Free app ‘Natcho Notch’ will help you hide your Android phone’s display cutout

2017 was the year of OEM's removing the 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of USB Type-C connectivity, forcing us to use a dongle or Bluetooth for music in many cases. Fast forward to 2018 and there's a new controversial trend in smartphone design: the notch.While the iPhone X may immediately spring to mind at the very mention of a notch, the Essential Phone was the first mainstream phone to implement the design. Unlike's Apple's latest flagship, the small black cutout positioned in the center of the Essential Phone's screen housed only a front-facing camera. This cutout quickly became referred to as "the notch" and can be used to house a speaker and other sensors, too.Don't Miss: How to take a screenshot on the Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+To achieve the full-screen display and push the barriers of the screen-to-body ratio, plenty of other Android phone manufacturers are beginning to adopt the notch. The LG G7 ThinQ is rumored to be embracing the design, OnePlus has confirmed a notch will be present on its next device — and the Huawei P20 and has already used a cutout to offer a full-screen experience. Despite allowing devices to keep the front-facing camera and provide features such as facial recognition, may have criticised the notch and labeled it an unnecessary feature that isn't aesthetically pleasing.If you are in the market for a new device in 2018 there's a good chance it will adopt this design. However, if you're not a fan, there's a workaround in the form of “Nacho Notch—Notch Hider!”.The free app was developed over at XDA by Zacharee1, and it serves a straightforward purpose — to draw over the status bar ensuring it's always black, thus obscuring the notch. It allows the notification and status icons such as clock and signal to display over the top, so you end up with a device that seemingly no longer has a notch, at least to the visible eye.

THE HUAWEI P20 HAS NOTCH HIDING BUILT IN.

It's arguably the best way to make the most of the additional space without having to look at the unsightly notch, and it's a solution that other phones are already implementing. The Huawei P20 (above) offers this option as part of its EMUI software and OnePlus has admitted it will add this functionality in a post-launch update. For phone's that don't do this, Natcho Notch is the answer. It can be activated via a quick settings tile so you can quickly toggle it on or off.

How to hide the notch

1. Install the app from the Google Play Store.
2. Pull down the notification shade.
3. Add the tile by tapping the pencil or "Edit" button.
4. Drag the "Hide Notch" icon to the active area.

You'll now have an option to remove the notch from with a simple tap of this quick settings tile. You'll notice there is a persistent notification so Android doesn't kill it in the background, but you can hide that as well by long-pressing the notification and turning it off.[symple_divider style="solid" margin_top="20" margin_bottom="20"]If you end up buying a phone with a dreaded notch, this provides a simple way to stop that from being a problem anymore. Do you find the notch to be distasteful? Let us know your preference in the comments section below.

SOURCE: XDA