Installation guide

Install the app, then unlock every app with a one-time setup. It's a restart into Recovery and back, and one switch in System Settings.

Before you start

Two steps: install the app, then a one-time setup that lets every app fill the notch row. The setup turns System Integrity Protection partly off from Recovery, then allows ProMax Display's helper in Login Items. It takes a few restarts, and you only do it once.

Setup relaxes one of macOS's defences, so read what it trades away first. If you'd rather not change System Integrity Protection, apps with their own notch setting (VS Code, Cursor, Zed, Ghostty, kitty, mpv, MacVim and a few more) and SDL games still work, and ProMax Display switches most of those on for you.

You'll need a MacBook with a notch, macOS 27 or later, an admin password, and a few restarts.

Install the app

  1. Download ProMax Display using the link on the page you see after buying. It's also in your receipt email.
  2. Open the DMG and drag ProMax Display to Applications, then open it from there.
  3. Follow the welcome. It shows what works now and what the one-time setup unlocks. You can see it again any time from ProMax Display Show Welcome.
  4. Activate your licence. Open Licence at the top of the sidebar and paste the key from your receipt email. Pasting the whole key activates straight away. Until it's activated you can look around and do the setup, but nothing switches on.
Screenshot to come: the Licence page.

Part 1: Recovery

This part turns System Integrity Protection partly off. It happens in Recovery, a built-in part of macOS. It looks different from your desktop, but it's still your Mac.

We follow the same guide as yabai, a long-standing open-source window manager that adds features to the Dock the same way. Keep it open on your phone or another device, since your Mac restarts in the middle:

yabai's guide: Disabling System Integrity Protection

  1. Open ProMax Display and choose Unlock Every App in the sidebar. Step 1 shows where your Mac is now, and has an Open Guide button that brings you back to this page.
  2. Start up in Recovery and open Terminal, as the guide describes. On a MacBook with a notch: shut down fully, then hold the power button until you see "Loading startup options" Options Continue. Sign in if asked. From the menu bar, choose Utilities Terminal.
  3. Run the command the guide gives for Apple silicon, then restart back into normal macOS.
Screenshots to come: Recovery's startup options, and Utilities Terminal.
Which parts does ProMax Display need off?

Two: filesystem protections and debugging restrictions. The app checks both for itself, so you don't need to. Step 1 on the Unlock Every App page turns green with Ready once they're off. If it says Partly off, not enough, one of the two is still on: go back to Recovery and run the guide's command again.

Follow the guide's steps for Apple silicon. Skip anything after them that's about setting up yabai itself.

Part 2: The add-on

Back on your normal desktop now.

  1. Open ProMax Display and go to Unlock Every App. Step 1 should say Ready.
  2. Click Install next to step 2, Install the add-on.
  3. Allow it in Login Items. macOS asks once. Open System Settings General Login Items and switch on ProMax Display. The app has an Open Login Items button that takes you straight there.
  4. Wait a moment. Step 2 goes from Waiting for the Dock to Done by itself.
Screenshot to come: Unlock Every App with both steps done.
What is the add-on?

A small add-on that ProMax Display's helper loads into the Dock, the way yabai and Sunlight add features to the Dock. It lets full screen use the strip beside the notch. Nothing is loaded into your apps, and FileVault, the system volume and your apps are untouched.

Finish

That's the setup done. You won't need Recovery again.

  • Apps that were already open need a quit and reopen to fill the notch row.
  • Check the switch. On the Overview page, the ProMax Display switch turns it on and off for every app.
  • Quit other notch apps. If you use one (Vorssaint, Ocelli and the like), Overview lists it with a Quit button. ProMax Display needs the strip beside the notch to itself.
  • Turn on the rear-view mirror. On the Rear-View Mirror page, allow Screen Recording when asked. The mirror only shows the part of the screen behind the notch, and nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
  • Try the gestures. On the Gestures page, allow Accessibility when asked, then swipe in from the trackpad's edges. Your fingers show up live on the page.

If anything looks off, the Support page has answers, or email support@promaxdisplay.com.

Changed your mind?

On the General page, click Remove the Add-on. That gives the screen back to macOS everywhere. You can then turn System Integrity Protection back on from Recovery whenever you like. See Uninstall.