--- title: "Look up. Your Mac’s notch, put to work. — iSurge" description: "iSurge turns the notch into a live view of your Mac. Private and always a glance away." url: https://isurgemac.com/blog/look-up/ --- [BLOG](https://isurgemac.com/blog/) # Look up. Your Mac’s notch, put to work. iSurge turns the notch into a live view of your Mac. Private and always a glance away. By Ruthran Baskar · 7 October 2026 · 4 min read [Watch the film](https://youtu.be/EaHod98IPs8) “Look up.” The iSurge launch film, in 4K on YouTube. Updated 27 October 2026: iSurge was free when this post came out. From 0.4 it’s paid, once or for a year, and everyone who had it before 0.4 keeps it free, with every update. [See the prices](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/). Every MacBook with a notch has a small black space at the top of the screen. It’s the one part of the display you see all day, and until now it hasn’t done a thing. Meanwhile, knowing what your Mac is busy with has meant opening Activity Monitor and searching a list of a thousand processes. Which ones are Chrome? Why is the fan spinning? Which app is using the mic? iSurge answers those questions where you’re already looking. It’s an activity monitor, at your notch, and it’s out today. NOTCH ## Your whole Mac, in one glance Two quiet, live stats sit beside the notch, there when you want them and out of the way when you don’t. Rest your pointer on it and the notch opens into your whole Mac at a glance: CPU, memory, battery, sound and the apps working hardest. GPU, disk, download speed, temperature and your Bluetooth devices are a swipe away. Your Mac at a glance, right at the notch. APPS ## Apps, not a thousand processes Behind every app is a crowd of hidden processes, and Chrome alone can run dozens. iSurge gathers them under the app you know, so Google Chrome is a single row with its true CPU and memory, and quitting whatever slows you down takes one click. 39 processes. One app. CPU is shown as a share of your whole Mac, so the numbers finally mean something: 50% is half your Mac. Activity Monitor’s figure is still there when you point at it. SOUND ## Every app, its own volume Lower the music without touching your call. Silence one noisy app. Send a game to your headphones while everything else plays through the speakers. Every app has its own slider, and sound passes through iSurge without ever being recorded. A slider and an output for every app. NOTCH ## Hear what’s playing. See which app is using your mic. When an app makes sound, its icon and live level bars appear beside the notch, and apps playing together take turns. The app using your mic carries a small orange dot. FaceTime, playing and using the mic. iSurge also shows which mic each app has open, so an iPhone mic in use is never a surprise. SOUND ## Mute every mic, from anywhere One shortcut, ⌥⌘M, silences every mic on your Mac from any app. The notch confirms it with “Mic muted” and keeps a small red mic at its edge until you unmute. ⌥⌘M. Every mic, muted. MENU BAR ## The whole Mac, one click away No notch, or want more detail? The iSurge menu bar dropdown puts every part of your Mac on its own card, with the apps using the most beneath. Make it detailed or compact, glass or solid. For the full story, ⌃⌥I opens the iSurge window: a page for every part of your Mac, with Insights from the last 30 days. Your whole Mac, from the menu bar. NOTIFICATIONS ## A heads-up, only when it matters iSurge stays quiet until something needs you: an app running away with your CPU, memory that keeps climbing, a disk nearly full, a hot Mac or AirPods running low. Then the alert grows from the notch, with the one button you need. Alerts that speak up only when it counts. PRIVACY ## Private by design No account. No analytics. No ads. Your stats, your history and your settings stay on your Mac. iSurge goes online only for updates, your licence and a few extras like song covers and the weather, and none of it carries anything about you. The live mic meter asks for permission the first time you open Sound. It’s used for that meter alone. Nothing is recorded, and everything else works without it. PRICE ## What it costs iSurge was free at launch, and it stays free for everyone who had it before 0.4. From 0.4 you buy it once and keep every update, or buy a year that never renews. Updates install only when you say so. [See the prices](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/). ## What’s next iSurge is made by one person, and it grows with the people who use it. I read every email, and much of iSurge began as someone’s request. Tell me what you’d like to see at your notch: [hello@isurgemac.com](mailto:hello@isurgemac.com). ## Get iSurge Pay once, yours for good. [Buy iSurge](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/) Already have it? [Download](https://isurgemac.com/download) Requires a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Notch features need a MacBook with a notch; everything else works on any supported Mac.