Answer your agents. Allow, deny, pick an answer or approve a plan, right from the notch.
New in 3.0: answer your coding agents from the notch, and a new look for everything
HaloThe Dynamic Island for Mac
Your MacBook's notch has been doing nothing.
Halo puts your music, messages, calls and meetings in it.
Buy · $9.99
One-time, no subscription. NotchNook is $25, Alcove $13.99.
macOS 15 or later. Apple silicon and Intel.
loved by 100+ Mac users 🎉
That's Halo, up there. Hover it.
Get the highlights.
Watch the film
Know when it's done. What your agent did, how long it took, and the lines it changed.
Notifications, in the notch. Messages from any app arrive right where you're already looking.
Activities in circles. A running agent, a download or your meeting rides beside the notch, so the notch keeps your music.
A new look. Tiles, bigger type and Live Activity style cards, in clearer Liquid Glass.
Hold Fn. Just talk. Your words are typed wherever your cursor is, in any app.
Notifications
Every message.
Right where you look.
Messages, Slack, Mail, Telegram: banners from any app arrive in the island instead of the corner of your screen. Read it at a glance, click to open the app, or let it slip away.
Click to open.
A click takes you straight to the conversation.
Your apps, your call.
Turn the notch on or off for each app in Settings.
Never twice.
The usual macOS banner steps aside while Halo shows it.
Dictation
Hold Fn.
Just talk.
Hold the key and say what you want to write. Your words show up under the notch as you speak, and when you let go, they land wherever the cursor is: a message, an email, a terminal. Use Fn, the right Option or Command key, or any shortcut you like.
- English
- Español
- Deutsch
- Français
- Italiano
- Português
- Русский
- Oʻzbekcha
Free, with Apple's speech recognition, on your Mac once macOS has downloaded your language. Or add your own Groq key for Whisper and dozens more languages.
Halo Buddy
Meet Buddy.
A little face that lives beside your notch. It follows your cursor, smiles when you come by and naps when you step away. And it wears your agents' mood: thinking while they work, wide-eyed when they need you, happy when they're done.
Calm
Happy to see you
Listening
Thinking
Needs you
Done
Napping
Something broke
All new in Halo 3.0.
Answer your agents
Allow, Deny or Always, pick an answer, approve a plan. Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode.
See the change first
Write and Edit cards show the file, with removed lines in red and added ones in green.
Know when it's done
A banner says what the agent did, how long it took and how many lines changed.
Two usage rings
Your 5-hour and weekly limits. The one that runs out first gets the big number.
More agents
OpenCode and Gemini CLI in the notch, and Codex questions show as waiting for you.
Activities in circles
A running agent, a download, your meeting and keep-awake ride beside the notch, so it keeps your music.
Notes
A scratchpad tab you can type into without leaving the app you're in.
A smarter clipboard
Filters for text, links, colours, images and files, search, and pins that stay first.
Convert files
Images (PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, WebP, PDF) and documents (Markdown, Rich Text, HTML, Word, PDF), from the shelf.
A camera check
A minute before a meeting, the banner opens your camera mirror with a Join button.
A new design
Tiles in the open card, bigger type, and Live Activity style cards and banners.
Clearer Liquid Glass
Tint and Frost controls, Classic or Floating.
Hover or click
Open the island your way, with a Fast animation option.
Settings, simpler
One window, cut to nine pages.
Eight languages
Every new line, in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Uzbek.
Built for AI agents
Answer your agents, from the notch.
Answer without switching.
Allow, Deny or Always for a permission, pick or type an answer, approve a plan. Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode, without leaving the app you're in.
Know when it's done.
A banner says what the agent did, how long it took and how many lines changed. Click it to jump back to the terminal.
Every session, one tab.
The file each agent is editing, the lines it changed, an Answer button when one waits, and your 5-hour and weekly rings.
Halo is a Dynamic Island for your Mac. It turns the notch, or the top of any screen without one, into a live home for your messages, your voice, your AI agents, your music, your day and your files. It stays out of sight until something happens. And on an external monitor, the brightness keys finally work.
Watch the film.
One island
Everything you need.
Nothing in the way.
More than20 featuresin one island
Exactly0 accountsno sign-in, nothing personal sent
Just7.2 MBdownload, native for Apple silicon and Intel
Take a closer look.
Lock Screen
Your music, on the lock screen.
Play, pause, skip, or drag to any second, without unlocking. The card sits just above your picture, sized for every screen from a MacBook to an ultrawide.
Go on, drag the bar.
Off until you turn it on in Settings. Beta.
Wednesday 23 September9:41
Midnight City Lights (Extended Version)The Night Drivers
AAlexTouch ID or Enter Password
External monitors
Your monitor's brightness keys. Finally working.
macOS shows a HUD and changes nothing. Halo grows a notch on screens that have none, and its keys set the monitor's real backlight over DDC/CI,2 plus contrast and input switching from the island.
Press them, or use ← →.
Privacy. That's Halo.
Halo runs on your Mac and keeps to itself. No account to make, nothing to sign in to, nothing personal sent.
No account.
Download it, open it, done.
Nothing personal.
Your notifications and agents are read on your Mac and never leave it. If you allow it, Halo sends anonymous usage counts once a day.
A few connections, all yours.
Update checks and usage counts, only if you allow them. Lyrics lookups send just the song's title and artist. Dictation stays on your Mac once macOS has downloaded your language (until then, Apple processes it on its servers), or goes to Groq only if you add your own key.
Tech Specs
- Price
- $9.99. One-time purchase. No subscription.
- Compatibility
- macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Liquid Glass design on macOS 26.1
Apple silicon and Intel. - Screens
- MacBook notch, or a drawn island on any display without one.
Top, left or right edge. Every display or just one. - Monitor control
- Brightness, contrast and input over DDC/CI.2
- Now Playing
- Music, Spotify, and YouTube or any video in Safari and Chrome. Artwork, scrubber, controls, synced lyrics.
- Also in the island
- Volume and brightness HUDs, timers, today's calendar, file shelf with AirDrop, clipboard history, battery levels for your Mac, AirPods and Bluetooth devices, Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Gemini CLI with answers right in the notch, usage limits, notes, a file converter, a Focus and Break timer, microphone-in-use, camera mirror, keep awake.
- Notifications
- Banners from any app, in the island, with a switch for each app. Needs Accessibility access; Full Disk Access lets Settings list every app.
- Dictation
- Hold Fn, the right Option or Command key, or press a shortcut. Apple speech recognition (on your Mac once macOS has your language), or Whisper on Groq with your own key.
- Languages
- English, Español, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Português (Brasil), Русский, Oʻzbekcha.
- Halo Buddy
- On by default, beside the notch when nothing else is going on. Off in Settings › Activities.
- Updates
- Built-in, and only after you say yes.
From buyers
“So far, I am really enjoying Halo! It is beautifully designed.”
“It helps me do my Pomodoro sessions without cluttering my menu bar or my desktop.”
More than 60 people have bought Halo so far.
Questions? Answers.
Apple's new MacBook Pro has a Dynamic Island. Do I need Halo?
Only the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, from November 6, 2026, has Apple's Dynamic Island. No other Mac has it, and Halo brings one to yours, notch or not. On the new MacBook Pro, Halo is for what Apple's doesn't do, such as answering Claude Code or controlling an external monitor. Which Macs have it.
Do I need a MacBook with a notch?
No. On screens without one — external monitors, older Macs — Halo draws a slim island at the top, or on the left or right edge if you prefer.
Is Halo an alternative to Alcove or NotchNook?
Yes. It covers the same ground (now playing, volume and brightness, a file shelf) and adds control of your external monitor: brightness, contrast and input switching over DDC/CI. It also runs on screens that have no notch.
Which Macs does it run on?
macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. Controlling an external monitor's brightness, contrast and input needs Apple silicon.
Does Halo collect any data?
Nothing personal. The app has no account. It connects to the internet for five things: checking for updates, only if you allow it; looking up lyrics for the playing song on LRCLIB (title and artist only; turn Lyrics off in Settings and it never does); sending what you dictate to Groq to turn it into text, only if you choose Groq for dictation and add your own key; activating your license key with Lemon Squeezy when you enter it (the key and your Mac's name), and checking that key with them once a week; and, if you leave “Share anonymous usage” on, sending usage to Pulse: once a day, which features are on, how often the island opens and which tabs you use, plus a note when you activate a key. That comes with a random ID and the app version, never your name, email, license key, files or what you listen to. Agent status reads Claude Code's and Codex's activity from files on your Mac, and notifications are read on your Mac; neither ever leaves it. Apple's dictation runs on your Mac once macOS has downloaded your language; until then Apple processes it on its servers. Turn it off any time in Settings › General. This website counts visits with Pulse, which uses no cookies, and with DataFast, which sets a first-party visitor cookie to tell visits apart; neither identifies you.
macOS says it can't verify Halo. Is that normal?
For now, yes — Halo isn't notarized by Apple yet. The first time, open Halo, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.
How do I get Halo?
Buy it once for $9.99. The download link and your license key arrive by email: open Halo, paste the key, and that's it. One key works on up to 3 Macs.
Will I see notifications twice?
No. While Halo shows a banner in the notch, the usual macOS banner steps aside. It's still in Notification Center afterwards.
Is dictation free?
Yes. It uses Apple's speech recognition, on your Mac once macOS has downloaded your language. If you prefer Whisper, add your own Groq key; Groq bills you directly, and Halo never sees the key outside your Keychain.
Which languages is Halo in?
English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian and Uzbek. Halo follows your Mac's language, or pick one in Settings › General.
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once: $9.99.
Will it get in the way of fullscreen apps?
No. The island hides itself in fullscreen video and games, and stays out of the menu bar's way.
Halo
A living island for every Mac screen.
$9.99
BuyOne-time purchase. macOS 15 or later. Apple silicon and Intel.
