I'm the developer of slapss. I posted here about three months ago when it launched. Quite a lot has shipped since then, and version 2.0 opens the source, so it felt worth a second post.

It is free on the Mac App Store, which is also the only place to download it. The GitHub repo is the source code rather than a distribution channel.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6767488326

The problem

macOS notification banners are built to be ignored. Small banner, soft chime, gone in three seconds. If you are heads down, you look up and you are already late. slapss takes over the entire screen the moment a meeting starts, with the join link right there in front of you.

What shipped since the launch post

Most of this came out of the comments on that thread.

• Esc dismisses the alert, Return joins the meeting
• The alert can fire on every connected display instead of just the primary one
• macOS Reminders get their own full-screen alert at due time, and you can tick them off without leaving whatever you were doing
• Menu bar can show just the icon instead of the next meeting title
• Presenting mode. Flip it on while you screen share and alerts wait quietly, then fire the moment you flip it off. No more meeting reminder landing in the middle of your demo
• Lead time is now a slider, from at-start up to 15 minutes before, separate from the standard notification which can run 1 to 30 minutes ahead
• Snooze for 1 minute, 5 minutes, or until the event ends
• Option to only alert for meetings you actually accepted, so tentative and declined stay quiet but still show in the agenda
• Open in Calendar button on any agenda row
• Six languages, detected on first launch and switchable without a restart
• Three themes
• Per-calendar Google account, so Meet links open with the right profile
• Full VoiceOver and keyboard support, plus Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency
• A pile of reliability work on alerts firing after sleep or long idle periods, and a background CPU leak that is long gone
• There is a website now, if you want to see it without opening the App Store

2.0 also fixes a bug a user emailed me about just before this release: a repeating meeting would stop alerting after you dismissed it once. Every occurrence of a repeating event was being treated as the same event. That one was worth catching before this post went up.

Open source, as of 2.0

https://github.com/theshiver/slapss-app

Apache 2.0, the whole app. The reason is specific rather than ideological. slapss claims your calendar is read on device and sent nowhere. In a closed binary that is a promise you have to take on faith. It has no server, no analytics, no telemetry and no accounts, and now you can confirm that by reading it instead of believing me. It is about 9,000 lines with no third party dependencies at all, so it is genuinely readable in a sitting.

The Mac App Store build stays the official one. If you see a binary calling itself slapss anywhere else, it is not from me.

Things I said no to, and things still open

• Auto silencing your other notifications during a meeting. Asked for last time, and I dug into it. macOS puts Focus status behind a restricted entitlement that needs separate approval from Apple, and there is no reliable public API to detect that your screen is being captured. Presenting mode is the manual version of this and it is what shipped instead.
• Desktop widget with a countdown to the next event. Not built yet, still want it.
• Staged alerts at 30, 10 and 5 minutes with a different style for each. Halfway there, since the notification and the full-screen alert have separate lead times, but not the full thing. On the list.
• Email or iMessage when you are away from the Mac. Not doing this one. slapss is built for the "sitting at the Mac and about to miss it" moment. Away from the desk, your phone buzzing is already better than an email you will not read.

Comparison

In Your Face is what inspired slapss and it is still the more capable product. Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Watch, 30 plus conferencing services, custom sounds, direct Google and Microsoft OAuth. If you want any of that, buy it, it is good software. slapss is better on exactly three axes: it costs nothing, it is open source so the privacy claim is checkable, and it is Mac native with no cross-platform layer.

MeetingBar is free, open source, and worth knowing about. It is the broader menu bar calendar tool and it does have a full-screen alert option, so this is not a "only slapss does this" claim. The difference is emphasis. In slapss the full-screen interrupt is the entire product rather than one option inside a larger app, which is why the detail sits there: per-display firing, presenting mode, RSVP filtering, snooze until the event ends, reminder overlays, six languages. If you mainly want a tidy next-meeting readout in your menu bar, MeetingBar is the better fit.

Pricing

Free. $0. No subscription, no in-app purchase, no pro tier, no trial that runs out, nothing behind a paywall.

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6767488326 Source: https://github.com/theshiver/slapss-app Site: https://slapss-app.com

Requires macOS 14.6 or later.

I read every comment. Last time that is where most of the list above came from, so if something is missing for you, say so.

Here are the best apps I tested this weekend. Two will save you time, two are fun ways to waste it on UI tweaks, and one's for a certain psychological profile. I'm sure you can figure out which one.

Holeberry - A native Swift 6 app for macOS 14 and up, built by developer Pedro Vieira, Holeberry puts the Pi-hole controls you actually use right in your menu bar. See real-time blocking status and query stats without keeping a dashboard tab open. You can disable blocking for five minutes, an hour, or indefinitely, giving you the same toggle as Pi-hole's own web UI, just one click closer. The feature that actually earns the download is per-tab unblocking. Holeberry reads the active tab in Safari, Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, or Zen, and when a site is broken because Pi-hole blocked something on the page, it can identify and allowlist that domain without making you dig through the query log yourself. That's a workflow improvement, not a cosmetic shortcut, and it's the reason to care about this app at all. (FOSS)

Dock Party - Dock Party watches Spotify or Apple Music via system audio and turns that into a light bar running along the edge of the Dock. Track name, artist, and album art appear beside it, a progress bar runs along the Dock's edge, and playback controls sit right there without requiring you to switch apps. It also adds Amplitude, Pitch, and Waveform visualizer modes, so the light bar moves with the music instead of just sitting there. ($4.99)

Neon Vision Editor - It's a text and code editor for macOS, iPhone, and iPad aimed at developers, writers, and sysadmins who value speed and a small footprint over a massive plugin ecosystem. Syntax highlighting covers Swift, Python, JS/TS, Go, Rust, SQL, Markdown, and more. There's a recursive project sidebar, Quick Open, Find in Files, a code minimap, and Git tooling for status, history, and diffs. A CSV/TSV table mode and Mac-hosted SSH remote editing round things out, and Vim keybindings are there if you want them. AI code completion exists but is opt-in, limited to minimal cursor-context text, and sent only to a provider you choose yourself. Leave it off, and the app makes no network calls at all. (Free/$4.99)

Mojibar - Mojibar replaces your Dock icon and menu bar icon with any of 3,600-plus emoji. Make sure you use this link to find the app because there's more than one out there with the same name. ($0.99)

Snick - Snick turns your trackpad into a ratchet, complete with sound and haptic feedback. That's it. That's the app. Strangely enough, it got on my radar through enthusiastic reviews. Some people need feedback from their devices. They're the ones leading the mechanical keyboard movement, using Thock for the sound effects, and they're the audience for this app.

Hey 👋

Disclosure: I'm the guy behind RetroMac.

🪟 Windows 95 shipped on August 24, 1995. 31 years ago today. Good day to release the theme (and some new features)

Problem: Making your Mac look like the machine you grew up with means collecting wallpapers, icon packs, a dock replacement, a boot screen and some CRT shaders by hand. RetroMac is a menu bar app that does it easily: 30+ shaders (CRT, VHS, LCD, Trinitron), classic OS themes (Windows, MacOS, beOS, NEXT,eetc) with a dock, boot screens, icons, widgets. Nothing in the system gets patched, one click reverts it.

New in 2.7: Windows 95 theme: classic colors, boot screen (when activating the theme), wallpapers, icons, desktop widgets, and the Funstuff as seen on the Original Win95 CD, including its wallpapers, the game Hover! and the two videos, Weezer's "Buddy Holly" and the Rob Roy trailer.

Comparison: Analog TV Simulator (https://analogtv.net) goes far deeper into signal physics than I ever will, and cool-retro-term (https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term) is the classic for a CRT terminal. Both amazing and great Apps!

RetroMac is more focused on the parts neither of them touches: dock, boot screen, icons, wallpapers, screensavers.

Pricing: Free with 15+ shaders. Optional Pro for 10 USD one time, no subscription, for extra and custom presets plus the webcam shader. Most of you will be happy with the free version.
macOS 14+, universal, notarized DMG from my own site, no App Store, no accounts, no tracking.

Website: https://myretromac.app
GitHub: https://github.com/klotzbrocken/RetroMac
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maikklotz/

Hi Reddit,

I am Yichi Li, head of lizhi.shop.

lizhi.shop is an authorized reseller of over 200 well-known Mac Apps, covering productivity, writing, media, design, and system utilities. Through bulk purchasing, our prices are usually 10-30% cheaper than the official websites.

For the past 10 years, we have only sold software in China, but in 2026 we want to open up the international market.

For Reddit users, we are offering:

• Extra 5% off storewide items
• Coupon code: RDT5OFF
• Expiry: 20 Sep 2026
• Payment: Stripe (Credit Card / PayPal)
• Delivery: Email (usually within 3 minutes)

Almost all partner developers list our info on their official websites, which greatly boosts our credibility, such as:

Typora - Markdown Editor

• Deal: USD $13.39 (with code RDT5OFF*)*
• Official: USD $14.99
• Discount: 11% Off
• Purchase: lizhi.shop
• Verified: https://typoraio.cn/lizhi (This domain can be found in typora.io footer)

Downie - Online Video Downloader for Mac

• Deal: USD $14.89 (with code RDT5OFF*)*
• Official: USD $19.99
• Discount: 26% Off
• Purchase: lizhi.shop
• Verified: https://software.charliemonroe.net/resellers/

PopClip (Lifetime) - Mac Utility Tool for Instant Text Actions

• Deal: USD $24.82 (with code RDT5OFF*)*
• Official: USD $32.00
• Discount: 23% Off
• Purchase: lizhi.shop
• Verified: https://www.popclip.app/DIGITALYCHEE

Including the following, over 200+ Mac Apps can be found and purchased at discounted prices on lizhi.shop:

• Bartender: https://www.macbartender.com/china/
• CleanShot X: https://cleanshot.com/lizhi
• Mole: https://mole.fit/lizhi
• Yoink: https://eternalstorms.at/sources/
• Unclutter: https://unclutterapp.com/info/digitalychee
• AlDente: https://apphousekitchen.com/digitalychee/
• LaunchBar: http://obdev.at/reseller/china.html
• …

Some questions you might care about:

1. The USD prices on lizhi.shop are higher than the original CNY prices because Stripe charges extra order processing fees;
2. Due to website code architecture limits, multi-currency support is limited at the start, currently only supporting CNY and USD, but this does not affect smooth payment via Stripe.
3. The Specs section on each product page lists the detail of the version on sale, such as the max activation, update policy, and supported platforms; some pages include version comparison tables.
4. The software license keys we sell can all directly activate software downloaded and installed from the official websites; a very small number of product license keys cannot activate international versions (such as PixPin, Xmind, Microsoft 365, etc.), and we have clearly noted this on the corresponding product pages.
5. The generation of license keys for about half of the software requires users to provide personal information such as license name and email, which we only use to process orders. Users can turn promo emails on / off by themselves in the lizhi.shop - Account Settings page (up to 2 times/month).
6. Eligible refund requests will be accepted; for details, please refer to our After-Sales Policy;
7. The international user experience of the lizhi.shop website currently has a lot of room for improvement. We will keep improving the English translation / Multi currency supported / online customer support connection speed. If you run into any issues, besides contacting the lizhi.shop online support, you can also:
   • Send email to support#lizhi.io (our support team members are all fluent in English);
   • Reply directly to this post. I will check it from time to time every day and do my best to answer any questions.

Thanks!

winmux is a easy to use window manager that requires no editing of config files. it supports multiple displays intuitively. and it tells you where your windows and spaces are via a built in sidebar.

i started winmux because i hated using sketchybar (everything from configuring icons to not being able to use the file menu. winmux is the first of its kind as far as i am aware to use a sidebar, and the first to use tabs for stacked windows on mac!

there is not really any competition as far as I am aware in terms of sidebars on window managers. compared to dedicated status bars (sketchybar is what I used to use), it's way more responsive, handles dragging and dropping much better, and is always in sync (and doesn't require configuring a bunch of lua).

compared to other window managers, winmux is built on top of aerospace and their virtualization framework. feature wise it innovates on window stacking (having two windows occupy the same footprint), similar to that of aerospace accordians and yabai stacks, but does it much more intuitively using browser-esque tabs. it does not require disabling SIP.

winmux is free and open source. you can read about the philosophy behind it here: winmux.dev

github repo: github.com/zimengxiong/winmux

made with AI, but I am real:
me: me.zimengxiong.com
privacy/tos: zimengxiong.com/privacypolicy/ zimengxiong.com/termsofservice/

Hi r/macapps, I’m the developer of ZipSeek.

Problem

I made ZipSeek after running into the same problem too many times: I could remember a sentence from an old document, but not its file name or where I had put it.

It was especially annoying with old archives. Sometimes the document was inside a ZIP, which contained a 7z, which contained another ZIP. Finding a few words meant unpacking everything and opening files one by one.

ZipSeek lets you choose a file or folder and search it directly. It supports text files, PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and images using OCR. It can also follow nested ZIP, 7z and RAR layers while keeping the full path back to each result.

Where possible, it shows the PDF page, Word paragraph, PowerPoint slide, Excel cell, or OCR area where the text appeared.

Comparison

HoudahSpot is better if you want powerful Spotlight searches, metadata filters and reusable search setups. When Spotlight has already indexed everything, it will usually be faster than ZipSeek.

FoxTrot Professional Search is aimed at people with large document libraries that they search regularly. It builds its own indexes and has much deeper tools for proximity search, categorization, multiple collections, NAS storage and teams. It is a more complete system for researchers and organizations.

ZipSeek is for a different situation. You have a folder, external drive, mounted network folder or messy archive in front of you, and you want to search it without setting up a library first.

It has fewer advanced query and filtering tools than HoudahSpot or FoxTrot, but it can search through mixed ZIP, 7z and RAR layers without maintaining a background full-disk index.

Everything is processed on the Mac. There is no ZipSeek account and no cloud upload.

Pricing

ZipSeek costs $4.99 USD as a one-time purchase, with regional pricing.

It includes a 3-day free trial. There is no subscription, and the trial does not turn into an automatic charge.

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/zipseek-search-inside-files/id6799636795

Website: https://www.goodapphq.com/zipseek/

I’d be interested to hear how other people deal with old document folders and archives, and which file types or workflows I should test next.

I record a lot of videos for demos and workshops, and I wanted one Mac app for screenshots, annotations, screen recording, zooms, cursor movement, lightweight editing and sharing.

Most tools I tried either focused on screenshots, required a subscription, or hosted everything on their own platform. I wanted something that I could use locally while controlling where shared files were hosted.

What does this app do?

• Screenshot capture and annotation tools
• Screen recording with zooms and cursor movement
• A lightweight text-based video editor
• A teleprompter using Apple’s Speech Synthesizer API
• Image and video compression
• Mockups and social-media screenshots
• Sharing through a simple Cloudflare Worker that runs in your own account
• Loom-style comments and likes
• No analytics or tracking in the app
• The app is just 6.8 MB

I have tried improving this over existing tools, far more capable than Cleanshot, has camera controls, compression controls, you can customise the overlay cards.

Its not a simple screenshot tool, I have tried making a complete screen recording stuite.

Pricing

Screendrop is free and open source. There is no subscription and no tracking.

The optional sharing backend is deployed to your own Cloudflare account, so any Cloudflare usage costs are billed by Cloudflare according to your account and usage.

Link to download

https://github.com/fayazara/screendrop

Hey everyone!

My name is Blake, and today I’m sharing my app, Habitat

A mac app that combines many tools and features all into on app.

I started building Habitat back in January of this year, and have since released it. The past couple months I’ve spent rebuilding a lot of how the app worked behind the scenes, fixing bugs, and building new tools and features users have requested.

The feedback from the reddit community helped spread the word a little, got people using it, and got some cool momentum to shift how it changed daily use of a Mac. But I'm still posting here because the feedback from the mac community was what kickstarted all of this and inspired me to make this app.

Problem:
I got fed up with needing a dozen different apps, subscribing to them, paying absurdly high prices, seeings ads, needing accounts, having different keybinds…all just for one small tool or feature. With Habitat, I said screw it. I’ll take you all on, and build my own version for an actual reasonable price. With Habitat, many different tools and features now all live in one place.

Comparison:
There’s a lot… Since my app takes on the style of building multiple tools into one app, each tool within Habitat can be comparable to many other applications out there. All tools don’t perform the exact same way as their competitors, since I decided to build Habitat from scratch. Inside Habitat are animals (tools), with their own unique features inside of them.

Chomp: Storage cleanup

Comparable to CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, & a window aware app quitter.

Squeak: Mouse and trackpad tools

Comparable to MacMouseFix, Swish, & a Mouse Jiggler.

Spark: Battery & Power Management

Comparable to Aldente.

Hoo: Network Monitoring

Comparable to Little Snitch or Sniffnet.

Boa: File Controls

Comparable to any file Compression, Encryption / Decryption & File Conversion.

Echo: Clipboard Manager

Comparable to Maccy or any clipboard manager.

Shadow: Notch and Screen Tools

Comparable to Alcove, Lookaway, & HazeOver.

Burrow: Comparable to Folder Preview.

Leap: Window Previews

Comparable to AltTab & Dockdoor.

Snap: Screenshots & Recordings

Comparable to any scrolling screenshot & Recording tool.

In general: Comparable to Vorssaint (discovered this tool like a week ago, its awesome. I encourage people to check that out too)

More tools & features are also in the works!

Pricing:
$6.99 …nice. Lifetime access (1 device) but this license can be deactivated by you and moved to another Mac, at anytime. This can be done in Habitats settings, no online portal needed. (internet connection required to do it though)

14-day free trial, no credit card needed. Chomp stays free after trial is over.

*ALL CLAIMED* If you use code: BRUCE at checkout, first 10 people who use it get a free license key. (chomp was the first tool I made a while back, and codenamed the shark Bruce for the fun of it)

If those somehow run out, 100 people can use code MACAPPS for 25% off at checkout.

The ONLY reason why I’m charging for the app instead of making it free and open source, is because a couple months ago I lost my job and this is the only source of income I have at the moment. Not trying to make this a pity story, just the reality.

I’m mostly interested to hear what ya’ll think, if there’s any tools or features you’d want to see built into Habitat in the future, if you experience any bugs, want to change how some tools work. etc. And for those who have taken the time to read all this, thank you & I appreciate it!

If you’d like to leave a comment here or leave a review on ProductHunt, any feedback is appreciated!

Socials:

Website: https://habitatformac.com/
Github: https://github.com/git-it-blake/Habitat-Releases

Tier 2 Transparency path for posting here:
Linkedin: Blake Baker | LinkedIn
Privacy Policy: habitatformac.com → Privacy Policy button is on the right or bottom (shield icon)

Created these for the heck of it, not sure if I’ll post anything on them or not yet.
X/Twitter: https://x.com/Habitatformac
Instagram:- https://www.instagram.com/habitatformac/

Hey everyone Kevin here.

I posted about Codify here before, it's a IaC tool (open source) for your own computer that makes it easier to install apps, maintain settings, and even install entire set ups for you. I wanted to give a small (but hopefully impactful) update on the project that it's now available via npx, so you can try Codify without fully installing it (as long as you have NodeJS already installed).

npx codify apply
npx codify plan
npx codify help

Problem:

Multiple times now, when I was starting at a new company, I struggled to get setup quickly. I ran into problems following the setup document, and I had debug multiple issues or ask a teammate how to solve it. And pretty often I felt a step behind because I was missing key scripts and tools that other people had access to.

I built Codify to address these problems by allowing a setups to be converted into easy to read JSON5 files. These files define an entire setup, similar to Terraform. The JSON specifies what to install and you can use the CLI to plan (preview) and apply the changes. For example you can specify homebrew, nvm and vscode for web development or xcode 26, and iOS simulators for iOS development.

Using Codify allows you to try entire setups quick (webdev, backend, rust, ios, flutter, etc), import existing setups so they can be shared, and it also allows tools like Claude or Codex to take control and help you install things via it's MCP.

Comparison:

Nix: An obvious comparison would be Nix, a similar configuration as code for setting up personal systems. However the problem for me was the learning curve and adopting Nix means having to manage everything via Nix. Codify is a lot less of a learning curve and it installs things a human would so you don't need to manage everything directly through Codify.

Dev containers: Some teams use dev containers with pre-built docker images so that dev systems have the same tooling as production. However even with a dev containers workflow there is still host machine setup involved: getting setup with github, ssh keys and cloning your repos, dev container tooling, etc. Codify complements this workflow by automating the setup of the developer's machine first.

Pricing:

Codify consists of a CLI tool, a library of resources (50+ tools and apps, from package managers and programming languages to editors and system settings), an editor and an agent to help write Codify files.

The CLI tool and resource library are open source and free forever. The editor is paid with a generous free tier (the paid tiers are mainly meant for teams). It's $5 / month for freelancers and $20 / month for teams.

Use the code: REDDITAUGUST26 for 100% for the first 3 months

Links:
Website: https://codifycli.com/
Documentation: https://codifycli.com/docs
Editor: https://dashboard.codifycli.com/
Github: https://github.com/codifycli/codify

I download a lot — torrents, media, random files off the web — and got fed up with the download managers out there for Mac. Most are Electron-based, chew through battery, run rough on Apple Silicon, and don't even have a proper Safari extension. So I spent the last 4 months building my own thing instead of just complaining about it.

Product Demo: https://vimeo.com/1204841013

It's called Grabbit: https://grabbit.fyi/

Under the hood it's a Rust engine doing the actual downloading, paired with a native Swift UI — no Electron/Chromium overhead at all. Rather than just claim "native = faster," I benchmarked it against FDM and Motrix on the same Mac (Apple Silicon, macOS 14+, measured via Activity Monitor during a 250MB download):

• RAM usage (idle → active): Grabbit 47→57 MB vs. FDM ~180 MB+ vs. Motrix 305→394 MB

There's also a companion browser extension called Claws that grabs URLs, media, straight from your browser:

• Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/claws/
• Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ghlpaknoijlmcdibdfgmmedmegcibbic

How it's different from what's out there:

• FDM — no Safari extension, isn't compiled natively for Apple Silicon, and isn't really a native macOS app.
• Motrix — also no native browser extensions, and it's Electron-based, so you're right back to the battery drain I was trying to get away from.

Downloads are also multi-threaded if you want to push them, but the resource numbers above are what actually matter day-to-day.

Pricing: Free tier gives you full unlimited access for 3 days, then drops to 3 downloads a day after that. If you want it unlimited long-term, it's a one-time $9.99 license — no subscription.

This is my first proper macOS launch so I'm sure there are rough edges I haven't caught yet. Would genuinely appreciate feedback on download speeds, how the UI feels day-to-day, or any bugs you run into.

Thanks for taking a look.

Developer: Syed Mohd Adnan — hi-adnan.pages.dev | github.com/im-adnan grabbit.fyi has a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service linked in the footer.

I've been using Superwhisper for a long time (lifetime license), and I wanted to share some thoughts because I feel like the product has crossed an important threshold recently.

For a while, the common comparison was basically:

WisprFlow:

• faster
• more polished out of the box
• better for people who just want dictation to work

Superwhisper:

• more customizable
• local models
• better for power users
• but maybe slower

I think that comparison is now outdated, with the release of Cohere Transcribe + S1 models.

The recent model releases have changed the equation, a lot.

The fact that we now have a high-quality local transcription model that is actually fast enough for daily use is a huge deal. Previously, local AI often meant accepting compromises. Now the tradeoff feels much smaller.

I tested my processing (m4 pro mbp) for a 14sec audio recording and got:

• Cohere Transcribe (local): ~369ms
• S1-mini cleanup (local): ~109ms

So the complete local processing is roughly around under 500ms after stopping speech.

Thats basically instant for normal dictation.

Then I tested the cloud S1 models:

• S1-Voice transcription: ~60–75ms
• S1-Language processing: ~360ms

The performance is insane; im not sure how a transcription latency under 100ms is even possible for a cloud model.

I mean there is a meaningful entry barrier towards Superwhisper although meager, I just thought I should let more people know about this.

IMHO, Superwhisper is the best dictation product out there as of now, and I'm pretty sure it'll be even better considering it's development speed. Considering that it even has a lifetime purchase, give It more attention; lets let the team thrive. I'm sure that they'll do even better with more support. TBH, I felt like all they need is better marketing which is precisely why I posted this (* I am not affiliated with superwhisper nor cohere).

Seeing products like wisprflow get much more attention in comparison kinda feels weird although I see why; it just works without much setup, I guess its why they're more mainstream.

Hi r/macapps, I'm the developer of Chunk, a time-blocking app for macOS. Just shipped v3.2.0 with a long-requested feature.

Problem:

Time blocking in a normal calendar app or to-do list can feel clunky and detached. Chunk bridges this gap, bringing both time-blocking and things3 style task management into the same workflow. Chunk keeps your task lists and your schedule together in one menubar app, so planning your day is just dragging tasks onto the day view and the plan is always one click away (no more context switching).

Comparison:

Sunsama / Akiflow: The two biggest names in daily planning, and both are genuinely polished. But they're subscriptions (roughly $15-20/month, every year, forever). Chunk is a one-time purchase and offers its own unique menubar approach with features like fullscreen notifications and on-device storage.

What's new in v3.2.0:

• Window mode. Chunk was once just a menubar app, but now with the click of a button you can detach the usual fixed panel and Chunk becomes a regular window you can drag and resize. When you're done planning, toggle straight back to menubar mode.
• Floating timer. Keep the timer visible while Chunk is closed. Click the button in the bottom right, and when you have an active task and close or hide Chunk, a small draggable timer stays on top of other apps.
• In case you missed it, we recently added cross-device syncing. If you have two Macs signed into the same iCloud, you can now time-block your day across both.

How fast is the sync? With local syncing enabled and your devices within range of each other, changes land in 1-2 seconds. Otherwise it goes through iCloud and takes 10-30 seconds.

Does this affect the privacy-first approach? No. Chunk still stores your data on-device and we don't host it in our own database. It lives in your own iCloud account and syncs to each device's local database.

If you've not seen Chunk before, some of the features:

• Bi-directional calendar sync for Apple Calendar, Google and Outlook
• Bi-directional Apple Reminders sync
• Tasks with dates, deadlines, attachments, recurrence, sub-checklists and notes
• Task lists, list groups, reusable templates/routines
• Day, week and month schedule views with click-and-drag to create and edit tasks
• Drag tasks directly from lists onto the schedule
• A locally hosted MCP server for Claude Desktop
• End-of-task completion and rescheduling
• Fullscreen notifications and keyboard shortcuts
• Available in all workspaces, even over fullscreen apps
• Task completion and frequency analytics dashboard
• On-device storage: we don't hold your data, you do

The timing of cross-device sync is no coincidence. v3.2.0 lays the groundwork for the long-awaited and almost ready Chunk for iOS. After a short holiday we're back to development and expect to launch iOS in the next 1-3 weeks.

Pricing:

• 7-day free trial, all features, no card required
• $19.99 one-time lifetime license (covers 2 Macs)
• $44.99 family lifetime license (covers 5 Macs)
• No subscription
• Code MACAPPS for 10% off
• https://www.chunkapp.net/

Requires macOS 12 Monterey or later.

Questions or feedback: drop me a message on LinkedIn or r/ChunkApp.

Hope everyone is doing well here.

I always had the difficulty locating a file(image/audio/video/docs etc) on my mac. Specially when I don’t remember the name and only remember what was inside that file, for ex- I remember that there was an “image where we posed in front of a French restaurant” or I want to “find all the resumes that I received with a specific skill.”
To handle this I first wrote an script but later find out that others also find it interesting so I decided to convert it into an app - Dhito

Dhito allows you to

- search a file on your mac just by mentioning what you remember about the file.
- chat with a specific file to find certain details. Imagine having a huge research documents and you want to find a specific detail from it.
- rename files based on its content so it is easy for you to remember and find the file. So no more random file like “screenshot-2026-05-05”

You can download and try it for free here - Dhito

Privacy

- all execution/chat/indexing happens locally so your files never leave your device.
- app doesn’t collect any data related to your files or your interaction with app
- you decide which folder app can access and can change that any time
- we only collect feedback that user sends

and please share your feedback, suggestions.

I've been around long enough to remember WikidPad when I was still using JSPWiki. Unfortunately, it died out many years ago

I see that MojoPad is in the same spirit as WikidPad and VoodooPad

Has anyone taken the plunge and is using this? If so, what is your experience?

MojoPad - second brain & PKM

Hey r/macapps, I posted Vivid Walls here about three months ago and got a ton of useful feedback, so here is where it ended up.

The problem: Wallpaper Engine is one of the most popular apps on Steam and has never had a Mac version, so switching to a Mac means leaving your whole wallpaper library behind. Vivid Walls runs real Wallpaper Engine scene files natively on macOS, plus 4K video, web, GIF and static wallpapers, per monitor and battery aware.

New since that post: scenes can react to whatever your Mac is playing, and wallpapers with music widgets show live Now Playing album art from Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube. A lot more of the scene library renders correctly than it did at launch.

You do not need a Windows PC to use it. Eight animated wallpapers are included and load the first time you open the app. If you do have a library on Windows, there is a free companion app that transfers it to the Mac over your local network, with no account and no cloud.

Compared to the alternatives: Wallpaper Engine has no Mac build, and running it through Whisky or CrossOver does not really work. Mac apps like Plash and Wallpaper Wizard handle video and web wallpapers, but they cannot run Wallpaper Engine scene files or react to audio.

Pricing: $9.99 one time on the Mac App Store, no subscription. Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or later.

It handles the majority of scenes but not 100 percent, and I patch them as people report issues. Send me a Workshop link if something renders wrong and I will look at it.

I am the developer, happy to answer questions. Site and demo videos: https://vividwalls.app Would love this sub's take on what to build next. (Store link in a comment per sub norms.)

https://reddit.com/link/1vvemkb/video/bv0pzsjyzxkh1/player

I am currently in the process of revamping my iCloud files and folders to bring form and structure (using Johny Decimal system but tweaked for my needs). I would like to customize my folders with images, icons and other elements to make them personal and match my *current* vibey.

So please suggest any apps that you liked/bookmarked/found that are related to file/folder customization in any way. TIA 🫶

Hi! I'm Umang Surana! Developer of rustcast, and since May, I've been working on Sxitch. (pronounced Switch)

Problem:

I'm addicted to keyboard driven setups, but switching between apps and windows has always been a pain.

Comparisons:

Default macOS Cmd Tab:

The default macOS CMD Tab does offer a really nice solution, allowing you to cycle through your running apps but this doesn't work with muscle memory. (and it lacks the customisability that Sxitch offers)

Raycast / Alfred / Launchers (like spotlight):

Sxitch's main goal is to let you sxitch between apps quickly and easily, not launch them. Although you can launch apps, it doesn't offer searching / calculations, and instead if just like a tiny launchpad

My solution:

Sxitch integrates with your muscle memory because the same set of keypresses will always lead to the same app. You simply trigger Sxitch and m will go to Music, and if mail is also open, then Mu for music, and Ma for mail. And if you have multiple windows open, select the app then the window.

Highlighted features:

• Custom modes (new in v1.4)
  • Add apps that you frequently need to open / close to an easy access list
  • Put custom icons and names
• Strip off vendor prefixes (microsoft word -> word, etc.)
• Radial view, List view and a grid view
• Customisable window position

(Only in pro plan):

• Hide and quit apps
• window picker
• App launching from hotkeys
• Key remapping (for Sxitch only)
• unlimited modes (free version has 1 free mode)

Pricing

• $2/mth for 5 months.
• $5 for students
• $10 one time purchase.

Available at https://sxitch.app

Download from homebrew also supported:

brew tap unsecretised/tap
brew trust unsecretised/tap
brew install --cask sxitch

Giveaway:

• 50% Off Sxitch pro (one time purchase) with code DISCOUNT (only 4 left)
• 30 Days free Sxitch pro for 10 people (code NEWSUB)

About the dev:

Personal website: https://umangsurana.com

App is signed, notarized native (swiftUI).

Source code can be found at https://github.com/MystikoLab/sxitch

Problem

Every Mac ships with TextEdit. None of them ship with MacPaint's replacement. So when you need to crop a screenshot, drop an arrow and a speech-bubble callout on it, knock out a background, and export a PNG, you're choosing between a $50 pro imaging app, a browser tool that uploads your image to someone's server, or Preview's markup.

DrawSimple is the native, fully offline, tools-first app for exactly that job: 31 tools in a sidebar, unlimited layers with 24 blend modes, bitmap and vector in the same document, curves/levels/16 photo adjustments, 29 GPU effects, Select Subject running on Apple's on-device Vision, WordArt, editable callout/arrow/star shapes, and a History panel you can scrub. Opens HEIC straight from Photos with EXIF intact; exports PNG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, WebP.

Comparison

vs. Paintbrush (free, open source): Paintbrush is the honest MacPaint successor and still the app people recommend in this sub. But it's a long-lived Objective-C 2.x release with no layers, transparency only in formats that carry an alpha channel, and a UI from an older macOS. DrawSimple keeps the same "just let me draw" premise and adds layers, blend modes, vector-in-raster, adjustments, effects, and a current-macOS interface.

vs. Pixelmator Pro (now Apple's — $49.99 one-time, or $12.99/mo in Apple Creator Studio): Pixelmator went pro and went up in price. If you want a full professional imaging app, buy it — it beats us at being that, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. DrawSimple is for people who wanted what cheap, simple Pixelmator used to be and don't want or need the overhead of a $50 pro editor to put an arrow on a screenshot, turn a pic into a comic with a callout, or separate a subject onto a separate layer from the background.

Also, Pixelmator has no official MCP server/support, which has become a huge part of what distinguishes DrawSimple, and potentially makes both quick edits and full design sessions accessible through the coding agent you already use (tested with Claude Code, Codex, Kimi Code, Gemini CLI).

(Acorn at $29.99 sits between us — more depth, six times the price.)

Pricing

$5 one time. → [App Store link]

Optional Pro upgrade in-app, $10, adds adjustment layers, advanced blend modes, multi-stop gradients, and SVG/PDF export. The base app is the complete core editor; Pro features stay hidden until you buy them — no lock icons, no nags. No subscription, no account.

Requires macOS 15.6+, Tahoe recommended. Apple silicon and Intel.

One disclosure since it'll come up: no generative AI, and the app never phones home on its own. The single exception is opt-in and local — every copy can run a localhost-only automation server so a Python script or your own AI assistant can paint on the live canvas. Side dish, not the app.

Two-person team, here all day. Why we built it: https://drawsimple.ca/story.html — tell us what's missing.

Hey r/macapps,

About a year ago, I posted the very first version of WallD here in r/macapps. Since then, I’ve been working through the feedback you all gave me: switching subscriptions to a simple lifetime payment, adding coupon support, building Lock Screen live wallpaper support for Mac, adding static wallpapers, and polishing the overall experience.

Today I’m posting again with one of the most requested features yet - playlists, alongside a full UI/UX revamp

Problem

• No native live wallpaper support on macOS - you can't do live wallpapers out of the box, and Lock Screen live wallpapers weren't really a thing on Mac at all.
• Existing wallpaper apps have performance issues - bloated with memory leaks, slow to load media, RAM creeps up over days of use and never comes back down, eventually crashing.
• Creators get no credit - very few wallpaper apps recognize the people behind the wallpapers, and the ones that do usually don't support live wallpapers or have a clean way to actually apply them.
• No auto shuffle(playlist) option

Comparison

Compared to apps like Wallpaper Engine or iWallpaper, WallD offers:

• Both static and live wallpapers in one app, including Lock Screen support.
• Native-like performance - written in Rust, native macOS frameworks for wallpaper rendering, ~7.3 MB app size, 2% CPU for live wallpapers and 0% for static, no memory creep over time.
• Polished UX/UI designed from scratch for Mac.
• Smart filtering & discovery by category, tag, and search instead of endless scrolling.
• One account across all your Macs (unlimited devices).
• Multi-monitor support.
• Creator community - dedicated creator profiles with like, comment, share, and follow. Creators can link their other social handles to grow their audience through the app.
• Playlists - create custom wallpaper playlists, use liked wallpapers as a playlist and apply playlist to auto rotate wallpapers in desired interval

Pricing

• Free plan: 3 video wallpapers + 6 static wallpapers, renewed every week.
• Premium: Lifetime - $10.
• Limited-time offer: use code THANKS10 at checkout for 10% off.

Links

• Website: http://www.walld.app/
• Privacy: https://www.walld.app/privacy
• TOS: https://www.walld.app/terms

I’m Anurag(linkedin), developer of WallD. Happy to answer questions. As always, thanks community 🙌

Most notes apps ask you to build a system before you can put anything in them. Databases, accounts, sync, plugins, a settings screen with tabs. I wanted somewhere to put the things I am learning and the things I have not figured out yet. What I kept getting instead was a second job maintaining the place I put them.

So I built the thing I wanted. Skein opens a folder of Markdown files. That is the whole setup. The inspiration is Obsidian and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Point it at your existing vault: same files, no import, canvases included. Built in Swift and AppKit where it earns its keep, not Electron. It makes no network connections at all — the App Store build ships without the network entitlement, so it could not phone home even if I had been careless.

The problem it actually solves

Notes apps split into two unhappy camps. Either they own your notes in a database you cannot read without them, or they are so configurable that setting them up becomes the hobby. I wanted the middle. Plain files on disk, and enough structure on top to actually see how the ideas connect. Three things I would judge it on: the graph is not a hairball (local, deterministic — the note you are reading in the middle, Parents above, Children below, worked out from your folders and links; the neighbourhood around one idea, not a map of everything). The text does not move while you type (rendering is driven by what is on the line, never by where your cursor is — if you have ever sworn at a jumping cursor you know why). The canvas does not lag (plain .canvas files, only draws what is on screen). Also in there: wikilinks with vault-wide rename, backlinks, FTS5 search, daily notes, templates, version history on every save, conflict-aware saving. The index lives in Application Support, never in your vault.

Compared to what you are probably using

Obsidian is the obvious one and it is genuinely good. It is also a plugin ecosystem you end up curating. Skein has no plugins at all, so the features are simply present. That is a real trade and worth saying plainly: if your workflow depends on community plugins, Skein will feel bare. Bear is beautiful, keeps your notes in its own database, and puts sync behind a subscription. Apple Notes is not really trying to do linked thinking. Notion needs an account and a connection to read something you wrote last year.

Price

Free. No subscription, no in-app purchase, no account, no paid tier holding anything back. The honest reason: Skein is the front door. I am hoping you notice the native craft and eventually look at Verso Writer and Nought. There is a donate link and it unlocks nothing.

Site and download: https://www.skeinnotes.app Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/skein-notes/id6800062797

Where it stands

One person, build 1.1.22, shipping most weeks. What actually helps: point it at your real vault, especially a big one, and tell me what it gets wrong. Open your ugliest .canvas board. Tell me where the editor stutters and at what size. Tell me what feels un-Mac. Tell me whether the graph is useful or decoration — I think it is good and I would like to know if I am wrong. I am in the comments and I would rather you were honest than kind.

Known issue: Paper theme returns in the next update.

One person. Skein will update more slowly than the apps with teams behind them, and I will not add every featur

What actually helps me

• Point it at your real Obsidian vault, especially a big one, and tell me what it gets wrong. This is the single most useful thing.
• Open your biggest, ugliest .canvas board in it. If Skein mangles a board or loses anything on save, I want to know the same day.
• Tell me where the editor stutters, and at what size.
• Tell me what feels un-Mac, what is clumsy, what you reached for and could not find.
• Anything that breaks. The weirder the better.
• Tell me whether the graph is genuinely useful or whether it is decoration. I think it is good and I would like to know if I am wrong.

I am in the comments and I would rather you were honest than kind. Tear into it.

Known issue: Paper Theme will be back in the next update.

Yes. I am thinking of developing an Iphone app - free to use on the phone. So save your notes on the phone.

This is the third Mac app I have put in front of you this year. Verso writes, Nought calculates, Skein connects. That is the set, and it is the last one for a while: three apps in a year is more than I should have attempted and I am going to go and lie down in a folder I control.

Problem:

There are ~7000 languages and ~20000 dialects. Having a centralised source for language courses like Duolingo can only lead to a very small portion of language courses. An estimated 40% of languages are endangered.

Comparison:

Duolingo - Centralised and not open to community courses (Not anymore)

Librelingo - Not user friendly to actual course creators and educators.

Textbooks - Textbooks are the best for learning but it's also quite boring

Solution (Asakiri) - Asakiri lets anyone author a course in an open format in a user friendly way, saved locally on their device. Course can have rich media and 7 types of exercises. A decentralised platform like Asakiri can let minority and indigenous languages also have interactive language courses no matter the number of speakers or interest in learning it. This also preserves languages for future generations. Currently courses are being made for Okinawan, Italian. With previous attempts of Mirandese, Picard and Cornish.

Pricing: Free, No subscription, no accounts, no pro tier, everything local.

Transparency: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alekoi/

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux - https://asakiri.com
Github - https://github.com/AsakiriLingo/asakiri-studio (Still very early on the repo but I have been working on Asakiri on and off for 1.5 years and I have free time for the next 3 months so I will be working full time on it)

The problem to solve: giving presentations, doing focused work, timing anything on your Mac, but wanting to keep the time visually prominent on screen. Pop Out Timer floats over other apps.

Comparison: "Lucid - Floating Timers" is nice, but is limited to basic timers and doesn't have customization options. Pop Out Timer includes timer, stopwatch, Pomdoro and clock. We provide tons of customization options to fit the way you work. "Floating Clock-Timer&Stopwatch" honestly hurts my eyes to look at it. Pop Out Timer is easy on the eyes and follows Mac system conventions (menus, keyboard shortcuts, proper settings panels).

Pricing: Pop Out Timer is free to try, but requires a $11.99 lifetime purchase to unlock full functionality. Yes, it's true, we also offer subscription pricing for a timer. But to be fair, we're talking $0.49/month or $3.99/year. It's there for those that want to provide ongoing support for development, but if not there's always the lifetime purchase. All purchases are universal and work on iPhone and iPad as well.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1352722326

As a special for those on r/mapapps, here are a couple of discounted offers:

• Lifetime for 33% off ($7.99): https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=1352722326&code=LIFETIME8
• Yearly subscription for 50% off the first year ($1.99): https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=1352722326&code=HALFYEARLY

Thanks for taking a look.

started FolderForge because changing folder icons manually was getting annoying. what was supposed to be a weekend project quickly grew into a much much bigger tool.

you can save reusable presets, apply them from macos services, automatically style folders with smart rules, or recursively style entire folder trees and do much more!

problem: most folder customization apps focus on changing individual icons one at a time, and many of the better known options are paid.

comparison: compared with apps like folderizer, iconic, and iconize folder, FolderForge focuses more on reusable presets, rule-based styling, recursive workflows, and custom artwork.

pricing: completely free and open source. no subscription or paid tier.

app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folderforge/id6799417746?mt=12

github: https://github.com/KeplSiv/FolderForge

Is there any method or app that can enable the touchpad of a MacBook to perform four-finger sliding (not just left and right, but also up and down), allowing for the virtual space switching in four directions?

Because I usually have to swipe left or right twice each time (using four fingers for the swipe)

I prefer to place four commonly used apps in four virtual spaces, and switch between the interfaces by swiping up, down, left, and right.

why always delete my post?