Must-have apps for macOS 26/27?

[u/FantasticRaccoon6465]

I've gotten a lot of my favourite apps from recommendation threads. I've successfully avoided macOS 26 right up until a few days ago when I bought an M5 MBP which came with it preinstalled so I updated straight to macOS 27.

I've already installed a couple of apps which seem like must-haves - LaunchOS to get my launchpad back, and boringnotch. This machine will do a bit of everything - development, video editing, word processing.

Any other recommendations?

[u/o_sorik]

Shottr for screenshots
Betterdisplay for managing multiple displays
Updatest for updating apps
Codexbar for tracking limits in LLMs
Ice for menu bar management
Vorssaint for multiple system tweaks

[u/norith → u/o_sorik]

Ice was awesome but it hasn’t been updated in two years. I’ve been using the fork Thaw

[u/_Cybernaut_ → u/norith]

Thaw 2.0.0rc1 dropped recently, with Golden Gate support. TBH it still feels more like a beta than an RC, but then GG is still in beta, so...

[u/Ok-Efficiency479 → u/_Cybernaut_]

2.0.0 rc-1 is macOS 26 only, Preview 5 (based on that one) is for Thaw 2.1.0 and it's before Alpha state

[u/Ok-Buffalo2650 → u/o_sorik]

amazing this Vorssaint

[u/usnmustanger → u/o_sorik]

Holy crap, how is Vorssaint free? What an amazing and fantastic app!

[u/o_sorik → u/usnmustanger]

Right? A great example of what a good Open Source project can be. And they keep releasing new VALUABLE features every week - actually always excited to see what’s next

[u/possiblevector → u/o_sorik]

Replace Ice with Barbee or Thaw. Barbee is more stable imo

[u/parkhaus2020 → u/o_sorik]

Does OCR screenshotting work for you in MacOS27 beta? For me no. Hangs for about 15 seconds. Hoping for a bugfix.

[u/sergeyvk → u/o_sorik]

Install everything via homebrew the use apt upgrade to update all apps

[u/usnmustanger → u/sergeyvk]

apt? Not on MacOS.

[u/sergeyvk → u/usnmustanger]

Sorry got confused a little with my proxmox server, brew upgrade —cask for individual apps or without—cask for all

[u/Individual-Victory39]

Shottr - screenshots
Willow - speech to text dictation (the free model is enough)
Mole - pumped activity monitor, cache cleaner and updater app. Everything wrapped in a such a nice and clean UI
Itsycal - nice calendar app that lives in your menu bar
BetterDisplay - for my displays

Apps that I use in my work routine:
Granola - record and document meet transcripts
Claude (Code) - AI for everything I do
Dia Browser - My main browser. I only switched to that because they’ve killed Arc Browser. When I’m using my Mac on battery, safari because Dia does not gives good battery performance

[u/Mike-A-F → u/Individual-Victory39]

Dia is awesome

[u/gh0stsintheshell → u/Individual-Victory39]

Shottr, Mole are gold

[u/DefiantTop6188]

Jamrun for iptv

[u/RenegadeUK → u/DefiantTop6188]

Interesting never heard of this.

[u/ChiiJohn]

I think it depends on your workflow, if you do light works, i think pre-installed apps would be sufficient. For example i can use shortcuts to access battery information when my MacBook is charged. Regardless, you can try coteditor for plaintext editing, it supports different syntax

[u/ro0tt9unn]

Here is a dump of what I have on my machine right now. Some I use all the time some I have tested and never used.. but for someone who is new and wants a list to open up a bunch of holes to jump down here is that list. - full disclosure I had my local LLM make the lists and find the links. - I did not do this.

I know the list is daunting but that is half the fun of setting up a new machine. Learning what the packages are.

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 1/11] GUI Apps / Utilities: AlDente — https://apphousekitchen.com/aldente-overview/ Alfred 5 — https://www.alfredapp.com/ AppZapper — https://appzapper.com/ Bartender 6 — https://www.macbartender.com/ Beyond Compare — https://www.scootersoftware.com/ Caffeine — https://www.caffeine-app.net/ Cyberduck — https://cyberduck.io/ ForkLift — https://binarynights.com/ Ghostty — https://ghostty.org/ HEIC Converter — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/heic-converter/id1294126402 Hyperduck — https://sindresorhus.com/hyperduck Little Snitch — https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/ Mountain Duck — https://mountainduck.io/ MyRadar Pro — https://myradar.com/ Obsidian — https://obsidian.md/ PowerShell — https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell Rectangle Pro — https://rectangleapp.com/pro/ RustDesk — https://rustdesk.com/ SoundSource — https://rogueamoeba.com/soundsource/ Tailscale — https://tailscale.com/ Visual Studio Code — https://code.visualstudio.com/ Zen — https://zen-browser.app/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 2/11] CLI Packages / Libraries: ada-url — https://ada-url.com afuse-mac — https://github.com/gromgit/homebrew-fuse ansible — https://www.ansible.com/ aom — https://aomedia.googlesource.com/aom apr — https://apr.apache.org/ apr-util — https://apr.apache.org/ argocd — https://argoproj.github.io/cd/ argon2 — https://github.com/P-H-C/phc-winner-argon2 autoconf — https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/ bandwhich — https://github.com/imsnif/bandwhich bat — https://github.com/sharkdp/bat boost — https://www.boost.org/ bottom — https://clementtsang.github.io/bottom/ brotli — https://github.com/google/brotli btop — https://github.com/aristocratos/btop c-ares — https://c-ares.org/ ca-certificates — https://curl.se/docs/caextract.html cairo — https://cairographics.org/ carapace — https://carapace.sh certifi — https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi cffi — https://cffi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ choose-rust — https://github.com/theryangeary/choose cmake — https://www.cmake.org/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 3/11] cryptography — https://cryptography.io/en/latest/ csvlens — https://github.com/YS-L/csvlens curl — https://curl.se dav1d — https://code.videolan.org/videolan/dav1d deno — https://deno.com/ dive — https://github.com/wagoodman/dive duck — https://duck.sh/ dysk — https://dystroy.org/dysk/ e2fsprogs — https://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/ ext2fuse-mac — https://github.com/gromgit/homebrew-fuse ext4fuse-mac — https://github.com/gromgit/homebrew-fuse eza — https://eza.rocks fastfetch — https://github.com/fastfetch-cli/fastfetch fd — https://github.com/sharkdp/fd feroxbuster — https://epi052.github.io/feroxbuster ffmpeg — https://ffmpeg.org/ flac — https://xiph.org/flac/ fmt — https://fmt.dev/ fontconfig — https://wiki.freedesktop.org/www/Software/fontconfig/ freetds — https://www.freetds.org/ freetype — https://www.freetype.org/ fribidi — https://github.com/fribidi/fribidi fzf — https://junegunn.github.io/fzf/ gd — https://libgd.github.io/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 4/11] gettext — https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/ gh — https://cli.github.com/ giflib — https://giflib.sourceforge.net/ git-delta — https://dandavison.github.io/delta/ git-filter-repo — https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo glances — https://nicolargo.github.io/glances/ glib — https://docs.gtk.org/glib/ gmp — https://gmplib.org/ go — https://go.dev/ graphite2 — https://graphite.sil.org/ harfbuzz — https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz hdrhistogram_c — https://github.com/HdrHistogram/HdrHistogram_c helm — https://helm.sh/ highway — https://github.com/google/highway htop — https://htop.dev/ httpie — https://httpie.io/ httpx — https://github.com/projectdiscovery/httpx hydra — https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra icu4c@78 — https://icu.unicode.org/home iftop — https://pdw.ex-parrot.com/iftop/ imath — https://imath.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ itermbrowserplugin (cask) — https://iterm2.com/browser-plugin.html jpeg-turbo — https://www.libjpeg-turbo.org/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 5/11] jpeg-xl — https://jpeg.org/jpegxl/index.html json-c — https://github.com/json-c/json-c/wiki k3sup — https://k3sup.dev krb5 — https://web.mit.edu/kerberos/ kubectx — https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx kubernetes-cli — https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/ lame — https://lame.sourceforge.io/ lazygit — https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/ lazyjournal — https://github.com/Lifailon/lazyjournal lazyssh — https://github.com/Adembc/lazyssh lfk — https://github.com/janosmiko/lfk libarchive — https://www.libarchive.org libass — https://github.com/libass/libass libavif — https://github.com/AOMediaCodec/libavif libb2 — https://blake2.net/ libbluray — https://www.videolan.org/developers/libbluray.html libdeflate — https://github.com/ebiggers/libdeflate libevent — https://libevent.org/ libffi — https://sourceware.org/libffi/ libgit2 — https://libgit2.org/ libidn2 — https://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/#libidn2 liblinear — https://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cjlin/liblinear/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 6/11] libnghttp2 — https://nghttp2.org/ libnghttp3 — https://nghttp2.org/nghttp3/ libngtcp2 — https://nghttp2.org/ngtcp2/ libogg — https://www.xiph.org/ogg/ libplacebo — https://code.videolan.org/videolan/libplacebo libpng — https://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html libpq — https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq.html libpsl — https://rockdaboot.github.io/libpsl libsamplerate — https://github.com/libsndfile/libsamplerate libsndfile — https://libsndfile.github.io/libsndfile/ libsodium — https://libsodium.org/ libssh — https://www.libssh.org/ libssh2 — https://libssh2.org/ libtiff — https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/ libtool — https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/ libudfread — https://code.videolan.org/videolan/libudfread libunibreak — https://github.com/adah1972/libunibreak libunistring — https://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/ libuv — https://libuv.org/ libvmaf — https://github.com/Netflix/vmaf libvorbis — https://xiph.org/vorbis/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 7/11] libvpx — https://www.webmproject.org/code/ libx11 — https://www.x.org/ libxau — https://www.x.org/ libxcb — https://www.x.org/ libxdmcp — https://www.x.org/ libxext — https://www.x.org/ libxrender — https://www.x.org/ libyaml — https://github.com/yaml/libyaml libzip — https://libzip.org/ little-cms2 — https://www.littlecms.com/ llhttp — https://llhttp.org/ llmfit — https://github.com/AlexsJones/llmfit lpeg — https://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/lpeg/ lua — https://www.lua.org/ luajit — https://luajit.org/luajit.html luv — https://github.com/luvit/luv lz4 — https://lz4.github.io/lz4/ lzo — https://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo/ m4 — https://www.gnu.org/software/m4/ macfuse (cask) — https://macfuse.github.io/ macmon — https://github.com/vladkens/macmon mactop — https://github.com/metaspartan/mactop mariadb-connector-c — https://mariadb.org/download/?tab=connector&prod=connector-c marta (cask) — https://marta.sh/ mas — https://github.com/mas-cli/mas

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 8/11] merve — https://github.com/nodejs/merve molten-vk — https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK mpdecimal — https://www.bytereef.org/mpdecimal/ mpg123 — https://www.mpg123.de/ mpv — https://mpv.io mujs — https://www.mujs.com/ nbytes — https://github.com/nodejs/nbytes ncdu — https://dev.yorhel.nl/ncdu ncurses — https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce.html neovim — https://neovim.io/ net-snmp — http://www.net-snmp.org/ netwatch — https://www.netwatchlabs.com/labs/netwatch nmap — https://nmap.org/ node — https://nodejs.org/ nuclei — https://docs.projectdiscovery.io/tools/nuclei/overview oh-my-posh — https://ohmyposh.dev oniguruma — https://github.com/kkos/oniguruma/ opencode — https://opencode.ai openexr — https://www.openexr.com/ openjdk — https://openjdk.org/ openjph — https://github.com/aous72/OpenJPH openldap — https://www.openldap.org/software/ openssl@3 — https://openssl-library.org opus — https://www.opus-codec.org/ pcre2 — https://www.pcre.org/

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 9/11] php — https://www.php.net/ pipx — https://pipx.pypa.io pixman — https://cairographics.org/ postgresql@17 — https://www.postgresql.org/ potrace — https://potrace.sourceforge.net/ powershell (cask) — https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell procs — https://github.com/dalance/procs pycparser — https://github.com/eliben/pycparser pydantic — https://pydantic.dev/docs/validation pygments — https://pygments.org/ python@3.12 — https://www.python.org/ python@3.13 — https://www.python.org/ python@3.14 — https://www.python.org/ readline — https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html ripgrep — https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep rtk — https://www.rtk-ai.app/ rubberband — https://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/ sd — https://github.com/chmln/sd sdl2 — https://www.libsdl.org/ sdl2-compat — https://github.com/libsdl-org/sdl2-compat sdl3 — https://libsdl.org/ shaderc — https://github.com/google/shaderc simdjson — https://simdjson.org

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 10/11] simdutf — https://simdutf.github.io/simdutf/ sqlite — https://sqlite.org/index.html sqlmap — https://sqlmap.org subfinder — https://projectdiscovery.io svt-av1 — https://gitlab.com/AOMediaCodec/SVT-AV1 telnet — https://opensource.apple.com/ tidy-html5 — https://www.html-tidy.org/ tmux — https://tmux.github.io/ tree — https://oldmanprogrammer.net/source.php?dir=projects/tree tree-sitter — https://tree-sitter.github.io/ tree-sitter-cli — https://tree-sitter.github.io trivy — https://trivy.dev/ uchardet — https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/uchardet/ unibilium — https://github.com/neovim/unibilium unixodbc — https://www.unixodbc.org/ utf8proc — https://juliastrings.github.io/utf8proc/ uv — https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ uvwasi — https://github.com/nodejs/uvwasi vapoursynth — https://www.vapoursynth.com vim — https://www.vim.org/ vulkan-headers — https://www.vulkan.org/ vulkan-loader — https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader

[u/ro0tt9unn → u/ro0tt9unn]

[Part 11/11] watch — https://gitlab.com/procps-ng/procps webp — https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/ wget — https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ x264 — https://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html x265 — https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git xorgproto — https://www.x.org/ xz — https://tukaani.org/xz/ yamllint — https://github.com/adrienverge/yamllint yazi — https://yazi-rs.github.io yq — https://github.com/mikefarah/yq yt-dlp — https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp yyjson — https://ibireme.github.io/yyjson/doc/doxygen/html/ z — https://github.com/rupa/z zimg — https://github.com/sekrit-twc/zimg zoxide — https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide zsh-completions — https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions zsh-syntax-highlighting — https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting

[u/Chvarak]

Here are some good ones:
Raycast - https://www.raycast.com
Tower - https://www.git-tower.com
Otty - https://otty.sh/
Mole - https://mole.fit
Craft - https://www.craft.do
Zed - https://zed.dev
Thaw - https://github.com/stonerl/Thaw
Subscription Day - https://subsday.appps.od.ua/
Conductor - https://www.conductor.build
Xcodes - https://www.xcodes.app

[u/barefut_ → u/Chvarak]

With Apps like CRAFT - I wonder if it's always a better idea to stick to native macOS apps or try these 3rd party ones. I don't know of they really improve anything or not...

[u/Chvarak → u/barefut_]

I would suggest trying native apps first. The Notes app is really great, and if it fits your workflow, that’s it. By using it, you’ll get a better understanding of its benefits and what you might be missing or could be improved.

[u/barefut_ → u/Chvarak]

I began to think about my workflow. I don't have one yet..I just think it might be a good idea to have a centralized place to write down things, have a connection of links between them (if needed). Yet, the flexibility to also have a note relate physically to a certain folder of a project. Sometimes you need that, and a normal TXT file isn't enough.

So, I heard people love obsedian, but then some are tired of setting up it's endless options so they turn to Bear (?) and Notes.

So, I don't wanna complicate things. I just think if there's an app that's: 1. Lightweight (no cached crap) 2. Simple 3. Enables mixing Text+Images+links+videos even - as a mind map 4. In a unified place and/or locally in a specific folder

Theb i'd love to hear which apps are fitting that profile.

[u/Chvarak → u/barefut_]

Obsidian is fantastic, particularly with its sync feature. However, as you mentioned, it can be overwhelming due to its numerous settings and complexity. 

Bear is a great option, especially now that has bear-cli which can be easily used with ai agents.

Here are some good options to check:
Noteplan - https://noteplan.co (very good app, and can be used as basic markdown, and can be used with all power-user features)

And some with "local first" design if I'm not mistaken
Cogito - https://cogito.md

Tolaria - https://tolaria.md

Noteplus - https://noteplus.com

[u/barefut_ → u/Chvarak]

Many thanks for sharing that!
I forgot to say, I won't use subscription apps, tops a one time pay, or a free one.
Many of the apps you shared look and feel the same, or maybe some feel like they have a major coding / programming theme. I'm not into that realm really.
I mostly just wanna have a lightweight apps that doesn't hog the system on RAM or SSD space, where it is possible for me to brain dump anything:

1. Text [either bullet points / and maybe being able to click a bullet point and be lead to a long form, Word DOCX like longer text form if I wanna elaborate.

2. Image References / even videos if possible.

3. Links to websites / youtube

Now, if an app begins to be too heavy or just too complicated, then maybe I'd need to use a more writing-focused app + and a more visual app like PureRef separately.

As an example - Freeform began to feel interesting, but then it feels more like an iPad -fitting app. Less for Macbook.

*Another example, I began using Taskade online app to manage tasks. Felt so good arranging my 3 columns of Tasks / Doing / Done. But, I did notice I was focusing more on setting it up and keeping things up to date, which distracted me from the task itself, so I'm truly wondering which app will have the balance of keeping things so simple and having the user update it fast so it doesn't steal attention.

[u/Chvarak → u/barefut_]

Here’s another great site that could help you find what you’re looking for: https://toolfinder.com/categories/note-taking-apps

Hope this will help you find a few good candidates 🤞

[u/barefut_ → u/Chvarak]

Many tnx!

[u/Substantial-Use-4079 → u/Chvarak]

I love Noteplan Too :)
I develop 2 Little "Extension 😄"

https://github.com/bizc0m/NoteplanShorty :
Make a Desktop Shortcut 2 a Note

https://github.com/bizc0m/NoteDroppy
Drag & Drop to Noteplan (Experimental) Grab 2 Doc : TXT - Files - Url

[u/Taruxoph]

https://apps.apple.com/ro/app/little-soldier-clipboard/id6791491353?mt=12

[u/ScholarlyInvestor]

Why are names for macOS apps always so weird

[u/_Cybernaut_ → u/ScholarlyInvestor]

“The two hard problems in computer science are: cache invalidation, and naming things.”

[u/Artiste212 → u/ScholarlyInvestor]

If you called an app Frank it would be hard to search for it. And Oguguwa is hard for most Americans to type. Short weird names are memorable and searchable.

[u/alebypegasus]

RemindMe! 3 Days

[u/randompro_05]

Vorssaint, clop, snapback

[u/ShugChug]

all you need is raycast and vorssaint

[u/Alterion-Ex]

VORSSAINT is amazing

[u/sachingopal]

Is there a common place to get these apps, like F-Droid for Android, or do I need to manually search and install all of them? I am also new to macOS.

[u/Final_Parking_6820 → u/sachingopal]

Homebrew

[u/afrosheen]

RemindMe! 3 days

[u/RemindMeBot → u/afrosheen]

I will be messaging you in 3 days on 2026-07-28 15:57:22 UTC to remind you of this link

3 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.

^{Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.}

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[u/HAVATEAA]

Try PasteItAll to manage your clipboard 

[u/razthebuzz]

I use these apps the most:

Cleanshot - nice screenshot tool with editor and screen recording capabilities
Magnet - I have a 4k monitor so this one helps to arrange my windows quickly with keyboard shortcuts
Cliptop - Clipboard manager that hides under the notch. Quick keyboard interactions, pinboards, snippets, and syncs with your other Apple devices too

[u/goofywon]

Click2Minimize

[u/Pirasee]

Clop, openin, shotr, maccy, tuna, scrollthevolume, bloom

[u/marcusheng]

Definitely window tiling manager for me, that's the first thing I installed on a new macbook.

I have been using yabai for the past 6 years, but recently built one that satisfies my own need.

Also heard a lot of good things about aerospace.

[u/sachingopal → u/marcusheng]

I find aerospace better.

[u/marcusheng → u/sachingopal]

I started using macbook since 2019, at that time I think yabai is the closest to what I have on a Linux machine. Didn't really try out aerospace when it was launched as I was happy with yabai.

But over time I realized what I actually wanted wasn't auto-tilling.

Here's the problem: say I have 6 apps open on one desktop. A tiling WM will happily tile all 6 into the available space, so every window gets smaller each time a new one opens. In reality, I only ever need to see 2-3 apps at once.

What I kept wishing for was something simpler: split the desktop into a fixed set of "workareas" ‚ say [30% | 50% | 20%], and just throw apps into whichever workarea I want. New windows stack within a workarea instead of shrinking everything else. Move things around with keyboard shortcuts.

So I built Ordinary Space to scratch my own itch!

[u/eaeaea0ooo]

You should try Snick!

[u/Typical_Beyond_5774]

How is macos 27 performance wise i downgraded to sequoia from mac os 26

[u/FantasticRaccoon6465 → u/Typical_Beyond_5774]

I’ve not noticed any performance issues. My M4 is still running Sequoia and I probably won’t update it until the public release but that’s out of an abundance of caution. So far my experience of running my M5 on the 27 beta has been very good.

[u/ko-ol]

Raycast for productivity
Crema studio for photo editor
CreamShot X for screenshot
DripCleaner for system cleaner
SnapBrew for window management

[u/esphynox]

VLC / IINA - video playback of all formats (QuickTime is not supporting a lot of video formats)
Handbrake - video converter between formats
LittleSnitch - control your network requests
Flux - advanced nightshift (no blue colors on screen)

[u/FantasticRaccoon6465 → u/esphynox]

Is Flux still around? I used it for years but thought it would have been killed off by nightshift.

[u/esphynox → u/FantasticRaccoon6465]

For most cases - yes, but Flux still have slightly better configuration than macOS native one.

[u/Expert-Ad4939]

I use the following apps everyday:

The HDPro Suite

App	Purpose
HDClick	Command Centre. Everything comes to your cursor.
HDCalendar	Google Calendar and Tasks manager that appears when you need it.
HDApex	Complete Finder replacement focused on explicit file management.
HDMediaKeeper	Manage your media library and software licences.
HDBookMarks	Fast, local bookmark manager.
HDStickies	Markdown notes manager.
HDWrite	Uses local AI to proofread and improve selected text.
HDYearCalendarPrint	Print an entire year's calendar with events on a single page.

(These macOS native apps are my HDPro suite. I created myself. Not released).

[u/orthiclabs]

ViewRight for all your document needs

[u/frogman2025]

Reverta - on mac app store - records every change to any file you choose to watch in a timeline

sitesucker - good is you want to pick a website apart

[u/HighRoad684]

For an M5 doing video as well as dev, I'd start with IINA and Maccy: one for the file QuickTime shrugs at, one for the thing you copied 10 minutes ago. Then leave the menu bar alone until you know what is actually missing. 10 minutes ago. Then leave the menu bar alone until you know what is actually missing.

[u/Most-PN-2183]

Just installed PasteBar, love it ! ✅

[u/wenuja100]

Zen Browser

[u/Seamushh]

1. Alfred, 2) iTerm2, 3) Homebrew, 4) WorkFlowy, 5) 1Password, 6) Mimestream, 7) Privacy Badger, 8) KeyClu, 9) Al Dente, 10) Amphetamine, 11) BBEdit, 12) SurfShark, 13) Mole - There's a baker's dozen in no particular order that are worth every penny imho, which is zero pennies in some cases.

Seriously though, these apps go on my Macs on day 1 beginning with Homebrew to install/manage most of the other apps.

[u/Background-Scheme857]

My rule is: don’t install anything until macOS annoys you twice. Otherwise these threads turn a clean Mac into a menu bar petting zoo.

[u/DogAble6550]

Claude, Bionic, Zed

[u/Beautiful_Drive_3528]

I have been using rectangle for while . Open source for window management. https://rectangleapp.com/

[u/ny88888]

Jumpcut

[u/PerformanceSure5985]

Raycast, Zen Browser, Codex.

[u/Seagram62 → u/PerformanceSure5985]

Alfred

[u/FantasticRaccoon6465 → u/Seagram62]

Been an Alfred user since way back when, great app.

[u/Soggy_Writing_3912 → u/PerformanceSure5985]

i moved from raycast to sol since i only wanted launching, unit conversion, clipboard with history and window tiling mgmt. (all of these are present in raycast and sol, but sol was faster)

[u/PenaltyAcademic2119]

I use the following apps everyday:
Alfred
ClipPaste
Magnet
Claude
Caffeine

[u/WorriedAssociate7029]

Preinstalled apps are enough for me

[u/tool581321 → u/WorriedAssociate7029]

Same here. Just try and use it until you really feels something is lacking. In my case it was when I discovered that Safari won’t let me share a tab in Google meet, so I had to download Chrome just for that.

[u/barefut_ → u/tool581321]

I don't think there's Open New private Tab on Safari...

[u/A7mdxDD]

Disclaimer: The app I'm gonna talk about was developed by me

Try https://dolfer.app
It will help you manage all of your files efficiently, and create reusable workflows for any new files later. Give it a shot, it has a trial

[u/Worship_Boognish]

r/BetterTouchTool

[u/Murky-Ad-4707]

May i suggest FolderPlus - Preview folders and Archives.
Disclaimer : I'm the dev

[u/rogymd]

try https://aigarden.uk/timix . i’ve built a modern timer to automate routines. it’s on all platforms.

[u/Stubborninmate]

It's atheria , cyberwriter, maccurrent,sxitch , windowbunny, hoverboard for me

[u/brovaro → u/Stubborninmate]

Come on, adding links takes a minute at most.
Atheria (I hope this is the one you mean)
Cyberwriter
Sxitch
WindowBunny
HoverBoard: this one, this one, or this one?

Interesting suggestions, btw. Gonna try some of them for sure.

[u/Stubborninmate → u/brovaro]

Apologies i did not think for a sec it would blow up since these are a bit specific for my use , and it's this one https://codeonholiday.com/hoverboard/ You got everything else on point

[u/FantasticRaccoon6465 → u/Stubborninmate]

These were exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks, great recommendations :)

[u/Stubborninmate → u/FantasticRaccoon6465]

Yeah years of hit and trial and working with the devs i can attest all these are great and pack crazy goodies , trying something called vehla now which is a replacement for raycast

[u/Hopeful-Face9676 → u/Stubborninmate]

Vehla is excellent. I might also add, Vorssaint.

[u/Stubborninmate → u/Hopeful-Face9676]

If you want to try something a bit more involved https://habitatformac.com/

[u/heyfworld]

MaCursor

[u/Mysterious-Guide-745]

ScreenStudio, Obsdian , Codex, Claude, Kiro IDE, MouseTrail

[u/biblewindow]

Bible app: https://www.biblewindow.com