Dynamic Island on an iMac, Mac mini or external display

Desktop Macs and external displays have no notch and no Dynamic Island. What you can put at the top of the screen instead, and where an island can go.

30 October 20267 min read

No iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio or Mac Pro has a Dynamic Island, and neither does any external display, Apple's own included. Apple's island lives in the screen of one Mac: the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display (14 or 16-inch, M5 Pro or M5 Max), which Apple announced on 28 October 2026 and starts delivering on 6 November. It replaces the notch on that laptop's built-in display. A desktop Mac has no notch to replace and no built-in screen of that kind, so there is nothing for an island to grow from.

That doesn't leave the top of a desktop screen with nothing to offer. macOS Tahoe can bring your iPhone's Live Activities up into the menu bar, an app can draw an island of its own at the top of the screen, and Notchpals uses exactly that kind of drawn island for reminders. Here is what each one gives you, and how to make sure it lands on the screen you actually look at.

Why desktops don't get one

The Dynamic Island belongs to the PROLED screen on that MacBook Pro. It takes the place of the notch, around the camera at the top of the built-in display, and on that Mac it carries Spotlight, Siri AI and Live Activities. It is a feature of one built-in display, not something macOS adds to any screen.

Desktops are built differently:

The iMac keeps its camera in the border above the picture, so its screen has no cutout at all.
The Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro have no screen. They show whatever display you plug in.
External displays, from Apple or anyone else, have no notch either.

So a newer chip or a newer macOS won't add one. macOS Golden Gate brings Siri AI, Visual Intelligence and other new features, but the only thing Apple has tied to the new MacBook Pro is the Dynamic Island itself. Apple hasn't said which of the other features need which Mac.

The new MacBook Pro on a desk

If you are thinking of buying the PROLED MacBook Pro to use with a big display, it helps to know what Apple has and hasn't said. It can drive up to three external displays with M5 Pro, or up to four with M5 Max, plus its own screen, and Apple tuned its speakers for closed-lid use with an external display. Apple hasn't said how the Dynamic Island behaves when an external display is the main screen, or whether anything from it shows up on that display.

The simple case is clear enough. With the lid closed, the built-in screen is off, and the island is part of that screen. A MacBook Pro working in clamshell mode under a monitor gives you no more island than a Mac mini would. If that is how you mostly work, the island is not a reason to pick that model; the display, Touch and the lighter body might be.

The nearest thing Apple ships for a desktop Mac today is in macOS Tahoe. When your Mac is connected to your iPhone through iPhone Mirroring, Live Activities from the iPhone appear in the Mac's menu bar. A Live Activity is the live view an iPhone app shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while something is going on. Depending on how much room your menu bar has, it shows as a small icon or a compact view, and clicking it shows more. If the iPhone is nearby, double-clicking it opens iPhone Mirroring.

Apple's requirements, from its support pages for iPhone Mirroring:

A Mac with Apple silicon or the Apple T2 Security Chip. Live Activities on the Mac need macOS Tahoe or later.
An iPhone with iOS 18 or later, set up with a passcode.
Both signed in to the same Apple Account, with two-factor authentication turned on.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, on both.
Apple says iPhone Mirroring is currently unavailable in the European Union.

The chip rule matters most on a desktop. Every iMac, Mac mini and Mac Studio with Apple silicon passes it, while an older Intel desktop passes only if it has the T2 chip and can run Tahoe. To switch the Live Activities on or off, open System Settings > Notifications, click "Allow notifications from iPhone", then use "Allow Live Activities from iPhone". Apple notes that the first of those only appears after you have used iPhone Mirroring with that Mac. Live Activities on Mac goes further into what they are and where they come from.

It is not an island. It sits among the other icons in the menu bar and doesn't change shape. But on an iMac or a Mac mini with Apple silicon, it is Apple's own, and it needs nothing extra installed.

An island an app can draw

On a screen with no notch, an app can still put something island-shaped at the top. It paints a black shape at the top of the screen, halfway across, and grows it when it has something to show. On most Macs the middle of the menu bar is empty space between the app menus on the left and the status icons on the right, so a drawn island takes a spot nothing else uses.

Not every notch app does this. Some need a real notch to attach to, so they are no use on an iMac. Others say on their own websites that they work on Macs without a notch and on external displays. Before you install one on a desktop Mac, check that its page says it supports your setup, and try it with your second display connected. The best Dynamic Island apps for Mac compares the main ones, including which of them need a notch.

Notchpals on a desktop Mac

Notchpals is one of the apps that brings its own island. On an iMac, a Mac mini, a Mac Studio or a Mac Pro, a black island sits centered at the top of whichever screen is set as main, and now and then a character comes out of it to suggest water, a stretch, an eye break or lunch. Reminders are all it shows. It needs macOS 14 or later, and Intel desktops work as well as Apple silicon ones.

Melo, the watermelon in the Water area, suits a desk with a glass on it:

Melo, Water: **Water**, through the day, 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM

Which screen the characters use depends on your setup:

Your setup	Where the characters appear
An iMac on its own	An island at the top of the iMac's screen
A Mac mini, Mac Studio or Mac Pro	An island at the top of the main display
A notched MacBook, lid open, beside a display	The MacBook's notch, even if the display is the main one
A notched MacBook, lid closed, on a display	An island at the top of the main display

Two of its quiet rules matter more at a desk than on a laptop. No character comes out while an app is using the microphone or camera, so a video call on an iMac is left alone. And after two minutes with no keyboard or mouse it treats you as away and waits; that time isn't counted, so an afternoon away from the desk doesn't count as an afternoon at it. A notch for Macs without one has more on how the drawn island works.

Put the island where you look

With more than one display, the main display decides where the menu bar goes, and so where a drawn island goes. To choose it, open System Settings > Displays. With an external display connected, select the display you want and use its "Use as" menu to make it your main display, or click Arrange and move the menu bar onto it. The wording differs a little between versions of macOS.

A few habits make a desk setup work better:

Make the screen in front of you the main one. The menu bar, and anything at the top middle of it, should sit where your eyes already are.
Keep the top of that screen at or a little below eye level. You glance at the top of the screen all day, and a display set too high turns each glance into a tilt of the head.
Raise a MacBook you keep open beside the display, if you want to see its notch. A laptop flat on the desk off to one side puts its characters where you never look.
Mind which screen is in full screen. A film in full screen on the main display keeps a drawn island shut. The same film on a second display doesn't.

So for an iMac, a Mac mini or a monitor, the honest answer is no Apple island, now or with the new MacBook Pro. What you can have is Apple's Live Activities in the menu bar, if your iPhone is set up for it, and an island drawn by an app, if you pick one that supports a Mac without a notch.