Application
Dec 26, 2017 The default Calendar app isn't bad, but if you need to take charge of your calendaring on your Mac you want the best in the business. Fantastical has pretty much everything you'd want in a high-powered calendar client: A shortcut to your calendar in your toolbar, a beautiful, easy-to-read layout, support for reminders, natural language support, time and geofenced-based alerts, time zone. The Lifehacker Pack is an annual snapshot of our favorite. There are a bunch of great apps you can install on your Mac—no question there. Separating amazing apps from must-have apps is the. Instead of wading through the massive amount of new app releases searching for a few diamonds in the rough, let us be your guide. This is a collection of the best new apps for both iOS and Android for your downloading pleasure. Reverb LP Boiled down, Reverb LP is a marketplace.
Hey
I love my Mac and I have hundreds of applications installed on it. As a result I wanted to do a post on what I believe are the top 100 Mac applications that are essential to any user. I’ve picked a variety of applications that I could think of. I have tried to go for the cheaper free option, but quite a few you have to pay for. If you think I am missing an application leave a comment with a link to the app and why you should think it should be included, it doesn’t have to be long, I just want your opinions. If you disagree with any leave a comment with your reasons.
Each application will be split into a couple of major sections. There are some applications that could be in more than one section, but that is not the point of this post. I will also include a link and a bit of descriptive text on what the application is about. There may be duplicate items of the same nature i.e word processing, i’ve included this due to the differences each application has. The list is in no particular order, mostly alphabetical.
If you want to take your knowledge of Mac apps a bit further I recommend these two books on Amazon, Cool Mac Apps and The Little Mac Book they have got some raving reviews and are probably a good read. I’m sure if you look through Amazon there is plenty of stuff that you can find.
Computer Files
This section is all about programs that can be used to work with files and applications
1) AppFresh
Software updater is great for Apple applications, but appfresh has the ability to check third party apps for updates. A great little tool for keeping up to date.
2) AppZapper
Although applications are easy to uninstall on a mac there are usually small preference files hanging about. Appzapper cleans up an uninstall all of those files.
3) Disk Inventory X
A simple program that scans your disk and visually shows what files takes up how much space, good to visualize if you are running out of space and you have some size hogs.
4) Grand Perspective
Very similar to Disk Inventory X, shows you what files take up how much space on your website.
5) OpenPlist
A very cool little tool if you need to end up editing Plist files.
6) Quicksilver
One of the best applications ever made for the mac. Its a quick launch tool that enables you to open and do practically anything. Very fun and really increases your productivity.
7) Stuffit
An application design to unstuff or unpack nearly any file. Great if you use archives a lot.
8) TextWrangler
A very cool text editor that lets you edit text files quickly. Sometimes more powerful than text edit.
9) TidyUp
An application that enables you to search through a list of files finds duplicates. Great if you have many files and you need to organise them.
10) Todos
Leaves no application behind. A very visual way to view all of the applications on your computer. Kind of surpassed by the stacks in the dock.
11) UnRarX
UnrarX gives you the abilty to easily uncompress .rar files. Very good, although stuffit can now handle .rar files.
12) Xslimmer
Give your mac a diet. It goes through and removes the powerpc or intel parts of your program. It can really reduce the size of applications. Can also break them if you are not careful.
Internet
This section is all about applications that use the internet or this type of connectivity in some way.
13) Adium
A simple all in one AIM, chat client. Supports, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and many other through the use of plugins and basic support. It does lack some functionality in some chat protocols.
14) ApGrapher
A great little program that offers the ability to find information about the wireless networks whizzing around your head.
15) Azureus
One of the best bittorrent clients out there. Has lots of user extensions through the use of plugins.
16) Colloquy
A really powerful application that can be used for the IRC networks. Special care has been taken in this application to make it blend in with the rest of the Mac OS theme.
17) CSSedit
A must for any web developer. CSSedit offers the best tools around to help you edit and modify CSS code for you webpages.
18) Cyberduck
A small lightweight application for ftp. Has some small niggles, but it is free. Transmit is better if you use ftp a lot.
19) Firefox
One of the best web browsers around in my opinion. Has a massive add-on library which you can customize to your needs. A viable alternative to safari.
20) iStumber
I found this a great small application that enabled you to view wireless and bluetooth networks quick and hassle free.
21) LittleSnitch
The application that snitches on any application that is trying to access the net to phone home. Great for protecting you privacy.
22) Netnewswire
A very popular RSS client for the mac, nuff said.
23) Skype
Offering superior calls over the internet, it is the application if you do a lot of talking and want a good quality transmission.
24) Transmission
A light weight bittorrent application that is gaining popularity. Its personal choice at this point of transmission verse Azureus.
25) Transmit
A great application from Panic that will feature a couple of time in this list. It is a powerful application for ftp uploads and downloads.
26) Undercover
A piece of software that dials to the undercover servers if you computer has been stolen. Great if you use a laptop, less useful on a desktop.
27) Unison
Another piece of panic software that enables you to use the usenet newsreader networks. A really good piece of software if you use usenet a lot. If you are looking for a good news provide I recommend Giganews.
28) Vidalia
A GUI controller for the Tor anonymity network. One click on, one click off, simple and easy to use. Best of all its free.
Multimedia
This section is all about video, images and sound. Anything of this nature is included here.
29) VLC
The all in one application for watching videos. Supports nearly every codec imaginable.
30) Aperture
One of Apples Pro programs for organizing and altering photos. A very powerful application although comes with a bit of a price tag.
31) Audacity
A free audio editor which has a few advance features that make it create for editing audio for your videos or other applications.
32) Blender
A free 3D modeler which has the same power of many of the most advance applications on the market. Comes with quite a steep learning curve.
33) Delicious Library
A very cool application used to organise your books, movies, games and CD’s. You can use your built in iSight to save time by scanning your books. Very cool and fun to use.
34) DeskLickr
A simple application that uses the vast photo resource of flickr to change your wallpaper every so often. Makes a cool change.
35) Desktastic
Another Panic app. This time it can be used to write directly on your desktop. Very cool if you use a tablet for your daily work.
36) Gimp
The free image editing program. Used by many open source and linux users. A create start since Leopard doesn’t include any image editing software.
37) Google Earth
One of the best applications from Google. Use it to zoom in on planet earth and explore the world around you. A great time waster, as well as a very useful tool if you are going anywhere and want to check out the surroundings.
38) HandBreak
An open source application that can quickly convert DVD’s to Mpeg-4.
39) iLife
The all in one package made by Apple. I don’t think this needs any explaining.
40) iShowU
This application takes a direct recording of your screen. Great if you want to make recordings of specific applications. You need a good CPU, a bit of a power hog.
41) Joost
A very hot application that lets you watch free TV. Beautiful application even though the amount of TV stations are a bit small.
42) Photoshop
The high priced application for real pros who want to edit and manipulate images and photos. Not for people with tight wallets.
43) Pixelmator
The medium priced application that has a lot of great image editing potential. Not as expensive as Photoshop.
44) Shapeshifter
Bored of your interface? Let shape shifter change it for you. Not Leopard compatible although this is likely to change.
45) Theme Park
A great little app which lets you delve into the resource files for applications and lets you change them. Not as powerful as Shapeshifter but lets you tweak little bits of your operating systems interface.
46) TVShows
A little app that downloads all of the torrent files for your favourite TV shows. You need a bittorrent client to finish the process off.
47) Wallsaver
Puts your screensaver as your wallpaper. Add a bit of life to your desktop.
Little Apps
Little Applications are small applications in size that add a bit of functionality or are just plain cool.
48) Autorate
A simple piece of software that rates your musis in your iTunes library based on the number of plays and track skips.
49) Fish
A simple little program that shows you little fishes swimming around.
50) iAlertU
A little program that can arm your computer. Moving your laptop will set of the alarm and alert you to intruders.
51) Liquidmac
Once again using the motion sensor in a laptop. This program fills the screen with water which you can play around with by moving your computer.
52) MacSaber
Let your Mac become a jedi. Once again using the motion sensor makes cool lightsaber noises. Don’t let the mac fly out of your hands as it has with a couple of people.
53) Quinn
Tetris on the extreme side of life. A cool little app with amazing graphics on the old arcade favourite Tetris.
54) Resize ‘Em All
A little program which can be used to resize images.
55) Rulers
Put a ruler on your screen. This application lets you measure nearly anything on your screen, great if you are in the design world.
56) smcFanControl
A small application that runs in your menu bar to control your fan speeds. A must if you think your computer runs a bit hot.
57) TimeOut
One for the work-a-holic. A little application that tells you to take a break and stop what you are doing.
58) Wallsaver
Sets your screen saver as your wallpaper. A great little program to add a bit of movement to your desktop.
Tools
This section of essential applications is all about tools. These are tools to do specific task or just to give you information.
59) Apple Remote Desktop
One of Apples many programs that lets you work effectively on your network. This app lets you look in on a remote desktop and work with it remotely.
60) Battery Health
One of many tools used to help you find out how much juice is left in your Mac battery. A tool for any laptop.
61) BootCamp
Installing Windows on a Mac is never easier with BootCamp. A simple program that create a partition on you disk for installing windows.
62) BwanaDik
A menu bar monitoring tool for you network. Lets you find tons of info about you LAN and WAN in one easy to reach place.
63) Carbon Copy Cloner
For serious back ups you need something like Carbon Copy Cloner that can clone your entire drive quickly and easily.
64) Chmox
Chmox is a program that enables you to open .chm help files on your Mac. Chm files are not supported in preview.
65) Coconut Battery
A personal favourite of mine, this is another battery tool to monitor the health of your battery. I wish my laptop was run off coconuts.
66) DasBoot
DasBoot is a tool to create a diagnostic and repair kit for your computer to put on an iPod or flash drive.
67) Flip4Mac
The tool endorsed by Microsoft to help with those pesky .wmv files.
68) FreeDMG
This software creates drag and drop .dmg archives on the fly. Easy to use if you make a lot of disk images.
69) GeekTool
GeekTool is a preference pane module to show system logs, unix commands output, or images (i.e. from the internet) on your desktop.
70) Growl
A very useful tool that is used by many applications to show a clean way of displaying messages to you. Like the bubbles in Windows except a hell of a lot better.
71) Hardware Monitor
Hardware Monitor is designed to check the various pieces of hardware on you computer for faults and problems as well as give messages back to you.
72) Hex Fiend
Editing hex files cannot be easier with Hex Fiend.
73) HoudahGeo
HoudahGeo allows you to add Geo data to any image within the EXIF data. Helps you find your way around the world in your images.
74) iStat Menus
iStat Menus off a wide range of statistical analysis of your computer including various hardware bits. Their widget is one of my favorites.
75) Mac Pilot
This piece of software allows you to modify various parts of your computer that you would normally have to do through Terminal.
76) MacJanitor
This little app cleans up various system files and other bits and bobs to keep your computer running smoothly.
77) MainMenu
MainMenu is another piece of software to help you keep your computer running smoothly. This one has more advance options such as rebuilding the spotlight database.
78) MenuMeters
Another monitor piece of software but this one is designed to run within the menu bar.
79) Monolingual
Who needs to know French. Monolingual removes the languages from the computer that you do not need.
80) Operation
A project management tool that lets you organise your projects quickly and easily.
81) Parallels
Highly recommended virtualization software for virtualizing other OS’s.
82) Service Scrubber
Helps you organise and remove services from your menus (Name of App > Services).
83) SquidDan
Once a very popular proxy tool for sorting out your own proxy for handling your internet connection. Has become disused over time.
84) Stomp
Stomp those big files down to size. Helps reduce video files into more compressed formats.
85) SuperDuper
Another great backing up utility although its not fully Leopard compatible at the time of writing.
86) Synergy2
A very cool little application that lets you share a mouse and keyboard between one or more computers.
87) TinkerTool
A tool that lets you access more preferences the Apple has built into the OS.
88) VMWare
Another very good piece virtualization software to enable to to virtualize other OS’s.
Work
This final section ,and to round up, is going to be all about top programs for use at work.
89) Cha-Ching
A simple money program that helps you organise your accounts, budgets and finances.
90) Concept Draw
More of a group of programs that offer a wide range of applications such as flow charts to mind maps.
91) Filemaker
A cross platform database application, that has amazing power and potential.
92) iWork
Apples work application package to complement iLife, a good package if you want the Apple integration although lacks on some features.
93) Microsoft Office
Office is one of the most prominent packages on the Windows machines for work programs. Very good on Mac, although some small annoying bugs.
94) Money2
Another application for managing your accounts. The interface on this program is amazing.
95) Neooffice
An Open Office port to Mac, like Microsoft Office, except its free.
96) Nvu
A very powerful webpage editor for designing and creating websites. Just as good as Dreamweaver.
97) Omnigraffle
A brill program that offers a really cool way of creating presentation diagrams. Check out the Omni Groups offerings for all of the cool programs they have to offer.
98) Process
Another program by Jumsoft on this list that lets you plan and organise your projects.
99) Quicken
Another personal finance program, but this one feels more corporate and official.
100) Yojimbo
A cool little program that helps you organise all your bits of information, great if you end up filling up dashboard with millions of stickies.
Well folks, there you have it, my personal Top 100 Essential Mac Applications. I hope you agree that there are some awesome applications out there. It has taken me over a week to put this togther and if you think I have missed any please leave a comment with the program you would like to include and a reason why.
Related posts:
Where To Next?
Apps might not be the first things that come to mind when you think about the Apple Watch, but many developers have put a great deal of time and effort towards creating great experiences for the smallest screens that Apple makes. These apps often emphasize quick actions — getting in and getting out.
From fitness to productivity, here are 10 of the best Apple Watch apps that you can download right now.
Things
Things is a great task manager on the iPhone, and its Apple Watch app makes tracking the day's tasks simple. The primary screen in Things puts your day's tasks in front of you, which you can check off as you complete them right on your watch. You can also tap on each task to get a little more detail or to move that task to the next day. In an excellent, if small, piece of visual feedback, a circle under Today shows how many tasks you've completed, and continues to fill as you finish more to-dos.
Adding an item to your list is also dead simple. Just tap the + button and speak to your watch. When that task is created, you can tap on it to add a start date or deadline.
Overcast
Overcast lets you control podcast playback on your iPhone from your Apple Watch. You can also go through your collection of available podcast episodes to play something new, with all of your playlists available to peruse. Controls for play/pause, skipping forward and backward, opening your playlists, and recommending an episode are all located on the same screen, but in a way that doesn't feel busy.
Recently, Overcast added the ability to sync downloaded podcast episodes to your Apple Watch. This allows you to take your podcasts with you while leaving your iPhone at home. You can just tell Overcast to send a particular episode to the watch and after a few minutes, the episode will be available for standalone listening through your watch, either through Bluetooth headphones or the Apple Watch's speaker.
Dark Sky
Dark Sky is all about your forecast, letting you know what the weather will be like in your immediate vicinity, and warning you up to an hour in advance of rain or snow. As with the iPhone app, Dark Sky for Apple Watch offers a visual timeline of how much rain you should expect and how far into the future you should expect it. With Dark Sky's most recent major update, the watch app received a major overhaul alongside the iPhone and iPad app, bringing everything onto a single screen that you scroll down, rather than multiple panes through which you need to swipe.
Spark
Spark is one of our favorite email apps for the iPhone, and it's still great in its translation to Apple's smallest screen. While some apps that combine email and calendars try to jam pack their watch apps with everything from the iPhone app, Spark keeps it simple, electing to focus on email in an effort to give you the best mail management experience on your watch.
On Apple Watch, Spark takes advantage of its iPhone counterpart's intelligent mail sorting, letting you see at a glance when you have emails waiting that are personal or newsletters. Each of these sections gets a big colorful button that lights up when there's a relevant message in that category. You can open and read each email, then quickly decide if you want to reply to it, snooze, archive, or delete it. In addition to these sections, you can also see you whole inbox, pinned emails, your archive, and your sent messages.
Carrot Fit
Another in the long line of Carrot apps, Carrot Fit tries to inject personality into your workouts — and by personality, we, of course, mean a hostile robot that yells at you and calls you a 'meatbag.' Carrot Fit specializes in small workouts with '7 Minutes in Hell,' which condenses multiple high-intensity exercises into just seven minutes.
Just tap the big red Start button to begin your seven-minute workout. Carrot will threaten, insult, and, when it's in a nicer mood, try to bribe you to get the results it wants to see. You can customize a bit of what 7 Minutes in Hell throws at you, determining how long each exercise lasts, as well as how long the rest period is. When you've successfully completed a workout, you'll be treated to app upgrades and funny rewards.
WaterMinder
While not as flashy as other workout-tracking apps, WaterMinder still fulfills an important fitness function: keeping track of your hydration. Getting in a nice long run is great right up until you collapse on the sidewalk because you forgot that humans need water to survive. WaterMinder keeps you on top of that, letting you easily log your water intake with a single button tap on your Apple Watch.
Based on your existing health data, Water Minder determines how much water you should be drinking on a given day. With each entry in the app, you'll be able to watch your progress towards your goal. The app has pre-filled buttons for eight, 14, and 17 ounces per entry, while you can also set a custom smaller or larger amount.
AutoSleep
Keep track of not just how long you sleep, but how well you're sleeping with AutoSleep. The app automatically tracks your sleeping once you've set it up, and you don't really need to do anything else if you wear your watch to bed. The app will track both how long you sleep and the quality of that sleep, and when you get up in the morning and unlock your iPhone, AutoSleep will send you a notification with the results of the previous night. You'll get a detailed breakdown of how long you slept, how long you were awake for, and your average heart rate while you slept.
If you don't wear your watch, AutoSleep will only track how long you slept. When you put your watch on in the morning, the app will know that you've finished sleeping.
Just Press Record
Record something on the fly without even needing to break out your iPhone with Just Press Record. Just open up the app and tap the big red button with the microphone on it to start your recording. You can browse your recent recordings and make new ones. You can even record when you're not connected to your iPhone. When you reconnect, just tap Outbox and send your recordings over to your phone.
Once on your iPhone, everything you recorded on your Apple Watch can be synced with iCloud so you can access on your iPad and Mac as well.
Fantastical
Fantastical on Apple Watch offers a clean, simple interface while taking calendaring to the next level. While Apple's own Calendar app lets you view and delete events, Fantastical lets you create new ones, giving you more flexibility and reducing the number of times you need to pull our phone out of your pocket.
If you use Apple's Reminders app regularly, Fantastical is also great for its built-in Reminders integration. You can view all of your reminder lists, and check off tasks as they're performed.
1Password
Already a great password manager, 1Password offers a great companion for its iPhone app on the Apple Watch. While not a full-featured password manager on your wrist, 1Password for Apple Watch shows you the one-time login key for accounts that use two-factor authentication. If you do a lot of work with those types of accounts, 1Password is definitely an app you need to check out.
Strava
Strava is one of the best apps for tracking your workouts and helping you get on track to a healthy and active lifestyle. The Strava Apple Watch app is also a fantastic companion to have on-the-go.
With Strava, you'll be able to track your runs, cycling rides, swims, and more. The Apple Watch app is standalone, so you don't even need to have your iPhone with you to track your activity with it. Information like distance and live pacing is recorded directly on the Watch and you'll see it as you go. Saving a workout is done with one button press, and everything will sync with your iPhone and Health once it's near it.
Cheatsheet
Can't remember the Wi-Fi password every time you need to give it to a guest? Or what hotel room you're staying in? Or security code to gain entry to a work building? Sometimes you'll just need a Cheatsheet for those small details that can be hard to remember.
Cheatsheet is a simple widget type of app where you can make a tiny list of quick notes, and then put those on your Apple Watch. You can view your notes normally through the Apple Watch app, or have them available at all times through the Apple Watch complication. Each note can be customized with an icon to make it easy to recognize quickly. Just make sure that you don't use it for highly sensitive information, like account login passwords, since this app has no security.
PCalc
Even though Apple is finally adding a Calculator app to the Apple Watch in watchOS 6, we still think PCalc is a better option because it does so much more.
On the Apple Watch, PCalc can help you do basic calculations and even calculate tips when it comes to paying the check for dinner, and it can even split the bill up evenly, including tip. But it can also do so many other things, including converting units, constants, trig/log, and even functions. It's an all-in-one calculator app on the iPhone and your Apple Watch.
Citymapper
If you're traveling to or live in a city with public transportation, then it can be a lot easier to get around by that instead of driving. That's why Citymapper should be an app with you at all times, including your wrist!
The Citymapper Apple Watch app lets you see the nearest transit lines close to you, wherever you are. You can input a destination and the app will provide you with step-by-step directions on what buses and trains to take. You can save favorite destinations, or add your Home or Work addresses for quick access. The app will also let you know when your stop is approaching, how often the bus or train comes, and give you an ETA of when you'll get there. It's a must if you're in a large city.
Deliveries
Chances are high that you do your fair bit of online shopping these days. If so, then the Deliveries app is a must.
On the Apple Watch, Deliveries allows you to see a list of packages that are coming your way very soon. The list will include the number of days until delivery, and you can tap on an item to view it in more detail, such as the status, location, and a map of where it is. Unfortunately, you need to use the iPhone app to add new deliveries or to archive completed ones, but for a quick check, the Apple Watch version of Deliveries is great.
App in the Air
If you're a frequent flyer, then having App in the Air is a good idea.
The Apple Watch app for App in the Air tracks your flights, so you can see when you need to check-in, board, and travel time, and when you'll be landing. If there are any changes to your flight, the app will notify you. It's a useful app to have if you're traveling often, and the subscription ($30/yr) lets you subscribe your family in through SMS, so everyone will be in the loop about when you'll be gone.
Your favorites?
These are some of our favorite apps for Apple Watch, but what are yours? Let us know in the comments.
Mac App Store
July 2019: Added six new Apple Watch apps for even more variety. These are our favorite Apple Watch apps!
Apple Watch
Main
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Cool Apps For My Android Phone
Just don'tStealing from an Apple Store is so easy people are doing it time and again
Cool Apps For My Laptop
Apple Stores are seen as an easy target by thieves, with at least one man in New York arrested twice for stealing from two stores in two years.