Has anyone tried out Say No to Notch on the Mac App Store?

[azpc]

Has anyone tried out Say No to Notch on the Mac App Store?

Say No to Notch App - App Store

Download Say No to Notch by Honghao Zhang on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Say No to Notch.

apps.apple.com

Features:


• Moves the menu bar down below the "notch"


• Brings back the full-width menu bar from edge to edge


• Works well with professional apps with a long list of menus

• Makes the long list of menu items visible

• Quickly toggle the notch via menu bar icon

• Hide Dock icon

• Double-clicking the notch area to disable the notch

• "Always Disable Notch" Mode

• Shortcuts app support


If you have tried it, did you like it?

Thank you

 

[bigjnyc]

The wording is a little silly.. You can't disable the notch.... All they are doing is adding a black bar across the top of the screen for the notch to blend in to isn't it?

 

[azpc]

The wording is a little silly.. You can't disable the notch.... All they are doing is adding a black bar across the top of the screen for the notch to blend in to isn't it?

If my understanding is correct - this developer is taking a different approach than TopNotch.

Say No To Notch lowers the menu bar down below the "notch".

Top Notch paints the menu bar black so you don't see the notch. Apps with large menus are still broken into two sections with Top Notch.

Say No To Notch claims that it doesn't have to break up the menu structure (right of the notch, left of the notch).

Since I am still using a 2019 MacBook Pro I am unable to verify these claims, hence the post. I am looking for user reports. How does "No To Notch" work in real life? Issues?

 

[torifile]

This is dumb. You're effectively doubling the thickness of the menubar because you don't want to see the notch? So instead, you are left with a useless black strip all the way across the entire width of the screen?

 

[azpc]

This is dumb. You're effectively doubling the thickness of the menubar because you don't want to see the notch? So instead, you are left with a useless black strip all the way across the entire width of the screen?

"This is dumb." Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what you are using it for. When you are filming a screen for a college class, having all the menus together raises fewer questions from department chairs who are pc users.

 

[arcite]

Turn on dark theme.

Go settings > accessibility > display > turn on reduce transparency.

There, notch gone.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

lol, I still don't understand the rager for the notch. Especially on the Mac. Where the menubar is practically obscuring it. I don't even notice it.

 

[TedJustAdmitit]

About in less than a day I forgot the notch was there since it never shows video in that area. Icons annoy me anyways so I minimize what is on that top bar, and most app properties don’t go that far over, but I can appreciate if someone wants that real-estate.

 

[torifile]

About in less than a day I forgot the notch was there since it never shows video in that area. Icons annoy me anyways so I minimize what is on that top bar, and most app properties don’t go that far over, but I can appreciate if someone wants that real-estate.

That’s the thing - this app doesn’t give them that real estate back. It *takes away* real estate.

 

[toobravetosave]

so you're going to just lose a bunch of screen space to not see the notch that already blends into most menu bars?

edit: are you just advertising this app?

 

[Timpetus]

My experience, and it would seem to match that of others here, is that the notch does not bother me in the least. It's really not a notch, it's a growth of the screen on the sides of the camera where it used to be just bezel. I noticed the notch for a couple hours when I first got my new MBP, but since then it hasn't impacted my use at all. I guess I can't say that, it's cool having a spot I can easily hide the cursor, but that's a positive impact lol.

 

[Luna Murasaki]

This sounds like a much more elegant and sensible solution than it appears. The rows of pixels affected by the notch are already extra since the screen uses a standard aspect ratio without them. Fullscreen apps already do what this program does - turning those rows of pixels black and making the effective screen area everything below them. So if you really want to be rid of the notch this is the obvious way for how to accomplish it.

Whether or not the app works as intended is another story. I'm not really interested in testing it since I have no problem with the notch, so I'll leave that to someone else.

 

[boss.king]

lol, I still don't understand the rager for the notch. Especially on the Mac. Where the menubar is practically obscuring it. I don't even notice it.

If an app has more menu bar items then can spill over to the other side of the notch, meaning you can lose access to some menu bar apps entirely unless you switch to something else.
Notice how the last menubar app in Safari isn't visible in XCode.

Personally I'm not too bothered by it, I don't have that many menu bar apps, but if I did I can see how it would be irritating.

 

[MazingerZND]

"This is dumb." Maybe, maybe not.

No, it most definitely is.

 

[Luna Murasaki]

If an app has more menu bar items then can spill over to the other side of the notch, meaning you can lose access to some menu bar apps entirely unless you switch to something else.
Notice how the last menubar app in Safari isn't visible in XCode.

Personally I'm not too bothered by it, I don't have that many menu bar apps, but if I did I can see how it would be irritating.

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I haven't experienced the menu bar items issue but I definitely have enough in the way of notification icons on the right end of the bar for it to be a problem. I am dependent on Bartender to deal with it.

I don't consider it worth getting rid of the notch because I appreciate the extra vertical screen space I am getting out of this but I think it's entirely sensible to feel differently.

 

[erkanasu]

I just tried it.... i like it!

 

[boss.king]

I haven't experienced the menu bar items issue but I definitely have enough in the way of notification icons on the right end of the bar for it to be a problem. I am dependent on Bartender to deal with it.

I don't consider it worth getting rid of the notch because I appreciate the extra vertical screen space I am getting out of this but I think it's entirely sensible to feel differently.

Yeah, I use something like bartender (cleanbar? Can’t remember the name) but I would also rather have the extra vertical space with the notch than a chunk bezel.

Hopefully by the time I’m ready to upgrade, they’ll have gotten rid of the notch altogether.

 

[thebayareaisliving]

I like the notch. How else would people know I have the latest and greatest at SFO?

 

[rocketbuc]

I use Top Notch and it works great. It is free, so just give it a try. Immediate results.

 

[Biro]

I don’t even see the notch. The Dynamic Island is a bit more obvious. But, frankly, I don’t notice that much, either.

 

[DFBwin]

"This is dumb." Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what you are using it for. When you are filming a screen for a college class, having all the menus together raises fewer questions from department chairs who are pc users.

No it definitely is dumb.
You can just go to your settings and enable another display resolution. My 14'' MBP has standard resolution of 1800x1169. I can just change the resolution to 1800x1125 and the notch is gone.
No need for a stupid app, just use the MacOS settings.

If you want to get rid of precious display space, go for it. But don't use a stupid app.

 

[Luna Murasaki]

No it definitely is dumb.
You can just go to your settings and enable another display resolution. My 14'' MBP has standard resolution of 1800x1169. I can just change the resolution to 1800x1125 and the notch is gone.
No need for a stupid app, just use the MacOS settings.

If you want to get rid of precious display space, go for it. But don't use a stupid app.

I was just too curious so I ultimately experimented with the app. Looks like all it does is automate exactly what you describe - even to the point of showing its functionality enabled or disabled in its interface after you manually change the resolution yourself. So it is literally doing the same thing.

Provided one selects the correct resolution (same width as the default with a slightly lower pixel height), there should be no scaling/blurring going on - the software pixels still seem to line up correctly with the physical pixels on the screen that I can see. The only downside seems to be that for some weird reason, this also pointlessly costs you a much smaller number of pixel rows on the bottom of the screen in addition to getting rid of the ones occupied by the notch.

I compared the bezel sizes of my notchless 15" 2018 MacBook Pro with the bezel sizes of my de-notched 16" M3 MacBook Pro and took this picture. 😀 You can see it is still a massive improvement. Even the bottom bezel only looks worse because of the taller profile of the machine. I wish I had a 16" 2019 MacBook Pro to compare this with.

I am perfectly happy with the notch but all this is definitely something to share with people who are not!

 

[Timpetus]

I don't personally know anyone who dislikes the notch but still purchased one of the laptops with a notch and couldn't get used to it. I imagine that sub-sub-subgroup of laptop users is vanishingly tiny, but obviously pretty vocal online

 

[azpc]

so you're going to just lose a bunch of screen space to not see the notch that already blends into most menu bars?

edit: are you just advertising this app?

No. Please see my earlier comment:

"Since I am still using a 2019 MacBook Pro I am unable to verify these claims, hence the post. I am looking for user reports. How does "No To Notch" work in real life? Issues?"

 

[Luna Murasaki]

No. Please see my earlier comment:

"Since I am still using a 2019 MacBook Pro I am unable to verify these claims, hence the post. I am looking for user reports. How does "No To Notch" work in real life? Issues?"

Not sure if my image was helpful. I know it compares the look to the 2018 model instead of the 2019 but maybe if you look at the picture and your 2019 from a similar angle you can compare the bezels.

With Mini-LED screens, black is truly black and looks exactly the same as if the display was powered off. So you can't see the difference between the part of the blacked out area that is notch and the part that is disabled screen space unless you get a lot of light shining on it. So it might as well be a real bezel at that point. I think you won't find the notch so bad once you have your purchase in hand but I can appreciate the need to have a plan B in case you find you can't stand it.

The app works by simply changing resolution. It is still handy if you want to go back and forth between notch and no notch quickly, but you can also just change the resolution yourself in the display settings, as DFBwin shared. The different resolution still seems to line up the physical pixels with software pixels so it's not blurred/filtered like you normally see with non-native resolutions. The overall look is what you'd expect the system to look like if Apple had not built it with a notch in the first place. The only issue I've noticed is that the resolution change seems to lose a few rows of pixels on the BOTTOM for some reason but it's a negligible amount.

It should be noted that a similar effect is normally done, with no third-party apps or changes to the default settings, if you switch an app to full screen. In that case though it's not a resolution change so you can still move your cursor up to the blackened area, and then menu bar content appears there. The resolution change we are talking about completely stops using the blackened area at all and makes the interface work like it does on a no-notch display.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have to help you. I could even measure the effective bezels if you want to compare that to your 2019 model. I have been in this situation myself with purchases and I can appreciate the need to have no surprises at all. You may want to have a look at how it works at an Apple Store. If that isn't practical maybe you could tell me what you'd try if you had the device in front of you and I could try to make a simple video for you showing the same thing.

Sorry people are being mean to you. Not sure what is up with this place.