Andrew Heinzman
Developer Neil Sardesai has done it again. The iOS engineer, who found a way to play Pong in the macOS Dock, is now playing Flappy Bird in a macOS notification window. The game isn’t available for others to download, though experienced developers should have no trouble recreating it.
The Flappy Bird notification isn’t a port or a hack. It’s just an interactive notification that loads a browser-based clone of Flappy Bird. According to Sardesai, the game relies on iOS extension frameworks that Apple added to macOS with the release of Big Sur, so it’s totally legit and doesn’t require any crazy workarounds.
Did you know you can put a whole game inside of a push notification pic.twitter.com/LlMx2AjvHH
— Neil Sardesai (@neilsardesai) April 9, 2021
Developers familiar with iOS, and specifically the User Notifications UI framework, should be able to recreate Sardesai’s game or develop their own notification games. That said, the process may be a bit tedious, as you have to develop your notification extension for iOS before porting it to the Mac.
Neil Sardesai’s Twitter is full of weird macOS software, including a version of the Chrome Dinosaur game that plays in the Mac Menu bar and a Matrix-inspired background that replicates what you type. You can find more of the developer’s software on the Neil Sardesai website.
Source: Neil Sardesai via The Verge
