Can you use a notch app on a Mac without a notch?

Usually, yes. A well-made notch app does not need the physical cutout; it needs a predictable spot at the top of the screen and a way to open it. On a Mac without a notch, most of these apps sit at the top center of the display and open with a keyboard shortcut or a click. Before buying one, check that the developer says it supports Macs without a notch, and which version of macOS it needs.

Which Macs have a notch

The notch is the black cutout at the top center of the built-in display that houses the camera. It appeared on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2021 and on the MacBook Air starting with the M2 models. The models before those do not have one.

Macs that never have a notch:

• iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro
• Earlier MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models
• Any external display, even when it is connected to a MacBook that has a notch

That last point trips people up. If you use a notched MacBook with the lid closed and an external display, there is no notch on the screen in front of you.

What a notch app actually uses

The notch sits in the menu bar area, and on a notched Mac macOS keeps menu items clear of it. The strip above your apps’ windows is otherwise unused, so it makes a tidy place to put something you open occasionally. Notch apps take advantage of that: they tuck a panel, a shelf, or a status readout into that spot and expand it on demand.

Nothing about that requires the hardware. The top center of any screen is just as easy to find, and your hand learns it the same way. What changes is how you aim at it. On a notched Mac, the cutout is a visual target. On a desktop Mac, the target is an invisible region, so a keyboard shortcut becomes the main way in.

There is more on the idea in what the notch on a MacBook is actually for.

How to tell whether an app supports Macs without a notch

Look for these before installing:

1. A plain statement. The developer’s site or help pages should say what happens on a Mac without a notch. Silence often means the app was only tested on MacBooks.
2. A keyboard shortcut. Without a notch to click, a shortcut is how you will actually use the app. Check whether it is configurable and whether it needs special permissions.
3. The macOS requirement. Notch apps tend to require recent versions of macOS. Open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac to see yours.
4. A free trial. Positioning feels different on a big desktop display. A trial lets you find out whether the top center works for your setup.

Opening a panel at the top of a desktop display

On an iMac or a large external display, the top center can be a long way from where your pointer usually lives. A few things help:

• Use the shortcut. It is faster than pushing the pointer to the top, and it works whether a window is covering that area or not.
• Push against the edge. The top of the screen stops the pointer, so a fast flick upward lands in the right row without careful aiming.
• Raise the tracking speed. In System Settings, under Mouse or Trackpad, a faster setting cuts down the distance your hand travels.

If you are thinking about using Hot Corners for this, note that they only trigger at the four corners, not the center.

A notch app built to work either way

Ledge turns the MacBook notch into a shelf for files, and it is designed for Macs without a notch too. Drag any file, folder, image, or link up to the notch and let go; it lands on a shelf that stays there until you drag it to an app or folder. On a Mac without a notch, the shelf lives at the top center of the screen instead.

Either way, Option-Space opens the shelf and pressing it again closes it, or you can click the notch. The shortcut is a standard hotkey, so it asks for no special permission. Ledge lives in the menu bar with no Dock icon.

The part people use most is the hand-off. Drop the same file on a terminal and it receives the path as text; drop it on a chat app and the file uploads; drop it on a Finder window and the file itself moves there. Files never leave your Mac, and there is no account.

The requirement to check is macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It is universal, so it runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. It is free for 14 days, which is enough time to see how the shelf feels on a desktop display.

For more on the keyboard side, see how to reach a file shelf from the keyboard.

When a notch app is not the right fit

Be honest with yourself about how often you would open it. If a shortcut is not going to become a habit and you never glance at the top of the screen, the Dock or a Finder sidebar favorite may serve you better. And if the app you are considering is tied to features of the notched display itself, such as drawing around the camera cutout, it may simply have nothing to do on a desktop Mac.

Questions

Does a notch app work in clamshell mode with an external display? The external display has no notch, so treat it like a Mac without one. Check how the app behaves in that setup during the trial, and rely on the keyboard shortcut.

Do notch apps hide menu bar items? They can take up space near the center of the menu bar. If you have many menu bar icons on a notched Mac, some may already be hidden behind the notch; menu bar clutter, and how to keep it in check covers that.

Can I get a notch on a Mac that does not have one? No, it is part of the display hardware. What you can get is the same place to put things at the top center of the screen, which is what notch apps actually rely on.