macOS 27.3 beta brings Live Activities to the menu bar on Macs without a Dynamic Island, MacRumors reports

The first developer beta of macOS 27.3 brings Live Activities to the Mac menu bar, giving Macs without a Dynamic Island a way to show the glanceable updates that iPhone users already know, according to MacRumors.

Apple's new MacBook Pro models with touch-enabled OLED displays replace the notch with a Dynamic Island, and that design includes support for Live Activities. The macOS 27.3 beta extends a version of the feature to other Apple silicon Macs, MacRumors reports. Instead of appearing around a screen cutout, the updates show up in the menu bar.

Which apps are included

In the first beta, MacRumors says Live Activities in the menu bar work with several of Apple's built-in apps, including Apple Music, Clock and Voice Memos. The beta also surfaces certain system activities, such as screen recording, in the same way. Third-party Mac developers can already adopt Live Activities support in their own apps, according to the report.

What Apple has said

When it announced the OLED MacBook Pro, Apple described the feature as a way for users to get timely updates at a glance, for example by accepting an AirDrop request or pausing a song with a tap. That description was part of Apple's press release for the new laptops.

Live Activities are not entirely new to the Mac. As MacRumors notes, macOS 26 and later already supported Live Activities that were mirrored from a user's iPhone. The 27.3 beta changes that by allowing apps running on the Mac itself to present them.

Timing

The macOS 27.3 developer beta arrived this week, and the update is expected to be released to the public in December, MacRumors reports. As with any beta, features may change or be removed before the final version ships, and Apple has not published a detailed list of what the menu bar implementation will support at launch.

For Mac owners without the new Dynamic Island hardware, the change suggests Apple wants Live Activities to be a Mac-wide feature rather than one limited to its newest laptops. Developers who want their apps to appear in the menu bar can start testing now with the beta.