Most Manufacturers let you hide the notch by adding a black bar on either side of the notch area giving you a more consistent look. Some manufacturers don’t want you fiddling with the notch like Nokia, Xiaomi, etc. You can certainly hide the notch with apps like Nacho Notch but rather let’s learn how to use it in a creative way. Read: How to get rid of ‘App is using Battery’ Notification
Best Notch Apps For Android
1. Notch Battery Bar
Notch Battery Bar is a great way to use the space around the notch. It puts an energy bar along the curves of the notch. The app supports almost all the notch styles including teardrop notch. It doesn’t require any special permission except one, exception from battery optimization. You can adjust the height and width to center the battery meter. For Android 9 users, you may have to grant special access to Notch Battery as the OS automatically kills any process which sits in the background. You can do this in battery settings for Notch Battery to keep it running in the background. Settings > Battery > Battery Optimization > Notch Battery > Don’t Optimize
Notch Battery is a paid app and you can get it for less than a dollar. If you want to test the app first, install the trial version from the Play Store. Install Notch Battery Bar (free)
2. Edge Mask
Edge Mask is a notification app which offers edge lighting for your notched display. This app works with all kinds of notch displays with an exception of teardrop notch. I found a cool trick in which you cancreate a batman symbol which lights up in the notch area every time you receive a notification. This transforms the boring notch area into a more fun layout. You can customize the color and choose a two-color combination for the notifications.
Edge Mask also offers custom notifications and you can choose from ripple, Bookmark, Samsung and Apple-style notifications. The app is free but has ads. Install Edge Mask (free)
3. Energy Bar
As I mentioned, Status Bar is a valuable real estate and Energy Bar places a sleek bar on the status bar to indicate the battery level. The energy bar sits right above the status bar and you can adjust the thickness and position of the bar. Although Energy Bar doesn’t indicate battery percentage in numerics, you can choose to have different colors at different levels. The app lets you choose a color for any given percentage level. Like if you choose different colors at every 20% drop, you can tell the battery level just by looking at the color of the battery bar. You can also set the bar as separate colors, merged segments, and gradient.
This app works well if you have cutout displays with curved edges like Note 9. If your smartphone has a notch and sharp edges, you can use the other variant of the app. Energy Bar is free on the Play Store. Install Energy Bar (free)
4. Muviz
Muviz is a music visualizer app which adds a music visualizer on the Status bar or the navigation bar. You can select from a list of most popular visualizers or create your own. You can customize the shape, color, gradient, size, height, spread, and transparency. All of your custom visualizers are saved in the app which can be synced with your Google account.
You can choose which apps would play the visualizer and allow it to run in full screen. It can be positioned on the top of the status bar, and the navigation bar and to be fair it looks great both ways. Install Muviz (free)
5. Nacho Notch
Not everyone likes the notch and some manufacturers don’t even let you hide the notch. Nacho notch lets you hide the notch system-wide. You can blackout status bar to hide the area. It also supports rounded corners on the top and bottom to cater cutout displays. You can adjust the height and width of the status bar from the settings. To make the display more aesthetically pleasing, you can align the rounded corners the smartphone’s edge. Also Read: 42 OnePlus 6T Tips, Tricks, and Hidden features
Nacho Notch is a decent app to hide notch on your smartphone if your OEM doesn’t let you do that natively. Install Nacho Notch (free)
6. Notchr
Cutout Displays are more aesthetically pleasing but when you take a screenshot, it generates that same boxy screenshot with sharp edges. Notchr lets you create screenshots with curved edges and even the notch. It only has an option for one notch style and you can’t adjust the height. Creating a screenshot is easy, simply, upload the file from the library and generate screenshot. The screenshot is automatically saved to the camera roll.
The app is available in French and English, you can change the language from the top right. Install Notchr (free)
7. Battery Meter
With notch taking up space on the status bar, real estate gets expensive and you can optimize it with Battery meter. This app puts a battery meter right below the notch. You can choose from 15 different styles and customize the layout on each theme. The default position is right below the notch but if your phone doesn’t have a notch, you can put the battery meter on the status bar by turning on the overlap settings. Battery Meter App > Settings > Overlap Status Bar
You can’t adjust the size of the battery meter in the free version but you can unlock all the advanced features like adjust meter position, Scale, change colors, auto hide on full screen etc for just $2 via in-app purchases. Install Battery Meter (free / $2)
8. Status bar & Notch Custom Colors and Backgrounds
I am certain you know how to customize the navigation bar on Android but have you set a different wallpaper on the Status Bar? Well, This app Status Bar lets you do that. You can customize your Status bar with custom frames, colors, and presets. Choose a color, select a frame, and apply. You can choose from a few different forms of waves, and geometrical patterns. Not just solid colors, you can even add a gradient of up to four color combinations.
Overall the app works great and you can use it to create eye catchy status bar without much effort. The app is free and has a few ads which you can remove for $2 or unlock everything for $4. Install Status Bar (free, $2)
9. Energy Ring for Samsung Galaxy S10e
Samsung Galaxy S10e sports a hole punch display, although it is much better than the standard notch, it still takes up space on your display. Just like Notch Battery Bar, Energy Ring uses the space around the notch (hole punch) to display the battery percentage. It is made by the same developer IJP who also made Energy Bar mentioned above.
The app requires special permission to draw over other apps which shows the battery percentage in a subtle illumination. This app is exclusive to Samsung Galaxy S10e now but we can expect another update for the S10 and S10+ in the near future. The app is free and contains ads, you can remove the ads by purchasing through in-app purchases. Install Energy Ring (free, in-app purchases)
10. Always on Edge
Always on Edge is an all in one app and can substitute all the other Notification apps, Always on Display apps, Edge lighting, and Notch apps. I really like the comprehensive settings page in the app that lets you customize each and every aspect of the Edge lighting.
The app lets you choose when to light up, how to close, screen orientation, speed, etc. You can also isolate the punch hole display and set the app to light up around it. The app is a great choice if you want to customize the notch area, there is, however, one thing to note, you’d have to grant a lot of permissions to run the app without any hitches. It is free on the Play Store. Install Always on Edge (free, ads, in-app purchases)
Best Notch Apps for your Android
These were my picks for customizing the notch on your smartphone. Nacho notch is a great app to remove the notch if your OEM doesn’t let you do it. Energy Bar, Battery Meter, Notch Battery Bar are all decent apps which display battery level on the status bar or around the notch. Edge Mask is a notification app which gives you a quirky notch light notification and Status Bar is probably my favorite app as you can customize your status bar with it. You can customize it to keep it subtle or bold with its frames and patterns. Tell us which app do you love the most in the comments below.
