Free notch app for Windows · v1.0.2DeskNotch
A notch for the top of your Windows desktop. Hover it, and it opens.
At a glance
A notch for the top of your Windows desktop. Hover it for your music, a focus timer, tasks, files and AI usage.
- Version
- v1.0.2
- Price
- Free
- Platform
- Windows desktop
- Requires
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
Try it
Hover the notch.
A working copy of the notch, right here in your browser. Hover it to open it, or click through what it shows while closed.
10:42
30/09/2026
A slim bar at the top of the screen: the time, and today's screen time if you use ScreenWise.
Features
Everything in DeskNotch.
The notch
- Sits at the top centre of your screen, opens on hover, folds away when you leave
- Clicks pass straight through everywhere except the notch
- Lock it open, or quit it from the dock
- Stays off the taskbar and out of Alt+Tab
At a glance
- A focus countdown with a tiny progress ring
- Album art and a pulse while music plays
- Your pick on the right: the time, AI usage rings or today's screen time
- Orange and green dots when an app uses your mic or camera
- Pops up when headphones, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connect, with battery level
- Battery alerts when you plug in, unplug, and at 20% and 10%
Home cards
- Now playing: artwork, progress and controls for Spotify, browsers and more
- Jump straight to the app that's playing
- Tasks: your next few to-dos, with quick add
- AI usage: your Claude and Codex limits, and when they reset
- Right now: mic and camera use and battery, flip it for CPU, GPU and memory
- Choose which cards show
Companion
- Seven animated bots to pick from, or your own photo
- Focus timer from 5 seconds to 3 hours, with a ring that fills as you go
- Reminders with a message, quick 10 min, 30 min and 1 hour picks, and snooze
- Clock mode with a day wave and the daylight left
- Today's screen time, from ScreenWise
- Reacts to what's happening, and sleeps at night
Focus & tasks
- Your full task list beside the focus timer
- Add, tick off, delete and clear finished tasks
- A "Focus complete" card when a session ends: go again, or call it done
Files shelf
- Drop files on the notch to park them, even when it's closed
- Thumbnails for images, videos and PDFs
- Click to open, right-click to show it in its folder
- Drag one out into any app, or drag them all at once
Screenshot catcher
- Opens the moment you take a screenshot
- Drag it into any app, rename it, shelve it or bin it
- Switch it off if you'd rather not
Apps bar
- Your most-used apps, or your favourites, one tap away
- Search your installed apps to add favourites
- Put it left, right or along the bottom, or turn it off
Look & behaviour
- Default or Glass style, a live blur of what's behind the notch
- Music glow, and cards tinted from the album art
- Dock on the left, bottom or right, in three sizes
- Hides in true fullscreen: videos, games and F11
- Stays out of screenshots, recordings and screen shares
- Shrinks to a sliver over your browser
- On any monitor, or all of them, and starts with Windows
Privacy, plainly.
Settings, tasks, reminders and your shelf are saved on your PC. No accounts, no analytics. The one thing it fetches is your Claude and Codex usage, straight from Anthropic and OpenAI with the sign-in already on your PC, and only if you use those tools.
Read the full privacy policyFAQ
Questions, answered.
Is there a Dynamic Island for Windows?
Not from Apple, but DeskNotch brings the idea to Windows 10 and 11: a slim notch at the top of your screen that opens when you hover it, with your music, a focus timer, tasks, files and more.Does DeskNotch work with Spotify?
Yes. It shows what's playing, with the artwork and playback controls, for Spotify, browsers and other players that use Windows' media controls.Will it get in the way of games and videos?
No. It hides in true fullscreen, like games, videos and F11, and can shrink to a sliver over your browser. Clicks pass straight through everywhere except the notch itself.Does it work with more than one monitor?
Yes. Put it on any display, or all of them, and it follows along as you plug monitors in and out.Will DeskNotch show up in screenshots or screen shares?
Only if you want it to. Turn on Hide in screenshots and it stays out of screenshots, recordings and screen sharing.How does the AI usage card work?
If you're signed in to Claude Code or Codex on your PC, DeskNotch reads your usage limits straight from Anthropic and OpenAI with that sign-in, and shows what's left and when it resets. Nothing goes through BruhLabs.Is DeskNotch free?
Yes. It's free on the Microsoft Store. No trial, no account.