Yes. It is free and open source under the MIT license, with no subscription, no account and no backend.

Which macOS version does it need?

macOS 14 Sonoma or later. On macOS 26, Follow my words uses Apple's SpeechAnalyzer, which covers about 30 languages; on earlier systems, the languages the Mac recognizes offline.

1.0 will ship as a DMG signed with a Developer ID and notarized, but that file is not on Releases yet. What is there today is 0.1.0, unsigned: macOS blocks it the first time and you approve it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway. To use 1.0 now, open Notchy.xcodeproj in Xcode and press ⌘R.

What permissions does it need and what happens to my voice?

It asks for the microphone the first time it listens and for speech recognition when you turn on Follow my words. Audio is processed as it arrives and is never recorded or sent anywhere, and recognition runs only on your Mac. There is no account and no analytics.

Does it show up in screen recordings?

Not by default: screen recordings and screenshots leave the prompter out (you can switch this off in Settings > Notch). Tools that record the whole display may still show it; for full invisibility, put the script on a second display.

Does it work on a Mac without a notch?

Yes. On Macs without a notch the prompter drops down from a strip at the top center of the screen.

Notchy

A teleprompter that lives in your Mac's notch and follows your voice

macOS
Free
Open source · MIT
v0.1.0

Download v0.1.0

View on GitHub

What is Notchy?

Notchy is a free teleprompter for macOS that lives in your Mac's notch. Your script scrolls while you speak and stops when you pause, or it follows your words with on-device speech recognition and keeps the line you are reading in view.

It is free and open source (MIT license), with no subscription or account. Version 1.0 is in the code, but its notarized DMG has not been published to Releases yet: the download available today is 0.1.0, which is unsigned and came as two apps (Notchy and Notchy Scripts), or you can build 1.0 in Xcode.

What it does

01Prompter drops down from the notch, on every Space and over full-screen apps
02Voice level mode: scrolls while there is sound and stops when you pause
03Follow my words mode: on-device speech recognition lines up what you say with the script
04Scripts window with folders, search, drag and drop, formatting and export to text
05Mirror horizontally, vertically or both, for beam-splitter glass or an iPad reflection
06Pick a microphone for Notchy alone; the Mac's default input stays as it is
07Left out of screen recordings and screenshots by default
08Keyboard shortcuts such as ⌘⇧T to show or hide the prompter

FAQ

Is Notchy free?: Yes. It is free and open source under the MIT license, with no subscription, no account and no backend.
Which macOS version does it need?: macOS 14 Sonoma or later. On macOS 26, Follow my words uses Apple's SpeechAnalyzer, which covers about 30 languages; on earlier systems, the languages the Mac recognizes offline.
How do I install it?: 1.0 will ship as a DMG signed with a Developer ID and notarized, but that file is not on Releases yet. What is there today is 0.1.0, unsigned: macOS blocks it the first time and you approve it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway. To use 1.0 now, open Notchy.xcodeproj in Xcode and press ⌘R.
What permissions does it need and what happens to my voice?: It asks for the microphone the first time it listens and for speech recognition when you turn on Follow my words. Audio is processed as it arrives and is never recorded or sent anywhere, and recognition runs only on your Mac. There is no account and no analytics.
Does it show up in screen recordings?: Not by default: screen recordings and screenshots leave the prompter out (you can switch this off in Settings > Notch). Tools that record the whole display may still show it; for full invisibility, put the script on a second display.
Does it work on a Mac without a notch?: Yes. On Macs without a notch the prompter drops down from a strip at the top center of the screen.

Documentation

README from the lucianodiisouza/notchy-desktop-macos repository, refreshed on every deploy.

A teleprompter that lives in your Mac's notch. Your script scrolls while you speak and stops when you pause, or it follows your words and keeps the line you are reading in view.

Free and open source. No subscriptions, no accounts, no backend. Native SwiftUI + AppKit, macOS 14 or later. English and Brazilian Portuguese, plus 26 more languages for most of the app.

Install

Download the notarized Notchy-X.Y.Z.dmg from Releases.
Open it and drag Notchy to Applications.
Open Notchy. It is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens without warnings.

Notchy asks for the microphone the first time it listens, and for speech recognition the first time you turn on "Follow my words". Both stay on your Mac.

Coming from 0.1? Notchy and Notchy Scripts are now one app. Your scripts carry over. You can delete Notchy Scripts.app from Applications.

The download build checks GitHub for new versions and offers them in the menu bar and in Settings → About.

How to use

Open Notchy. The prompter drops down from the notch (on Macs without a notch, from a strip at the top center).
Paste your script with ⌘V, type it in, or write it in the Scripts window (⌘⇧R).
Speak. Pick how your voice drives the text in Settings → Voice:
- Voice level: the text scrolls at the set speed while there is sound and stops when you pause.
- Follow my words: Notchy recognizes what you say, on this Mac, and keeps the line you are reading about a third of the way down. Skip a sentence or go back and it follows. Click a word to continue from there.
Collapse the prompter with the arrow; hover the notch to bring it back.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
⌘⇧T	Show or hide the prompter
⌘⇧R	Scripts window
⌘⇧D	Put the prompter back in the notch
⌘,	Settings
⌘V	Paste a new script into an empty prompter
Space	Play or pause steady scrolling (while not typing in the text)
↑ / ↓	Scroll a little
⇧↑ / ⇧↓	Faster / slower
⌘0	Back to the top
⌘⇧P	Send the open script to the prompter (Scripts window)

Features

Notch prompter that sits in the menu bar layer, on every Space and over full-screen apps.
Follow my words: on-device speech recognition lines your words up with the script. On macOS 26 it uses Apple's SpeechAnalyzer, which covers about 30 languages and downloads each one once; on earlier systems, the languages the Mac recognizes offline. Lines already read fade and the current word is marked.
Voice level: the original mode, with adjustable sensitivity.
Scripts window: folders, drag and drop, search, bold / italic / underline / size, export to text.
Settings in the same style as PrimoDock, CameraMan and DailyNotch, with search: Text, Scrolling, Voice, Notch, Editor, General, Shortcuts, About.
Mirror horizontally, vertically or both, for beam-splitter glass or an iPad reflection.
Any microphone for Notchy alone; your Mac's default input stays as it is.
Stealth by default: screen recordings and screenshots leave the prompter out (switch it off in Settings → Notch). Modern capture tools that record the whole display may still show it; for full invisibility, put the script on a second display.
Private: no account, no analytics. See PRIVACY.md.

Build from source

open Notchy.xcodeproj   # then ⌘R

or:

./scripts/run.sh            # build (Debug) and (re)launch
./scripts/run.sh release    # build Release and launch
./scripts/wipe.sh           # remove the app, its settings AND scripts from this Mac

Developer notes, signing and releasing are in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the workflow and for opening issues.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.