.

It’s free for recordings up to five minutes, then $79 once for unlimited length. It needs an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 26 or later. A notch is optional: without one it shows as a capsule below the menu bar.

It won’t replace a widget app. It shows no music, timers or calendar. If you run it beside one, test that the two don’t overlap at the notch. Our post on bot-free AI note takers covers recording calls without a bot in more depth.

Do you need a notch for a Dynamic Island app?

Not always. NotchNook says it works on Macs without a notch and on external displays. Droppy says the same for iMacs and external monitors. DynamicLake Pro’s Gumroad page says it supports MacBooks with and without a notch. Memory Notch shows as a capsule below the menu bar. Atoll lists a notch MacBook as a requirement. Alcove and Boring Notch don’t say.

If you’d rather the notch disappeared altogether, see what you can do with the MacBook notch.

Frequently asked questions

Does macOS have a Dynamic Island?

No. macOS has no Dynamic Island and no Live Activities in the notch. Apps such as NotchNook, Alcove, DynamicLake Pro, Droppy, Boring Notch and Atoll draw their own panel around the notch to imitate it.

What is the best free Dynamic Island app for Mac?

Boring Notch and Atoll are both free and open source under GPL-3.0, and both need macOS 14 or later. Atoll adds system stats and more live activities; Boring Notch focuses on music, calendar and a file shelf.

Can the Mac notch show a recording in progress?

Yes, with an app. Memory Notch shows an audio recording, its timer and a live transcript in the notch, and can glow while the panel is closed. Atoll and Droppy show screen recording status.

Is NotchNook a Dynamic Island app?

Yes. NotchNook turns the notch into a panel with live activities, music controls, a calendar, timers and a file tray. If it isn’t the right fit, see our NotchNook alternatives post.

Sources

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