Whatever’s playing, right there.

NotchPlayer puts Spotify and Apple Music in your MacBook’s notch: the cover, a waveform that moves with the song, and the controls when you hover.

Download for Mac

Free. Needs macOS 15 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac.

One glance is enough.

The cover sits on one side of the camera and the music moves on the other. Nothing to click, nothing in the way.

Hover, and it opens.

Skip, scrub, shuffle, repeat. The + takes you to the song in Spotify, ready to add to a playlist.

Your week, in minutes.

One swipe over: how long you listened today, this week, this month, and to whom. Counted on your Mac, never sent anywhere.

No notch, same idea.

On a MacBook without one, it sits in the menu bar as a small black pill and opens the same way.

Go on, try it.

Open the notch, then play with it, or use the controls. No sound, no account.

Four real songs. The waveform is drawn to the beat; this page plays no sound.

Free, and yours in two minutes.

Download for Mac

Version 0.6. Needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer), with the Spotify desktop app or Music.

Or with Homebrew: brew install --cask arvxanand/notchplayer/notchplayer

  1. Drag it into Applications

    Open the download and drag NotchPlayer onto the Applications folder beside it.

    The NotchPlayer disk window: NotchPlayer next to an Applications folder

  2. Open it once, the long way

    NotchPlayer is free and isn’t signed by a paid Apple developer account, so macOS stops it the first time. You do this once per download.

    1. Open NotchPlayer. When macOS says it couldn’t verify it, click Done, not Move to Trash.“NotchPlayer” Not Opened, with Done and Move to Trash
    2. Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security. Scroll down to Security and click Open Anyway.Privacy & Security: NotchPlayer was blocked to protect your Mac, with an Open Anyway button
    3. Click Open Anyway again and confirm with your password or Touch ID.Open NotchPlayer?, with Move to Trash, Open Anyway and Done

  3. Say yes to what it asks

    • Automation, so it can read the song and play, pause and skip in Spotify or Music.
    • System Audio Recording, for the waveform. It hears only your music app, works it out in memory and never saves a sound.System Settings, System Audio Recording Only, with NotchPlayer switched on
    • Accessibility, only if you turn on Save with Spotify’s + in settings, so the + can open Spotify’s playlist list for you.

Questions

Does it work without a notch?

Yes. On an Apple Silicon Mac without one, it draws a small black pill in the middle of the menu bar that opens the same way. It only draws on the built-in screen.

Does it work on an Intel Mac?

No. NotchPlayer needs a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 15 or later.

What does it send, and where?

Nothing about you or your music. It has no account, no analytics and no server. It fetches album covers, opens Spotify’s public page when you click a title, and once a day checks for a newer version, which you can turn off.

Is it listening to me?

No. System Audio Recording is the name macOS gives the permission. NotchPlayer only hears your music app’s output, never the microphone, and only while a song plays. You can turn it off in System Settings and the bars switch to a made-up animation.

Open Anyway isn’t there. Now what?

Open NotchPlayer again and click Done, then look again: the button shows for about an hour after macOS blocks the app. Still nothing? Paste xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/NotchPlayer.app into Terminal and press Return, then open it again.

Is it free?

Yes, and open source.