Crest is a Mac notch app that turns your MacBook's notch into a hub: Now Playing, a dashboard, system stats, calendar, tasks, translation and more. Free, Pro $19.99.
Hey everyone
I made Crest because my MacBook's notch always bugged me. It's just a black bar for the camera that sits there doing nothing all day, so I figured I'd make it actually useful.
It drops down from the notch and gives you things at a glance: what's playing (with lyrics), a little dashboard, a spot to drop files, your clipboard history, calendar, system stats, and a bunch more. Four of those are free, and if you want the rest it's a one-time $19.99. No subscription.
It started as a side project for myself. I'd tried other notch apps but they kept killing my battery or freezing after my Mac slept overnight, which drove me nuts, so I put a lot of effort into keeping Crest quiet on battery and making it wake up properly. It's
also notarized by Apple, so none of those "unknown developer" warnings, and nothing it does leaves your Mac.
It's free to try at https://crestnotch.app. I'd really love to hear what you think, or what you'd want it to do that it doesn't yet. I'll be around all day answering.
Thanks for checking it out
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Congrats on the launch! 🎉 The notch has bugged me since I got my M1 too. Smart move turning the most useless part of the screen into the useful one. One thing I'm curious about; What happens when I'm docked to an external monitor? I'm working remote and haven't got access to an external monitor to test it out yet.
@august_sch Thanks so much, really glad it clicks for you!
Great question, and docked is a first-class setup. External monitors don't have a physical notch, so Crest just draws its own little Dynamic Island style pill at the top center of the screen, and everything works exactly the same from there: Now Playing, stats, calendar, the lot.
You also get to pick how it shows up on external screens in Settings:
• Hidden: invisible until you hover or click the top center
• Pill: a small hint marking where to reach
• Full: an always-on pill, just like the real notch
And if you close the lid and run clamshell, Crest follows to your external display automatically. There's a "Show on all displays" toggle too, if you run multiple monitors and want it everywhere.
So no notch required. Hope that external monitor shows up soon, would love to hear how it feels when it does!
Honestly the notch has annoyed me for years, so turning it into something useful is a fun idea. The clipboard history and file drop are the two I'd actually use daily. The thing that stands out though is you fixing the battery drain and post-sleep freezing, that's the reason I gave up on a similar app before. Nice work, and the one-time price over a subscription is refreshing. @zack40x@Crest
Replies
Crest
Congrats on the launch! 🎉
The notch has bugged me since I got my M1 too. Smart move turning the most useless part of the screen into the useful one. One thing I'm curious about; What happens when I'm docked to an external monitor? I'm working remote and haven't got access to an external monitor to test it out yet.
Crest
@august_sch Thanks so much, really glad it clicks for you!
Great question, and docked is a first-class setup. External monitors don't have a physical notch, so Crest just draws its own little Dynamic Island style pill at the top center of the screen, and everything works exactly the same from there: Now Playing, stats, calendar, the lot.
You also get to pick how it shows up on external screens in Settings:
• Hidden: invisible until you hover or click the top center
• Pill: a small hint marking where to reach
• Full: an always-on pill, just like the real notch
And if you close the lid and run clamshell, Crest follows to your external display automatically. There's a "Show on all displays" toggle too, if you run multiple monitors and want it everywhere.
So no notch required. Hope that external monitor shows up soon, would love to hear how it feels when it does!
@zack40x Solid! Thanks for the clarification
niceee
Crest
@madalina_barbu thanks a lot !
Honestly the notch has annoyed me for years, so turning it into something useful is a fun idea. The clipboard history and file drop are the two I'd actually use daily. The thing that stands out though is you fixing the battery drain and post-sleep freezing, that's the reason I gave up on a similar app before. Nice work, and the one-time price over a subscription is refreshing. @zack40x @Crest
Crest
@sharun_kanan thanks a lot for the feedback. If any feature come on your mind that would fit your daily flow I would love to hear them.
Absolutely love it.
I've used other notch apps in the past, what I particularly like is the custom dashboards with the pomodoro timer the most.
One time subscription is also a killer. Goodluck!!
Crest
@retkoussa Thanks a lot!