Live Activities · macOS 13+
IsletFileViewWindow
100%Tue 9:41
Islet ready
Midnight City
M83 — Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
iPhone 16 Pro
Wants to share “IMG_4821.heic”
86
Charging
22 min to full
4:08
Pasta timer
Counting down
Alex Rivera
Are we still on for 9:41 tomorrow? 👀
now

The notch, finally doing something.

Islet turns the empty black bar at the top of your Mac into a living command center — music, AirDrop, charging, timers and notifications, all in one fluid pill that expands when you need it and disappears when you don't.

Download for macOS See how it works
v2.4.1 · 14.2 MB Apple Silicon + Intel Notch & non-notch Macs

↑ Tap a state — or click the island. It auto-cycles too.

What it does

One pill. Everything that matters, the moment it matters.

Islet watches the things you already do on your Mac and surfaces them right where your eyes already are — at the top center of the screen.

Now Playing, always within reach

Live album art, a real-time waveform and a scrubber that works with Apple Music, Spotify, browser audio and anything else AVFoundation can see. Hover to scrub, click to skip, drag to set volume. The island shows what you're hearing without stealing a single pixel of your workspace.

AirDrop, finally visible

Incoming transfers expand the island with Accept / Decline right there — no more hunting for a hidden sheet.

Battery & charging

A glanceable ring shows charge level, time-to-full, and a gentle alert when a connected device hits 100%.

Timers & Focus

Start a timer from anywhere and watch it count down in the island. Focus modes and Do Not Disturb show their status too.

Notification previews

Messages, Mail and calendar nudges glide in and out of the pill — readable at a glance, gone before they nag.

Drag-and-drop shelf

Drop a file onto the island and it parks there as a temporary shelf — drag it out into any app, any Space, any window, whenever you're ready. Screenshots land there automatically so they stop cluttering your desktop. Everything clears itself after a session, or pin items to keep them.

How it works

It lives where your notch already is — or draws its own.

On notch Macs
Wraps it
The island hugs the real camera housing, so the hardware notch becomes the interface.
On older Macs
Draws one
No notch? Islet renders a tasteful virtual pill in the same spot. Same magic, any display.
External displays
Follows you
Move a window to a second monitor and the island moves with it, scaled to the screen.
Footprint
~60 MB RAM
Native Swift, no Electron. It sips power and stays out of Activity Monitor's top list.
Compatibility

Built natively for every modern Mac.

macOS
13 Ventura →
Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe (macOS 26) are all supported.
Silicon
M1 – M4
Universal binary. Runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel alike.
Hardware
Any Mac
MacBook Air/Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio — notch optional.
Languages
12 locales
Including English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese and Russian.
Installation

Up and running in about ninety seconds.

Two ways to install — pick whichever fits how you like to work. Both end with the same first-launch setup below.

Recommended · .dmg

Direct download

The classic drag-to-Applications install. No tools required.

Download the disk image. Grab Islet-2.4.1.dmg from the button at the top of this page (14.2 MB).
Open it and drag Islet into Applications. Double-click the .dmg, then drag the Islet icon onto the Applications shortcut in the window.
Eject and launch. Eject the disk image, open Applications, and double-click Islet.
Allow it through Gatekeeper. First launch shows a security prompt. Click Open. If macOS hides the button, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
Notarized & signed. Islet ships with an Apple Developer ID signature and is notarized, so Gatekeeper recognizes it. You should never need to run xattr on it.
For tinkerers · Homebrew

Install with Homebrew

One command, and updates flow through brew upgrade forever.

Make sure Homebrew is installed. If brew isn't on your machine yet:
# install Homebrew
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://brew.sh/install.sh)"
Install the Islet cask.
brew install --cask islet
Launch it.
open -a Islet
Update any time. Future releases are one command away:
brew upgrade --cask islet
Auto-updates built in. However you install, Islet checks for new versions on its own and updates silently in the background. You can turn that off in Settings.
First launch

Grant a few permissions, then forget it's there.

macOS asks before any app reads system activity. Islet requests only what each feature needs — nothing leaves your Mac. Approve these in System Settings → Privacy & Security when prompted.

Accessibility

Lets the island sit above other windows and respond to clicks and hovers.

Required

Media & Now Playing

Reads track info and playback controls so it can show what you're listening to.

Required

Notifications

Mirrors incoming Messages, Mail and calendar alerts into the island.

Optional

Bluetooth

Shows AirPods battery and confirms AirDrop devices. Off by default.

Optional
Want it to launch at login? Open Islet → click the island → Settings → General → toggle Open at login. To remove Islet later, quit it and drag it from Applications to the Trash, or run brew uninstall --cask islet. Preferences live in ~/Library/Application Support/Islet and can be deleted safely.
Questions

The things people ask before downloading.

Does my Mac need a notch?
No. On notch Macs, Islet wraps the real camera housing. On every other Mac — including Intel iMacs and external monitors — it draws a clean virtual pill in the same spot. The experience is identical either way.
Is it free?
Islet is free to download with the core Now Playing, charging and notification features. A one-time Pro unlock ($9.99) adds the drag-and-drop shelf, custom layouts, AirPods battery and per-display settings. No subscription, ever.
Will it slow my Mac down?
It's written in native Swift with no web runtime, idling around 60 MB of RAM and near-zero CPU when collapsed. You won't find it near the top of Activity Monitor.
What data does it collect?
None that leaves your Mac. Track titles, notifications and battery readings are processed locally and never uploaded. There's no account, no telemetry by default, and no ads. An optional, anonymous crash-report toggle is off until you turn it on.
Does it work with Spotify and third-party players?
Yes. Anything that publishes to the macOS Now Playing system — Apple Music, Spotify, browser tabs, VLC, IINA and more — shows up automatically with art, title and controls.
How do I change settings or quit it?
Click the island and choose Settings, or click the menu-bar icon. From there you can pick which activities appear, set the idle size, choose a theme, and quit or relaunch.
Islet ready

Give your notch a job.

Download Islet, drag it to Applications, and watch the top of your Mac come alive.

Download for macOS
v2.4.1 · 14.2 MB · macOS 13+Universal · Apple Silicon + Intel