MediaMate gives your volume, brightness and Now Playing HUDs a fresh look. NotchNook puts your whole day in the notch: music, calendar, notes, a to-do list, timers, a mirror and a file Tray, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
48-hour free trial·No card needed·macOS 14.6 or later·Apple silicon and Intel
At a glance
NotchNook
Your whole day, in the notch.
Music, calendar, notes, a to-do list, timers, a mirror and a file Tray, with live activities for battery, Bluetooth and calendar events.
Not on MediaMate's feature list
Notes
To-do list
Timer
Mirror (camera)
File shelf and AirDrop
Calendar
Live activities
All built into NotchNook.
Relaunch: US$2/month, for as long as your subscription stays active, or US$15 lifetime. Offer ends October 13. Regular price: US$3/month or US$25.
MediaMate
Sleek volume, brightness and Now Playing HUDs.
MediaMate replaces the macOS volume, display brightness and keyboard brightness HUDs with compact new ones in iOS, circular, notch or classic styles, and adds a Now Playing HUD with play/pause and scrubbing that can sit inside the notch.
Pay what you want, from €6.99 one-time
Side by side
Feature by feature.
"Not listed" means MediaMate's official sources don't mention it.
NotchNook and MediaMate compared
Feature
NotchNook
MMediaMate
In the notch
Notes
Yes, with bold, italic and underline
Not listed
To-do list
Yes, with favorites and auto-archive
Not listed
Timer
Yes, with haptic wheels and 1m–1h presets
Not listed
Mirror (camera)
Yes
Not listed
File shelf and AirDrop
Yes: multi-file drops, paste, AirDrop, kept across restarts
Not listed
Music controls
Yes, with source picker and scrubber
Yes, Now Playing with play/pause and scrubbing
Calendar
Yes, with an upcoming-event live activity
Not listed
Live activities
Yes: battery, Bluetooth and upcoming events
Not listed
Volume and brightness HUD
Yes
Yes, including keyboard brightness
Your Mac
Requires
macOS 14.6 or later, including macOS 26
macOS 13 or later
Intel Macs
Yes
Yes, all Macs are supported
Macs without a notch
Yes, via a slim handle at the top of the screen
Yes, with its non-notch HUD styles
Multiple displays
Yes, on every connected display
External display brightness via Lunar or BetterDisplay
Price and trial
Free trial
48 hours, no card
Yes, a Tryout Mode (length not listed)
Price
Relaunch: US$2/month, for as long as your subscription stays active, or US$15 lifetime. Offer ends October 13. Regular price: US$3/month or US$25.
Pay what you want, from €6.99 one-time
Open source
No
No
The verdict
Why people pick NotchNook.
Go with NotchNook if…
You want more done right from the notch.
You want the notch to do more: calendar, notes, a to-do list, timers, a mirror and a file Tray with AirDrop.
You want live activities for battery, Bluetooth and upcoming events.
You want to try every feature free for 48 hours, with no card.
You only want nicer volume, brightness and Now Playing HUDs.
You like to pay what you want, once, or you are still on macOS 13 Ventura.
In action
See NotchNook at work.
NotchNook 1.6.3 · recorded on macOS · click to pause
MediaMate facts checked on October 6, 2026 against its official website, FAQ, Gumroad page and release notes. Latest release: 3.8.4 (August 2026). Spotted something out of date? Write to support@getnotchnook.com and we'll fix it.
NotchNook