Show HN: NoBadge – Hide Dock Badges During macOS Focus

Hide supported Dock badges while macOS Focus is on. Bring your previous badge settings back when it ends.

Get the signed Mac app — $2.99 once · Setup and compatibility

The website version is a ready-to-install, signed and notarized download with in-app updates. One purchase covers up to 3 Macs. If you prefer to build it yourself, the source is MIT licensed and the source build needs no purchase key.

Follow any Focus, or only the modes you choose.

Hide supported badges in the Dock and app switcher.

Hide the separate System Settings Dock badge on macOS 27, with the same exceptions and restoration.

Keep badges visible for individual apps.

Show badges for 15 minutes without switching Focus off.

Restore the badge settings NoBadge changed when Focus ends.

Before you run it

Compatibility: Apple Silicon on macOS 26.5.1 or later in macOS 26, and macOS 27. NoBadge selects the adapter for your OS family and checks the settings format before changing badges. Stable minor and patch updates within these families do not need a new build-number approval. macOS 28 and later, beta builds, Intel Macs and older macOS versions need a compatible release.

Directly verified builds: macOS 26.5.1 (25F80), 26.6 (25G72) and 27.0.1 (26A434). A supported family is not a claim that every build has been tested. If Apple changes the settings format, NoBadge pauses changes and keeps recovery information.

NoBadge requires Full Disk Access because it reads private macOS Focus settings and changes notification preferences. This is a broad permission. The app does not read messages or documents, and badge/Focus processing stays on your Mac. Some apps draw their own badges and may not respond.

Quit any running NoBadge copy before using another build. Use Restore & Quit before removing or replacing it. If it is force-quit, reopen it to restore pending settings.

Badge path macOS 26.5.1+ within 26 macOS 27

Registered notification badges Supported Supported

System Settings Dock attention badge Not supported Supported since 0.1.41

Other custom app-drawn badges Not guaranteed Not guaranteed

System Settings uses a separate, journaled adapter. Version 0.1.41 fixes a storage-selection bug in 0.1.40 that could leave its Dock badge visible. It follows Focus, Show badges, app exceptions and safe exit/update restoration. It preserves current external attention entries; it does not resolve the underlying system requests or hide notices inside System Settings. Supported adapters are declared per OS family. Unknown settings formats pause changes rather than reporting a successful hide.

You need a Mac with a current Xcode installation and Python 3.

git clone https://github.com/asdftq/NoBadge.git cd NoBadge ./scripts/build-source.sh

The app is written to:

build/SourceData/Build/Products/Release/NoBadge.app

The script generates the Xcode project with NOBADGE_SOURCE_BUILD and signs locally with an ad hoc signature. It does not need our signing certificate, notarization credentials, or a purchase key. After building, you can also open NoBadge.xcodeproj in Xcode.

Source builds do not read purchase credentials or check the commercial update feed. To update, pull the latest source and build again. For the signed, notarized download and in-app updates, use the website.

The app uses SwiftUI/AppKit. Badge transactions, restoration journals, Focus decoding and compatibility policy live in the local NoBadgeCore Swift package.

swift test --package-path Packages/NoBadgeCore

Tests use temporary fixtures. Do not experiment with writes to your real notification database or publish Focus files, recovery journals, license keys, or private diagnostics in issues.

Inspired by FocusNoBadges and FocusPlsNoBadges. No upstream source or artwork was imported. Sparkle retains its own license; see third-party notices.