Dynamic Island for Windows 11 and 10: how to get it

Written by Kore D, the maker of NotchPixel, 13 October 2026. NotchPixel facts updated 15 October 2026 (version 0.5.80). Facts about other apps last checked 13 October 2026.

Windows has no Dynamic Island built in. To get one on Windows 11 or 10, you install an app that puts a small pill at the top centre of the screen. It shows what is playing and other live status, and opens into a card when you point at it.

Dynamic Island is a trademark of Apple Inc.; NotchPixel is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. This page uses the name because it is what people search for. Every app below is made by an independent developer, not by Apple or Microsoft.

What the Dynamic Island is

The Dynamic Island is Apple's name for the pill-shaped area at the top of some iPhone screens, around the front camera. Apple introduced it with the iPhone 14 Pro on 7 September 2022. It changes shape to show alerts, notifications and things that are going on in the background, such as music, a timer or map directions. You tap and hold it to reach the controls.

Apple lists 14 iPhone models with it, from the iPhone 14 Pro onwards, including the iPhone Air. It is an iPhone feature. Some MacBooks have a camera notch instead, and Apple makes neither one for Windows.

Does Windows have a Dynamic Island built in?

No. Windows 11 and Windows 10 have nothing like it. Media controls live in the volume flyout, and notifications pop up in the corner of the screen. A PC screen also has no camera cut-out to wrap around, so a Windows app has to draw its own pill at the top of the display.

That is what the apps on this page do. They read the same things Windows already knows, such as what is playing and which app is using the microphone, and show them in one place at the top centre.

How to get Dynamic Island on Windows 11 or 10

These steps use NotchPixel, the app I make. The free and paid alternatives are below, and most install the same way from the Microsoft Store.

1. Check your PC. NotchPixel needs Windows 10 version 2004 (build 19041) or later, or Windows 11, on a 64-bit (x64) PC. Any DPI, one or more monitors.
2. Install it from the Microsoft Store. Open NotchPixel in the Microsoft Store and start the 7-day free trial. After that it is $9.99 once in the US; other countries see their own price. The Store installs it and keeps it updated. There is no account to make.
3. Open it from Start. The island appears at the top centre of your screen.
4. Point at it. Rest the pointer on it for a moment and it opens into a card; move away and it closes. Ctrl+Alt+N opens or closes it from the keyboard.
5. Pick a shape. Its settings open from the NotchPixel icon in the notification area, next to the clock. Choose the notch shape, which curves into the top edge like a MacBook's, or a floating island, at any size. Then pick a look: Liquid Glass, pure black, Graphite, Acrylic on Windows 11, Candy glass, or a soft theme such as Rosé, Lavender, Peach or Sakura.

Every shortcut can be changed in settings. To uninstall, go to Settings, Apps, NotchPixel, Uninstall.

What it can show

This is what NotchPixel's island shows and does. The other apps below each have their own list.

• Now playing from any app that reports media to Windows: Spotify, YouTube in Chrome or Edge, Apple Music, YouTube Music, VLC and foobar2000. Optional lyrics.
• Calls: a call timer as soon as an app opens your microphone, and Ctrl+Alt+M to mute it in every app. See how to mute your microphone in every app.
• Pop-ups at the top centre for volume, brightness, battery and headphones, and mirrored Windows notifications, kept in a list you can click back through.
• Games: a slim FPS, CPU, GPU and RAM strip in fullscreen games, or nothing at all.
• Files to your phone: drop files on the island's shelf, scan a QR code, and they are on your phone on the same Wi-Fi, with no app on the phone. See sending files from a PC to your phone.
• Clipboard history with pins, and download progress from any browser.
• Reminders that show over fullscreen games and calls.
• Widgets: a clock that follows the Windows 12-hour or 24-hour format, world clock, weather (a Minimal look, with a moon at night), to-do, photos, batteries, a focus timer and PC stats. Pin any of them to the desktop.
• Coding agents: what Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, Hermes or your own agents are doing, and a nudge when one needs you.
• Controls and launcher: brightness and volume sliders, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, night light and focus switches, screenshots, a region snip, screen recording to MP4, and six app slots.
• Streaming: a Twitch and YouTube chat drawer, and an OBS REC pill while you record.
• Pinned sites that open in a rounded drawer with picture-in-picture.
• Your own scripts can put lines on the island and live tiles in the card, through a local endpoint and a command-line tool.

It is in 21 languages. At idle it uses about 13 MB in Task Manager and 0% CPU (version 0.5.64, 3 October 2026; how it was measured). There is no account, no telemetry and no ads.

Other Dynamic Island apps for Windows

NotchPixel is not the only way. Here are the main alternatives, with facts from each app's own Store listing, catalog page or GitHub page. If you only want the look, a free one is enough.

There are more. The full Dynamic Island and notch apps comparison covers over 20 apps, free ones first, with Windows 10 support, where each one installs from, and what to keep in mind about each.

Install from a source you trust

A "Dynamic Island for Windows" download is an app that runs on your PC all day and can see what you play and copy. Get it from a place you can check:

• The Microsoft Store. It installs and updates the app, and shows who publishes it.
• The Windhawk catalog, for the island mod.
• The project's own GitHub page, for open-source apps. Some of these installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may ask you to confirm. Do that only if you trust the project.

Avoid copies on download sites, in file-sharing links or in video comments.

NotchPixel is sold only in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft signs the package, and the publisher shown in the Store is KORE INDUSTRIES. NotchPixel never sends .exe files, by email or anywhere else. If you see it offered anywhere other than its Microsoft Store page, it is not from NotchPixel; tell me where at info@notchpixel.com.

Games and browser tabs

Does it work in fullscreen games?

Yes, and it stays out of the way. In a fullscreen game NotchPixel either hides completely or shows a slim FPS, CPU, GPU and RAM strip, whichever you choose in Settings, Gaming. The strip needs the game in borderless or windowed fullscreen: in exclusive fullscreen the game owns the screen and nothing can draw over it.

Your mouse will not open the island while you aim. To open it mid-game, bring your cursor up with Esc or the game's menu, or press Ctrl+Alt+N. Reminders still show over fullscreen games.

Does it cover browser tabs?

Windows does not keep space free at the top of the screen for an island, so any of these apps sits over whatever is there, and on a maximised browser that is the tab strip. NotchPixel keeps that small: it is a small pill until you rest the pointer on it, and the card closes as soon as you move away. If it is still in the way, make it smaller (it works at any size), or hide it with Ctrl+Alt+H.

Get NotchPixel

$9.99 once, after a 7-day free trial. No subscription, no account.

US price; the Store shows the price for your country. The Microsoft Store installs and updates it.

Back to the NotchPixel home page, or see all Dynamic Island and notch apps for Windows, compared.

Where the facts come from

• The Dynamic Island: Apple Newsroom, Apple debuts iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max (7 September 2022), and Apple's iPhone User Guide, Models with a Dynamic Island. Read on 13 October 2026.
• Prices, Windows versions, architectures, update dates and features for Store apps: the Microsoft Store's product data for the US market, read on 13 October 2026, for Notchify (9P0JFN5L96VH), Dynamic Edge (9PF1587KSN2K), Smart Notch (9N1D46F5X565), Halo DynamicWin (9N9RS278CWK2), Up A Notch (9NNS08N6T354) and NotchPixel (9MXCRL0XBGPH).
• The island mod for Windhawk: its source and readme in Windhawk's public mods repository, https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk-mods (mods/dynamic-island-for-windows.wh.cpp), version 1.3.1 committed 26 September 2026, read on 13 October 2026.
• DynamicWin: https://github.com/FlorianButz/DynamicWin and its releases, read on 13 October 2026. V-Notch: https://github.com/rainaku/V-Notch and its releases, read on 13 October 2026.
• NotchPixel: its support page, the home page and the Microsoft Store listing. Memory and CPU: the footprint page.