Like an animated island, the NotchNook expands from the notch to reveal a “Nook” with basic media controls (kind of like Live Activities in iOS) and other customizable gadgets. Then there’s a Tray tab where you can put files or apps; it’s similar to the macOS Dock, except the tray empties when you exit NotchNook.
You can access this option by clicking on the tab integrated into the notch, or by swiping down on the trackpad when the mouse cursor is over it. Or you can set it to automatically pull down when you hover over it.
NotchNook works on both notched and notched Macs; for those without, you can customize it to look like a full notch, or just as a small black sliver at the top center of the screen. The app lists other “coming soon” features, such as the ability to compress or decompress files by dragging them into the app (which sounds fun and unnecessary, but that’s what the app tells me a feeling of).
The app still needs some work – I don’t know how to remove files from the Tray tab, which becomes the default tab once you put something in it. Also, swiping left or right should be like pressing the next or previous song button, but that doesn’t work for me. It only seems to support certain media apps, such as Apple Music, as other apps I tried didn’t show controls. I also couldn’t find Lo.cafe’s privacy policy, and the developer hadn’t responded to my questions as of press time.
But those issues aside, NotchNook feels like a very natural addition to macOS. I don’t feel like it does anything that I couldn’t do without it, which is good because it’s fun to use.
