NotchDrop: turns the MacBook notch into a file drop zone and a one-day holding pen
Use your MacBook's notch like Dynamic Island for temporary storing files and AirDrop
At a glance
- What is it?
- A small open source Swift app that claims the dead space above the screen, accepts dropped files and AirDrop targets, and deletes everything it kept after a day.
- Who is it for?
- NotchDrop is small on purpose, and the README makes that legible rather than hiding it. The retention model is the feature that decides whether it is useful for you: files are saved for one day and configurable, so it is a transfer buffer and a screenshot destination, not a file manager.
- Can I use it commercially?
- Yes. MIT is a permissive licence: you can use, modify and sell software built on it, as long as you keep its copyright and licence notices.
- Is it still maintained?
- Yes. The repository last received commits 142 days ago.
- What is it written in?
- Mainly Swift, according to GitHub's language statistics.
Answers come from the project's GitHub data, last synced on September 28, 2026, and from our analysis. They are not legal advice.
Editorial analysis
What the app actually does, line by line from the feature list
The README describes NotchDrop as transforming a MacBook's notch into a convenient file drop zone. The feature checklist is short enough to quote and worth doing, because two items on it are things most similar utilities do not do.
The list runs: it should work with your menu bar managers, drag and drop files to the notch, open AirDrop directly from the notch, automatically save files for 1 day and configurable that duration, open files with a simple click, delete files by holding the option key and clicking the x mark, is fully open source and privacy focused, and is free of charge if you do it yourself.
Three of those deserve a note. The menu bar manager compatibility line matters because notch utilities compete for the same screen region, and most of them fail badly when something else like Bartender or Ice is already managing that area. The retention line is the design decision that separates this from a file manager, and being able to configure it is what lets you keep it permanently if you want. The delete gesture is specific enough that it clearly took iteration to land on, since option-click on an x mark is not the obvious first attempt.
The privacy claim is stated without elaboration. Nothing in the README describes telemetry, an analytics SDK or a network component, and the app is MIT licensed with its source in the repository, so the claim is at least checkable by reading the code.
Building from source without an Apple Developer account
The build section is the most substantial part of the README, which says something about where this project's audience is. Prerequisites are macOS with Xcode installed, and the Xcode Command Line Tools.
The personal-use path is four steps. Clone and enter the directory:
git clone https://github.com/Lakr233/NotchDrop.git
cd NotchDropThen build in Release configuration, with signing explicitly disabled:
xcodebuild -project NotchDrop.xcodeproj \
-scheme NotchDrop \
-configuration Release \
clean build \
CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="-" \
CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO \
CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NOThen copy the product out of DerivedData into Applications, and launch it:
cp -R ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/NotchDrop-*/Build/Products/Release/NotchDrop.app ~/Applications/open ~/Applications/NotchDrop.appThe README then explains what that build produced, and the details are the point. It is a Release configuration with optimizations enabled, self-signed with ad-hoc code signing so no Apple Developer account is needed, suitable for daily use, around 5.1MB, and located at `~/Applications/NotchDrop.app`.
There is one rough edge documented honestly. On first launch macOS may show a security warning, and the fix is to right-click the app in Applications, choose Open, and confirm in the dialog. After that it opens normally. That is Gatekeeper behaving as designed for unsigned software rather than a project defect, and telling you the workaround up front saves an afternoon.
For development work the path is simply opening `NotchDrop.xcodeproj` in Xcode and hitting Command-R.
NotchNotification, the reusable piece
One line in the README matters more than the rest for anyone building Mac software: NotchNotification is available for use in your own app, powered by NotchDrop.
That is the difference between an app and a technique. The notch-on-macOS problem is not fundamentally hard to solve with SwiftUI and AppKit, but getting the timing, the hit testing and the interaction with the menu bar right takes iteration. NotchDrop is the visible result of that iteration, and the author has packaged the general part so other developers do not have to repeat it.
So there are two audiences. If you want the utility, install it. If you are writing a Mac app and want the notch, use NotchNotification and let NotchDrop be the worked example. The relationship also means the projects are coupled: improvements to the notch mechanics land in NotchDrop and flow through.
The sponsorship and acknowledgement sections point at the same neighborhood. NotchNook is credited as the initial inspiration, and the README is explicit about the difference: NotchDrop focuses on the author's own needs, simplifies various configurations, and improves compatibility with the software they prefer. If you have used NotchNook, that sentence is the clearest summary of what changed, and it also tells you NotchNook is the project to look at if you want a more configurable tool.
There is a Chinese translation of the README in the resources directory, which is a small signal about the audience.
What the repository contains, and the absence of releases
The tree is very short: `.gitignore`, `AGENTS.md`, `LICENSE`, the `NotchDrop.xcodeproj/` directory, `NotchDrop/` for the source, `README.md`, and `Resources/` holding images and the localization. That is the whole project. There is no package manifest, no CI directory, no test directory and no scripts folder.
Two details there are worth noting. `AGENTS.md` sits at the root, so some of the work on this app appears to be driven with coding agents. And `Resources/` carries a Weblate-style structure for the Chinese README, implying translations are community maintained rather than shipped by the author.
The bigger observation is that the repository publishes no tagged releases at all, while the usage section tells you to download the latest version from the Releases page. That is not necessarily a problem, since a signed build on the App Store is the primary distribution channel and there is a direct App Store link with an app id in the README, so casual users never reach GitHub at all. It does mean there is no version history to cite, no changelog, and no way to tell from the repository which build you are looking at.
The last push was on 2026-05-18, which is about five months before this writing. The repository is not archived, the issue tracker has 5 open issues against 2,118 stars and 161 forks, and that low issue count is consistent with a small finished utility rather than a neglected project. It is a preference, not a maintenance problem, but if you install it you should expect it to be stable rather than to gain features.
Where the app sits against the notch utility crowd
There is a cluster of Mac apps that all claim the same piece of screen, and choosing between them is mostly a question of which one you are willing to configure. NotchDrop's position is legible from the README: it is the simplified one.
The comparison to make is not feature count but surface area. A more configurable notch utility will let you decide what appears in the notch and when. NotchDrop's list does not offer that, and the acknowledgement says so plainly, that it simplifies various configurations relative to its inspiration. In exchange you get a narrower and more predictable surface: drag and drop, AirDrop, one-day retention with an x mark, and compatibility with whatever menu bar manager you already run.
The compatibility line is the one to test first if you already use a menu bar manager. Utilities that occupy the notch and tools that reorganize the menu bar are natural enemies, and an app that claims compatibility while quietly overlapping another app's region is worse than one that stays out of the way. NotchDrop's positioning is that it does the former.
The privacy-focused claim also deserves a moment. For a tool whose entire purpose is receiving files from AirDrop and holding them briefly, the absence of a server is the feature. Files land on disk, are held for a day, and go away. Anything more elaborate would be surprising for an app this small, and the source is available if you want to confirm it.
The binary size is a reasonable proxy for how much is happening: about 5.1MB for a Swift app doing drag and drop and AirDrop integration, with no bundled runtime, is small.
Editorial conclusion
NotchDrop is small on purpose, and the README makes that legible rather than hiding it. The retention model is the feature that decides whether it is useful for you: files are saved for one day and configurable, so it is a transfer buffer and a screenshot destination, not a file manager. The technical surface is correspondingly narrow, a Swift app with one Xcode project, and the build instructions produce an ad-hoc signed binary around 5.1MB with no Apple Developer account required, which is the fastest path to trying it if you have Xcode. Two things to check before relying on it. The last push was 2026-05-18, so there has been no development for several months, and the repository publishes no tagged releases even though the README tells you to download the latest version from Releases. If you want to build the notch behavior into your own app rather than run the standalone binary, NotchNotification is the supported route, powered by NotchDrop.
Frequently asked questions
What does NotchDrop do with files it stores?
It saves dropped files automatically for one day, and that duration is configurable, so you can keep them longer if you prefer. Files open with a single click, and a file is deleted by holding the option key and clicking its x mark. The README also lists privacy-focused as a feature and the source is MIT licensed, so the storage behavior is checkable.
Can I build NotchDrop without an Apple Developer account?
Yes. The documented personal-use build passes `CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="-"` with `CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO` and `CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO`, which produces an ad-hoc signed binary of about 5.1MB. macOS shows a security warning on first launch because the binary is unsigned; right-click the app, choose Open, and confirm to get past it.
Does NotchDrop work with a MacBook that has no notch?
The README only describes MacBook notch behavior and lists working with menu bar managers as a supported feature, so the notch is assumed rather than emulated. On a machine without one there is nothing in the project documentation about what appears in place of the notch, and that case is not covered.
How does NotchDrop compare with NotchNook?
NotchNook is credited as the initial inspiration. The README says NotchDrop focuses on its author's own needs, simplifies various configurations, and improves compatibility with other software, which reads as an admission that NotchNook is the more configurable of the two. Pick NotchNook if you want to control what occupies the notch; pick NotchDrop if you want a narrower, more predictable behavior.
Can I use the NotchDrop behavior in my own Mac app?
Yes, through a separate project the README points to. NotchNotification is available for use in your own app and is powered by NotchDrop, so the general notch mechanics are packaged separately from the standalone utility. That is also the dependency to watch if you build on it, since the two projects are coupled.
Official sources
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