Apple gets a lot of flak for “stealing” the ideas of others, but from time to time, they come up with a truly original idea no one saw coming. Dynamic Island was one such idea: taking the notch, one of the most disliked features of Apple phones, and making it a feature was a stroke of genius. Now many phones copy the feature. Interestingly, it’s nowhere to be found for macOS even though the Pro lineup of laptops have had the notch for a few years now. That’s where NotchNook comes into play.
I love a good app that makes my life just a tiny bit easier, and macOS has a few of those. NotchNook has been making rounds lately, and for good reason: it looks great and offers rich functionality, with more on the way. Right now, it’s still in the early phase,
This is how it looks. The notch on your screen (by the way, the app works with every display, even notch-less ones) serves as a place for music, a calendar, and a tray for apps. In the future, notes are expected to be supported. For now though, the functionality is limited, which makes us question the asking price.
Right now it costs $3 per month or $25 for the lifetime license. The option to outright buy is welcome in our times of excessive subscriptions, but the price remains high, especially since many features are still being worked on. But even a few months ago, the price used to be much higher: $40! It’s great to see that the developers are listening to people and adjusting the price. Also, the app went from a one-hour trial to 15 days, which is a massive improvement again.
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In use, I immediately got hooked. The notch makes so much sense now, and it even allowed me to stop using some of the other apps I liked, like NepTunes for media control and Calendr for calendars. Thanks to NotchNook, I can always see what’s playing, as well as check important dates or chuck some files for later. It allows for customization and has some neat animations. I can add my shortcuts and have a “Mirror” widget that uses the laptop camera.
It still feels more like a beta to me: from time to time, the song title doesn’t disappear when I move away from NotchNook, and there’s a persistent issue when the first song I play in Apple Music doesn’t have a cover. Minor issues, sure, but I am still waiting for the fuller experience. After all, it was the notes functionality that prompted me to start using NotchNook in the first place, but it’s still not there.
The ability to drop files for later use (or send them via AirDrop) is nice, although a lot of programs do not seem to accept the files when I try to use them.
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Verdict
Will I keep using NotchNook? Most definitely. Do I think that the price is still a bit too high? Positive. But I like that there’s a way to ditch subscriptions. I believe that in the future, the app will start justifying the price more. Right now though, those looking for just media controls might be happy with MediaMate. Just remember the old truth: never pay now for the features that are yet to ship.