What is Crest?

Crest is a Mac notch app that transforms the empty black bar on your MacBook Pro or Air into an interactive hub. It hangs from the notch and provides instant access to Now Playing, a glanceable dashboard, calendar, tasks, system stats, screen time, translation, and more. The app vanishes when you don't need it, keeping your screen clean and focused.

Who it's for

• MacBook users with a notch – anyone on a MacBook Pro or Air (macOS 14+) who wants to make that black bar useful instead of wasted space.
• Productivity enthusiasts – people who want calendar, tasks, notes, and a Pomodoro timer always a hover away without cluttering the desktop.
• Power users and developers – those who need system monitoring, screen time tracking, Bluetooth controls, code hosting shortcuts, and AI tools accessible from the menu bar area.

Key features

Now Playing with album art and lyrics

Crest shows what's currently playing right in the notch, complete with album art and live lyrics. It's a compact, glanceable music controller that stays out of the way until you need it.

Seventeen modules in one hub

The app offers seventeen modules total, with four available free forever and thirteen more unlocked with Crest Pro. These include a glanceable dashboard, drag-and-drop shelf, clipboard history, calendar, day progress, todo list, notes, Pomodoro timer, system monitor, screen time, Bluetooth, launcher, code hosting, AI coding, quick AI, and on-device translation.

On-device and private

All processing happens locally on your Mac. There's no data sent to external servers, making Crest a privacy-first choice for users who care about keeping their information secure.

What stands out

"Crest turns that empty black bar into the most useful pixels on your Mac."

This one-liner captures the product's core value: it repurposes a design element many users ignore into a functional workspace. Unlike other notch apps that simply hide or fill the space, Crest makes the notch an active part of your workflow with modules that are always a hover away.

Worth checking out if…

You have a MacBook with a notch and want to reclaim that screen real estate for something useful. Crest is especially worth trying if you prefer a one-time purchase over a subscription—Crest Pro costs $19.99 once and includes free updates for life, usable on up to two Macs. The free version already gives you Now Playing, a dashboard, shelf, and clipboard history, so there's no risk in downloading it to see if the notch becomes your new favorite productivity spot.