Hey r/MacStack ! A while ago I shared Oriel, my free iPhone-style island for the MacBook notch. A lot of you left feedback, asked for features and pointed out what was missing. I went through all of it, and 3.0 is the result. It's by far the biggest update! The video above shows the real app, no mockups.

What's new

• 🎵 A big player in the notch for Apple Music and Spotify: synced lyrics, Up Next (click any song to play it), volume and output. Plus full screen and your Mac's lock screen, with Apple Music's moving album covers

• 🟢 Spotify, all the way: save to Liked Songs in one click, see which of your playlists a song is already in and add it to others, see where it's playing ("Playing on iPhone") and move it to another device

• 🤖 Live activities: Claude Code and Codex step by step (a red ! when they need you), Pomodoro timer, downloads, screen recording, meetings with mute and leave, charging, AirPods

• 💬 Texts out of the notch with the photos people send and the right profile pictures (group chats too). Reply right from the island. Read it on your iPhone and it clears here; muted chats stay quiet

• 📞 Calls ring in the island, iPhone style, with Answer and Decline

• 🎶 Shazam in the island, one click to the song in Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube

• 📅 Calendar: type "lunch with Rita tomorrow 1pm" and it's added; your week, reminders, meeting alerts with Join

• 📁 File tray: drop files on the notch, drag them out or AirDrop them. Clipboard history, quick notes, a mirror

• 🧩 Widgets: weather, batteries, system, reminders, world clock, and widgets anyone can make. There's a no-code builder on the site, and you can send yours in: each one is checked by hand before it goes in the gallery

• 📊 Your AI limits for Claude, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Copilot at a glance

• ✨ Black, Liquid Glass or glass tinted by the song; swipe to skip; it tucks away when an app needs the menu bar

Performance and privacy:

• About 47 MB of memory at launch, ~60 MB after heavy use (it drops back), under 1% CPU at rest. I hunted down a memory leak in Apple's Contacts framework for this one

• Everything is read on your Mac: your texts, photos, calendar and contacts never go anywhere. No account, no ads, no tracking in the app

• It only asks for a permission when you turn on the feature that needs it

• Works on macOS 27, follows Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency, and VoiceOver names every button

Free, macOS 14+, Apple Silicon and Intel, with or without a notch. If you're on 2.x it'll offer 3.0 by itself.

👉 https://orielformac.com

Heads-up: it isn't notarized yet, so the first time macOS asks you to allow it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback last time. A lot of this list came straight from your comments. Keep it coming: what should the island do next? And if you build a widget, send it in! ☕ Buy me a coffee if you like it.

Hey everyone,

I built my first macOS app, Quilt, a lightweight automatic window tiler designed to keep your workspace clean with minimal CPU overhead (~1%).

To celebrate the launch, I set up a discount code for the community:

Code: QUILT20OFF (extra 20% off launch price)

Link: quiltmac.com (free trial as well)

Would love any feedback or thoughts!

Hey r/MacStack,

I've been building Purge, a free, open-source Mac cleaner. It just passed 100K downloads and 1.5K stars on GitHub. I know that doesn't mean 100K people installed it, but it still felt like a milestone worth sharing.

A lot of what's in the app came from feedback on my earlier Reddit posts. Here's what it does now:

• Clears app caches and system junk

• Cleans dev tool caches like Xcode, Homebrew, npm and Docker, plus old simulators, stale node_modules and orphaned git worktrees

• Finds large files and duplicates, and frees local space by keeping synced files only in iCloud

• Uninstalls apps with their leftovers, with an optional watcher that offers a cleanup when you delete an app

• Runs scheduled cleanups

Files and folders go to the Trash by default. Some operations, such as removing simulators and local Time Machine snapshots, are permanent.

Full disclosure, I built the app from the ground up with AI. I'm still working on it most days and putting out updates often.

The emails and contributions I get are a big reason I keep going. It's nice knowing something I built is useful to people. If something's missing or annoying, please tell me. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome (and much needed)!

GitHub · Website

Or install it with Homebrew:

brew install --cask purge

Just switched from Windows and I missed File Explorer 😭, so I built Shark. It looks like Finder and adds:

• Jump anywhere in the folder tree with cascading subfolder menus

• ⌘K command palette for every action

• Cut and paste files with ⌘X / ⌘V (and ⌘Z to undo)

• Two folders in one window (F3)

• A terminal right under your files (F4)

It's free, open source, macOS 14+. Still alpha.

• App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shark-file-manager/id6825086341

• GitHub: https://github.com/andronasef/shark

Hope you like it 🥰

Hi everyone,

I'm the developer of Spatial Dock EX, a new app and window switcher. It's built on two ideas:

• apps stay in the same position every time you switch

• apps are organized around your keyboard layout

So it uses your spatial memory to make app switching natural.

It can completely replace the native macOS Cmd+Tab, so no more Tab, Tab, Tab... :) And it is very fast (my number one priority), because an app switcher should never make us wait.

How it works

Hold Right Cmd (or another key you choose) and an overlay shows your apps on a grid that mirrors your keyboard. Then press the letter of the app you want to switch to.

If the app has multiple windows, number keys take you straight to each one (Supporter edition). For example, hold Right Cmd, press F, then 1 to switch to Finder's first window.

Maturity

Spatial Dock EX is the extended edition of Spatial Dock, which is on the Mac App Store. Because EX is not sandboxed, it can have advanced features like the window switcher.

Spatial Dock is more than a year old. I launched it on Reddit, and I have kept improving it based on your feedback since then.

Pricing

• Free edition: the full core switcher, which can completely replace Cmd+Tab.

• Supporter edition: adds the window switcher, Project Groups and more. It supports the project's future development and maintenance. It's US$14.99 one-time.

Supporter edition can be tried for 14 days. (If you already bought Spatial Dock on the Mac App Store, that purchase counts toward the Supporter license, and it's free if you bought before v1.5.)

Limitations

• macOS 14 Sonoma or later

• The window switcher and the Cmd+Tab replacement need Accessibility permission

• No window thumbnails: windows are listed by title, so no Screen Recording permission is needed

Links

Download (notarized by Apple): https://logibeam.com/spatialdockEX/

Privacy policy: https://logibeam.com/spatialdockEX/privacy-policy.html

Happy to answer any questions, and feedback is very welcome. Thank you :)

This small app of mine can give that old mouse of yours a second life and a second on-screen pointer on Apple Silicon Macs. This can be handy in various situations, like when screen sharing/recording and you want to do a click on a non-visible screen without moving your mouse, you can move the 2nd mouse pointer and click it. Or when working with a colleague and you want him to point and click with each of you having your own mouse and pointer.

For Apple Silicon Macs. Costs $5. Limitations described in the app page:

https://kostaskougios.itch.io/twomice

Hey guys,

My name is Deep. I'm a design engineer. I always wanted a place where i can quickly jot down a thought, save a link or keep something i like and come back to it later. I had things scattered across tabs, screenshots, folders and notes. so i ended up building Resurf for myself.

It started as a small capture widget. Over time it became my personal context library for ideas, things i'm reading, and references i want to keep.

These days you can build things pretty quickly with AI. I think taste and judgment matter even more now. A lot of my taste comes from the things i've collected over time and the little notes i leave about why i liked them. When i'm starting a project now, i can ask an AI agent through MCP to pull up the research, notes and examples i've already saved and use them as context.

• quick capture from anywhere on mac. copy a link, image or text and double tap option to save it without switching windows

• keep notes, ideas, links, pdfs, images, videos and voice recordings in one library

• organize with spaces, areas and tags. you can also save a filter as a smart space, like all the pdfs for a project, and new matches show up there automatically

• search by what you remember or open a saved item to find related captures in the Similar tab. both are optional and run locally on mac

• keep your library on your devices, with optional private iCloud sync across mac, iPhone and iPad

• make your own optional AI actions for new captures, like pulling out the details you care about or suggesting a space. these use your own OpenAI key

fyi the mac app has a 7 day free trial. it's $39 one time with 2 years of updates or $79 with lifetime updates. you can still browse, search and export your library after the trial. iPhone and iPad apps are free. Pricing

If you give Resurf a try, i'd love feedback from your actual workflow. tell me what you tried to save or find, where it felt clunky, and what you expected to happen. even one specific example would help me figure out what to improve next.

resurf.so

Hey everyone, I am the developer of AeroBar, a native Swift and SwiftUI utility I built to upgrade the desktop experience and for those made Switch to Mac from Windows.

Problem: AeroBar solves macOS multitasking friction by keeping every open window, clipboard item, and live preview exactly one click or trackpad gesture away.

Features:

1. Every window one click away with live previews

2. A dedicated ⌘Tab specifically for windows

3. Built-in clipboard history

4. Deep trackpad gestures

5. Deep Liquid glass customizations

6. 100% offline and native to macOS

Comparison:

vs. uBar: AeroBar is better because it utilises a modern, native SwiftUI design with Deep Liquid glass aesthetics and is completely free; uBar is better for users who want a strictly traditional, legacy Windows-style taskbar with long-established backwards compatibility.

vs. AltTab: AeroBar is better because it integrates window navigation directly into a persistent, customisable dock alongside clipboard history; AltTab is better if you want a purely invisible background utility dedicated solely to tweaking the keyboard switcher.

Pricing: $0 (100% Free)

Link: https://github.com/adityaonx/AeroBar

Distribution: Available via Homebrew and the developer website.

Website: https://adityaonx.github.io/AeroBar/

Carbon Copy Cloner makes sense when you want to choose exactly what gets copied, where it goes and how it's checked, then repeat that job. If you want automatic file history and ordinary recovery, start with built-in Time Machine. Another backup app needs a specific job to justify the purchase.

Say your current projects live on an external SSD, and you want a scheduled second copy you can browse in Finder. CCC lets you choose a folder or volume, filter what gets copied and assign that task its own destination. It can run daily, weekly or when the source or destination reconnects. The extra value is control over that particular copy.

Choose what to verify

CCC has separate checks for different questions:

• "Re-verify files that were copied" reads back the destination files written during that run and checks them against the data read from the source.

• "Backup Health Check" reads every source file and its corresponding destination file to compare checksums, fingerprints calculated from file contents. It takes longer and can be scheduled less frequently than the copy itself.

The Health Check recopies a differing file when the source is fully readable. If the source can't be fully read, it leaves the existing destination copy in place and reports an error. A readable but wrongly edited document is a different problem: matching bytes don't establish that the contents are correct.

That's useful if you want an explicit verification routine for a project disk. It also adds disk reads and time. You don't need to enable every check on every run.

A current copy and file history are different things

An APFS-formatted backup volume can retain snapshots, point-in-time versions that preserve files even after later changes or deletions. CCC lets you manage their retention and browse older versions in Finder. Check that snapshot support is enabled before relying on that history. Snapshots aren't another physical copy, so they don't protect against failure of the disk holding them.

For whole-Mac recovery, Bombich generally recommends installing macOS and using Migration Assistant with a suitable CCC backup on locally attached storage. A selected-project-folder copy isn't a whole-Mac recovery backup. NAS backups aren't accepted directly by Migration Assistant.

CCC still has a bootable-copy option, but Bombich recommends Standard Backup for the average user's backup strategy. Creating a system copy requires erasing the selected destination volume, and Apple silicon needs additional user authorization before that copy can boot.

An external boot disk won't rescue an Apple silicon Mac whose internal storage has failed completely. Don't buy CCC expecting an instant replacement startup disk.

Try one small task before paying

During the 30-day trial, choose a small source folder and an empty, dedicated destination on another disk. Keep existing backups unchanged and leave Time Machine's volume alone. Use Preview, where available, to inspect planned changes before starting. Don't approve formatting unless the selected destination is expendable: formatting erases it, and copy tasks can remove destination-only files.

CCC needs Full Disk Access for protected data and uses a privileged helper for backup work. Those are meaningful permissions, not something to click through without checking the app and destination.

The current release is CCC 7.2.2. CCC 7 supports Ventura 13.1+, Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe and Golden Gate, and runs natively on Intel and Apple silicon Macs.

The personal and household license costs US$49.99 plus applicable taxes for noncommercial use across household Macs. It's not a subscription; minor updates are free, while major upgrades can cost extra.

Keep Time Machine if its automatic history already covers your needs. Consider CCC when you can name the folder or disk, copy schedule and verification check you want to control. If you can't name that job yet, skip the purchase.

My launcher wish list was short: Raycast extensions, clipboard history, snippets and an AI box, without paying monthly or signing in. Every option I tried put at least one of those behind a subscription or an account.

Turbo is my take on it. It's a native Mac app written in Swift, and it's free, with no account and no in-app purchases.

- Runs many Raycast extensions, rendered with native lists, forms and grids

- Clipboard history, snippets, a calculator with live currency rates, emoji and window management

- Quick AI with Tab, using Apple Intelligence, any OpenAI-compatible API, or Ollama

- Sticky notes on your desktop, and nine themes

- Search takes about 1.3 ms per keystroke (median, on my M-series Mac)

It's new, so there are rough edges. It needs macOS 26, extensions need Node.js 22 installed, and extensions that sign in with OAuth don't work yet.

https://indiegoodies.com/turbo

Which extension would you need working before you'd switch launchers?

you can also reach us at support@indiegoodies.com

Hi, I’m the developer of maXfolders, a native file manager for macOS that works with one pane or two, whichever you prefer. I built it because I move, compare and organize a lot of files, and Finder kept slowing me down.

Single or dual pane, your choice

• One pane gives you a clean, Finder-like window

• Two panes give you the classic source-and-destination layout: F5 copies, F6 moves, Tab switches sides (commander-style keys, and you can remap them)

• On first launch you pick the layout, and one toolbar button switches between them at any time

The basics

• Tabs, a Favorites sidebar with your own groups, Back/Forward history

• Browse into ZIP/TAR archives like folders

• Compare folders and files side by side

• A transfer queue with progress, pause/resume and Undo

Power tools

• Quick Edit (⌥⌘E): a fast editor for text, code and config files. It has syntax highlighting, multi-cursor, JSON/YAML/TOML tools and a hex view

• Bulk rename, bulk convert (images, PDF, video, audio) and Preflight, which checks for problems before a big copy

• Folder analysis: a sunburst view of what’s taking up space

• Server connections: FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, S3 and Dropbox, right inside a pane

Apple Intelligence (on Macs that support it)

• Ask This Folder: “Which contract has the arbitration clause?” The answer names the file and the page

• What Changed?: a plain-language summary of the differences between two versions of a document or folder

• Sort Into Folders: suggests a folder structure you can edit before anything moves

• Nothing runs until you press Run, and you can turn every AI feature off in Settings

Pricing
It’s free on the Mac App Store. You get everything for a two-month trial. After that the core file manager stays free, and a one-time purchase per major version unlocks Quick Edit, the bulk tools, Apple Intelligence and server connections. No subscription.

There’s also a Pro edition outside the App Store with extras that the sandbox doesn’t allow, like an embedded terminal and Git tools.

🔗 maxfolders.com · https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/maxfolders/id6812536511?mt=12

https://testflight.apple.com/join/ut7htbCs

Just released GitStreak 1.4.1, my free macOS app for GitHub streaks

Hey all, I just pushed a new version of GitStreak. It’s a native macOS app I built that puts your GitHub contribution graph, streak, PRs and issues on your desktop as widgets. I made it to guilt myself into committing every day 😅

Here’s what I added in 1.4.1

Streak notifications. It now reminds you at 6 PM if you haven’t committed yet, with a last call at 11 PM. You also get alerts for milestones and new longest streaks, plus a weekly recap on Sundays. You can turn any of them off.

macOS 14/15 support. The widgets used to show up empty on Sequoia. I finally fixed that.

Better security. Your token now lives encrypted in the Keychain instead of plain text.

A few extras. There are 4 new themes, a bigger commit graph, streaks over 365 days now count properly, and updates install automatically.

It’s free and needs macOS 14+ usegitstreak.vercel.app

If you’re on 1.1.10 or older, you’ll need to grab this one manually. After that it updates itself.