A curated list of awesome applications, softwares, tools and shiny things for macOS.
Items marked with
are open-source software and link to the source code. Items marked with
are free (as in free beer).
Table of Contents
- Applications
- Command Line Utilities
- macOS Utilities
- Setup
- Security
- Miscellaneous
- Discussion Forums
- Contribute
Audio
Backup
- Arq - Encrypted backups to Amazon, Dropbox, Google, OneDrive, etc.
- Carbon Copy Cloner - Create incremental and fully bootable backups of your Mac to external storage.
Bookmark Utilities
- ReadKit - Have all your Instapaper, Pocket, etc. feeds in one place even when you're offline.
- Spillo - Powerful, beautiful and fast Pinboard client.
Chat Clients
Data Recovery
- Data Rescue - Comprehensive and professional data recovery for a multitude of scenarios.
- DiskWarrior - Recover from filesystem corruptions when Disk Utility is out of options.
Developers
E-Book Utilities
- Kindle App - Amazon Kindle App for macOS.
Editors
Email Utilities
- Airmail - Lightning fast email client designed for El Capitan.
- MailMate - Advanced IMAP email client, featuring extensive keyboard control and Markdown support.
Finder
- ForkLift - File Manager and FTP/SFTP/WebDAV/Amazon S3 client.
- Path Finder - A powerful dual-pane browser alternative to Finder.
- Quicklook-Plugins - List of extra quicklook plugins to enable previewing more filetypes in the Finder.
- TotalFinder - A powerful alternative to Finder.
- XtraFinder - Adds useful features to Finder.
Games
Graphics
Productivity
- Alfred - Boosts your efficiency and productivity.
- BetterTouchTool - Configure gestures for mouse and actions for keyboard shortcuts.
- ClipMenu - ClipBoard History Manager.
- CloudClip - Sync your clipboard between your Mac and your iOS devices.
- Dropzone - Create a popup grid of customizable actions that enhance productivity on your Mac.
- f.lux - Automatically adjust your computer screen to match lighting.
- Fantastical 2 - Complete Calendar app replacement which uses natural language for creating events.
- Hazel - Create rules to automatically keep your files organized.
- HazeOver - Turn distractions down and focus on your current task.
- HyperDock - Select individual application window.
- Instant Translate - Translate speech and text between 100+ languages from the menu bar.
- Karabiner - A powerful keyboard customizer.
- Keytty - Enables you to control your mouse with a few key strokes. Mouse Keys Alternative.
- LaunchBar - Start applications, navigate folders, manipulate files, control your Mac and much more just by using the keyboard.
- OmniFocus - An incredible task management platform for Mac, iPad, and iPhone.
- OmniOutliner - Perfect for collecting information, outlining ideas, adding structure to any sort of writing, and much more.
- Paste - The new way to copy & paste for Mac.
- PopClip - Instantly copy & paste, access actions like search, spelling, dictionary and more.
- Qbserve - Automatic time and project tracking, timesheets, invoicing, and real-time productivity feedback.
- Quicksilver - Control your Mac quickly and elegantly.
- Rocket - Makes typing emoji faster and easier using Slack-style shortcuts.
- SelfControl - Block access to distracting websites.
- Simplenote - Simple cross-platform note taking app with cloud-based syncing.
- TaskPaper - Plain text to-do lists.
- Telephone - A SIP softphone. Make phone calls over the Internet or your company’s network.
- TextExpander - Create custom keyboard shortcuts for frequently-used text and pictures.
- Timing - Automatic time and productivity tracking for Mac. Helps you stay on track with your work and ensures no billable hours get lost if you are billing hourly.
Sharing Files
- CloudApp - Capture and share files and screenshots instantly.
- Jumpshare - Real-time file sharing app with support for instantly sharing code / Markdown, annotating screenshots, screen recording, and voice recording.
- mac2imgur - Upload images and screenshots to Imgur.
- Monosnap - Annotate and upload images and screenshots, supports many backends like S3, SFTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, etc.
- Transmission - Simple, lightweight, multi-platform torrent client.
Terminal
Utilities
- 1Password - Password Manager and Secure Wallet.
- Amphetamine - Prevents macOS from automatically going to sleep, with lots of configurations.
- AnyBar - A menubar status indicator.
- APNGb - .apng image assembler/disassembler app.
- AppCleaner - Uninstall your apps easily.
- Arthur - Safely optimize some of your Mac's hidden settings.
- Bartender - Organize your menu bar apps.
- Batch Image Resizer - Resize a large number of images quickly on your computer.
- BeardedSpice - Control web based media players with the media keys found on Mac keyboards.
- BetterZip - A very capable and full-featured archive manager.
- BitBar - Display output of any script to the menu bar.
- Burn - No-nonsense burning of Data/Audio/Video CDs and DVDs, including copying.
- CheatSheet - Know your short cuts.
- CommandQ - Never accidentally quit an app again.
- ControlPlane - Automate running tasks based on where you are or what you do.
- DaisyDisk - Analyze disk usage and free up disk space.
- Deliveries - Beautiful and simple package tracking.
- DisableMonitor - Easily disable or enable a monitor on your Mac.
- EtreCheck - Output system information and configuration to get more informed help from Apple support professionals.
- Fanny - Notification Center widget and menu bar application to monitor your Mac's fans and CPU temperature.
- Finicky - App that allows you to set rules that decide which browser is opened for every link.
- Fluid - Turn web applications into Mac applications.
- gfxCardStatus - Menu bar app to monitor and switch between integrated and discrete GPUs on MacBook Pro.
- Helium - A floating browser window that allows you to watch media while you work.
- InsomniaX - Prevents macOS from automatically going to sleep (on lid closing or idle timeout).
- Irvue - Thousands of stunning photos and wallpapers from Unsplash on your Mac.
- iStat Menus - An advanced system monitor for your menubar.
- Kawa - A better input source switcher with shortcuts.
- KeepingYouAwake - Menu bar utility that prevents Mac from going to sleep.
- Keka - Compress to and extract from many archive file formats.
- Knock - Unlock your Mac quickly and securely.
- LaunchControl - Create, manage and debug launchd services.
- Loading - See when apps are using your network in your Mac menubar.
- Little Snitch - Protect your privacy.
- MacDown - Markdown editor.
- Mackup - Keep your application settings in sync.
- MacPass - Password Manager.
- Media Converter - Simple (drag and drop) but advanced media conversion.
- Menubar Colors - Convenient access to the system color panel.
- MenuMeters - A set of CPU, memory, disk, and network monitoring tools for macOS.
- Monodraw - A powerful ASCII art editor.
- Mounty - A tiny tool to re-mount write-protected NTFS volumes under macOS 10.9+ in read-write mode.
- Noizio - Ambient sound equalizer for relaxation or productivity.
- Notational Velocity - Store, retrieve and sync notes within a minimal GUI.
- Noti - Receive Android notifications on your mac (with PushBullet).
- Numi - Beautiful calculator app.
- OnyX - Multifunction utility to verify disks and files, run cleaning and system maintenance tasks, configure hidden options and more.
- Paparazzi - A small utility that makes screenshots of webpages.
- Paragon NTFS - World fastest NTFS driver.
- Radio Silence - Simple to use firewall and network monitor.
- Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client - Remote Desktop Connection Client lets you connect from your Macintosh computer to a Windows-based computer.
- Site Sucker - Automatically download websites from the Internet.
- ShiftIt - Managing windows size and position.
- SlowQuitApps - Prevent accidental Cmd-Q.
- SmartCapsLock - Makes the Caps Lock key smarter, so that when the key accidentally gets activated and you START YELLING even though you don't want to, you can just select the yelling-text and press the key again to instantly fix its case instead of typing everything all over again.
- Soulver - Beautiful expressive calculator.
- SSH Tunnel - Manage your SSH tunnels, tightly integrated with macOS Keychain, secure and intuitive.
- TeamViewer - Remotely control another computer.
- TextBar - TextBar is a tiny but powerful app that lets you add any text to your MenuBar.
- Typeeto - Lets you use your Mac's keyboard as a bluetooth keyboard to type on another devices.
- Typora - Another minimal Markdown editor.
- Ukelele - Unicode Keyboard Layout Editor.
- Übersicht - Run system commands and display their output on your desktop as widgets.
- The Unarchiver - Unarchive many different kinds of archive files.
- Wineskin - Run Windows applications and games on your Mac.
Video
Window Management
Others
Command Line Utilities
macOS Utilities
Setup
DevMyMac
laptop
mac-dev-setup
macOS 10.9 Mavericks Setup
- https://gist.github.com/kevinelliott/3135044
- https://gist.github.com/kimmobrunfeldt/350f4898d1b82cf10bce
macOS 10.10 Yosemite Setup
macOS 10.11 El Capitan Setup
Security
- Viscosity - Fully-featured OpenVPN client, ready for enterprise deployment.
Miscellaneous
Discussion Forums
Apple
IRC channels
MacRumors
Contribute
Contributions are most welcome, please adhere to the contribution guidelines.
Please consider checking out the pull requests that need more votes to be included.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.