To-Do List Apps That Live in the Mac Notch: 7 Compared (2026)

The to-do list apps that live in the Mac notch are NotchOwl, Notchable, NotchyTask and Flowya. Notchy, ctrlhq and MacNotch add a list to a bigger notch toolkit. Each keeps your tasks at the top of the screen, a hover, click or shortcut away. NotchOwl ($12 once), a Mac app I make, turns the notch into a daily planner with reminders and a focus timer. Notchable ($9.99 or $19.99 once) sorts typed or spoken tasks with AI, NotchyTask ($14.99 once) keeps a plain list with on-device AI priorities, and Flowya’s Mac app costs nothing.

Because NotchOwl is mine, it comes first here, and I say plainly where another app fits better. Every other app’s details come from its developer’s website, GitHub page or Setapp listing, checked on November 14, 2026. Prices are in US dollars.

Quick picks

• Best for planning your day: NotchOwl, $12 once.
• Best for AI sorting of messy captures: Notchable, $9.99 or $19.99 once.
• Best free app: Flowya, with sync and a kanban board; Pro from $4.99/month.
• Best plain list with on-device AI priorities: NotchyTask, $14.99 once.
• Best Dynamic Island app with a to-do tab: Notchy, $24.99 once.
• Best all-in-one notch toolkit with tasks: ctrlhq, $24.99 once at its launch price.
• Best for Setapp members: MacNotch.

What a notch to-do app does

A notch to-do app puts your task list in the black area around the MacBook camera. Move the pointer to the notch, or press the app’s shortcut, and the list drops down over whatever app is in front; move away and it folds back up. Nothing covers your work while you aren’t looking, and you never switch windows to check what’s next.

That’s the difference from the other places a list can live:

• A to-do app’s window gets buried as soon as you click another app.
• A menu bar app waits behind a small icon on the right; you click it to see the list, and full-screen apps hide the menu bar (Apple: use apps in full screen).
• A floating window keeps the whole list on screen, but always covers part of what you’re doing.

The notch sits in the middle of the top edge, right where your eyes and pointer already go, and on a MacBook, NotchOwl’s notch still opens over full-screen apps. Some apps also show something while the notch is closed: NotchOwl a focus countdown, Flowya your top task, Notchable live activities for reminders and focus. If you’d rather keep every task on screen at all times, how to keep your to-do list always visible on a Mac covers floating windows and widgets too.

Notch to-do apps compared

“Not stated” means the official page did not say either way.

The best to-do list apps for the Mac notch

NotchOwl: best for planning your day

NotchOwl is a Mac app I make that turns the notch into a daily planner. Hover over the notch or press Option–N, and today’s tasks drop down next to a focus timer, a daily notepad and the next two weeks of calendar events, with Join buttons for video calls.

The workspace opens over whatever you’re doing, like a browser, and closes when you’re done.

How the to-do list works:

• Type a task the way you’d say it. “Call mom tomorrow at 5pm !high #family” becomes a task on tomorrow with a 5 PM reminder, high priority and the family project. Repeats (“every monday”), deadlines (“due friday”) and time limits (“for 30 min”) are read from the title too, on the Mac itself, and several tasks go in at once, one per line. You can also dictate, on-device.
• More than a flat list. Tasks can have steps, projects, priorities and attached files or links. Plan any future day, see the days ahead in Week, and park ideas without a date in the Inbox.
• Reminders that come to you. When a task’s reminder comes due, the notch opens by itself with a chime, the task, Snooze and Done.
• Focus on one task. Start the timer on a task, and the countdown stays beside the closed notch in every app.
• Your tasks on iPhone and Apple Watch. Optional two-way Apple Reminders sync puts them there; NotchOwl has no iPhone app of its own.
• AI agents can plan with you. A local MCP server lets Claude Code, the Claude app and Cursor read and add tasks.

When a reminder comes due, the notch opens with the owl, the task and its time.

• Price: $12 once (an early-bird price, normally $39) for up to 3 Macs, with lifetime updates and a 7-day money-back guarantee. No free tier or trial.
• Runs on: Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 Sonoma or later. External monitors get a notch NotchOwl draws itself, and Macs without a notch open it at the top center of the screen.
• Drawbacks: no Intel build, no iPhone app, no shared lists, Calendar is read-only, typed dates and times are read in English only, and it doesn’t block apps or websites.
• Get it: download NotchOwl or see NotchOwl pricing.

Notchable: best for AI sorting of messy captures

Notchable calls itself an ADHD task manager in the notch, and it’s the app closest to NotchOwl. You type or speak, even several tasks in one breath, and its AI sorts each one into a date, priority, category and effort estimate. Captures without a date go to an Inbox.

• Price: Lite $9.99 once, with on-device AI that works offline after a download of about 1 GB. Standard $19.99 once, with cloud AI, a desktop app with Insights and a weekly review, and two-way Apple Reminders sync. 3-day trial with no card; licenses cover up to 3 of your devices. Notchable’s refund page says it doesn’t give refunds after purchase, except when the app can’t work on your Mac.
• Runs on: macOS 14 or later. Lite needs Apple silicon (16 GB of memory recommended); Standard runs on Intel too. Its press kit says it works on Macs without a notch.
• Strengths: dates understood in any language, repeating tasks, projects with icons, subtasks with progress, reminders and a Pomodoro dial as live activities in the notch, and calendar blocking.
• Drawbacks: Standard sends capture text to Notchable’s server, which the site says doesn’t store it, and the site doesn’t mention MCP.
• Official site: notchable.com

The two apps differ mostly in how a capture gets sorted: Notchable lets its AI decide, while NotchOwl reads the dates, priority and project you type. More in NotchOwl vs Notchable.

Flowya: best free app

Flowya, from Java Ventures, keeps a small pill with your top task in the notch. Click it or press Command–Shift–Space to open your lists, and click away to close them.

• Price: the Mac app is free, with 2 spaces (separate lists), unlimited tasks and sync. Pro costs $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year and adds unlimited spaces, the iPhone app and MCP access.
• Runs on: macOS 12 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. The DMG comes from Flowya’s GitHub releases page.
• Strengths: a kanban board with Backlog, In Progress and Done, real-time sync between your devices, and an MCP token you paste into Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client (Pro).
• Drawbacks: the Mac site doesn’t list due dates, reminders or repeating tasks, and it doesn’t say whether Flowya works without a notch. The iPhone app and AI access need a subscription.
• Official site: flowya.io

NotchyTask: best plain list with on-device AI priorities

NotchyTask, by Aniket Prasad, is a minimal task manager for the notch: hover to capture a task, tick it off, drag to reorder. Tasks go into sections such as work, personal or side projects.

• Price: $14.99 once for 2 Macs, with updates. There’s no free trial, but you can download it and finish setup before you pay.
• Runs on: macOS 26 or later. Macs without a notch get an overlay at the top of the screen.
• Strengths: AI Sort marks each task High, Medium or Low with a short reason, using Apple’s on-device models, and each section can have its own priority rules.
• Drawbacks: it needs macOS 26 and, for AI Sort, a Mac with Apple Intelligence turned on. Tasks stay on one Mac, with no iPhone app, and the site lists no due dates or reminders.
• Official site: notchytask.dev

Notchy: best Dynamic Island app with a to-do tab

Notchy, by Vishva Variya, is a Dynamic Island app for the Mac, and its To-Do tab is one part of it. Open the notch, type a task and press Return. Notchy is a different app from NotchyTask, by a different developer.

• Price: $24.99 once for 1 Mac, with updates. 7-day free trial with no card, and a full refund within 14 days.
• Runs on: macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. Macs without a notch and external displays get a floating pill.
• Strengths: up to 200 to-dos, kept on your Mac with no account; a separate Reminders tab that reads and writes Apple Reminders; a Pomodoro timer with streaks; a calendar for iCloud, Google and Exchange; and music, files and AI usage tracking in the same app.
• Drawbacks: the To-Do tab has no due dates (Notchy’s page sends those to Apple Reminders), and a finished task disappears a day after you tick it.
• Official site: notchy.dev

ctrlhq: best all-in-one notch toolkit with tasks

ctrlhq packs a task list into a broad notch toolkit with time tracking, screen recording, meeting notes, a clipboard and Keep Awake. Press Command–Shift–Space anywhere and type a task with “#tag”, “!!!” for priority and “@tomorrow” for the date, or hold fn and Control and say it.

• Price: $24.99 once at its launch price, rising to $29 after launch; one Mac at a time, with lifetime updates. No trial.
• Runs on: macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. On an external display or an older Mac, it draws its own notch.
• Strengths: today’s tasks with categories, priorities and due dates, a Pomodoro session that starts on your top task, today’s calendar, and a Telegram bot that adds tasks from your phone.
• Drawbacks: no sync and no mobile app; your data is one local file you can export as CSV or JSON. The site doesn’t mention repeating tasks, subtasks or MCP.
• Official site: ctrlhq.app

MacNotch: best for Setapp members

MacNotch combines a task list that syncs with Apple Reminders, quick notes and a Pomodoro timer with calendar countdowns, music controls, widgets and system stats.

• Price: from $4.99 a month alone on Setapp, or included in a Setapp membership from $14.99 a month, with a 7-day trial. Its own site lists $8.99 once or $3.99 a month, but paused new purchases on November 14, 2026.
• Runs on: macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel, with or without a notch, including external monitors.
• Strengths: tasks and media in one app, at no extra cost if you already pay for Setapp.
• Drawbacks: for new users it’s a Setapp subscription until direct sales reopen, and its to-do list is basic: add, complete, delete and restore. More in the MacNotch review.
• Official site: macnotch.io and MacNotch on Setapp

Also worth knowing

• NotchNook by lo.cafe lists to-dos and a Pomodoro timer as NotchNook Pro features ($19 lifetime or $3 a month), but its strengths are files, media and AI coding agents. See the best notch apps for Mac.
• Tasq promises one task in sight in the notch until it’s done; on November 14, 2026, its site still says “Coming soon”, with no price or download.
• Menu bar apps such as Reminders MenuBar and One Thing keep a list behind an icon instead; they’re compared in to-do list widgets and menu bar apps for Mac.

How to choose a notch to-do app

• You want a day planner, not just a list: NotchOwl, with reminders that open the notch, a focus timer, a notepad and your calendar, plus Reminders sync to iPhone.
• You’d rather talk than type, and let AI sort it: Notchable.
• You don’t want to pay: Flowya’s free Mac app, with sync and a kanban board.
• You want the simplest possible list: NotchyTask on macOS 26, or Notchy’s To-Do tab inside a Dynamic Island app.
• You want one notch app for everything: ctrlhq, or MacNotch if you already pay for Setapp.
• You have an Intel Mac: Notchable Standard, Flowya, Notchy, ctrlhq or MacNotch.
• You need your tasks on iPhone: NotchOwl, Notchable Standard or MacNotch through Apple Reminders, Notchy’s Reminders tab, or Flowya Pro’s iPhone app.

The to-do apps that live in the Mac notch are NotchOwl ($12 once) for planning your day with reminders and a focus timer, Notchable ($9.99 or $19.99 once) for AI-sorted captures, NotchyTask ($14.99 once) for a plain list, and Flowya for free.