Toolnotch vs Alcove: a Dynamic Island or tools in the notch

Alcove and Toolnotch both use the MacBook notch, for different things. Alcove is the closest thing to the iPhone's Dynamic Island on a Mac: what's playing, your next meeting, battery, AirPods, Focus, and redrawn volume and brightness overlays, all with very smooth animation. Toolnotch is a set of work tools: clipboard history, a window manager, eye breaks and keep-awake. If you want the notch to look and feel like an iPhone, choose Alcove. If you want it to save you time at work, choose Toolnotch. The two can run together.

I make Toolnotch. Alcove's facts below come from tryalcove.com, its FAQ and its changelog, checked 20 October 2026.

What each app does

Alcove's latest version listed on its changelog is 1.7.9, from 30 June 2026.

Price and licence

The two licences are close: one payment, three Macs, a 14-day refund. Alcove has a trial; Toolnotch doesn't. Alcove is cheaper than Toolnotch's full price, and Toolnotch is cheaper than Alcove for its first 110 buyers.

What Alcove does better

Finish. Alcove is about how the notch looks and moves, and it's the most polished app of its kind. The changelog shows how much detail goes into it: progressive blur, notch outlines, a live waveform, album art glare, Spotify likes and repeat, AirPlay, podcasts and live streams with their own indicators.

The calendar is a real feature, not a widget: events become live activities, it warns you when it's time to leave, and it works with third-party calendars. Lock Screen widgets for music, Focus, weather, battery and calendar are rare among notch apps: Boring Notch still lists them on its roadmap. It updates often: more than fifty releases since its 1.0 in late 2024.

Its FAQ also says it collects no data or personal information.

One caution from Alcove's own FAQ: it relies on private Apple APIs, so it's sold "as is", with no guarantee that every feature survives a future macOS. That's honest of them, and worth knowing.

What Toolnotch does that Alcove doesn't

Pasteback, clipboard history. ⇧⌘C opens your history under the notch on the screen you're using. Passwords and API keys show their first characters, then dots, and paste the real value. Search finds the words inside screenshots and images. ⌃⌘C starts a Paste Stack: copy several things and each ⌘V pastes the next one in order. ⇧⌘2 copies the text of anything on screen, such as a slide in a screen share (guide).

Wyndow, windows. Snap with ⌃⌥ and the arrows, undo with ⌃⌥⌫. Snap a window onto a half another window fills, and that window slides to the other half. Unplug your monitor and its windows land on the laptop in the same zones; plug it back in and each one returns (guide). Desks save every window across your Spaces with ⌘S.

Bodybreak, eye breaks. Every 20 minutes, look about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It waits until you stop typing and pauses during calls, recordings and videos (guide).

Staywake, keep-awake. On demand from the notch, or automatically while a terminal command works. Come back after a long job and the notch tells you: « claude finished · 42 min ».

A file shelf now. Drag a file to the notch and it waits there; drop an image on Compress, Convert or Remove metadata and the result is on your clipboard. Screenshots wait on the shelf for 24 hours (guide). Alcove's tray is announced but not shipped.

Permissions

Alcove's site doesn't list the permissions it asks for. Toolnotch asks for Accessibility for its window manager, like every Mac window manager, and for Screen Recording the first time you copy text from the screen. Everything stays on your Mac: the clipboard history has no cloud and no sync.

Can you run both?

Yes. Toolnotch never opens on hover: its panels come from shortcuts (⇧⌘C, ⌃⌥N for the hub), a click on the notch, or a file dragged up to it. Alcove expands on hover or swipe depending on how you set it. They share the notch without fighting over it. Alcove for music and meetings, Toolnotch for the clipboard and windows is a sensible pairing.

Which one to choose

Choose Alcove if you want a Dynamic Island on your Mac that looks right: music, calendar, battery and AirPods at a glance, with a 72-hour trial to see if you like it.

Choose Toolnotch if your day is copying, pasting and moving windows between a laptop and a monitor, and you want breaks that don't interrupt calls.

For other options, see NotchNook alternatives or the best notch apps for Mac. Toolnotch's demos run in your browser on toolnotch.app, and pricing shows the current tier.

FAQ

How much does Alcove cost?

$13.99, one time, on tryalcove.com. The licence works on up to 3 Macs at once and includes all future updates. There's a 72-hour trial and a 14-day refund.

Does Alcove work on a Mac without a notch?

Yes. On displays without a notch, Alcove shows a pill shape at the top of the screen, or a simulated notch if you prefer.

Does Alcove have a file tray?

Not as of version 1.7.9. Its changelog announces a tray for version 1.8. NotchNook, Boring Notch, DynamicLake Pro and Toolnotch all have one today.

Is there a cheaper Alcove alternative?

Boring Notch is free and open source, with music controls, a calendar and a file shelf, though it's less polished and needs an extra step to install.