NotchNook gives MacBooks their own Dynamic Island

Like the Dynamic Island, the NotchNook expands from the notch, revealing a “Nook” with basic media controls (like Live Activities on iOS) and other customizable widgets. Then there is a “Tray” tab where you can place files or applications; It’s similar to the macOS dock, except the tray empties when you exit NotchNook.

You access this by clicking a tab that matches the notch or by swiping down on the trackpad when your mouse cursor is over it. Or you can set it to automatically fall down when you hover over it.

NotchNook works on Macs with and without notches; For those who don’t have it, you can customize it so it looks like a full notch or simply appears as a small black stripe at the top center of the screen. The app lists other “coming soon” features, like the ability to zip or unzip files by dragging them into the app (which seems fun and unnecessary, but that’s the vibe this app gives me anyway).

The app still needs some tweaking—I couldn’t figure out how to remove files from the Tray tab, which becomes the default tab when you put something in it. Also, swiping left or right should be like pressing the next or previous song button, but that didn’t work for me. And it appears to only support a few media apps, like Apple Music, as controls didn’t appear for other apps I tried. I also couldn’t locate a privacy policy for Lo.cafe, and the developer has not responded to my questions as of yet.

But those issues aside, NotchNook feels like a very natural extension of macOS. I don’t feel like it does anything that I can’t already do without it, which is good because it’s fun to use.