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Alcove alternatives for Mac.

Alcove turns the notch into a Dynamic Island. If it isn't the right fit, these do a similar job. Details are from each app's own pages, checked October 27, 2026.

The short answer

  • Boring Notch for an open-source notch with music controls, calendar, a file shelf and a HUD replacement.
  • Droppy for a Dynamic Island with a file tray, Live Activities, clipboard history and add-on extensions, with or without a notch.
  • More options: the All-in-One category on notch.macmenubar.com.
  • Sendoff if what you want from the notch is sending a file to a person. More below.

Why look past Alcove?

Alcove gives you notifications, Live Activities, swipe gestures, custom HUDs and Lock Screen widgets. It needs macOS 15 or later. Its FAQ says it relies on private Apple APIs, so Apple could break features in a future macOS. The two apps below need macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Boring Notch

Boring Notch: open source. Hover over the notch and it opens into a music player with a visualizer. It also has calendar and reminders, a mirror using your camera, a charging indicator, a file shelf with AirDrop, and a replacement for the volume, brightness and keyboard backlight HUD.

  • Requires: macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
  • Installing: download it from GitHub or install with Homebrew. It isn’t signed with an Apple Developer account yet, so macOS warns you the first time you open it.
  • Not there yet: its roadmap lists Lock Screen widgets and weather as not done, and notifications as under consideration.

Droppy

Droppy: a Dynamic Island for the Mac. It shows now playing, your calendar and Live Activities around the notch, and has a file tray, clipboard history and extensions, called Droplets, that you turn on as you need them. On a Mac without a notch, or an external display, it uses an island instead.

  • Requires: macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
  • Sharing: drop a file on the notch to get a share link. Droppy says files can be up to 200 MB, links expire after 3 days, and people can download without an account.
  • Buying: a one-time purchase, with a 3-day trial. A license covers 2 Macs.

Looking for a Boring Notch alternative?

The usual reasons are the missing pieces on its roadmap, or the security warning on first open.

  • Alcove has notifications and Lock Screen widgets, which Boring Notch doesn’t yet. It needs macOS 15.
  • Droppy covers music, calendar and a file tray like Boring Notch, plus Live Activities and extensions.

Choosing between the two most asked about? See Boring Notch vs Alcove. For shelf, notes and single-job notch apps, see the best MacBook notch apps.

Where Sendoff fits

Sendoff isn’t a Dynamic Island. It’s the notch app for sending, and it can run next to any of these. Drop a file on the notch, pick the person, press Send off.

  • Your regulars come first, ranked by how often you send to them: your accountant, your teammate, your mom.
  • It sends by Gmail or iMessage and remembers which one each person gets. Slack is coming soon.
  • It routes around what won’t work: a 48 MB video for someone you usually email goes by iMessage instead.
  • It’s all keyboard, with 3 seconds to undo.

Try Sendoff

Sendoff is not out yet. Join the waitlist below, and tick the beta box if you want to test it first.