Essential was the first company that came up with the first smartphone with display cutout back in May 2017, named Ph-1. And, after Apple’s adoption, the notch found its way to almost all the smartphones these days. A notch (or display cutout) takes screen real-estate so OEMs and app developers have to work around that to provide a pleasant user experience.
Notch simulation is a handy technique to try how an app behaves to a specific type of display cutout. The latest Android OS (Android Pie) lets you simulate several types of notches. And, for the devices running on android 8 or lower, here is a list of 5 free Android apps that let you simulate various types of notches on your phone. These apps mimic the notch as an overlay so they require Drawing Over Apps permission. With these apps, you can see how a particular type of notch will look in person. Solet’sts check them out one by one.
Also read: Check How A Website will Look on iPhone X Landscape Mode
5 Free Notch Simulator Apps for Android:
Notch Phone X
The first notch simulator app on this list is Notch Phone X. As you can deduce from the name, this app lets you simulate the iPhone X notch on any Android phone running Android 4.4 or higher. Upon giving the Drawing Over Apps permission, you can activate the notch from the app.
This app lets you customize the notch by adjusting various options. You can change the color of the notch, select a default orientation and adjust the notch length and notch corner radius. To fully mimic the iPhone X looks, this app also gives you options to make any or all screen-corners round with an adjustable radius.
Get this iPhone X-like notch simulator app here.
OneMinus Notch
The second notch simulator app on this list is OneMinus Notch. This app lets you mimic the notch from OnePlus’s last year flagship, OnePlus 6. This app doesn’t give you any options to adjust the notch dimension although you can change the DPI to make it a perfect it. But, I recommend you not to change the DPI permanently as this might break some apps on your device. Just keep the app in default settings and try the OnePus notch on your phone.
Mimic OnePlus 6-like notch by getting this app here.
Essential Phone Notch
As I said earlier, Essential is the company that introduce the notch in the smartphone design which is later picked by Apple and become a trend. Essential Phone Notch is a free Android app that lets you mimic the iconic Essential Ph-1 notch on your phone. This app doesn’t give you any option beyond the notch triggers. The interface has a button to start the notch simulation and one to stop it. The notch is precise as the Ph-1 but since its an overlay, it overflows from the status bar and covers some screen real-estate. You can simulate this notch to check out how it looks although the actual phone with this notch is no longer available and the company is not planning to bring any successor either.
Get the Essential Phone Notch on Any Android with this app here.
Notchify
Notchify is sort of an all-in-one notch simulator app for Android. Unlike simply mimicking the notches from the popular smartphones, this app gives you control to fully customize the notch the way you want. After enabling the notch with this app, you can change its position along with options to contain it in the status bar or to let it overflow. Then, you can change the size of the notch by adjusting the width and height. With all these controls, you can mimic any notch on your Android phone like iPhone X notch, OnePlus 6 notch, Pixel 3 XL notch, etc. Plus, to make it more fun, you can change the color of the notch as well.
Get Notchify here to try different types of notches on Android.
Notch for Android
Notch for Android is another versatile app to simulate various types of notches. This app has build-in notch style of iPhone X, Essential Ph-1, Infinity- O/U/V, Pixel 3 XL, ASUS Zenfone 5, and OnePlus 6T along with a flat black color. You can choose any of these notch styles and activate the notch to simulate that on your phone. Unlike many other apps on this list, this app doesn’t let you customize the notch in any way. All you can do is pick a style and mimic it.
You can get Notch for Android here.
Closing Words:
These are the 5 free apps to simulate iPhone X-like and other types of notches on Android. These apps might help to experience a notch in person and see if you can get comfortable with it or not. The notch simulation is just a screen overlay so it might hide the information lies behind it.
