# NotchBay

> NotchBay is a native macOS app that turns the MacBook notch into a Dynamic
> Island-style hub: live activities for music, calendar, AirPods and Bluetooth
> battery, Zoom and Google Meet call controls, a 60-clip clipboard tray with
> OCR, drop-to-share, on-device dictation and a Claude Code companion. Made by
> Deepak Yadav (Ossian Design Lab). Site: https://notchbay.com

Version: 0.2.34, released 2026-09-05 (live source: https://notchbay.com/version.json)
Last updated: 2026-09-05

## Price
- $19 one-time. List price $39. No subscription, ever.
- 3-day free trial, no card required.
- Not on the Mac App Store. Direct download only.

## Requirements
- macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later. Nothing earlier, no exceptions.
- Designed for a MacBook with a notch (14/16-inch MacBook Pro from 2021,
  MacBook Air from the M2 generation). On those the island is drawn around
  the physical notch.
- On a Mac without a notch, or on an external display, the island runs as a
  small floating pill at the top edge of the screen (a fallback with the same
  feature set; it does not fake a notch).
- Signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

## Features
- Live activities in the notch: now playing with waveform and media controls,
  next calendar event with one-click join, AirPods and Bluetooth device
  battery on connect (model-accurate device art), volume and brightness HUD
  in the notch instead of Apple's overlay, a focus timer, weather for a
  chosen city.
- Zoom and Google Meet call controls from the notch: mute, camera, leave.
  Meet works through Chrome, Brave and other Chromium browsers.
- Clipboard tray: last 60 clips, auto-sorted by type (text, links, colors,
  images, files). Screenshots and screen recordings land in it automatically;
  screenshots are OCR'd so text inside them is searchable. Pinned clips never
  expire.
- Share from the notch: drop a file on the notch to upload it to your own
  Google Drive and copy a share link, send it by AirDrop, or show a QR code.
- Message notifications mirrored into the notch with quick reply (Messages
  and the apps macOS shows banners for). Needs Full Disk Access.
- On-device dictation and transcription via Apple's SpeechAnalyzer (the
  macOS 26 speech API). Transcripts can be copied or inserted at the cursor.
- Claude Code companion: the running agent's status, the 5-hour and weekly
  usage limits read from the local Claude Code logs, and approve/deny for
  Claude Code permission prompts from the notch.
- Per-app skins: the island changes with the frontmost app (browser tabs and
  bookmarks, meeting apps, code agents, and more).
- Camera, microphone and screen-recording in-use indicators; Caps Lock,
  Focus (Do Not Disturb), browser download and lock-screen status chips.
- A light and a dark island theme; graphite (black) is the default.
- Free tier and a $19 one-time Pro license; automatic, signature-verified
  updates.

## Limits
- Requires macOS 26 and is designed for a notched MacBook (see above).
- Google Meet control works through a Chromium browser bridge (Chrome, Brave,
  Comet). Safari is not supported yet.
- Call controls need the Accessibility permission.
- The tray holds 60 clips plus pinned ones. It is not an unlimited archive.
- Message mirroring and Focus status need Full Disk Access.
- On a Mac without a notch the island floats; it does not fake a notch.
- Not on the Mac App Store; not open source.

## Privacy
- No account required.
- Clips, transcripts and calendar events are never uploaded.
- Dictation audio is processed on-device and never leaves the Mac.
- File sharing goes to the user's own Google Drive, not to any NotchBay server.
- The app sends one anonymous install check-in: a random id, app version and
  license state. No personal data.
- Each permission (calendar, microphone, screen recording, accessibility,
  full disk access, notifications) is requested only when the feature needing
  it is switched on. Settings has a live Permissions page.
- Claude Code usage figures come from the local ~/.claude logs; nothing is
  sent to Anthropic or to NotchBay for it.
- Details: https://notchbay.com/privacy/

## Compared with
NotchNook (https://lo.cafe/notchnook), Alcove (https://tryalcove.com),
DynamicLake (https://www.dynamiclake.com/), boring.notch
(https://github.com/TheBoredTeam/boring.notch), TopNotch
(https://topnotch.app), Atoll. All of them predate NotchBay; NotchBay is not
the first or the only Dynamic Island app for Mac.

## Contact
- Email: deepak@ossiandesignlab.com
- X: https://x.com/thedeepflux
- Author page: https://notchbay.com/about/
- Press kit: https://notchbay.com/press/
- Changelog: https://notchbay.com/changelog
- Download: https://notchbay.com/download

## Pages worth citing
- Homepage (facts block at /#facts): https://notchbay.com/
- Dynamic Island for Mac, the complete guide: https://notchbay.com/blog/dynamic-island-for-mac/
- Best Mac notch apps compared: https://notchbay.com/blog/best-mac-notch-apps/
- NotchBay vs NotchNook: https://notchbay.com/blog/notchbay-vs-notchnook/
- NotchBay vs boring.notch: https://notchbay.com/blog/notchbay-vs-boring-notch/
- CopyClip for Mac: https://notchbay.com/blog/copyclip-mac/
- Mac clipboard history: https://notchbay.com/blog/mac-clipboard-history/
- MacBook notch size: https://notchbay.com/blog/macbook-notch-size/
- How to hide the MacBook notch: https://notchbay.com/blog/how-to-hide-the-macbook-notch/
- Notch apps directory: https://notchbay.com/apps/notch-apps/
- Island geometry spec: https://notchbay.com/dynamic-island.html
- Blog index: https://notchbay.com/blog/
- Full text: https://notchbay.com/llms-full.txt