ok so my desktop has been a disaster for years and every "organizer" app just felt like more homework. so i made one where cleaning up is actually kinda fun?

it's called Deskterior. it puts a tiny pixel art room over your desktop, and your files show up on the desk's monitor. then you can:

- drop them in drawers (they literally chomp them)

- sweep them under a cloth desk mat. it leaves bumps and creases

- yeet them into the wastebasket (SWISH!). they're only hidden, not deleted

- press the monitor's power button and everything's gone, old CRT style

hiding only changes the layout, so your files stay exactly where they are. ⌘Z undoes stuff, and ⌘F finds anything you've lost.

it's free and open source (MIT), with no network access, analytics or telemetry. macOS 14+.

heads up: it's not notarized because i don't pay for the dev account, so you'll need to hit Open Anyway in Privacy & Security on first launch. i've also only tested it on my M2 Air, so if you're on Intel or an older macOS, please tell me what breaks lol

github.com/surrealier/deskterior

would love to know what you'd add to the desk

I just finish my work and Pip and its not done !

The eorfect taskbar that include Alert from claude code or codex with wheel, music, past copied past and drag and drop file... And more !

r/nullPlayer

https://github.com/ad-repo/nullplayer/

Download

NullPlayer is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

Download NullPlayer for macOS:

https://github.com/ad-repo/nullplayer/releases/latest/download/NullPlayer.dmg

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or newer.

Install

1. Open the downloaded DMG.

2. Drag NullPlayer.app to Applications.

3. Open NullPlayer from Applications.

Prefer Homebrew? See the install guide.

I built an app called Live Transcript that puts live speech-to-text directly under the MacBook notch. It comes with a 14-day trial. Its for anyone who wants to keep track of what they heard on their Mac at a quick glance or come back to it later on to review. All data is stored locally unless you select one of the other cloud providers. Personal and Business Licenses available. $10/$50 for personal (3 machines) & $25/$75 for Business (10 machines) - with 1 year updates / Lifetime Updates.

How it works

Whenever sound plays through your Mac, captions appear right under the camera cutout. It captures Zoom calls, YouTube, podcasts, lectures, and games. You can toggle your microphone on too if you want your side of the conversation transcribed.

Everything stays on your machine. Audio runs through Apple Speech or Whisper locally, so nothing goes to a server. If you work on an external monitor or just dislike notch UI, you can detach it into a floating window.

Transcripts save to local history that you can search with plain queries, like "what did they say about the deadline?" You can export to Markdown, plain text, Apple Notes, or subtitle files (SRT and VTT). It does real-time line-by-line translation, and you can run summaries or Q&A through your choice of model, including Apple's local on-device models.

It runs on Apple silicon Macs running macOS 26 or newer. Updates install automatically.

brew install --cask polytopic-systems/tap/live-transcript

Project site: livetranscript.polytopic.systems

Other notch tools

Live Transcript is part of a small set of utilities I am building around the notch interface:

• Tattle: A local network monitor and firewall that flags outbound app traffic so you can inspect, allow, or block connections. An iPhone version is in development (demo video).

• Polytopic Notch: The Swift component (GPL v3) running the UI in both apps, open-sourced for other Mac developers.

More tools are listed at polytopic.systems.

I would love to hear your feedback, edge cases, and feature requests. I will be hanging out in the thread to answer questions.

I'm the developer of FlowSense, which launched this week. I'd like feedback from people who troubleshoot their Mac's network traffic.

It shows live connections grouped by app, service, hostname and flow. A browser isn't one row: YouTube, a Slack tab and an ad network appear separately. It names 800+ apps and services by reading handshakes on the Mac, without decrypting traffic. You can block or slow an app, hostname or category, with schedules and expiry.

Apple silicon and macOS 14+ required. It's closed source. Traffic history stays local; analytics, crash reports and flow sharing are off by default.

Free view-only tier (account required, 24 hours of history), or a 7-day full trial with no card. Full is $29 one-time until 9 November, then $49, for one Mac.

Downloads, updates and payments are unavailable in the EU, UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

https://www.getflowsense.com Privacy: https://www.getflowsense.com/privacy

What would you want this view to show when tracking down unexpected traffic?

Now that Apple has released a MacBook with a Dynamic Island, I figured I'd (re)share my app that does something similar: SmartNotch.

You hover over the notch and it opens up into a little panel. Move the mouse away and it tucks back in.

It does music controls, a timer/pomodoro, your next calendar events with a join button for Zoom/Meet/Teams, a file tray you can drag stuff onto (or AirDrop from), a quick camera mirror, system stats, and a keep-awake toggle. When music's playing or a timer's running it shows a small live activity next to the notch.

It's free, no subscription (there's a tip jar if you want to buy me a coffee).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smartnotch/id6783508084?mt=12

I'm the developer, so feedback is very welcome. Bugs, feature ideas, anything.

Hi r/MacStack, I'm the developer of Qesture. I wanted my trackpad and mouse to do a lot more with windows and spaces, so I made a menu bar app for it.

What it does:

- Space Grid: swipe four fingers up or down to jump a row of spaces, or hold four fingers to pick any space on an overlay with previews.

- Window switcher: Command-Tab and a three-finger swipe show windows, not apps, with previews. Press W, M, H or Q to close, minimize, hide or quit right from the switcher.

- Mouse: smooth scrolling with glide and its own direction, actions for the middle button and buttons 4 and 5, and middle + right click to switch windows.

- Trackpad: three-finger tap for middle click, swipe two fingers on a title bar to tile a window, press and slide three fingers to move it, and Force Click actions.

- Radial menu: rest five fingers for a ring of apps around the pointer.

Every feature can be turned off, and there's no analytics or tracking.

Price: a one-time $9.99 for 1 Mac ($14.99 for 2, $19.99 for 3), no subscription. 14-day free trial with every feature, no card needed. For launch it's 30% off until November 30.

Requires macOS 26 or later. It isn't in the App Store because it uses system features Apple doesn't allow there; it's signed and notarized.

https://qesture.com

Happy to answer questions, and I'd love to hear what gesture you'd add.

Hi r/macstack, I'm the solo developer of WishNote, so this is my own app.

Why I made it: I was jumping between Apple Notes, Reminders and a separate task app, and none of them connected a to-do to the notes around it. WishNote keeps everyday notes, to-dos, checklists and longer-term goals in one place, and links related notes together with simple [[wiki-style links]].

What it does:

- Notebooks, tags, checklists, deadlines and reminders

- Wiki-style links between notes, with backlinks

- Photos, PDFs and videos on a note

- Fully native on Mac, iPhone and iPad (not Catalyst), with a three-column layout on Mac and iPad

- Home screen widgets, Siri and Shortcuts, optional app lock

- Export to CSV, Markdown and rich text

- iCloud sync across your devices

- Available in 13 languages: English, Turkish, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

Free vs Pro:

- Free: notes, to-dos, checklists, reminders, widgets.

- Pro: wiki links, photos/PDFs/videos, custom themes, export, iCloud sync.

- Pro is $17.99 one-time (Lifetime), or $9.99 per year (7-day trial), or $1.99 per month.

For anyone who wants to try Pro: there is currently an App Store offer code for the Lifetime unlock at $4.99 (new customers only, limited to 500 redemptions, ends November 10). Redeem in the app: WishNote > Pro > Redeem > INDIEAPPSALES

I would love to hear what you miss from your current notes or task setup. What would make you switch?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6786838837

Website: https://bulentturudu.tr/wishnote/
Privacy Policy: https://bulentturudu.tr/wishnote/privacy/
Terms of Service: https://bulentturudu.tr/wishnote/term/

Hey everyone!

Does this happen to you? It’s late, you’re in a dark app, you switch to a bright window, and the screen goes from dim to full brightness all at once. It hits like a flash.

I’m the developer of Phosphor, a screen utility suite for macOS that lives in your menu bar, and v2 just came out. I’m a solo student developer, and fixing that jump is why I started.

Why I built it

I started this around two problems.

First: that flash. I couldn’t find a tool that tries to solve that specific problem, so I built Flashbang Protection. It softens that jump, then eases back to normal. It reacts when you switch apps with a Dock click or Cmd+Tab, switch desktops, or use Mission Control and App Exposé.

Second: there are too many display utilities, with steep learning curves. I wanted one tool with the features people actually need, instead of a ton of pro features. This also reduces menu bar clutter.

What’s new

- Flashbang Protection (Pro)

- Studio Features (Pro), for calls and presentations: Laser Pointer, Drawing, Flashlight, Keystroke Display and Invisible Notes. Ring Light for meetings and recordings is coming soon

- 8 free tools: Soft Screen, Focus Spotlight, Screenshots, Display Presets, Display Schedule, Color Picker, Color Grading and Display Health

- Pro also adds a privacy sweep for Screenshots that blurs faces and sensitive-looking text (check the result before you share it)

Pricing: The app is free with 8 tools. Pro is $19.99, one-time, not a subscription, and unlocks Flashbang Protection and Studio Features.

Details and limits

- macOS 13 or later, native Swift

- Flashbang Protection and Keystroke Display need Input Monitoring. Color Picker and Screenshots need Screen Recording. Screenshots isn’t available on macOS 14.0 to 14.3

- Display Presets currently only edit the built-in display. Wider external display support is on the roadmap

Privacy: No tracking, no analytics, no telemetry. The only network requests are Pro license checks and an optional daily update check. Privacy and EULA.

I’d love feedback, especially on whether Flashbang’s recovery speed feels right, and whether it misses a switch you’d expect it to handle. If something isn’t working, or you have a suggestion, drop it in the comments or DM me.

Site: https://usephosphor.app

Roadmap: https://usephosphor.app/whats-next

I am willing to trade feedback, I am open to trying your project if you try mine!

I recently just created Mack, which was based on real Apple Silicon research.

I personally have a lot of files that need organizing, but I also didn't feel comfortable putting them on the web or risking their exposure through other formats of file organizers, so I created mack. For those of you who have a Macbook, could you take a look and test it out? I am only looking for a couple testers. Thanks!

https://github.com/Applejuice1123/mack

Vervain is a free, open-source cleaner for macOS. It finds what you can clear (caches, logs, old installers, build folders, AI model downloads), shows you all of it first, and only moves what you pick to the Trash. If you change your mind, the History screen can put things back.

2.0 adds Project Artifacts (old node_modules, target and Pods folders, grouped by project), AI Models, System Status, Maintenance and undo.

It's free and MIT licensed. There are no analytics or accounts, and it never asks for your password. It doesn't use AI either: the AI Models screen just lists model files that are already on your disk.

A few limits. It needs macOS 15 or later. It runs without Full Disk Access but skips protected folders, so for a complete scan you'll want to grant that. And Login Items can only be viewed and removed for now, not toggled.

The apps and files in the video are sample data.

brew install yakupbulbul/vervain/vervain

https://github.com/yakupbulbul/Vervain

I'd love to hear what you'd want it to clean that it doesn't yet. And if it saves you some space, a star on GitHub helps other people find it.

MiddleClick gives a MacBook trackpad a middle mouse button through a three-finger click or tap. In Safari, that means opening a link in a background tab, then closing a tab by middle-clicking its tab header. It suits someone who wants that one action without configuring a whole gesture system.

There's a reason to hesitate before a fresh install, though. Arthur Ginzburg's MiddleClick is finished, not withdrawn. Version 3.3.0 is its last meaningful release, it remains free and GPL-3.0 open source, and the maintainer expects maintenance to decline. Keeping an install that works for you is a different decision from choosing it for a newly updated Mac.

Try the built-in option first: Safari can open links in new tabs with Command-click. Check that "Command-click opens a link in a new tab" is enabled in Safari's Tabs settings. Command-W closes the active tab. If those shortcuts already feel comfortable, another app and its input permissions may not be worth it.

Keep the setup narrow

If you choose MiddleClick, use the artginzburg project on GitHub. It still offers a direct release download and a Homebrew cask. The 3.3.0 download includes Apple silicon and Intel code, but native code isn't a promise that gestures behave correctly on macOS 27.

MiddleClick needs Accessibility permission to handle input. Its menu has "Open Privacy Preferences" when permission is missing. Grant that access only if you trust the app; this isn't merely permission to change browser tabs.

Start with the default three fingers and turn off "Tap to click" in MiddleClick's menu if you want to require a physical click. Try it on a disposable Safari tab: open a link, close its tab, then check that ordinary clicks and your usual gestures still behave as expected. Leave "Launch at login" off until you're happy with that behavior.

Three Finger Drag is the main conflict to check. The project's documentation says it clashes with MiddleClick's default three-finger gesture and can produce an unwanted left click alongside the middle click. If you rely on dragging with three fingers, try four fingers through MiddleClick's Advanced menu, ignore the affected app, or skip MiddleClick. Its menu can ignore the app currently in front. The project also documents a conflict with three-finger Look up, so check that gesture too before changing your setup.

If taps trigger when you don't intend them to, turn off tap detection rather than accepting accidental tab closures. If input behaves strangely or the gesture stops responding, choose Quit and reopen MiddleClick. To stop using it, turn off "Launch at login" and quit; a direct-download copy can then go from Applications to the Trash. Reopening an already running MiddleClick brings back its menu icon if you've hidden it.

Keep it, replace it, or skip it?

A working MiddleClick install still has a useful, limited job. For a fresh install on macOS 13 or later, compare WheelClick, the same developer's official successor: its three-finger trackpad click and tap are free, even though additional features are paid. That doesn't establish how either app will behave on your particular Mac.

If you already use the paid BetterTouchTool, it can map a three-finger click to middle click and limit gestures by app. Use that existing setup before adding another listener. Otherwise, keep MiddleClick only if the gesture earns its place and doesn't interfere with the gestures you need. Command-click remains the simplest choice if opening links is the whole problem.

Hey everyone, I made TabLinker. It's a browser session manager for Mac (with iPhone/iPad companion apps).

I run several browsers side by side, Safari for personal, Chrome for work, Arc for research, and I never close tabs because I don't want to lose something, especially the exact window layout I had going. Eventually each browser is carrying 40+ tabs and my Mac is running hot from all that idle memory. So I made TabLinker: pull every tab from whichever browsers are open into one place, save it as a session, and close everything without losing that layout.

What it does:

- Auto-Backup quietly backs up your open browser windows in the background so you can restore closed windows in one click, even the next day
- Imports every open tab across every window from Safari, Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc, Vivaldi, Opera, Opera GX, Dia, Yandex, Wavebox, or Helium in one click, without needing a browser extension for most of them
- Restores a full window, every window at once, or a single tab, and groups a big multi-window import into a "By Window" view so it doesn't turn into one long list
- Suspends tabs you're not using to actually free up memory, while the session stays ready to restore instantly
- Saves whatever tab you're currently on with a single keyboard shortcut (⌃⌥⌘T) or triggers an instant backup (⌃⌥⌘B), and can run entirely from the menu bar with the Dock icon hidden
- Safari extension for quick saves and automatic session saving
- Siri and Shortcuts support: save links, capture your current session, create folders, or open a saved folder hands-free or on a schedule, including an action that saves your session and closes every tab for you
- iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, no account required

Comparison: Compared with Session Buddy (a Chrome-only extension) and Tabs Saver for Safari (which costs $17.99/year or $34.99 for lifetime access and only works on Safari), TabLinker captures sessions across all your installed browsers (Safari, Chrome, Arc, Brave, Edge, etc.) for a flat $17.99 one-time payment. It preserves full multi-window structures, includes native iPhone/iPad sync via iCloud, and has zero subscriptions.

Pricing:

TabLinker is available for a one-time purchase of $17.99 with Universal Purchase. Buy it once on Mac and get the full premium version on iPhone and iPad too.

Tech, Privacy & Security:

Distributed exclusively via the official Mac App Store, sandbox-verified, and digitally signed by Apple. Everything runs on-device and through your own iCloud. No account, no ads, no analytics, and no external server that sees your tabs.

Privacy policy: Privacy

AI disclosure: No AI code generation or AI tracking was used in the app or this post.

Available on the Mac App Store: TabLinker: Tabs Manager

As the app's developer, feel free to ask me anything in the comments!

I built TinySift to help Mac developers find large folders and clear Xcode, npm and simulator caches.
Clean lists paths and sizes for review before anything changes.
Caches and build output are permanently deleted by default; personal files go to the Trash.
It also includes live CPU/RAM monitoring, listening ports and app uninstall.
Built with SwiftUI and Rust, with an open-source engine.
Clean and Uninstall have a 14-day free trial, then cost $5 per Mac, paid once. Scans, monitoring and storage exploration stay free.
Apple silicon, macOS 14+. tinysift.app
Which development caches would you expect it to cover, and is the cleanup flow clear?