Even though it was removed from the App Store seven years ago, Flappy Bird remains one of the most iconic games of all time.
Launched in May 2013, Flappy Bird quickly rose to fame, topping the free app charts on both the App Store and Google Play. In 2014, it became one of the most popular iPhone games, created by Vietnamese developer Nguyen Ha Dong.
The app reportedly earned around $50,000 a day at its peak. However, the overwhelming fame and the negative impact on his personal life led Ha Dong to remove it from the App Store.
Still, the game’s charm caught the attention of developer Neil Sardesai, who brought Flappy Bird back through an unexpected platform: the macOS notification center.
On Twitter, Neil Sardesai shared a video showing the full Flappy Bird game running inside a Mac’s notification window. Touch interactions are simulated with mouse clicks, and the goal of avoiding obstacles remains the same.
Sardesai discovered that the macOS Big Sur update allows developers to heavily customize pop-up notifications on Mac computers. Using this, he integrated simple games into this feature.
Currently, Sardesai has not released the Flappy Bird version for the macOS Big Sur notification center to the public. The video below serves as a proof of concept showing this project could be launched soon. For now, players can try a clone version available on the Play Canvas website.
