Your notch, put to work.
Like the Dynamic Island on iPhone, but for your MacBook's notch. When something's going on, the notch stretches out and shows it. When nothing is, it tucks back in and you forget it's there. It was called Dynamic Notch until version 1.4.0.
What the notch shows
- Whatever is playing, music, podcasts or video, with the album art and play, pause and skip. Two apps playing at once? Switch between them
- Lyrics for songs that have timed lyrics: the line being sung shows under the song, in the music view and on Home
- Music from every app, or only the ones you pick, like Spotify, so a video in your browser stays out of the notch
- Timers, Pomodoro focus sessions and a stopwatch, right next to the camera
- Calls on FaceTime, Zoom, Meet, Teams and any app using the mic, with how long you've been on and a button to mute your mic. Hang up Zoom, Teams, Webex and WhatsApp calls right from the notch
- Your memory and CPU, if you switch on Stats, whenever nothing else is going on
- Your next calendar event, plus a heads up 5 minutes before it starts
- Volume and brightness when you change them
- Your charger plugging in, and low battery at 20% and 10%
- Downloads, if you switch it on: how far along a browser download is, with Stop and Show in Finder, then the finished file, ready to drag straight out
- Allow or Deny requests from Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI, Antigravity and Cursor right from the notch, if you switch them on. Long requests scroll so you can read all of it
Click it for Home
- Home in up to three sections side by side. Whatever's live comes first, a call or music, each with its own buttons (Hang Up, mute, play), then your next event, 5, 10 and 15 minute timers with a Focus session, and your Shortcuts. A running timer or stopwatch sits on top of the timer buttons
- Your own shortcuts beside Home: up to three, Files and Clipboard to start. Hold any tile in the grid to change them, and Files shows how many things are in your Tray
- Tray, a scratch space for up to 30 files, links or whole document windows (drag one by its title bar). Drag them back out when you're ready. It empties when the app quits, except files you pin, and your originals aren't touched
- Clipboard, the last 20 things you copied. Click one to copy it again, search as you type (Return copies the first match), and pin up to 20 to keep them at the front, even after you quit
- Drop files on the notch to AirDrop them straight from there
- Tap your next event to see the month, and click any day in it to see what's on
Everything in one grid
- The grid button shows every feature as a tile, five to a row, each with a shortcut: ⌃⌥ and a letter, like ⌃⌥R for the timer. Scroll for more pages
- Stats for memory, CPU, disk space and network speed (⌃⌥P)
- Timer, Pomodoro and Stopwatch, any length you like
- Calendar and today's Reminders, ticked off from the notch
- Scratchpad for notes with formatting (bold, italic, underline, font size, colours), saved as you type
- Camera Mirror to check how you look before a call, with a button to turn the camera off
- Keep Awake to stop your Mac from going to sleep
Yours to shape
- Elongated layout: Home stretches across the top of the screen in one long row, with music you can scrub, a camera mirror, your week with one click Join for calls, notes, a wheel timer and a to-do list
- Small, medium or large, width and thickness sliders and a Pitch black look
- Glass: a smoked glass notch that eases into frosted glass along the bottom, with springier motion and a slider for how dark it stays. Try it in Settings above
- Show on Lock Screen keeps a running timer, your music or charging beside the camera while your Mac is locked. It's off until you turn it on
- Swipe sideways on the music to skip songs. Pull down on the notch to open it, push up to close
- Right-click for quick actions: pause a timer, skip a song, mute your mic, keep your Mac awake
- Turn each part on or off. Open it with a click or just by resting your pointer on it, and open at login
- Got a second screen? It gets a notch of its own at the top. Pick the screen it lives on, or show it on all of them
Private, and free
- No account, and nothing about what you do is tracked. It goes online for three things only: a daily check for a new version, which you can turn off; lyrics, which sends lrclib.net just the song's name, artist, album and length, also yours to turn off; and one anonymous count a day (a random, hashed ID with the app and macOS versions) so we know how many Macs use it
- Clipboard history stays in memory, except clips you pin, and passwords from password managers are skipped
- It asks for the camera only when you open Mirror, and your calendar or reminders only when you connect them
- It updates itself: an Update button shows up when you open the notch, then shrinks to a round download button beside the grid. Every update is signed and checked before it installs, and your permissions are kept
- Free software under the GNU GPL, version 3 or later. All the code is public on GitHub
Install it in a minute.
The easy way, if you use Homebrew:
brew install --cask shandilyaswagat/tap/dynamic-ledge
Or download it yourself. The app isn't registered with Apple yet, so the first time you open it your Mac will warn you. You only deal with this once.
- Download DynamicNotch.dmg and open it.
- Drag Dynamic Ledge into your Applications folder.
- Open it from Applications. Your Mac says it couldn't open it: hit Done.
- Allow it in System Settings, Privacy & Security: scroll down, click Open Anyway, confirm with your password or Touch ID.
- Done. The notch says hi with a little wave, and a capsule icon shows up in your menu bar.
Comfortable with Terminal? After dragging it into Applications, run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Dynamic Ledge.app" and open it like normal.
Questions.
What people ask about Dynamic Ledge.
I installed it and nothing's showing up.
That's on purpose. It stays hidden until there's something to show, like music or a timer. Hover over the notch and it puffs out a little. Click it to open it.
My Mac doesn't have a notch.
It still works. Screens without a notch get one of their own at the top centre. It stays out of sight until something's going on, or until you rest your pointer on its spot.
Why the new name?
Dynamic Notch is now Dynamic Ledge. It's the same app. Updating keeps all your settings, and the app renames itself in your Applications folder the first time it opens. With Homebrew, existing installs move across on their own.
My music isn't showing.
Play something and give it a second. The app uses a hidden part of macOS to see what's playing. If Apple ever removes it in an update, music stops showing but everything else keeps working.
Is it safe?
All the code is public on GitHub under the GNU GPL. The app doesn't collect anything about you. It goes online only to check GitHub for a new version, to look up lyrics, and for one anonymous count a day (a random, hashed ID with the app and macOS versions, nothing else). The warning during install only shows because the app isn't registered with Apple yet.
Where do the lyrics come from?
From lrclib.net, a free lyrics library. Only the song's name, artist, album and length are sent. Songs without timed lyrics look just as before. Turn lyrics off in Settings, Activities.
Does it keep what I copy?
The last 20 bits of text, only while the app is running, unless you pin a clip: pinned clips (up to 20) are saved so they're still there after you quit. Anything a password manager marks as private is skipped. Turn off Clipboard in Settings and it stops watching right away.
How do I update it?
It updates itself. When a new version is out, an Update button shows up when you open the notch, then shrinks to a round download button beside the grid: click it, or go to Settings, About, and hit Install and Relaunch. Every update is checked before it installs. With Homebrew, brew upgrade works too.
How do I get rid of it?
Click the capsule icon in the menu bar, pick Quit Dynamic Ledge, then drag the app from Applications to the Trash.