macOS Apps

I maintain a big list of apps I use on my system here together with why and how I use them.

And here is a full list of the apps I have inside my /Applications folder.

Nice OSS macOS Swift/ObjC apps

  • Pine - Modern, native macOS markdown editor.

  • Twig - Modern macOS markdown editor.

  • Sloth - Displays all open files and sockets in use by all running processes on your system.

  • Workbench - Seamless, automatic, “dotfile” sync to iCloud.

  • LuLu - Free macOS firewall. (Web) (HN)

  • Conferences.digital - Watch the latest and greatest conference videos on your Mac.

  • Gifski - Convert videos to high-quality GIFs on your Mac.

  • Sourceful - Native source editor for iOS and macOS.

  • Shifty - MacOS menu bar app that gives you more control over Night Shift.

  • Seashore - Easy to use mac osx image editing application, gimp light.

  • Linked Ideas - MacOS/iOS apps to treat ideas as links of concepts.

  • HotKey - Simple global shortcuts in macOS.

  • Latest - Small utility app for macOS that makes sure you know about all the latest updates to the apps you use.

  • Hidden Bar - Ultra-light MacOS utility that helps hide menu bar icons. (HN)

  • NetNewsWire - RSS reader for macOS and iOS.

  • macos-key-cast - Log keys pressed on macOS. Useful for screen recordings and presentations.

  • Rectangle - Move and resize windows on macOS with keyboard shortcuts and snap areas. (Web)

  • Plash - Make any website your Mac desktop wallpaper.

  • Swindler - Swift window management library for macOS.

  • Lunar - Intelligent adaptive brightness for your external display.

  • Tinkle - Appends a visual effect for the focused window changes.

  • Maccy - Lightweight clipboard manager for macOS.

  • Pasteboard Viewer - Inspect the system pasteboards on macOS.

  • Vimac - Vimium for macOS. (Web) (HN)

  • LinkLiar - Link-Layer MAC spoofing GUI for macOS.

  • Crescendo - Swift based, real time event viewer for macOS. It utilizes Apple's Endpoint Security Framework.

  • Blurred - macOS utility that helps reduce distraction by dimming your inactive noise.

  • HackerNews.app - HN macOS app based on official API.

  • BluetoothConnector - Simple macOS CLI to connect/disconnect a Bluetooth device. Useful for AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones.

  • Universal Tip - Programmable tooltip that can be used with any macOS app.

  • NWPusher - macOS and iOS application and framework to play with the Apple Push Notification service.

  • Timer App - Simple Stopwatch App for macOS.

  • Cameo - Small utility based on CMIOKit to explore installed CMIO DAL plugins and their properties.

  • Pock - Display macOS Dock in Touch Bar.

  • Akku - Missing macOS bluetooth headset battery indicator app.

  • SubEthaEdit - General purpose plain-text editor for macOS. Widely known for its live collaboration feature. (Web) (HN)

  • RegEx+ - Nifty RegEx test tool built with SwiftUI.

  • Glance - Provides Quick Look previews for files that macOS doesn't support out of the box.

  • MonitorControl - Control your external monitor brightness & volume on your Mac.

  • Up Next - Meetings at a glance from your macOS menu bar.

  • Multi - Create a custom, lightweight macOS app from a group of websites. (HN)

  • Face Data - macOS application used to auto-annotate landmarks from a video.

  • Bluetility - General-purpose Bluetooth Low-Energy utility.

  • Gray - Tailor your macOS Mojave experience.

  • Milestones - App to count down the days until upcoming milestones. Built to try out the Swift Composable Architecture, SwiftUI and Combine.

  • j2s - macOS app to convert JSON to Swift structs.

  • Timer - Simple Timer app for Mac.

  • Mach-O Explorer - Graphical Mach-O viewer for macOS.

  • Clipy - Clipboard extension app for macOS.

  • AltTab - Windows alt-tab on macOS.

  • MeetingBar - Menu bar app for your calendar meetings. (HN)

  • Boop - Scriptable scratchpad for developers. In slow yet steady progress. (Code)

  • Fanny - Monitor your Mac's fan speed and CPU/GPU temperature from your Notification Center.

  • Diurna - Basic/Classic Hacker News app, used as a Cocoa & Swift learning platform.

  • eqMac - macOS System-wide Audio Equalizer.

  • SensibleSideButtons - Side navigation for third-party mice in macOS. (HN)

  • DevUtils - Developer Utilities for macOS. (Code) (HN)

  • 5 GUIs - Tiny macOS app that can detect the GUI technologies used in other apps.

  • Stats - macOS system monitor in your menu bar.

  • Stackline - Visualize yabai window stacks on macOS. Works with yabai & hammerspoon.

  • mirror-displays - Mac app and command-line tool for fiddling with display mirroring: on/off/toggle.

  • eul - macOS status monitoring app written in SwiftUI.

  • VirtualKVM - Automatically toggles Bluetooth and Target Display Mode when you connect a Macbook to your iMac via Thunderbolt.

  • Keycastr - Open-source keystroke visualizer.

  • Brooklyn - Screensaver inspired by Apple's Event on October 30, 2018.

  • stts - macOS app for monitoring the status of cloud services.

  • Auto DND - Mac app that keeps notifications stays right where it should.

  • Virtual - Boot Linux VMs in a single command on macOS using the new Virtualization.framework.

  • CloudyTabs - Menu bar application that lists your iCloud Tabs and Reading List.

  • BitBar - Lets you put the output from any script/program in your macOS Menu Bar.

  • SwiftBar - Powerful macOS menu bar customization tool.

  • Clean Me - macOS system analyzer and cleaner.

  • ImageOptim - GUI image optimizer for Mac. (Code)

  • Pika - Open-source colour picker app for macOS. (Web)

  • Syncthing macOS - Native macOS Syncthing tray application bundle.

  • FSNotes - Modern notes manager for macOS and iOS. (Web)

  • Suspicious Package - Application for Inspecting macOS Installer Packages.

  • CleanShot X - Capture your Mac’s screen like a pro.

  • Contexts - Simple & fast window switcher for Mac.

  • DevDocs macOS - DevDocs API Documentation viewer for macOS.

  • Spotter - Productivity tool to launch everything. Alfred alternative.

Other interesting apps

  • Finicky - MacOS app for customizing which browser to start.

  • OpenQuickly - Custom 'open quickly' window that imitates macOS' Spotlight.

  • Flotato - Turn any web page into a Mac app.

  • Autumn - MacOS window manager built for JavaScript hackers.

  • Zappy - Screen capture tool. (HN)

  • BlockBlock - Provides continual protection by monitoring persistence locations.

  • VimMotion - Access macOS UI elements with your fingers stay on keyboard. Inspired by vim-easymotion & avy-mode.

  • Entity Pro - Glyph & Emoji Finder.

  • Glyphfinder - Missing character search for designers, developers and writers.

  • Contrast - macOS app for quick access to WCAG color contrast ratios.

  • Mouseless

  • Codye - Allows you to present code in more than 180 languages and 80 themes.

  • Coppice - Cultivate Your Thoughts.

  • Hook - Find without searching.

  • Twenttty - Give your eyes a break.

  • PopClip - Appears when you select text with your mouse on your Mac. (PopClip Extensions)

  • ClashX - Rule based proxy For Mac base on Clash.

  • Lacona - Command launcher.

  • Numi - Beautiful calculator app for Mac. (Code)

  • ViDL - Download videos from YouTube and hundreds of other websites for offline viewing.

  • FSMonitor - macOS app that monitors all changes to the file system.

  • LaunchBar - Application launcher for macOS. (Assimilated Theme)

Links