Advertisement Here you have it – our ultimate list of must-have Mac apps. From email clients to system utilities, time savers to productivity boons; on this page you’ll find the best Mac software used by MakeUseOf staff and readers alike. We will continue to update the list on a regular basis, so be sure to add your favorites in the comments and we’ll consider them the next time we update this page. Last updated: July 6, 2017 Navigation: Audio The old Mac favorite is a You don't need a Mac to make music, but with this much free software available it certainly helps., and it’s free for all Mac users to download and try out.
Skitch is a Mac app that lets you draw on and annotate images. Screenshot an image or upload a photo from your computer, add arrows, text, or symbols, then export and share.
Record audio, play virtual instruments, and get access to the Apple Loops library of royalty free sounds. A completely free kernel extension for macOS that allows you to pass audio between applications by acting as a virtual audio device. Essential for recording system audio when paired with Audacity (above).
One of the best free Unless you're chained to the iTunes ecosystem and have no choice but to use it, you may want to consider switching to one of these alternatives., Clementine supports a huge number of audio formats and external services including Spotify and cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox. You can also transcode music, manage podcasts, and enjoy visualizations while listening.
Spotify changed the game when it first launched, bringing unlimited streaming music to desktops and mobiles for a fixed fee. You can also stream for free, if you’re not bothered by adverts. ITunes Included with your Mac, iTunes is the only way to access the Apple Music streaming service which is one of the best alternatives to Spotify. Browsers Safari Safari is the default browser installed on every Apple computer. We think it’s the best browser for most Mac users, plus there are Safari is probably the best browser for Mac users, but you can make it even better with a few well-chosen extensions. Google’s own browser, Chrome is a powerhouse for those who need developer tools, extensions or multiple profiles for separating work or play. An excellent alternative to Chrome, Firefox has focused on slimming down over the past few years after complaints it had become bloated. If you haven’t tried it for a while, it might be time to give it another go. Also consider: Email Mail It’s a bit crusty and lacking in new features compared to some of the more adventurous clients, but Mail is free and it works well enough. Dig a bit deeper and you can use it to do cool things like Apple's Mail app doesn't come with a scheduler by default, but you can use Automator or a third-party plugin to add 'send later' functionality.
($9.99) AirMail is When I first heard of Airmail, I must admit I questioned if I really needed a new way to check my email. Like many people, Mail.app satisfied all of my email requirements, and I struggled., with a beautifully simple aesthetic and full support for labels and starring, among other Google features. Mail Pilot 2 ($20) The second version of Mail Pilot continues the “to-do list” approach to email in a bid to make you more productive by focusing on what’s most important.
A new feature called Dash provides an at-a-glance overview of new emails, outstanding conversations, and responses that are overdue. Nylas N1 is a bit of an oddity in terms of an email app.
It’s both a premium sync service and an open source Every Mac comes with a free email application, but it's not the be-all and end-all of OS X email solutions. Here's five of the best alternatives. If you’re happy to compile it yourself and run your own sync engine, you can enjoy one of the best email experiences completely free of charge (otherwise it’s $7 per month). Also consider:, & News ($9.99) The If you’re looking for a fast way to get news updates from specific sources, RSS is still the best way to go about it., Reeder disappeared for a short while before returning in full force. It’s not free but it’s got the best interface, great themes, and supports a wide range of services to provide a premium reading experience.
($9.99) We’ve Still looking for the perfect Mac RSS reader? It's here. before and for good reason. This powerhouse reader works with all major RSS providers and “read later” services, features a new clutter-free reading mode and an interface reminiscent of the original Reeder. If your budget looks something like $0, Vienna is as good as it’s going to get. Fortunately, you get much more than you pay for with this capable Open Reader compliant RSS app. Also consider: Related: For me, RSS feeds are the ideal way to keep up to date with all the websites I'm interested in - a centralised news-pool, so you don't have to check your browser every five minutes. Virtualization Run Windows on your Mac for free with VirtualBox, though you’ll still need a valid Windows license to get anywhere.
($79.99) If Virtualbox doesn’t cut it, VMware Fusion is another great option with better support for demanding applications, like games – though it’ll cost you just shy of $80. ($79.99) Parallels is a virtualization environment that lets you run windowed Windows applications on your machine without having to switch to a virtual desktop first. / Wineskin and WineBottler are two (separate) free programs that let you create “wrappers” for Windows applications that run via a compatibility layer on your Mac.
Related: Want to play classic Windows and DOS games on your Mac, but unsure where to begin? Today we'll be looking at all your available options, and how to choose between them.
Photos & Images Photos Don’t dismiss your Mac’s default image management application just yet. Its We thought it was about time we compiled a list of our favourite raster image editors for Mac OS X. and filters are fine for small edits, plus it can handle RAW files and recognize people, places, and objects since the macOS Sierra update. ($20/month) The undisputed king of image editing, Photoshop CC is almost affordable now at only $20 per month for a single license.
Perfect for RAW processing, photo retouching, designing graphics and logos, 3D elements and terrible memes. ($80) Apple’s “App of the Year” for 2015, Affinity Photo delivers a powerful image editing package for a one-off fee that makes it a solid budget alternative to Photoshop.
Work with Photoshop files, edit RAWs straight from your camera, use adjustment layers, and a whole lot more. ($30) Need a capable image editor but can’t justify spending too much? Pixelmator might be the answer. It has many of the same features found in Adobe’s pride and joy, except you can use it forever for a single payment of $30.
If you’d rather go the free route, open source editor GIMP comes in a Mac-enhanced version that includes a range of photo editing plugins, including RAW support. Inkscape is Adobe Illustrator might be the gold standard when it comes to vector software for the Mac, but you don't always have to spend a fortune on design software. Cross-platform and open source, it’s the choice of many designers, illustrators and web comic aficionados the world over. If you don’t like the look of Inkscape, BoxySVG offers another free vector option that’s built with web technologies. If all you want to do is Photoshop is expensive, and while many are happy to fork out a monthly fee for Adobe's revised Creative Cloud system, others will always turn to free software first. One thing is for sure: if you're., then you should give RawTherapee a shot.
The interface can at first be overwhelming, but that’s only down to the sheer number of options it provides you with – and it’s completely free. AstroPad AstroPad isn’t an image editor but an app that turns your iPad or iPhone into a full-fledged graphics tablet. It works best when paired with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil stylus, fusing the intuitive touch controls with the precision of a high end stylus. Also consider: Aperture & Productivity Siri If you’re using macOS Sierra or later, Siri is built in and accessible via the menu bar, dock, and holding the command+spacebar keyboard shortcut.
Apple’s intelligent personal assistant Siri is now on the Mac, and controlling your computer with your voice has never been easier.! Evernote is probably the most popular, widely used and best-supported note-taking solution in the world. Recent changes mean that the free version is limited to just two devices, but it’s still a note-taking powerhouse. The closest Evernote competitor is OneNote, and it’s completely free. Access your notes from any device, save files and sketches, clip web pages and collaborate with others — all without Evernote’s two-device restriction. Apple Notes Apple’s own Notes app was a bit useless until it received a makeover in El Capitan and iOS 9. Now it resembles more of a cut-price Evernote, and while it lacks many of the features you’ll find in dedicated rival products it’s a Have you switched over to Apple's vastly improved Notes app?
Here are a few tips on improving your workflow. ($50) The There are plenty of great third-party apps that serve as a replacement for your Mac's Calendar application, or as add-ons to take it to the next level. Here are our favorites., Fantastical allows you to schedule appointments by typing a description of your event.
It enjoys excellent support, and has integration with Apple’s reminders system and a as well. Reminders This one also comes with Mac OS X by default. Use it with Siri to make a Don't waste your money on a third-party app, just use Apple free iPhone and Mac apps.
If Apple’s own Reminders app doesn’t cut it, you can’t do much better than Wunderlist, a completely cross-platform system that’s easy to use and powerful to boot. ($6.99) Appearing on iOS first, Clear is a slim and easy to use to-do list manager which places an emphasis on aesthetic value and mobile access.
If Evernote is overkill, Simplenote might just be what you’re looking for. Free, lightweight and cross-platform; it also gives Apple Notes a run for its money. Do you use Apple’s in-built text to speech services? Whether you rely on the accessibility feature or you’re just feeling lazy, Dictater makes the feature even better by allowing you to pause, skip, replay, and even read along (plus it’s free). Related: If you work at a home-based office like I do, you no doubt spend a significant amount of time getting things done on your Mac.
While I have already written about the advantages of using. Code & Text Editors Everything you need to If you want to learn Swift, now is the time to dive in. The language has a bright future and the faster you learn it, the sooner you'll be able to reap the rewards., including macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The development tools are free to download, but you’ll need to pay a yearly fee and enroll in Apple’s developer program to list your apps on their various storefronts. Microsoft’s free, open source, and highly extensible code editor is Microsoft's text editor supports myriad languages, and you don't even need to compare it to Xcode, since they serve different needs.
($70) If you need a serious text editor (and if you have to ask that question, then you probably don’t) you should consider dropping $70 on Sublime Text. ($50) Just like Sublime Text, TextMate is a highly capable text editor for those who write code for a living. You should probably try them both before settling on a favorite. TextWrangler is the completely free fork of BBEdit.
Though it omits a few of the advanced features found in its bigger brother, it’s still the best free text editor on the platform. ($19.99) A document browser and code snippet manager, Dash is designed to If you're a programmer, you already rely heavily on documentation. Dash is a Mac app designed to make your required reading a more pleasant experience. For a huge number of programming languages. Writing & Office The whole iWork suite is now free to all Mac users, including Pages and its web-based equivalent. It might not beat out Microsoft Office in terms of features, Many long-time Office users will be unwilling to transition away from the apps they're so used to working with, but it's time to give iWork another chance.
Numbers is Apple’s answer to Microsoft Excel. What better way to learn how to use this powerful spreadsheet app than with New Macs come with Numbers, a spreadsheet program that's perfect for helping you get organized.? It’s a presentation app, for making slide-based presentations. You can use the to control the Mac version, or run your presentations from the web using iCloud. If you need a simple distraction-free writing environment for free, FocusWriter is the app for you. For such a lightweight and minimal app there’s a surprisingly long list of features (but you don’t have to use them all). IA Writer ($10) Looking for something a little more capable?
IA Writer is Be it a school paper or a blog post, all of us at some point find ourselves in the position of having to dump a bunch of characters into a text file. While cell phone., coming in both macOS and iOS varieties. Among the key features is auto-markdown support, syncing over iCloud and support for importing Word documents. ($45) Ulysses prides itself on two things: excellent markdown support and a distraction-free environment. It’s one of the most powerful writing tools on any platform, and it does away with many of the distracting features found in the bigger packages while still providing an impressive array of writing, productivity, and organization tools. ($149) Despite the eye-watering price, if you think you’ll get enough mileage out of the whole Office suite then you can’t do much better than the Home & Student Edition. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and (free app) OneNote for a one-off fee.
Looking for an office suite but can’t justify the $150 Microsoft is asking for their budget version? LibreOffice might just do the job. The open source word processor, spreadsheet tool, and presentation app lacks polish but it’s completely free and much less temperamental than most browser-based alternatives. ($45) A few staff members at MakeUseOf swear by Scrivener, the cross-platform and Scrivener has been around since 2006, and it is a favorite application amongst novelists and screenwriters. Scrivener is not a desktop layout application like Word and Pages, but it helps you organize and export your. It’s popular among screenwriters and novelists for When it comes to getting a research paper, ebook or novel completed, Scrivener can help you stay organized and motivated — that is, if you know how to use some of its best features. And rich feature set, and we’ve produced a. ($9.99) If you’re looking for a diary application, then Everyone has a story to tell.
It's not always a story in need of an audience, sometimes a story just needs to be told. You may want to continue the journal you started when you. It syncs over iCloud or Dropbox with your iOS devices, allowing you to update your journal regardless of where you are. Related: Have you always dismissed Apple's productivity apps as unsuitable for your office needs? It's time to reconsider! Timesavers (donationware) BetterTouchTool allows you to I started using BetterTouchTool back in 2011, and since then it has become one of the top three Mac applications for boosting my productivity and streamlining my workflow. Though BTT can be used by any.
On a touchpad, mouse and Control your Mac with the wave of your hand instead of keyboard presses. BetterTouchTool and the Leap Motion controller can power-up your workflow with dozens of mouseless shortcuts. It now uses a “pay what you feel” donationware model, allowing you to pay anywhere from $3.99 to $50 for a license.
($4.99) Just like the name suggests, Dropzone is a small icon that lives in your menu bar and when you grab and drag files it offers a You could waste time putting your files and folders to use the traditional way, or you could save time and do everything directly from your menu bar using Dropzone. ($5.99) In the style of Dropzone, Unclutter provides a place to store files at the top of your screen. It also adds support for pasteboard clips and notes, speeding up your workflow by providing you with fast access to everything you need. MacOS Sierra allows you to unlock your Mac using an Apple Watch, but if you haven’t got an Apple Watch you can Typing a password is just so much hassle, don't you wish you could use your iPhone, Apple Watch.
Have you ever wished for a complete list of the essential Mac Apps or must have Mac apps? Operating system comes preloaded with a lot of applications which you can use daily in order to increase the functionality of your device.
One can always install some other extra apps on the MAC system to get the best out of it as there are a lot of free mac apps. You can download many amazing free mac apps which will help you in increasing your productivity.
![Quore App For Mac Quore App For Mac](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125625262/496945317.png)
All the best mac apps which we are going to share in this post can be downloaded for free. You can install the best free must have apps for Mac OS X and get extra features on your system. Let’s have a look at the 25 must have apps for mac free download. Whether you are looking for some must have apps for MacBook pro or best free apps for MacBook air, this detailed guide of top best free must have apps for Mac OS X going to help you a lot. So let’s have a look at the list of top 25 must have Mac apps: (1) There are a lot of video formats which are out there. In order to, you can use VLC Media Player, one of the best mac apps which support playback of multiple video formats.
The formats which are not compatible with Quicktime Player will even work with VLC Media Player as one can install different codecs. The application is available for free and can be used for listening songs, watching movies and videos and also streaming content off the internet. The interface of the app is clean and user-friendly which make it extremely easy for one to use it. You may also be interested in checking out.
(2) Safari is the default browser which comes with Mac operating system. If you have shifted from Windows or are looking for a then you can use Google Chrome.
Google Chrome is a great alternative to Safari as it comes with the minimal user interface and consumes very fewer resources. Read also: (3) If the files which you have downloaded are with rar or a zip format, then you have to use a software to extract the files so that you can use them. Unarchiver is a tool which can be used to extract different file formats.
There are many formats which are supported by Unarchiver. Using this app is very simple as with a single click, one will be able to perform the operations. You can perform both compression and extraction with this software in just a single click.
(4) F.lux is a utility free apps for mac os x which will run in the background of your system and will help you in changing the background and color of the screen of your system. Computers release blue light which can harm the human eye.
With F.lux, the blue light is blocked which will help one in sleeping in time and keeping the eyes safe. (5) Caffeine If you are not using your Mac system for some time it will go into the. If you are browsing, watching movies or videos this will annoy you as your system will go to sleep after some time. Caffeine is one of the best mac apps which will help your computer in staying up and will prevent it from going into the sleep mode. There is an option to set the time during which you want to screen to be awake. If you want your system to keep running for the entire time you need to try, which is also one of the must have apps for mac. (6) Pocket is a great app for people who like to browse the internet and love reading about new things.
The pocket is your own reader app which you can use to save the content you like on the internet. Along with content, you will be able to save photos, articles, and videos. The beautiful view of the app makes reading more interesting. You can share the articles, photos with your friends using mail and as there is social media integration in Pocket. The app is available for free and the best part about is that there are no advertisements.
(7) You might be using but it is sure that one day you are going to run out of space on your iCloud account. If you are using Dropbox or are looking for an online cloud storage service then you can install the Dropbox Mac client on your system.
The tool will help you in backing all your data on the online cloud which you can access from different devices later on. If you have not sorted the files and it has become difficult for you to locate the files then you can use the Finder tool which will help you in finding the desired files just by using keywords. All the documents which are stored on your Mac will get directly uploaded to the Documents folder. The menu bar keeps a track of all the documents which have been altered and uploaded by the user. Must See: (8) To download Torrents, uTorrent is the best free must have apps for Mac OS X. You will be able to using this app.
Make sure that content which you are going to download is legal or you might end up in a jail. Related: (9) PushButtet is ideal for people who are having a MAC system and an iPhone. The software will help you in transferring data without the hassle of cables. You can easily of all the data, exchange the notes and restore them back to your iPhone using Pushbullet. (10) HandBrake is a powerful.
This is one of the best apps for Mac which will help you in compressing the videos. You can compress a big 1GB video in just 100 MB size using Handbrake. The best thing about this best apps for mac OS X is that the conversion won’t change the quality of the output video.
If you will try to compress the video files which are already compressed, it won’t work. You might also like: (11) TextWrangler is one of the best for Mac as it will help you in coding. The powerful text editor comes with all the features and tools which are needed for development of an application. This is a must have app for developers. Check out: (12) Creating To-do lists is very easy with Wunderlist. You can create reminders, to do lists and tasks using this app. The calendar integration will help you in completing all the future tasks in time.
You can also (13) CCleaner is available both for Windows and Mac operating system. This is one of the best apps for Mac OS X which will help you in optimizing your computer. If your then you need to use CCleaner. The app will help you in erasing the temp files along with optimization of your system. Using the app you will be able to uninstall the apps which you no longer need and also repair the system file.
(14) We have shared many conversion utilities and Adapter is another tool which you can use for conversion of both on Mac system. The software comes with a lot of advanced features which will allow you to change the format of the video files, get the audio out of video files and much more. Using Adapter, you will be able to perform the conversions of images, video and audio files in the form of batches.
(15) iBooks Author is one of the best apps for writers out there. Gone are the times when it was considered a difficult task to publish a book. You can easily with the help of iBooks Author. The app comes with a user-friendly interface which makes it extremely easier for one to use it.
The iwork-style workflow helps you in building content rich ebooks. There are many tools in this app which make it extremely easy for one to use the app. (16) If you are using Mac OS from quite a long time then there is possibility that you know about Alfred app.
Basically, Alfred is a great productivity app which will help you in enhancing the user experience. There are a lot of shortcuts & keystrokes which can be used to and solving calculations. You can perform all the operations swiftly using Alfred. All the features which are missing in MAC OS X are covered with Alfred. (17) Onyx is a great utility or maintenance tool which will help you to maintain your computer. The tool will help you in repairing your system with the help of maintenance scripts. Permission Repair, cache cleaning, repairing of affected data files are some of the functions performed by this app.
Read also: (18) We all know that Mac operating system comes with a screen recorder along with a keyboard shortcut to take screenshots. This is a good feature which comes preinstalled in Mac operating system but it is pretty basic. If you are a power user then you need to use Monosnap. The application comes with a built-in editor which will help you in annotating the screenshots you take with this free app for Mac OS X.
There are many advanced features which you will get with this app such as changing the fps, adding a face cam while you are recording the screen. (19) Mac is one of the safest operating systems in the entire world the reason being no viruses can penetrate in Mac systems. If all the best free apps for mac os x are updated regularly then you don’t have to worry about but if you want to keep your system 100% secure you can install MalwareByte. The app is having both free and premium versions. Most of the essential features are available in the free version however you don’t get the real time protection which means you are required to scan the system manually.
Check also: (20) The next best apps for mac is HiddenMe Free. This app will help you in hiding or unhiding the desktop icon. In order to quickly access the app or the feature, you can use the keyboard shortcut which comes with this app. The app comes with a user-friendly interface and is available for free for all the versions of Mac operating systems. (21) If you want to save some hard disk space then you can use ImageOptim. The app will help you in.
If you are a photographer and having a lot of photos stored on your MAC, then you need to install this must have apps for mac. The images which you will compress using this software will load faster and you will also be able to upload them faster. (22) If you are copied something on the clipboard the previous content which you had copied earlier will get removed. To keep all the content saved on the clipboard, you can use Flycut.
You can use this app to store different entries on the clipboard. You can add up to 100 entries using Flycut. Flycut is a free app for Mac OS X.
(23) In order to save space and identify which files are on your computer, you can use Disk Inventory X. The software will provide a block representation of the hard disk and will tell how much size a particular drive is taking. You will be able to see the location of the files along with its size which will help you in deleting them right away using the app. (24) Smartflix Everyone is familiar with Netflix. Smartflix is one of the best alternatives to Netflix which can be also used on Mac. If Netflix is you can use Smartflix for the same.
All the TV shows which are uploaded on Netflix are present in Smartflix. With smartflix, you will get all the shows uploaded by Netflix for different regions and not for a particular country. Smartflix is a must have apps for mac free download who like to watch TV series or are looking for an alternative to Netflix. You may also be interested in checking out: (25) Everyone loves using. If you also are looking for a multifunction download manager which will help you in downloading all the files efficiently then you need to use Download Shuttle. There is an option to pause the downloads and resume them at a later stage using this software.
Another great feature of this best free apps for mac OS X is that it can be used for downloading from websites which need authentication. If you are using Chrome web browser, you can use the plugin which comes with this app for faster downloads. You might also like: Conclusion These are the top 25 must have apps for Mac which you can use on Mac operating system. All the apps which we have shared above are available for free and we are sure that they will help you in increasing your productivity. Please let us know through comment section if you find any other effective and best free must have Mac apps to increase productivity at work while using the Mac system.
We would love to hear your valuable thought from you about the above explained most essential.