---
name: Alcove
subtitle: The Dynamic Island, but for your Mac
date: 2026-04-15
category: interface
tags: [macos, notch, menu-bar, music]
description: "Reclaims the MacBook notch as a tiny ambient widget for music, AirDrop, AirPods, charging — and more."
link: https://tryalcove.com/
---

![The Alcove widget unfurling from the MacBook notch with album art and playback controls](../../assets/reviews/alcove/hero.png)

*Music, AirDrop, AirPods, and charging events bloom from the notch and fade back to invisible.*

> A small UI surface that uses the MacBook notch as a Dynamic Island for music, AirPods, AirDrop, and charging. The notch is already a black strip Apple asks you to ignore — Alcove makes the pixels useful.

Plug in headphones and a connection indicator unfurls from the notch. Start playing music and album art appears with scrubbable controls. AirDrop incoming, MacBook charging, AirPods nearby with low battery — each event blooms briefly and recedes. The widget is small, contextual, and never blocks active windows.

The package also includes file-drop targets at the notch edges, a clipboard-history strip, a "battery for connected devices" view, and a tunable volume/brightness HUD. Notched MacBooks only, macOS 13+. Subscription with a lifetime option.
