Crest
Your notch just
got a job.
Music, meetings and your coding agents.
One glance up.
Free forever. Pro free for 7 days, no card needed.
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The short version.
Never miss the ask.
Open the ask. The whole command, then Allow.
Claude has a question? Tap the answer.
3coding agents, answered from the notch.
12window layouts. Drag a window up to the notch.
7daysof Pro, free. No card.
2Macson every licence.
Two more apps.
Both run from the notch.
Minutes
Meeting notes written on your Mac. Nothing leaves it. macOS 26, Apple Silicon.
What people say.
From people who use the apps. We read each one before it goes up.
5 / 5 · 9 reviews
★★★★★
it has helped me a lot with keeping up with my calendar and keeping my screenshots for easy access
★★★★★
Best MacBook notch application I've found.
★★★★★
Was first drawn to Crest. I have tried 426 different "notch apps" and Crest is the one I have enjoyed using the best. With the integration into Crest that Minutes and Take has, I have one pane of glass into 3 productivity apps that I use all the time. Zack is responsive and gracious when I bombard him with questions.
★★★★★
great app! worth every penny
★★★★★
Simply, a productivity companion
Crest primarily got my attention due to its Claude Code integration, Take and Minutes I primarily use for meetings and planning!
I like the aesthetic, I mainly use for media control and AI development. Claude works great in it!
★★★★★
Very useful for Work and Studies.
★★★★★
intuitive and easy to use, great job
Pay once. Keep it.
No subscription. Free updates.
No account needed
Crest
Free
- Music with synced lyrics
- The Shelf and the Clipboard
- Window snapping
- Take and Minutes controls
- Answers for your coding agents
7 days free, no card
Crest Pro
$19.99 once
- The Agents widget, every session at a glance
- Calendar with Join, and a camera check
- The Claude co-pilot
- Todos, notes, system and more
$5 more than Crest Pro
Everything
$24.99 once
- Crest Pro
- Take, the screen recorder
- Minutes, the meeting notetaker
- Own Crest Pro already? Add both for $5
For a team
Everything: Crest Pro, Take and Minutes for each person, on their own email and their own 2 Macs.
One payment for everyone. You hand out the seats from your account, seat 1 is yours, and you can move a seat to someone else any time.
Two Macs per licence.Prices in USD, tax included.7-day refunds.Card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or crypto.
The details, if you want them.
Crest against the other notch apps
Every claim below comes from the other apps' own sites. Where they win, it says so.
| Feature | Crest | The Boring Notch | NotchNook | Alcove |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 once | Free, open source | Not on sale now (was $25 once) | $14.99 once |
| Try it | Free tier forever, plus 7 days of Pro | Everything is free | Not available | 72-hour trial |
| Agent approvals | Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI, in the notch | No | No | No |
| Claude co-pilot | Files reminders, todos and events, on your approval | No | No | No |
| Meetings and todos | Calendar with one-click Join, to-dos, notes, a focus timer | Calendar | Widgets and a tray | Notifications and Live Activities |
| Developer tools | GitHub PRs and CI, SSH hosts, live agent sessions | None | None | None |
| Opens like a Mac app | Signed and notarized | Needs a Gatekeeper bypass | Signed | Signed |
| On battery | Animations pause, sleeps with the Mac | Low CPU on Apple Silicon | User reports of high CPU at times | Not stated |
| Macs per licence | Two | Unlimited | Was standalone or Setapp | Three |
Full comparisons: Boring Notch, NotchNook, Alcove, Perch, TopNotch, MediaMate, Notchmeister, all three apps, feature by feature
Questions
- Is any of this a subscription?
- No. Every app is a one-time purchase with free updates. All three apps together are one payment of $24.99. There is nothing to cancel because nothing renews.
- What do I get after paying?
- An account on the email you paid with, and a link in your inbox to set a password. Sign in inside the app and it unlocks. There are no licence keys to paste, and the licence covers two Macs.
- Can I try before buying?
- All of it. Crest has a free tier plus seven days of Pro, and Take and Minutes each start with a seven-day trial. No card up front for any of them. Downloading needs no account: you sign in inside the app when you start a trial, because the account is how you get what you buy later.
- Do I need an account?
- Not to download, and not for Crest's free tier. You sign in only to start a free trial or when you buy, because your licence lives on your email and signing in inside the app is what unlocks it. A purchase makes the account for you, on the email you pay with.
- Does it really work offline?
- Yes. You need internet once, to activate. After that every feature runs offline. Minutes never sends audio or text anywhere, online or not: transcription and summaries run on the models inside macOS.
- Which Macs do I need?
- Crest runs on any Mac on macOS 14 or later. On a MacBook with a notch it lives in the notch; on any other screen it sits in a small pill at the top and opens the same panel. Take runs on any Mac on macOS 14 or later. Minutes needs macOS 26 or later on Apple Silicon, because its transcription and summaries run on device.
- I don't have a notch. Is any of this for me?
- Yes, all three. Crest shows a small pill at the top of a screen without a notch and opens the same panel from it. Take runs on any Mac on macOS 14 or later, and Minutes on any Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 26.
- I already own Crest Pro. What changes?
- Nothing. Your key keeps working forever. Sign in with the email you bought with and it appears in your account next to anything new you pick up.
- What if I do not like it?
- Try it before you pay. Crest has a free tier that never expires and needs no account, and signing in gives you seven days of Pro with no card. Take and Minutes have the same seven day trial. If you have already bought and something is wrong, write to contact@crestnotch.app and we will sort it out. More questions on the support page.
Tech specs
- Crest
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on any Mac. On a MacBook with a notch it lives in the notch; on any other screen, a small pill at the top opens the same panel.
- Take
- macOS 14 or later, on any Mac.
- Minutes
- macOS 26 or later on Apple Silicon: transcription and summaries run on device.
- Coding agents
- Claude Code, Codex and GitHub Copilot CLI.
- Licence
- One-time purchase, free updates, two Macs per licence. Works offline after one online activation.
- Paying
- Card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Paddle, or crypto through NOWPayments. Refunds within 7 days.