Notch teleprompters for Mac: what they do and how invisible they really are
A notch teleprompter puts your script right under the MacBook camera, so you read while looking into the lens. There are now more than ten of them. They differ in price, in whether the text follows your voice, and in how honestly they talk about staying off screen shares.
Short answer. Free with voice tracking: Textream (MIT, the most popular open-source one) or NotchPrompt. Paid and polished: Notchie ($29.99) or Moody ($39). Already want a notch app for AI limits and calls: CapaTheNotch, whose teleprompter scrolls at a set speed. Whatever you pick, test it with your own call app: macOS can’t guarantee a window stays off a recording.
Notch teleprompters at a glance
| App | Price, licence | Scrolling | Hiding, as the app describes it | Min macOS, where to get it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Textream | FreeMIT | Word tracking, voice-activated or constant speed | “Hide from screen share” toggle | 15; App Store, GitHub, Homebrew |
| NotchPrompt | FreeMIT | Word tracking, voice-activated or constant speed | Window sharing type “none” | 14; GitHub |
| Notchie | $29.99 lifetime | Hotkey speed, hover to pause; voice scrolling per its FAQ | “Excluded from screen sharing in supported apps” | 14.6; App Store and direct |
| Moody | $39 once | Voice-activated, manual, hotkeys | “Discreet during screen sharing and even in screenshots” | 15; direct |
| Tele | FreeMIT | Fixed speed, 10 levels | “Content-protected window” | GitHub, unsigned |
| CueNotch | Free download | Voice-synced | “Ghost Mode” | 14; App Store |
| Notch Teleprompter | Free | Voice-activated, adjustable speed | Hidden on Zoom, Teams, Meet | 26.2; App Store |
| NotchPrompter | $4.99 | Voice activation, speed | “Hidden from screen recording apps” | 14.6; App Store |
| Notch Prompter | $3.99 | Fixed, adjustable speed | “Completely invisible to your audience” | 13; App Store |
| Aira | Free | On-device voice sync, manual | “Overlay privacy toggle” | 14.4; App Store |
| CapaTheNotch | FreeMIT | Set speed, 0.5–2× (1× is 130 words a minute), global shortcuts | Window sharing type “none” while the script shows | 14, Apple Silicon; GitHub |
Textream also mirrors text for teleprompter glass and imports PowerPoint presenter notes; NotchPrompt imports presenter notes too. Textream’s docs note that word tracking may send microphone audio to Apple for speech recognition.
How invisible is “invisible on screen share”?
Every app here relies on the same mechanism: it marks its window so that macOS leaves it out when other apps capture the screen (NSWindow.sharingType = .none, or Electron’s content protection, which sets the same thing). It works with many capture paths, and that is why your call usually sees a clean screen. But:
- Apple’s documentation now describes that setting as “a legacy constant that macOS no longer uses”.
- An Apple engineer wrote on the developer forums in 2025 that “there are no public APIs for preventing screen capture”.
- Developers report that apps built on ScreenCaptureKit, Apple’s modern capture framework, can record such windows anyway, and that QuickTime does too. The report to Apple is still open.
So treat “invisible” as “usually invisible”. Before a real call or recording, share your screen to a second device or record a few seconds in the app you will actually use, and look.
What to look for
- Voice or speed. Voice-synced scrolling waits when you pause; a set speed is predictable and needs no microphone or speech recognition.
- Where the text comes from. Most take pasted text; Textream and NotchPrompt also read presenter notes from PowerPoint.
- Without a notch. Notchie, Textream, NotchPrompt and Moody float on any display; handy with an external monitor and webcam.
- One app or another app. A dedicated teleprompter does more for scripts. A notch app with a teleprompter saves you running another utility.
The teleprompter in CapaTheNotch
Paste a script and it scrolls in a row under the notch, the current line nearest the camera. It moves at a speed you set from 0.5× to 2× in quarter steps, where 1× is 130 words a minute. Global shortcuts, which you can change: ⌃⌥Space start or pause, ⌃⌥↑ and ⌃⌥↓ speed, ⌃⌥Esc stop; a click on the row pauses too. While the script is showing, the whole notch is marked to stay out of screen capture, whatever your other settings.
What it doesn’t do: no voice tracking, no file import, no mirroring, and it only lives in the notch. It is one module of an app that also shows your Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode Go limits and does on-device dictation, which is the reason to pick it over a dedicated teleprompter.
Try CapaTheNotch
Free and open source (MIT), for Apple Silicon Macs on macOS 14 or later. The teleprompter is off until you turn it on in Settings.
Download for macOSSources
- NSWindow.SharingType.none (Apple developer documentation)
- Preventing screen capture and ScreenCaptureKit and excluded windows (Apple Developer Forums)
- Textream
- NotchPrompt
- Notchie
- Moody
- Tele
- CueNotch, Notch Teleprompter, NotchPrompter, Notch Prompter, Aira (Mac App Store)
- CapaTheNotch
FAQ
What is a notch teleprompter?
A Mac app that scrolls your script in or just below the MacBook notch, right under the camera, so you can read while looking into the lens on calls and recordings.
Is a notch teleprompter really invisible on Zoom?
Usually, but not guaranteed. Apps ask macOS to leave their window out of screen capture, yet Apple says there is no public API that prevents capture, and apps built on ScreenCaptureKit can still record such windows. Test with your own call and recording apps.
Which notch teleprompter is free?
NotchPrompt, Textream, Tele and CapaTheNotch are free and open source (MIT). Notch Teleprompter, CueNotch and Aira are free downloads on the App Store.
Which notch teleprompter follows my voice?
Textream, NotchPrompt, Moody, CueNotch, Aira and Notch Teleprompter scroll with your speech. Tele, Notch Prompter and CapaTheNotch scroll at a speed you set.
Does a notch teleprompter work without a notch?
Several do: Notchie, Textream, NotchPrompt and Moody can float on any display, including external monitors.