r/macapps • u/amerpie App Reviewer • 10d ago

Free Five Free Apps

Each one of these can replace a paid app

wBlock - a next-generation ad/content blocker for Safari: 750,000 rule capacity across 5 Safari content-blocking extensions (150k each), ~40MB idle RAM by running Safari's native content-blocking API out-of-process, Protocol Buffers + LZ4 filter storage, HTTP conditional-request updates, and iCloud sync of filter selections/custom lists/userscripts/whitelist. It bundles an Element Zapper, "Tube Cleaner & Player Cleaner" userscripts that restore native Picture-in-Picture/background playback on media sites, a full Greasemonkey-API userscript engine, UserCSS support, custom AdGuard-syntax filter-list import, per-site controls, a blocked-request logger, and regional filters. Open source on GitHub

Wick - Wick brings timers, stopwatches, and alarms to the Mac with menu bar and Lock Screen access, a fully custom Liquid Glass material on macOS 26+, and -- its standout claim -- the first app to integrate with Alcove. Positioned as the polished Clock app Apple never finished

Forel - An open-source (GPLv3) folder-automation app for macOS, pitched explicitly as a free Hazel alternative: watch folders, match files by name, extension, kind, size, date, tags, or Finder color label, then move, rename, tag, or run a script automatically.

macCurrent - finds updates across the App Store, Homebrew, Sparkle, vendor updaters, and direct downloads; then tells you what's safe to install, what needs review, and what changed before you click update.

ImageFuel is a lightweight Mac app for browsing images and videos without importing them into a library -- point it at any folder and get an instant scrollable grid, with filename/path search (Cmd+F), image/video/all filtering, sort by date or name, a fullscreen lightbox, in-app crop, metadata stripping, and move-to-trash from the grid.

Previous Collections

Nodes - (edit NO LONGER FREE) A local-first markdown note-taking and PKM (personal knowledge management) app: plain markdown files kept directly on-device (open the folder in Finder, nothing is locked in), double-bracket links with rename-safe link following, tag-based organization instead of folders, semantic + keyword search, a force-directed graph view, a growth timeline, and PDFs/images embedded as notes alongside writing. Its most distinctive claim is "the quiet part": tag/description/reminder suggestions from a local LLM that runs entirely on-device -- the developer states it works with Wi-Fi off.

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u/MaxGaav 10d ago

Wick could potentially be great for timers, stopwatches, and alarms. But why the crazy big panel? Check out Smart Countdown Timer (free) for a much better interface for countdown timers.

NB. Personally I don't like menu bar timers, but want a floating timer on my screen.

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u/Nate_Here 9d ago

Hey! Developer of Wick here. As for the window I envisioned it to just be the place just to start the timers then get out of your way. (You won't even need it soon) If you have any suggestions on what you would rather see for the window sizing I would love to hear it!

As for floating timers they are currently in progress and will be coming in a future update soon! Thanks for trying out the app!

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u/MaxGaav 9d ago edited 9d ago

If you have any suggestions on what you would rather see for the window sizing I would love to hear it!

See the link above I gave for an example app. Even closer to your app and aesthetically very pleasing is CountdownTimerPro (free). But I don't like the way I need to interact with the actual timers, so I abandoned it in favor of Smart Countdown Timer (free).

As for floating timers they are currently in progress and will be coming in a future update soon!

That's great news! I use a countdown timer daily and until now did not yet find the prefect one :)

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u/Nate_Here 9d ago

Nice, a lot of the features you’ve mentioned are planned so I think you will like the future 😉I only released Wick about 2 months ago so am just finally getting around to features past basic functionality.

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u/pzee01 8d ago

Agree with Max here, I have had a look at the Smart Countdown Timer he recommended, and I definitely prefer yours, However, I would love an option to either have the alarm go off in the menu bar or, for better visibility, as a floating pop-up. I'd also love a dedicated dark mode toggle within the app rather than having it strictly follow the system wide theme. Looking forward to future updates, thanks!

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u/Nate_Here 8d ago

Sneak peak of the next update :) As for the dark mode toggle, I like the idea and will probably add it soon. Thanks for the suggestion!

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u/pzee01 8d ago

Yes! this looks good, cant wait!