--- title: "What can you do with the MacBook notch? — Memory Notch" url: https://memorynotch.app/blog/macbook-notch-uses/ --- MEMORY NOTCH BLOG # What can you do with the MacBook notch? Hide it, stop it eating menu bar icons, turn it into a Dynamic Island, or record from it. The MacBook notch options, built in and from apps. ON THIS PAGE 01The short answer02Why does the MacBook have a notch?03How to hide the MacBook notch04How to stop the notch hiding menu bar icons05How to turn the notch into a Dynamic Island06How to record from the notch07Frequently asked questions08Sources09Related posts [Open the live demo ↗](https://memorynotch.app/#live-demo) Published November 9, 2026 · By [Mahmoud Halat](https://memorynotch.app/about/#mahmoud-halat) ## The short answer You can do four things with the MacBook notch: hide it, stop it covering menu bar icons, turn it into a Dynamic Island-style panel, or use it to start and watch a recording. - **Hide it:** use a scaled resolution that moves the menu bar below the camera, or a free app such as TopNotch. - **Get your menu bar icons back:** use a menu bar manager such as Ice (free) or Bartender (paid). - **Make it useful:** a notch app such as NotchNook, Boring Notch or Droppy adds music, timers and a file shelf. - **Record from it:** Memory Notch, our app, records a call or talk from the notch with a live transcript. Checked November 9, 2026, on Apple Support and on each app’s own site, App Store page or GitHub repository. ## Why does the MacBook have a notch? The notch holds the camera. Apple’s support pages describe it as the camera housing on the MacBook Air with Liquid Retina display and the MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display. The screen runs up either side of it, and macOS puts the menu bar there. So you get a little more screen, and lose the middle of the menu bar. ## How to hide the MacBook notch There are three ways, from narrowest to widest. ### Per app: Scale to fit below built-in camera macOS has a per-app setting for apps whose menus would sit behind the camera. Apple’s steps: 1. Quit the app. 2. In the Finder, open Applications. 3. Select the app, then choose File > Get Info (⌘I). 4. Select “Scale to fit below built-in camera”. Apple notes that while that app is open, all apps that share the same space also appear below the camera. The option goes away once the developer updates the app for the notch, so many apps won’t show it. ### The whole screen: a scaled resolution In System Settings > Displays, turn on “Show all resolutions”. (On recent macOS versions, guides say to choose Advanced and “Show resolutions as list” first.) The longer list includes 16:10 options that move the menu bar below the camera, so the notch sits in a black band. On a 14-inch MacBook Pro, a Japanese Mac guide picks 1512 × 945 in place of the default 1512 × 982, or 1800 × 1125 for more room. This comes from third-party guides, not Apple, and the exact numbers differ between models. Check the list on your own Mac. You lose a thin strip of screen. ### An app: TopNotch TopNotch is free, from the team behind CleanShot. It turns the strip around the notch black, so the notch blends into the menu bar while you keep the full screen. It works with Dynamic Desktop wallpapers and across displays and Spaces, and needs macOS 11 or later. ## How to stop the notch hiding menu bar icons When the menu bar fills up, icons can end up behind the notch, where you can’t see or click them. Menu bar managers fix this by hiding the icons you don’t need and showing the rest on demand. - **Ice** is free and open source (GPL-3.0), with about 30,000 GitHub stars, and needs macOS 14 or later. It can show hidden icons in a separate bar, which its README suggests for MacBooks with a notch. Its last stable release is 0.11.12, from October 29, 2024; a 0.11.13 development build followed in September 2025. - **Bartender** is paid, with a 4-week trial. Its “Beat the notch” feature hides items the notch would cover, and you can bring them back with a click or a hotkey. Bartender 7 is a one-time purchase; its site loads prices dynamically, so we couldn’t confirm the figure. ## How to turn the notch into a Dynamic Island Notch apps draw a panel around the notch that grows to show music, timers, charging, notifications or a file shelf. The main ones: - **NotchNook:** the broadest set of widgets. Pro is $19 once or $3 a month. - **Boring Notch:** free and open source. - **Droppy:** $9.99 once, with a file tray, clipboard and extensions. - **Alcove** and **DynamicLake Pro:** the closest to the iPhone look, both one-time purchases. - **NotchDrop:** a free file shelf, nothing else. Our [best Mac notch apps](https://memorynotch.app/blog/best-notch-apps-mac/) roundup compares ten of them on price, macOS version and Macs without a notch. [Dynamic Island for Mac](https://memorynotch.app/blog/dynamic-island-mac/) covers what each one shows, and [NotchNook alternatives](https://memorynotch.app/blog/notchnook-alternatives/) sorts them by reason to switch. ## How to record from the notch Memory Notch puts a recorder in the notch. Click it and start recording. The panel shows a live transcript with numbered speaker labels. Fold it away and the recording continues, with an optional glow so you know it’s still running. - **Both sides of a call:** it records your microphone and the Mac’s audio, with no bot joining the meeting. - **On the Mac:** on-device speech models write the transcript, and recording works offline. - **Plain files:** audio as `.m4a`, a transcript and a Markdown note per recording, in `~/memory`. - **Dictation too:** double-tap ⌘ in any app to [dictate a phrase](https://memorynotch.app/dictation/). It’s free for recordings up to five minutes, then $79 once for unlimited length on up to five of your own Macs and PCs. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 26 or later. On a display without a notch, it appears as a capsule below the menu bar. For tips on recording a room rather than a call, see [recording in-person meetings](https://memorynotch.app/blog/record-in-person-meetings/). The [homepage](https://memorynotch.app/) has a demo, and the [features page](https://memorynotch.app/features/) lists what it does and doesn’t do. ## Frequently asked questions Can you turn off the notch on a MacBook? Not as hardware, since it holds the camera. You can hide it: pick a scaled resolution that moves the menu bar below the camera, use the per-app “Scale to fit below built-in camera” setting, or use a free app like TopNotch that blackens the menu bar around it. Does the notch hide menu bar icons? It can. When the menu bar fills up, icons can end up behind the notch. Ice, which is free, and Bartender, which is paid, let you hide the icons you don’t need and reach the rest. What is the best app for the MacBook notch? It depends on the job. NotchNook has the most features, Boring Notch is the best free option, TopNotch hides the notch, and Memory Notch records and transcribes. Our roundup compares ten apps. Do notch apps work on Macs without a notch? Some do. NotchNook, Droppy and DynamicLake Pro say they support Macs without a notch, and Memory Notch shows as a capsule below the menu bar. Atoll lists a notch MacBook as a requirement. ## Sources - [Apple Support: How to adjust an app’s settings to appear below the camera area](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102125) - [MacRumors Forums: Custom scaled resolution for the new MacBook Pro 14](https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/custom-scaled-resolution-for-the-new-macbook-pro-14.2337621/) - [Getnavi: hiding the MacBook notch with a 1512 × 945 resolution (Japanese)](https://getnavi.jp/digital/890135/) - [TopNotch](https://topnotch.app/) - [Ice on GitHub](https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice) - [Bartender](https://www.macbartender.com/) - [NotchNook, lo.cafe](https://lo.cafe/notchnook) - [Boring Notch on GitHub](https://github.com/TheBoredTeam/boring.notch) - [Droppy](https://getdroppy.app/) - [Alcove](https://tryalcove.com/) - [DynamicLake Pro on Gumroad](https://avirok1.gumroad.com/l/nyyfw) - [NotchDrop on the Mac App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notchdrop/id6529528324?mt=12) - [Atoll on GitHub](https://github.com/Ebullioscopic/Atoll) - [Memory Notch features](https://memorynotch.app/features/) ## Related posts - [Best Mac notch apps in 2026, compared](https://memorynotch.app/blog/best-notch-apps-mac/) - [Dynamic Island for Mac: the apps that add one](https://memorynotch.app/blog/dynamic-island-mac/) - [NotchNook alternatives, by why you’d switch](https://memorynotch.app/blog/notchnook-alternatives/) - [Record and transcribe an in-person meeting](https://memorynotch.app/blog/record-in-person-meetings/) - [Memory Notch features](https://memorynotch.app/features/) [Download Memory Notch](https://memorynotch.app/get/) · [More from the blog](https://memorynotch.app/blog/)