My Favorite Mac Apps and Utilities
As someone who uses a Mac almost every day, there are a quite a few smaller utility-type apps that I frequently use. I decided to make a list, perhaps it’ll be useful to someone.
Most of these lists have tools like Alfred, Raycast, and Hazel. I see the appeal of those, but I’ve never been able to fully integrate them into my workflow for one reason or another. I have also intentionally left off all Safari Extensions.
- BetterSnapTool - Simple window management tool. I don’t use it a lot, but I like having the ability to snap windows to certain areas of the screen from time-to-time.
- DisplayBuddy - If you use a secondary display with your MacBook, this app is required. It helps you control the display’s brightness from the keyboard and keeps multiple displays in sync.
- Front and Center - In Classic Mac OS, clicking a single window for an application would bring all other windows for that application the front. If you like that behavior, this utility enables that. You can dive in and fine-tune the settings as well.
- Hidden Bar - If your menu bar is cluttered with icons, use this app to hide them in a menu bar drawer of sorts. Simple and effective.
- Marked 2 - I do a lot of writing that I like to export in various formats. For example, I’ll create a long-form document in Obsidian (using markdown). Then with Marked 2, I can export that document to (1) email for review, (2) send to media team for slide creation, (3) send to teleprompter, and (4) print hard copy for back up notes. All 4 of those documents can be styled differently.
- Pure Paste - This app heals a major pain point for me. If I copy text and paste it into another app/document, I almost always want the pasted text to take on the formatting of the destination rather than the source. This app makes sure that happens.
- Rocket - A great little utility that enables Slack style emoji input.
- Shottr - There are many apps that improve the built-in screenshot tools, but this is my favorite. It’s fast, simple, and doesn’t require a subscription. No complaints.
- ToothFairy - Allows you to create quick access menu bar icons to pair bluetooth devices instantly. For me, it makes switching between office speakers and headphones a breeze.
- Tot - Tot essentially gives you 7 easy to access scratch pads for anything. It syncs between devices. I use it for things like recording quick measurements, jotting down accommodation options for trips, or pasting in a snippet of text I’ll need later on.
If you have any app suggestions that aren’t in this list, let me know!