I’ve been using Badgeify for the past three weeks after years of hiding my Dock for a cleaner desktop. The trade-off has always been missing notifications from Slack, Discord, and Messages - badges that would normally appear on Dock icons are hidden along with the Dock itself.
Badgeify solves this by reading notification counts from your Dock icons and displaying them as badges in your menu bar. The app uses macOS’s Accessibility API to monitor these counts, requiring the standard permissions for this type of utility. In my experience on an M2 MacBook Air, performance has been excellent - the app uses about 100MB of memory and maintains roughly 1% CPU usage during active monitoring.
The app supports all major communication platforms including Messages, Mail, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and WhatsApp. Setup is straightforward and takes about 5 minutes. The badges adapt smoothly to macOS light and dark modes, and the app hides icons when there are no notifications, keeping your menu bar clean. Users with crowded menu bars might need to reorganize their utilities, but the trade-off is worth it for staying on top of multiple communication channels.
What sets Badgeify apart is its focused approach - it does one thing and does it well. You can customize which apps to monitor and even choose custom icons for each one. The app has remained stable throughout my usage with no crashes or notification misses.
For comparison, alternatives include NotchNook ($25) which integrates with the MacBook notch, or the free HiddenBar app, though that requires manual dock checking. Some users might simply prefer keeping their Dock visible with auto-hide enabled.
Badgeify is free to download and requires macOS 10.15 or newer. For anyone who hides their Dock but needs to stay aware of app notifications, particularly remote workers managing multiple communication apps, this utility provides an effective solution. The developer has been responsive to feedback and regularly updates the app based on user suggestions.
