NotchNook gives MacBooks their own dynamic island

Just like the Dynamic Island, the NotchNook expands from the notch, revealing a “Nook” with basic media controls (like Live Activity in iOS) and other customizable tools. Then there’s a “Tray” tab where you can drop files or apps; it’s like the macOS Dock, except the tray empties when you close the NotchNook.

You can access this feature by clicking on a tab that merges with the notch, or by swiping down on the trackpad when your mouse pointer is over it. Or you can set it to automatically descend when you hover your mouse over it.

NotchNook works on Macs with or without notches; for Macs without notches, you can customize the app to look like a full notch or simply appear as a small black bar in 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 sounds fun and unnecessary, but that’s the feeling it gives me anyway).

The app still needs some work — I couldn’t figure out how to remove files from the Tray tab, which becomes the default tab once you put something in it. Also, swiping left or right is supposed to be like pressing the next or previous song button, but that didn’t work for me. And it only seems to support certain media apps, like Apple Music, as the controls didn’t show up for other apps I tried. I also couldn’t figure out Lo.cafe’s privacy policy, and the developer hadn’t responded to my questions by the time of publication.

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