We read Atoll's GitHub repository and every page that rates it on October 20, 2026. It has 5,008 stars, about 161,000 downloads and a 5.0 editor's pick on Softpedia. It also has 171 open issues, and four problems keep coming back in them.
How Atoll is rated
Atoll is free and lives on GitHub, so it has few traditional reviews. It is not on the Mac App Store, Product Hunt or AlternativeTo that we could find, and its Trustpilot page has no reviews yet. This is its standing, read on October 20, 2026.
GPL-3.0. 370 issues filed, 300 of them in 2026; 171 are open. About 161,400 downloads across every release.
Softpedia's editor gave it full marks for how much can be switched off. Only one reader has rated it there.
Atoll joined Homebrew on June 26, 2026, with 1,427 installs in the last year.
The four problems that keep coming back
We read Atoll's issues and grouped them by what went wrong. No single issue has more than five reactions, so these are recurring themes rather than heavily voted ones. Each links to the issue.
CPU and battery after updates.
After updating to 2.3.2, battery dropped 20% in under an hour; others on an M5 Air and an M4 MacBook Pro saw Atoll pinned at 100% CPU. The most-commented issue on the tracker.
Issue #641July 22, 2026, fixed August 11
A system process sat at about 15% CPU with monitoring switched off. The reporter was told the fix was only in alpha builds.
Issue #690August 5, 2026
Droppy is a native Swift and SwiftUI app, and every extension stays off until you turn it on, so what you do not use does not run. Every fix is listed in the changelog with the release that ships it.
A permission prompt at every launch.
Atoll asks for Developer Tools access every time it starts, even with the features that need it turned off.
Issue #280February 1, 2026, open
Still there in 2.3.2 and 2.3.3.
Issue #480May 30, 2026, open
A 2.3.2 build shipped without its entitlements, so the Calendar, Camera and AppleScript prompts never appeared at all.
Issue #634July 22, 2026
Droppy asks for a permission when you switch on the feature that needs it, and not before. The permissions page lists what each one is for.
Its HUD fights the Mac's own.
Atoll's volume and brightness indicators show at the same time as the macOS ones.
Issue #419April 15, 2026, open
After macOS 26.6.1, Atoll's brightness HUD blocks brightness control; a community fix is waiting in a pull request.
Issue #737August 16, 2026, open
Droppy's volume and brightness HUDs replace the system ones, with continuous adjustment and a readable number. If one misbehaves after a macOS update, report it on The Trench and follow the fix to the release that ships it.
Music and second displays.
Browser playback is not detected, and Atoll needs restarting again and again.
Issue #382March 30, 2026, open
The live media activity is missing from the notch.
Issue #303February 20, 2026, open
On external displays the island only hides after it has been expanded once.
Issue #487June 3, 2026, open
Droppy controls Apple Music, Spotify and browser media, with live lyrics and a floating player. On every display you choose the notch or the island, and whether hovering opens it.
What Atoll users love
It does a lot, and all of it is optional.
Softpedia's editor praises how far you can tune it, from minimal to every feature on.
SoftpediaEditor's Pick, 2026
Users thank the team for the lock-screen widgets and the large album art.
Issue #375 and Issue #490March and June 2026
Droppy has a lock screen with media and HUDs, a custom shelf where you choose up to four widgets, and 36 extensions you switch on one by one.
Maintainers who reply fast.
Issues usually get a maintainer reply the same day, including the CPU and permission reports above.
GitHub2026
Write to hi@getdroppy.app and the person who builds Droppy reads it. The Trench shows every report and its status in public.
| On October 20, 2026 | Atoll | Droppy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, donations welcome | $9.99 once, 2 Macs |
| Source | Open source, GPL-3.0 | Closed source; public SDK and droplet store |
| Signed and notarized | Since v2.0.0, March 2026 | Yes |
| Latest stable | v2.3.3, July 24, 2026 | Stable, beta and nightly channels |
| Homebrew | brew install --cask atoll | brew install --cask droppy |
| Clipboard history | No | Yes |
| Support | GitHub issues | Email, Discord, The Trench |
Our verdict: Atoll is an impressive free project, with the rough edges of one.
- 5,008 GitHub stars and a 5.0 editor's pick say people like it, and it is notarized since March 2026.
- 171 issues are open. The ones that repeat are CPU spikes after updates, a permission prompt at every launch, HUD conflicts and music detection.
- The latest stable is from July 24; since then fixes have gone to alpha, beta and nightly builds.
- If you want the same ideas finished, with support you can email, Droppy is $9.99 once and you can try every feature free for 3 days.
Questions people ask about Atoll
Is Atoll safe?
Atoll is open source under GPL-3.0, so anyone can read its code on GitHub. Since version 2.0.0 (March 6, 2026) its releases are notarized by Apple; builds before that were unsigned and needed a Gatekeeper workaround to open.
Is Atoll free?
Yes. Atoll is free and open source, funded by donations through GitHub Sponsors and Buy Me a Coffee. It installs from its GitHub releases or with Homebrew.
What do people complain about most in Atoll?
In its GitHub issues: high CPU and battery use after the 2.3.2 update (since fixed), a Developer Tools access prompt at every launch, Atoll's HUD showing alongside or blocking the macOS one, and music from browsers not being detected.
Is Atoll based on Boring Notch?
Atoll's README names Boring Notch as its foundational codebase, and it adapts code from other open-source projects such as Stats and SwiftTerm. GitHub does not list it as a formal fork.
How often is Atoll updated?
Very often in the first half of 2026: v2.0.0 in March, v2.2.0 in May and four releases in July. The latest stable is v2.3.3 from July 24, 2026; since then work has gone out as alpha, beta and nightly builds.
Is there a good alternative to Atoll?
Droppy covers the same ground (notch and island, music, HUDs, live activities, lock screen) and adds clipboard history, a file tray, Droppy Cloud share links and 36 optional extensions, with one developer answering support directly. It costs $9.99 once for 2 Macs and has a 3-day free trial.
Sources
Read on October 20, 2026: Atoll's repository and its issues and releases through the GitHub API, Softpedia, Homebrew install analytics, and Trustpilot's empty getatoll.app page. We could not check Reddit, Product Hunt or MacUpdate. Issues are paraphrased and linked. This page is written by Droppy, which competes with Atoll; we say so and give every source so you can check our reading. Atoll is a trademark of its owners.