TopNotch for Mac: Free, Safe, and Which macOS It Needs (2026)
You want the notch on your MacBook gone, someone told you about TopNotch, and now you want to know 3 things: what it costs, whether it’s safe, and whether it still works on the macOS you’re running.
Short answer: TopNotch is free. MTW makes it, the same team that makes CleanShot X. It paints a black strip across the top of your wallpaper so the menu bar turns black and the notch blends in. We checked today’s download: it’s signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. But the latest version is 1.3.2, from 25 June 2023, and its last change was “Added support for macOS Sonoma.” Nothing has shipped for Sequoia, Tahoe or macOS 27 since. Get it only from topnotch.app.
The price: free
There’s no paid tier, trial or license key. The download button on topnotch.app says “Download for free”, and that’s all there is to buy.
| What | TopNotch |
|---|---|
| Price | Free |
| Made by | MTW (Make The Web), the CleanShot X team |
| Latest version | 1.3.2, released 25 June 2023 |
| macOS needed | 11 Big Sur or later |
| Mac chips | Apple silicon and Intel (universal app) |
| Where to get | topnotch.app only (no App Store listing) |
| Download | A ZIP of about 9 MB with a DMG inside |
| Updates | Built in, through the app’s own update feed |
That’s from topnotch.app, the app’s update feed at updates.topnotch.app and the app bundle itself, read on 3 November 2026.
Watch out for the App Store namesake
Search the Mac App Store for “top notch” and you’ll find an app called Top Notch, $9.99, from Block Browser INC. It’s a different app. It doesn’t hide the notch. It puts music controls, weather, a Pomodoro timer, calendar events and notes up there instead. It came out in May 2026, needs macOS 14, and had no ratings when we looked.
If you want the free one that hides the notch, the App Store can’t give it to you. It’s only on topnotch.app.
Safety: we checked the build
We downloaded TopNotch-latest.zip from topnotch.app today and ran Apple’s own checks on it with spctl and codesign:
- The app is signed with a Developer ID: Make The Web Oślizło & Magiera s.c., team AFJU4P8ZV4. That’s the CleanShot X company.
- Gatekeeper accepts both the DMG and the app as notarized, so Apple scanned them for known malware. The notarization ticket is stapled, so the check works offline too.
- The signature is from 25 June 2023, the same day as 1.3.2. Nothing newer is on offer.
- The app is built for Apple silicon and Intel in one file.
So it’s safe in the sense that matters for a download: it’s who it says it is, and Apple has seen it. A copy from another site hasn’t been through those checks. Download it from topnotch.app.
The black strip on your wallpaper
TopNotch doesn’t touch the menu bar. It makes a copy of your wallpaper with a black strip across the top and sets that as your desktop picture. The menu bar sits over the black strip, and the notch blends in.
That’s why it lives in the background and watches for wallpaper changes. Pick a new wallpaper and it makes a new copy. Dynamic wallpapers, the ones that change through the day, work too, but the app warns that processing them “takes much longer and may affect your system performance for a short while.”
The settings, from its changelog:
- Turn it on for the MacBook screen only, so an external display keeps its normal menu bar (1.3).
- Round the top corners of the wallpaper and set how round (1.1 and 1.2).
- Hide TopNotch’s own icon from the menu bar (1.1).
Put Your Notch To Work
That black bar already takes up space. Give it music, timers, and voice typing.
Download for free
Which macOS it needs, and the “not working” question
The app asks for macOS 11 Big Sur or later. Here’s the whole release history, from its update feed:
| Version | Date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 25 October 2021 | First release |
| 1.1 | 25 October 2021 | Rounded corners, hide the menu bar icon |
| 1.2 | 29 October 2021 | Corner radius setting, multi-display fix |
| 1.3 | 17 November 2021 | MacBook screen only option |
| 1.3.1 | 20 February 2022 | Menu bar colour fix on higher resolutions |
| 1.3.2 | 25 June 2023 | “Added support for macOS Sonoma” (macOS 14) |
Sequoia (15), Tahoe (26) and macOS 27 all came out after the last release. We found no word from MTW on any of them, so we can’t promise it works on yours, and we can’t say it doesn’t.
If the bar won’t go black for you, try these in order:
- Check you have 1.3.2. It’s the only version with Sonoma support, and the download on topnotch.app is that one.
- Turn the switch off and on again. The changelog asks for exactly that after a settings change.
- If you use a dynamic wallpaper, give it a minute. Those take the longest to process.
If it still won’t work, it’s an app that hasn’t been updated in over 3 years, and that’s probably why. To turn it off, quit it, then switch Spaces. The app’s own prompt says that brings your normal wallpaper back.
TopNotch vs Seam
Seam is our app, so read this table with that in mind. The 2 apps do opposite jobs: TopNotch hides the notch, Seam puts things in it.
| TopNotch | Seam | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $19.90 once, 2 Macs |
| What it does | Hides the notch | Now playing, focus timer, calendar, drop zones in the notch |
| Last update | 1.3.2, June 2023 | 1.18.17, November 2026 |
| Runs on | Apple silicon and Intel, macOS 11+ | Apple silicon, macOS 14+ |
| Notarized by Apple | Yes (1.3.2) | Yes |
| Trial | Not needed | 48 hours, no credit card |
Our pick
Pick TopNotch if you just want the notch gone, you’re happy with an app that hasn’t changed since 2023, and it works on your macOS when you try it. It costs nothing and the build is signed and notarized.
Look elsewhere if you’d rather the notch did something. That’s Seam, $19.90 once for 2 Macs. We put the 2 approaches side by side in Seam vs TopNotch, and our best Mac notch apps roundup covers the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Is TopNotch free?
Yes. TopNotch is free from topnotch.app, with no paid tier, trial or license key. A different app called Top Notch on the Mac App Store costs $9.99.
Is TopNotch safe?
The download on topnotch.app is signed with MTW’s Developer ID and notarized by Apple, which we checked with Apple’s own tools on 3 November 2026. MTW also makes CleanShot X.
Does TopNotch work on macOS Tahoe?
We can’t confirm it. The latest version, 1.3.2 from June 2023, added Sonoma support, and there has been no release since for Sequoia, Tahoe or macOS 27.
Is TopNotch on the Mac App Store?
No. It’s only on topnotch.app. Top Notch on the App Store is a different, paid app from another developer.
Does TopNotch work on Intel Macs?
Yes. Version 1.3.2 is a universal app for Apple silicon and Intel, and it needs macOS 11 Big Sur or later.
Related reading
Put Your Notch To Work
That black bar already takes up space. Give it music, timers, and voice typing.
Download for free