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This clever app brings the dynamic iPhone island to MacBooks

Posted on by darion

If you’ve always loved the Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone and want to change up the default macOS interface, take a step forward. A little macOS app called “NotchNook” brings Dynamic Island from the iPhone to macOS, giving you a fully functional notch on your MacBooks. It basically transforms the notch on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro into Dynamic Island, and it’s well-optimized for the job. The app has some super cool animations and feels like a natural extension of macOS.

NotchNook App

Like the Dynamic Island, the NotchNook expands from the notch to show “Corner” tab that offers quick access to media controls, files, shortcuts, and other customizable widgets. For example, if you’re listening to Apple Music, the NotchNook app will show the media playback controls.

NotchNook app for macOS

It’s quite similar to the Now Playing live activity on the iPhone’s lock screen. When you hover your Mac over the live activity, you can also see additional information. The app also lets you customize the live activity and add other customizable widgets.

Customize the NotchNook Live Activities App

In addition to multimedia control, the app also allows you to add custom one-click shortcuts to speed up everyday tasks like adding a shortcut, like creating a WordPress document, linking photos or more. It makes it easier for me to launch my most frequently used shortcut or open a Google Doc with just one click. Trust me, it can save you a lot of time. The app also offers a handy Mirror option that will help you look your best during important video calls and meetings.

Customize your NotchNook app

There is also ““Tray” Card which allows you to drag and drop files and also use AirDrop option. Tray tab offers two sections- File tray and AirDop. You can easily add files to the file tray and then drop them into another app. I find this to be a great way to avoid cluttering up your desktop with files and increase multitasking.

File Tray and AirDrop Options in the NotchNook App

The NotchNook app also makes it easy to use AirDrop on your Mac. Instead of messing around with Finder menus to find the AirDrop option, you can use NotchNook’s AirDrop option to make things easier. As soon as you drop a file into NotchNook’s AirDrop area, the transfer will begin. This will bring up the standard macOS AirDrop spreadsheet, so you can choose which nearby Apple devices you want to share your files with.

AirDrop using the NotchNook app

The initial release had a few issues, but the team has ironed them out in the 1.2 update. The app will now show all the media you’re playing on your Mac in Dynamic Island. This includes YouTube videos, listening to music on SoundCloud, VLC Player, and even podcasts on Spotify. Dynamic Island will also automatically customize any widgets you add, so you can easily scroll to your music controls, Calendar, and more.

NotchNook App Compatibility

The NotchNook app is compatible with Macs running macOS 14.0 or later. It’s worth noting that the NotchNook app works on MacBooks with and without notches. If your Mac doesn’t have a notch, NookNotch can simulate it for you. You can customize it to look like a full notch or just a small black bar at the top center of the screen. The app will offer a nice handler with the exact same features.

How to download the NotchNook app

You can download the app from their website and it offers a 48-hour trial period. If you want to keep using the app, you can get it for a $3/month subscription or a one-time fee of $25. So if you always want to use Dynamic Island on your Mac, you should definitely check out this fun app.