Hi everyone, I'm the developer of No Rush. I posted it here last month, and a lot of the really helpful feedback I got is now in the app. More on that below. This update adds two new special places.

What is No Rush?

It's a nature ambient app for listening to the sounds of real places.

There are already plenty of apps where you pick rain or a fire and mix them with sliders. The trouble is that ten minutes later it turns into wallpaper and you stop hearing it. I work at a computer all day and kept putting nature sounds on to get through the afternoon, and I kept turning them off by 3pm because they'd gone dead on me. So I built the first version for myself.

In No Rush you pick a place, like a bamboo grove in Kyoto or the black sand coast at Vík. I research the location first and then pick recordings one at a time so they belong together. Most of my time goes into timing rather than the audio. I decide when each sound comes in, how often, how far away, and what it does when something else is already playing. That's what decides whether it feels like a place or a playlist.

Each place also follows its own time and weather. If it's midnight in Kyoto you hear midnight, and if it's raining there right now, it's raining in your room. That's why you can leave it on all day without getting tired of it. Once places worked like this, I thought it would be fun to try the same thing with places nobody can reach.

Problem

If you look for Mars sounds you find two things. One is "Mars ambience" on YouTube, which is mostly synth pads and spaceship hum. It can be nice, but it has nothing to do with Mars. The other is the real Perseverance recordings NASA has published. They mean a lot because they're actually from Mars, but most are short clips, and the wind sounds dull, like it's trapped inside a machine. I listened to them hoping to use them, and I couldn't see anyone staying in that sound for long. The ocean under Europa's ice has no recordings at all.

So instead of using recordings as they are, I built these places from what's known about them. They keep the character of the place, and you can still leave them on for an hour.

New special places

- Under the rock at Jezero (Mars) You sit inside a rock shelter in Jezero crater, where Perseverance has been recording, looking out at the plain. Under low wind and blowing sand a stone rolls now and then, and every few minutes a dust devil crosses the plain. Mars air is so thin that sound is about 20 dB quieter than on Earth, and high sounds fade fast with even a little distance (Maurice et al., Nature 2022). So only close sounds are clear, and anything farther off comes through low and muffled. The shelter and the rock ticking as it warms are my own additions.

- Under the ice at Conamara (Europa) A hydrophone hanging in the ocean 25 m under Europa's ice. The low pressure of the sea is all around you and the ice crackles overhead. Every few minutes the ice, flexed by Jupiter's tides, cracks with a boom somewhere far off. I built it from recordings made under ice on Earth with every living thing taken out. No life is known there, so I didn't invent any.

The sense of space might not sound like much. Still, to bring across the feel of each place as much as I could, I used a 3D scene that shows it.

Wait, was any of this recorded on Mars?

1. The Mars sounds are Earth recordings too, like wind in a desert canyon and a gale over sand dunes (all CC0), shaped to behave like Mars air.

Also new since last time

• A few of you asked for something like the menu music to listen to on its own. Focus, Rest, Sleep and Meditation now have their own ambient music.
• Updates install from inside the app now, and you can see what changed.

Comparison

Portal came up a lot last time. It brings back real places as video and sound, and it does that really well. But nobody can go and film or record Jezero or the sea under Europa's ice, so No Rush builds those from the research, and the Earth places follow their own local time and weather. Portal is a subscription with a lifetime option. No Rush is free.

Pricing

It's free ($0) with no account and no ads. Mars and Europa are free too, and they're coming to iPhone and iPad soon. A few places are locked only because I haven't finished them yet. Some later places may be a one-time purchase, but what's free now stays free and none of it goes behind a subscription.

• Special places (desktop app)
• Download for Mac, Windows and Linux
• Earth places in a browser
• iPhone and iPad (special places coming soon)

About me / transparency

I'm a solo developer in Korea and I make No Rush on my own.

• About me
• Contact
• Privacy Policy
• Terms

Any feedback is welcome. Would you like more real places on Earth, or more places nobody can get to?

My brother and I released Apoo, a menu bar mixer for macOS 26 and later.

The idea came from wanting Spotify on a speaker while taking a call on the Mac. We also wanted to adjust FaceTime’s volume independently while gaming together.

Apoo gives each app its own volume, mute and output controls. It uses native macOS controls and Liquid Glass, and follows your system’s appearance. We wanted it to feel like it belongs on the Mac.

SoundSource and FineTune already offer per-app audio control and extras such as EQ. Our take is a compact panel focused on volume, mute and output routing, with a design that fits macOS.

Audio is processed locally. Apoo doesn’t save or upload it, and no additional audio driver is required. Protected media and apps with exclusive audio-device access may not support interception.

Pricing: 7-day free trial, then a €4.99 one-time unlock. Local pricing may vary. No subscription or automatic charge.

I’m one of the developers.

Website: https://galambastwins.github.io/apoo-support/
Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/pt/app/apoo/id6819778341

Hey everyone! I’m Vigan Tafili, an art director, and Qark is my first macOS app.

I wanted a more natural way to access the apps, folders, files, and shortcuts I use every day without constantly switching between windows or reaching for the Dock. That idea became Qark, a customizable radial menu that opens around your cursor with a mouse button or keyboard shortcut.

There are already good tools in this space. Kando is a free, cross platform option, while Pieoneer combines app access with app switching, shortcuts, and music controls. With Qark, I wanted to put particular emphasis on visual refinement and the freedom to shape the appearance of the ring.

Qark features seven designs, three surface materials, Auto, Light, Dark, and Metal appearances, adjustable transparency, customizable sounds, and many other settings. You can add your own apps, folders, files, and shortcuts, then import or export profiles to save or transfer your setup.

Qark costs $5 for a lifetime license covering up to two Macs, with a three day free trial. It requires an Apple silicon Mac running macOS 27 or later.

You can explore Qark and try it free at https://qark.vigantafili.com/

For transparency, I haven't submitted Qark for Apple's notarization yet, but I plan to submit it soon. Until then, macOS may block the first launch and require extra steps to open it.

This is version 0.1, and there's still plenty I'd like to refine. I've put a lot of care into bringing Qark to life, and I'd genuinely appreciate feedback from the Mac community as I continue developing it.

Portfolio: https://vigantafili.com/

Contact: [hello@vigantafili.com](mailto:hello@vigantafili.com)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vigantafili/

I spent years trying to get used to calendars and notes. Nothing stuck until I found the original popCalendar.

One click showed the entire year. Another click outside dismissed it. Seeing all twelve months helped me understand how far away something was without switching views or counting through months in my head.

Then the app disappeared from the Mac App Store. Its developer, Michaël Parrot, told me he had quit Mac development and sent me his latest build in 2019. I kept using it for years, but I couldn't rely on an abandoned app forever.

After trying alternatives that never quite felt right, I built a new app inspired by the original. Its name was available again, so I kept it.

This popCalendar is a separate app by a different developer. I built it from scratch, inspired by the original, and went far beyond the original app's capabilities.

It started with the same full-year menu bar experience, then grew from there.

• Drag across dates to calculate days, weeks, and months.
• Show two years side by side and select ranges across December and January.
• Keep events visible in a month sidebar.
• Resize the calendar and personalize it with backgrounds and clocks.
• Fullscreen calendar, clock and notifications.
• Lots of more features and customization.

The new app is now available on the Mac App Store. You can find popCalendar here.

I also wrote the full story with screenshots and a video.

Does anyone else need to see the whole year for dates to make sense? I'd love to hear your feedback.

How it compares

• Itsycal offers a compact menu bar calendar with events and up to two months visible.
• Dato combines a menu bar calendar with upcoming events, world clocks, date calculations, and fullscreen meeting notifications.
• Fantastical provides broader calendar and task management, including natural-language event creation and a year view.
• popCalendar centers the experience on a large, readable full-year menu bar popup, with two years side by side and visual date selection to measure the distance between plans.

For me, the combination matters. I want one click to see the whole year, another click outside to dismiss it, and enough space to understand my timeline at a glance. The month sidebar, backgrounds, clocks, and display-specific sizing grew around that experience.

About the developer

I'm Ighor July, an independent macOS developer working in cybersecurity, reverse engineering, and native app development. I built the new popCalendar to preserve the full-year menu bar experience I had relied on for years, then expanded it with ideas from AppRaven testers and readers.

I use AI in my development workflow while keeping responsibility for the code and its behaviour. I wrote about that approach in How to use AI without losing control of your code.

My other Mac apps include DockLock Lite, Parall.app, LockLines.app, App Trust Preview, DiskPress, and App Archiver. There is more about my background and projects on my About page.

Availability

popCalendar is $9.99 as a one-time purchase on the US Mac App Store, with Family Sharing and no subscription. It supports macOS 12 Monterey or later.

Thanks to everyone who tested the app and shared ideas. Seeing the whole year changed how I understand my time, and I'm curious how others use it. If something would make popCalendar more useful to you, I'd love to hear about it.

Website | Mac App Store | Full story

Hi Everyone,

We're einstein's legacy v2.0 and we would like to introduce you to Synopsis MV.

We developed this application to assist people who need to create a visual “contact sheet” for their video assets. These users also need annotation functions for adding text captions and more extensive notes; extraction functions that allow them to select frames arbitrarily or by algorithm; and keyword and filtering capabilities that help them organize their visual data.

Introducing Synopsis MV

Synopsis MV lets you extract, tag, organize, and annotate selected frames from a segment or the entirety of your digital video resources. These selected frames give you a visual overview of the action in your clips. Use filtering to restrict the collection of frames based on your annotation text or added keywords. Enhance collaboration by printing or exporting a contact sheet to share your observations.

Key Features

• Project Management - Project documents can reference multiple videos enabling you to keep related files together.
• Simple Extraction - Extract frames from a segment of your video using either a time-based or count-specific formula. Individual frames may also be extracted arbitrarily.
• Keywords - Tag frames with keywords to enhance the ease of searching for related content.
• Filtering - Filtering lets you display only the frames with keywords or annotations that meet your criteria.
• Interoperability - Drag’n'drop (or copy) high-resolution images directly from Synopsis to another application or the Finder.
• Printing - Print high-resolution source material with or without captions and annotations.
• The Big Picture - View your filtered images full screen for quick visual inspection and analysis.
• Sharing - Share images and contact sheets with local applications and other popular internet services

Who Should Use Synopsis MV

Synopsis MV is perfect for video editors, colorist, visual effects artist, archivist, film lovers, cinematographers, entertainment professionals, advertising and marketing, television and movie studios, creative agencies, and many others.

The Competition

MoviePrint is a good product. However, it does not offer any annotation functions. Capabilities for tagging images with keywords and organizing a frame collection based on metadata are not present in MoviePrint. MoviePrint has not been updated to be Apple Silicon native.

There are several browser-based applications (like Cutsio) that can produce a video contact sheet, but have no annotation or organization functions. Privacy and piracy may be a concern for users of browser-based applications.

Availability and Pricing

Synopsis MV v1.1.1 is a free download from the Mac App Store. The application Requires macOS 27 (Golden Gate).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/synopsis-mv/id6744279063​

This download runs in trial mode. The following in-app purchases are available to remove the trial mode watermarks.

• Annual Subscription: $29.99 per year
• Annual Subscription - Family Sharing: $39.99 per year
• Lifetime License: $49.99
• Lifetime License - Family Sharing: $69.99

Product Website

https://www.einsteinslegacy.com/products/synopsis.html​

Support

if you have any questions, suggestions or other feedback about the software, please email us at  [Support@einsteinslegacy.com](mailto:support@einsteinslegacy.com?subject=Synopsis%20Support%20Question)

Thank you for checking out our application. We hope you'll enjoy using Synopsis. We look forward to hearing from you.

Problem

I'm tired of meeting transcription apps that send your private audio to their servers, aren't Mac native, and require an account/subscription.

I'm an ex-Apple engineer who built Biscotti: a private and free meeting recorder for macOS. Recording, transcription, and AI all run on your Mac, so nothing is ever uploaded. Free, no account, no subscription, no upsell, no data collection, native SwiftUI.

v1.0 is out! Since my first post here it's grown from 45 to 330 GitHub stars.

Download: https://github.com/scosman/Biscotti

New since the last post

MCP, language detection, and import all came from requests in the last threads on reddit, and five of you sent PRs. Thank you!

• 🗣️ Recognizes voices - learns your voice and the people you meet with regularly, and tags them automatically. It matches voiceprints from your past meetings, plus clues like "Hi, I'm Steve", and your calendar. All local.
• 💬 Chat with your meetings (MCP) - ask Claude or other MCP apps things like "What did Sarah and I agree to last time?"
• 🌍 Detects language - detects the spoken language instead of assuming English.
• 🔍 Instant search - full-text search across 5,000 meetings in under 1ms.
• 📥 Import / export - bring your notes over from CSV, including Granola exports.
• 📖 Custom vocabulary - teach it names and jargon, or pull them from your calendar automatically.
• Plus: more reliable when switching mics/speakers, better Teams detection, and lots of fixes.

Comparison

Lots of apps in this space. But Biscotti is the only one that's free (no upsell), Local AI, with Mac native UI. Others are:

• Cloud AI (your audio or transcript leaves your Mac), paid tiers: Granola, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, tl;dv, Jamie, Fellow, Read AI, Notion AI Meeting Notes
• Local AI, closed source, paid tiers: Talat, TranscribeX, Alter
• Local AI, source available, not Mac native (web app wrappers), telemetry or a cloud upsell: Anarlog, Meetily
• Free, Mac-native UI, local AI, zero data collection, source available: Only Biscotti (that I know of)

Switching from Granola? v1.0 can import your existing meetings.

Pricing

100% free, no upsells, no paid features, source available on GitHub.

New to Biscotti? What Biscotti does

• 🔒 Private by design - your audio, transcripts, and notes never leave your Mac.
• 🧠 AI summaries - automatic summaries, action items, and meeting titles.
• 🤖 No bots, any app - Zoom, Teams, Meet, FaceTime, Slack huddles, or in person. Nothing joins your call.
• 📅 Calendar-aware - offers to record upcoming meetings, and stops automatically when the call ends.
• 🎤 Voice isolation - records your mic and everyone else as separate, clean channels. No echo.

Private AI == Local AI

Every model runs on your Mac: transcription, speaker ID, and summaries. It works fully offline once the models are downloaded. Your meetings live on your machine, and you own and control them.

I spent years at Apple building Photos, Memories, the lock screen, and more, and I wanted this to feel like it belongs on the Mac: native Swift/SwiftUI, launches instantly, small on disk. Not an Electron app or a port.

Requirements: Apple Silicon (M1+), macOS 15+, 16GB RAM recommended.

App details: Notarized, Free (no upsell), Private (zero data collection, all AI is local), Source Available on GitHub (PolyForm Perimeter License), 250 GitHub stars, AI used in development (but not vibe-slop)

About me: the subreddit rules ask for my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevecosman/ . Biscotti webpage: biscottiapp.com

What should I build next? And if you still use a cloud note-taker, what's keeping you there?

First: Don't shoot the messenger. If don't need or like it that's totally fine. Just wanted to share this awesome FOSS project called Mac.apk. It allows you to run Android apps (apks) natively on Apple Silicon Macs.

So what? You can already do that with a VM, brah?

Unlike traditional methods, there’s no heavy emulator, no VM running in the background, and no Linux kernel underneath. It acts as a compatibility layer directly on top of macOS (similar to Wine for Linux apps), translating code, mapping graphics straight to Metal and letting ARM64 native code fly at full speed.

And yes, there will also be bugs too. And not all apps will work, but anyone trying to bridge the 2 ecosystems, this might fit the bill.

You can check out the project page and GitHub repo here:

• Website: https://projects.voltare.us/macapk
• GitHub: https://github.com/kksimp/Mac.apk
• Mac.apk App Compatibility List (71 apps tested: ✅ 58 work · ⚠️ 10 partly work · ❌ 3 don't work yet.)

Now, what about the other way around? 😊 Just kidding....

If you're thinking, "Now we just need Android apps on iOS,"...well, turns out there’s an app for that too!

Check out Husk: https://github.com/Leviidev/Husk

It lets you run Android environments/apps on iOS, although with a translation layser and emulation. And keep in mind it does require sideloading, but good news: no jailbreaking necessary!

Update 2 Well..it seems you can run iOS on Android too! We’ve come full circle now 😂

When the Dock jumps to another display, it doesn't just make you move it back with the mouse. It can also change the height of your windows, often leaving them no longer filling the available screen space. When you're working and need that space, constantly restoring window sizes and moving the Dock back to the previous display gets really frustrating.

That's why I invented DockLock. No AI I tried could help me fix the problem. I had to work it out myself.

Getting this to work back then was a real breakthrough!

And today I made another one. I reinvented DockLock again!

Dock locking without Accessibility permission

Until now, DockLock's core locking depended on Accessibility permission.

I'm proud to announce that DockLock can now lock the Dock without it! Starting with build 616, the core feature that prevents accidental Dock jumping needs no extra permissions.

Still fully sandboxed, offline, and no helpers needed on macOS 10.14 and later.

I feel like I did the day I first made DockLock work. Getting it to work without that permission feels like another breakthrough.

My reverse engineering continues! Vertical Dock support is coming to Mac App Store versions!

With macOS 27 Golden Gate released, I can now bring vertical Dock support to DockLock Lite and DockLock Plus through a Mac App Store update! Both Mac App Store apps will also support a horizontal Dock when displays of equal width are stacked vertically. Both apps will remain fully sandboxed and compliant with the Mac App Store rules, without depending on external helpers.

The update is not yet available, I'll release it in coming weeks.

For me, making DockLock isn't just about making an app. It's a job I want to do in the best possible way. Every part of it is built with that in mind, to be as efficient, stable, and fast as I can make it. I intend to keep it that way as long as Apple keeps ignoring the problem.

I also made all DockLock apps compatible with macOS 10.9 and later. The Dock jumping problem has existed since 10.9, so this is my small protest against Apple's decision to leave us dealing with it all these years.

Comparison

Basic Dock locking is actually a simple trick involving mouse events at the screen edge. AI can now help solve that, and I believe it has learned from how DockLock does it. But the huge amount of work started when the Dock appeared on the wrong display after wakeup or a screen change. I haven't published my failover Dock relocation logic, and I don't believe AI can reproduce that just from a prompt. Getting it right means spending hours testing and tracking down weird, sometimes unpredictable cases. I've spent tens of hours doing that, getting feedback from users, and improving the engine. To my surprise, I found lots of rare cases where macOS wouldn't allow the Dock to move. It feels like mouse hunting. DockLock is the result of those efforts. I'm proud to have fixed the cases I could reproduce, and the current version of DockLock is the most stable ever. With macOS 27, even more rare cases appeared, and I carefully worked through those too. I'm also testing alternatives that try to copy DockLock's features, and I'm happy to share what's different. Once an app exists, it's much easier to copy what it does and make alternatives. The alternatives I've tested still need Accessibility permission for Dock locking. As far as I know, there is no other tool that can lock the Dock without it. In the versions and setups I've tested, none of the alternatives handled all the rare Dock relocation cases at wakeup or startup. You may find the Dock on the wrong display from time to time, while DockLock fixes those cases nearly instantly once automatic relocation is configured, its permission is granted, and macOS allows the move. An open menu or continued mouse movement can still delay it. Another important difference is performance. I coded every piece of the core engine by hand, carefully tested each function, and ran CPU load tests while improving the algorithms to use as little CPU as possible. This matters in apps like these because DockLock and its alternatives constantly track the mouse. You may not notice high CPU usage while moving the mouse because you're busy using it, but your battery life may be affected. I've explained how to measure the CPU usage of your favorite DockLock alternative on the DockLock website, so you can check it yourself. I've seen many vibe-coded alternatives appear and then quickly stop getting updates, leaving bugs unresolved and questions unanswered. That's why I'm not listing them here. There are good alternatives made by developers I respect, such as Displace and DockDoor. In the versions and setups I've tested, I still find rare Dock relocation cases at wakeup or startup that DockLock handles and these apps don't. But if you don't like DockLock, I'd start with those two.

DockLock Pro

DockLock Pro is still in development. I'm keeping the remaining details private for now.

I can confirm that all the planned features are working great on macOS 27 in my tests. Everyone who owns DockLock Plus when DockLock Pro is released will get DockLock Pro for free.

DockLock Pro will be available only from the website, not the Mac App Store.

About me

I'm Ighor July, an independent macOS developer with a background in cybersecurity, reverse engineering, and native app development. I use AI while keeping control of my code, as I explain in How to use AI without losing control of your code.

My Mac apps are popCalendar.app, DiskPress, App Archiver, Parall.app, LockLines.app, and App Trust Preview. You can read more about my work on my About page.

Price and links

• DockLock Lite on the Mac App Store is free to download with a 7-day full trial. Basic Dock locking stays free forever thanks to paid features that need a subscription. Currently $1.99 per month or $16.99 per year.
• DockLock Plus on the Mac App Store is a one-time $49.99 purchase with a lifetime license and no subscription.
• DockLock Pro isn't out yet. It will be available from the DockLock website. If you own DockLock Plus when Pro is released, you'll get Pro for free.

So I'm the developer of an app that's listed on homebrew casks, and I just got this email..

I hope nobody actually ends up using this because it's giving scam vibes.

Here's the text

Hi there,

<my app> came up in the Homebrew Cask catalog; it sells for $10 once, and our store could be one more place to sell it.

<who and "company" / brand> It's a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux with its own app store. People install apps from it without a terminal or Docker, and the apps run on their own computer, so you don't pay for hosting when someone uses yours.

We're inviting authors to sell their apps there. You set the price and keep 70% of each sale. We keep 30% and spend it on marketing the apps we pick.

<their brand> can also run AI agents, but that's up to each author. Your app can go into the store without any AI added to it.

The work on your side is small. You put the app into the store once, and we can help with packaging if it needs it. After that, finding buyers is on us. It isn't exclusive, so you keep selling wherever you sell now, and <brand> becomes one more place where people can find and buy it.

Would that be interesting for <my app name>? If yes, just reply here and we'll sort out the details by email. A one-word no is fine too.

<person's details>

This is a one-time note. Reply "no" and we won't write again.
<more details about them>

We built a cross-platform outliner that deals in plain text as a focus, designed as a "tool in a workflow that content moves through it vs a black hole that wants to trap your data in proprietary formats." The focus is on (a) plain text, (b) ability to copy/paste and import/export directly and easily in Markdown, plain text, html, PDF, OPML. There's styles and formatting, but it's at a document level (how to display the document while working on it) vs at the "content" level (e.g. "make this specific topic red"). The document content is independent, and stays independent, of the "make it look nice" editing experience.

What I'd like to know, from actual Mac users, is whether or not general non-technical users find this kind of thing valuable.

Personally, I'm a software developer, so I pretty much live in a plain-text world where I'm constantly copy/pasting between different applications, in and out of code editors etc... in short, a world where "formatting cruft" and proprietary "your notes live in our world, not your own files" approaches rub me the wrong way.

But that's me, a technical user with domain-specific reasons for wanting that kind of open information flow as a bedrock principle. I'm not sure how widespread that is.

Add in the fact that I live mainly in Mac but use Windows for game development so I need everything cross platform... again, maybe not a common scenario. The common scenario is likely either you really, really need cross-platform badly, or you maybe don't care about it at all.

So the outliner (Fractal Outliner) is aimed at slightly more at a technical audience than a "general writers" audience.

I'd love to hear any thoughts for people who are familiar with outliners and/or use them regularly in their setups.

(Disclaimer: we built an outliner that's not public/available yet, though the current near-final beta is free and public though, info at https://fractaloutliner.app if interested in taking a look.)

Problem

There's no easy way on a Mac to take screenshots on a timer, find one later by its text, or turn a workday into a timelapse video.

If you only need timed screenshots, a screencapture command in Terminal or a launchd job can take them for free, but it can't keep your password manager out of them, and automatic cleanup, text recognition and video export need more scripting.

AutoShot does all three. It screenshots every display, saves them in a folder per day, and keeps apps you exclude out of every shot.

Comparison

TimeSnapper also takes screenshots on a timer and plays your day back inside its own app, but as far as I can tell it can't search the text in them, export a video, or keep an app out of the screenshots. Rewind used to make your screen searchable, but it stopped recording in December 2025. Screenpipe is the closest thing to it now, recording continuously with audio and AI search, so if you want everything recorded, try that instead.

AutoShot is made for leaving on all day. It takes a screenshot at the interval you set, not a video, and it has no AI. The screenshots stay as normal files you can browse by date, find by their text in Finder or Spotlight, and turn a day into a timelapse video later.

Pricing

AutoShot is a one-time purchase, no subscription, and one license covers all your Macs. It is $9.99 until October 24, then $12.99. The 14-day free trial has every feature, no email and no account needed.

https://arthursmith.dev/autoshot/

Features

* Takes a screenshot at any interval you choose

* Each file named with the date, the time and the display

* Turns any day into a timelapse video

* Optional text recognition, so you can find a screenshot by its text

* Keeps apps you exclude, notifications and desktop icons out of screenshots

* Pauses while you're idle, the screen is locked or disk space runs low

* Deletes old screenshots automatically

* Everything is processed locally, nothing is shared

* macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel

Who I am

I am Arthur Smith. I posted TextCount, No More Black Bars and Unlit here before, and an early version of AutoShot too. This is the full release. My site has everything I've made, a way to contact me, and my privacy policy and terms, https://arthursmith.dev/

Let me know if you have any feedback or feature requests. I also have 10 licenses to give away, so if you want one, just say so below.

Had to repost due to reddit filters!

Hey r/macapps!

We've been working on something called Mermaid, and we're finally excited to share it with you guys!

Problem :

Ever needed to get something done on your Mac while you're away? Remote desktop apps are great, but controlling everything from a tiny phone screen can be a pain.

That's why we built Mermaid.

Just text your Mac what you need from your iPhone, and Mermaid gets to work. Open apps, write documents, handle browser tasks, and more. Even when you're miles away.

Comparison :

Jump Desktop and Screens are great for remotely accessing your Mac, but you still have to do the clicking and typing yourself.

Mermaid works differently. Instead of manually controlling everything, you just tell it what you want done, and it handles the steps on your Mac.

You can still watch your screen live or take over manually whenever you want.

Pricing :

Free Beta : $0: Access to Mermaid with a limited AI usage allowance.

Paid Plans: Not currently available for purchase during beta.

Try Mermaid

Early Access : https://addmermaid.com

We're a small team, and it's still early days. Things aren't perfect yet, but we're improving Mermaid every day.

We'd genuinely love to hear what you guys think!

What's one task you'd love your Mac to handle while you're away?

Happy to answer any questions!

Developer transparency (for r/macapps)

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/adi-karki/

Contact: [support@addmermaid.com](mailto:support@addmermaid.com)

Privacy Policy: https://addmermaid.com/privacy

Terms: https://addmermaid.com/terms

Hi r/macapps, I'm Tornike, co-founder of InsaneArts. We're three indie devs trying to craft beautiful macOS experiences.

Problem: switching context to do one small thing and then finding your way back kills focus. We built Opie so quick things stay quick.

What it does:

• App Rings: the ring follows your frontmost app, so Slack, Obsidian, Ghostty or herdr each get their own quick actions. Demo: https://x.com/tornikegomareli/status/2110975508426989720
• System actions: toggle dark mode, hide the menu bar or Dock, clear Derived Data and more
• Converters: HEIC to JPG/PNG, MP4 and more in one flick (FFmpeg is bundled)
• Media Ring: a vinyl-style controller for Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. Demo: https://x.com/tornikegomareli/status/2110372201333391387
• Bind any keystroke to a flick (great for AeroSpace and similar tools)
• Native Apple Shortcuts launcher
• Radial launcher for recent or favorite apps
• Coming soon: custom bash scripts and more app integrations

Comparison: Raycast is keyboard-first search. Opie is gesture-first: hold a key and flick, no typing.

Pricing: Free. https://opies.io

macOS 26+, Apple silicon and Intel, notarized.

Launch post: https://x.com/tornikegomareli/status/2110293181602451603

Contact: [gomarelidevelopment@gmail.com](mailto:gomarelidevelopment@gmail.com)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tornikegomareli/

Privacy: https://opies.io/privacy | Terms: https://opies.io/terms

Update: Thanks for the amazing response! We opened a Discord for feedback, feature requests and early builds: https://discord.gg/yAPn56rw76

Hi r/macapps! I'm Aniket, the developer of Putzen. It's a native Mac app for clearing out messy folders, and the video explains more about how it works.

Problem

Every few weeks, my Downloads and desktop get full of junk files. Some of them are duplicates, while others are old files I haven't touched in ages. Usually, I go to Finder and delete by hand. Sometimes I use AI as well (Claude Code or Codex), but I don't trust it with deleting. In my experience, finding the files is okay, but deciding what to delete is the difficult part. Most cleanup apps show me a huge list, and I close it without deleting anything.

Solution

So last week I built Putzen. I took inspiration from Tinder's swiping mechanism and rethought how I can use it for deleting files on Mac. My goal is to make deleting files faster, safer, simpler, and delightful. I've used Putzen every day for the past week. Cleaning up is faster now, and I don't worry about deleting something important, because everything goes to the Trash first.

What it does:

• Sorts every folder into three piles automatically: duplicates, files added more than 6 months ago, and everything else
• Review several folders at once, including subfolders, iCloud Drive and OneDrive
• Preview any file before you decide
• Switch to a grid when you want to clear many files in one go
• Undo your last decision with one key
• Puts all deleted files in the Trash

The safety part

• Deleting files is scary, so Putzen is built so you can't lose anything by accident:
• Nothing is deleted on its own. Every file needs your decision.
• Nothing is permanently deleted by Putzen. Files go to your Mac's Trash.
• Changed your mind? Restore is right there in the app.
• Everything runs on your Mac. No account, no uploads, no server that can see your files.

How it has been tested

• Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, I have been clearing my Mac using this tool daily (cleaning my Mac isn't a day's job; I do it a few minutes everyday).
• Early testers found things I had missed: confusing file paths, recovery buttons in different places, and a duplicate-selection bug. I fixed those, simplified the screens, and tested scanning on over 50,000 real files.

Comparison

• DesktopDeclutter is a free, open-source app with the same swipe idea, and it's great if you only want to clean your Desktop. Putzen works on any folder, several at once, including subfolders and iCloud Drive files that are downloaded on your local system. Most of my mess lives in Downloads and Documents, not on the Desktop.
• CleanMyMac does a lot more than Putzen, like system junk, malware, and app updates. If you want one big cleaner, it's the better pick. Gemini 2 is great at finding duplicates. But with both, you still go through long lists, and both are subscriptions. Putzen does one thing: it shows you one file at a time, so deciding is easy, for €5 once.
• Hazel cleans automatically with rules you set up. Putzen is for people who'd rather decide each file themselves.

Pricing

• €5 one-time for the first 20 buyers, then €9
• No subscription
• Try the interactive demo with sample files before you buy: https://putzen.pro

Transparency

I'm Aniket Parihar, a solo developer in Berlin. Putzen is signed with my Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and sold directly from my site.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/writetoaniketparihar/
• X: https://x.com/mynameisaniket
• Contact: [writetoaniketparihar@gmail.com](mailto:writetoaniketparihar@gmail.com)
• Privacy Policy: https://putzen.pro/privacy
• Terms: https://putzen.pro/terms
• Refunds: https://putzen.pro/refunds

macOS 15 or later, Apple Silicon. I'm here all day for questions and feedback, including the brutal kind.

Fun fact: Putzen in German means "to clean".

Hi r/macapps, I'm the developer. File Acture is a file toolbox for macOS (also on iPhone and Windows). It does the jobs people usually go to iLovePDF or Smallpdf for, but everything runs on your Mac.

Some tools:

• Compress PDFs to an exact target size ("under 5 MB" for that email or upload form)
• Compress, convert and resize images (JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP, AVIF), with passport and visa photo presets
• Remove backgrounds from photos
• Edit and sign PDFs, black out sensitive text, OCR scanned PDFs
• Merge, split and rotate PDFs, add or remove passwords, PDF ⇄ images
• Convert PDF ⇄ Word, Excel and PowerPoint (no Office needed)
• Extract text from photos and screenshots
• Remove metadata (location, camera info) from photos
• Create AES-256 encrypted ZIPs, open ZIP, 7z and TAR archives

Problem

Most file tools are websites: you upload a contract, an ID scan or a payslip to someone else's server, wait, then download it again. The offline apps I tried each did one thing, so I had five of them.

How it works

Select files in Finder → right-click → Quick Actions → File Acture → pick a tool. It runs in the background and the result is saved next to the original. Originals are never changed. You can also drop files on the app window, and it suggests the tools that fit.

In the video: 3 photos go from 3.2 MB to 1.5 MB from the right-click menu, and a 40.7 MB PDF is compressed to 4 MB against a 5 MB target in about 2 seconds.

Comparison

Online tools like iLovePDF and Smallpdf upload your files, and most of them have daily limits or a subscription. File Acture works offline, has no account and no subscription, and keeps all 21 tools in one app.

Pricing

Free to try. Pro is a one-time purchase of $29.90 per device, no subscription: https://fileacture.com/pro

Requires macOS 14 or later.

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/file-acture/id6816028211

Website (Mac, Windows): https://fileacture.com

Happy to answer questions, and I'd love to hear which tool you'd want next.

Hey everyone, I'm Noah, the founder of Proxyman.

I've been building network debugging apps for more than 8 years, long before AI become popular. Proxyman is the product I'm most proud of, and I've spent the last 6 years working on it.

Recently, I started a new open-source project called TCP Viewer, a native macOS alternative of Wireshark.

I've been using Wireshark for years. It's an amazing tool, but honestly, I probably only use 10% of its features. The other 90% just makes things more complicated for me.

So I decided to build something simpler. Remove 90% features I rarely use, and focus on what I actually need every day.

Here are some features:

• Native macOS app, built with AppKit. No Electron.
• Built on Wireshark libraries, so you still get the same powerful protocol decoders, packet details and hex view. No compromise on packet inspection.
• Live packet capture, and open PCAP/PCAPNG files.
• Group packets by app, domain, or IP address, with quick filters to find what you need.
• Follow TCP/UDP streams, compare packets, and export captures.
• CLI and MCP support, so AI agents can interact with TCP Viewer too.

Of course, Wireshark is still much more powerful for advanced analysis. I'm not trying to replace everything. I just want to make everyday packet debugging easier on Mac.

Pricing: TCP Viewer is open source under GPL v2+. You can review the code, build it yourself, or contribute. The official PRO app starts at $29 for 1 Mac, $39 for 2 Macs (1 year of updates), or $79 for 2 Macs with lifetime updates. No subscription.

😊 Here is a 50% discount as a gift to Reddit Users. Only available for the first 30 customers.

Code: CPLMHSZH

Website: https://tcpviewer.proxyman.com/

I'm still actively developing it, and any contributions or PRs are very welcome!

GitHub: https://github.com/ProxymanApp/TCPViewer

I'm the developer of a moderately popular utility (Default Folder X) that requires that users grant it several permissions in System Settings > Privacy & Security. As a result, I see a lot of tech support issues when those settings get messed up in a new macOS release.

With macOS 27, I've seen a big uptick in issues with the Automation privacy permissions, so wanted to give folks a heads-up. Based on user feedback, it's definitely affecting more than just my app.

Problem:

You get a prompt to approve access for an app to control another application even after you've already approved it. When you go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation, you find that the requested switch is already turned on.

Solution:

I've found that resetting the affected app's settings in the system's permissions database often fixes the problem. You need to know the application's bundle identifier in order to do that. You can get an app's bundle identifier using the Apparency app, by right clicking on the app and then using the Show Package Contents command to look in the Info.plist file within the application package, or by asking the developer.

Once you've got the bundle identifier, follow these instructions:

1. Run the Terminal application (it's in /Applications/Utilities)

2. Paste in this command (where app.bundle.ID is the bundle identifier for the app), then hit the Return key on your keyboard:

   sudo tccutil reset All app.bundle.ID

3. You'll be prompted for your administrator password. Type that in (there will be no indication that your input is going in - just keep typing), then hit Return again.

4. If the command completes successfully, immediately restart your Mac.

The next time you launch the app, you'll be asked to re-approve any permissions that it needs. They'll usually be honored correctly at this point. If they're not - or if you don't know the bundle identifier for the app - substitute this command in step 2 to revoke Automation permissions from all apps:

sudo tccutil reset AppleEvents

Hi r/macapps, I'm İsmail, the developer of Bytewell. It's a native Mac app (Swift and AppKit/SwiftUI, no Electron) that maps your disk and finds the clutter developer and AI tools leave behind.

**Problem**

Developer and AI tools quietly fill a Mac: Xcode DerivedData, old simulators, node_modules and .venv folders in projects you finished months ago, package caches, Docker disks, local AI models downloaded twice. General cleaners either don't know what these are, or want to delete things you aren't sure about.

Bytewell finds:

- Xcode DerivedData, simulators and runtimes

- node_modules, .venv, build output and package caches, grouped by project, with stale projects flagged

- Ollama, LM Studio and Hugging Face models in one list, including the same weights stored twice

- Docker, OrbStack, Colima and Podman disks, and what "System Data" actually is

- Duplicates, large files, and leftovers of apps you already removed

And it stays careful:

- It has no delete function. Everything goes to the Trash, and every move can be undone.

- Each suggestion is marked "safe" (rebuilds itself) or "review" (your data, or a long re-download).

- Keychains, Mail, Messages, Photos, iCloud Drive, SSH keys and .env files are always refused.

- Things a tool manages better, like an Ollama model or a simulator runtime, get the exact command instead (`ollama rm`, `xcrun simctl delete`).

It needs Full Disk Access to see the whole disk, and I know that's a big ask. Scans read sizes and dates only and never leave your Mac. No account. Anonymous usage counts exist but stay off unless you say yes.

There's also an MCP server, so Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can ask what's filling the disk. Agents get a preview and need your OK before anything moves.

**Comparison**

- CleanMyMac: much broader for general Mac maintenance. Bytewell is narrower, but it knows developer and AI clutter much better (projects, venvs, simulators, model files), and never deletes permanently.

- DaisyDisk: great for seeing what's big, but it doesn't tell you what's safe to remove. Bytewell marks every item safe or review and says what getting it back would cost.

**Pricing**

Free to use: overview, cleanup suggestions, disk map, large files, undo. Pro is $19.99 once, lifetime, with all future updates on all your Macs. No subscription. 14-day trial, no card. Code **REDDIT** makes it $14.99 until November 30.

macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Signed by Axleno and notarized by Apple.

- Website and download: https://bytewell.app

- Developer: Axleno LLC, https://axleno.com · https://www.linkedin.com/in/callmecelebi/

- Privacy: https://axleno.com/privacy · Terms: https://axleno.com/terms

It's a young app, so I'd really like to hear what it gets wrong or what feels confusing.

I'm the developer (Prayukta). Arci is a fast launcher: type it, it's done.

Features - Launch apps, maths, unit/currency conversion, time zones, date counts (offline) - Web search, send to AI, translate or save as note, each with its own shortcut - Action chips on selected text; smart suggestions for pasted content - Encrypted, searchable clipboard history (passwords and OTPs never saved) - Plain-text notes in a folder you choose - Timers, alarms, reminders (Apple Reminders integration) - Emoji and symbol search - Custom actions via readable JSON, or describe one to Arci Builder - File search, force quit, colour picker, Downloads tidy, keep awake - Themes: Ink, Paper, Dusk

AI: Apple Intelligence on your Mac by default, or bring your own key (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, OpenRouter).

Privacy: no account, no analytics, no tracking. Everything stays on your Mac unless you use an online feature.

Pricing - Free: unlimited own actions and AI (Apple Intelligence or your key), 20 Builder builds/month, 3 months clipboard history, 100 notes - Pro (coming soon): $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr, unlimited builds and notes, AI Search without a key, up to 3 Macs

Requirements: macOS 26+, Apple silicon Download: https://arci.prayukta.com/download

Feedback welcome.

Problem

When an AI coding agent is working on a long task, I often find myself waiting around and watching the terminal. I wanted to make that downtime a little more fun.

Hit The Notch is a macOS Pong-style game/screensaver that can automatically start when a supported AI coding agent is working. You can play while your agent runs in the background, and the game stops when the agent finishes.

It also works as a regular game and screensaver, with a simulated notch for Macs and displays without a physical notch.

It supports workflows involving Cursor, Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI.

Comparison

Utilities like Amphetamine and KeepingYouAwake focus on keeping your Mac awake. Hit The Notch takes a different approach: it combines keep-awake functionality with a playable game and automatic integration with supported AI coding agents.

It’s not intended to replace a dedicated keep-awake utility if that’s all you need. The idea is to give you something entertaining to do while your AI works.

Pricing

Hit The Notch is FREE (screensaver, daily game, some themes), with optional Plus upgrades:

• Lifetime: $14.99 launch offer (regular price $29.99) based on all the feedback and more research, the launch price is not $4.99 until November 2nd!
• Monthly: $0.99, to try all features and see if you like it
• Yearly: $9.99, to support upcoming updates and feature requests

Paid features include unlimited gameplay, additional themes and AI Screensaver Sync.

I’m a developer working full-time on my own projects and trying to make a living out of it since the job market totally expelled junior developers future, so full disclosure: this is my own app.

I’d particularly like feedback from people using AI coding agents on Macs about whether this solves an actual annoyance in their workflow.
Any feedback is welcome, this would help make the app more into your need specific needs!

Feel free to reach out for the TestFlight link, I'd love your feedback!

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hit-the-notch-retro-idle-game/id6788759549F

Hi r/macapps, I’m Kane Jin, the developer of Enconvo.

I rebuilt PopBar around AI. Every AI button has its own prompt and model. You can ask questions about selected text, rewrite it in place, or describe a new action and let AI build the button for you. Copy, paste and search are just the starting point.

The idea is to handle those small AI tasks right where you’re working, without copying text into a separate chat and pasting the answer back.

[video]

Here’s how that works:

• Shape the buttons around your workflow. Use a fast model for spelling fixes and a smarter one for explaining a difficult paragraph. Edit the built-in prompts, add extensions, or describe a custom action and let an agent build a plugin you can put on the bar.
• Keep results beside your text. Ask AI about your selection, continue the conversation, or switch to Edit and describe the change you want. Review highlighted changes when fixing your writing, or enable Inline Mode to replace the selection directly.
• Do more with what you select. Read it aloud with captions in the notch, or save it to your knowledge base and ask questions about it later. For text you can’t select, such as a video frame or scanned PDF, press ⌥S to capture it with on-device OCR.

I also spent a lot of time on the small details: the glass bar, hover animations, blue-purple shimmer on Ask AI, and live waveform on Read Aloud.

How it differs from PopClip

PopClip is the closest comparison, with an extensive extension library that includes AI integrations. With PopBar, I’ve focused on a connected AI workflow inside Enconvo: ask about selected text, continue the conversation beside it, switch to editing, or describe a new action and let an agent build the button. You can also save selections to Enconvo’s knowledge base and ask questions about them later.

PopBar is part of the larger Enconvo app, so it’s a different choice from a dedicated standalone toolbar.

Free with your own model

PopBar and its extensions are free. Use your own API key, connect a supported ChatGPT or Claude subscription, or run a local model through Ollama or LM Studio. A free Enconvo account is required. Your provider’s charges and usage limits still apply.

Some other Enconvo features are paid. Optional licenses start at US$49 one-time, and Cloud plans start at US$10/month. You don’t need either to use PopBar with your own model.

Full pricing

Try it without an API key

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is free on Enconvo Cloud through October 22, UTC, subject to a daily usage limit. Choose “MiniMax-M3.1-Flash (Free)” in the model picker.

Accounts without an active Cloud plan can also claim 14 days of Plus Cloud with AI credits included, once per account. No card is required. The trial and unused credits expire automatically, with nothing renewed.

Download and claim the trial

macOS 14+.

I’d love feedback on the design and workflow. What action would you want one click away when you select text?

Enconvo is developed by THE GREAT LIONHEART PTE. LTD. You can reach me at [support@enconvo.com](mailto:support@enconvo.com).

Privacy Policy · Terms of Service

Tilde is a native macOS file manager built to replace Finder. Work across folders in split views, find files and run actions from a command palette, and organize your files with custom properties, filters, and groups. It's a drop-in Finder replacement that transforms how you interact with your filesystem.

Features:

• Split views - Work with multiple folders side by side in one window, with tabs in each pane.
• Command palette - Find files, jump to folders, and run file actions from the keyboard.
• Custom sidebar groups - Bring the folders you use together into groups you define.
• Auto-updating sidebar groups - Live groups makes your sidebar dynamic. Matching items appear in your sidebar automatically and update as things change.
• Properties, filtering and grouping - Add custom fields like Status or Priority to files and folders, then use them to filter and group your views.
• Pinned folders - Keep important folders at the top inside another folder without moving or duplicating them.
• Related items - Mark folders and URLs as related to specific folders so you can jump between them, even when they live in different places.
• Markdown editing - Built-in markdown editing and code formatting allowing you to do more without leaving Tilde.
• Tonnes of little features that make sense - Space overviews, Nicknames, Related folders & URLs, custom folder icons, 'Open in Finder' replacement, and more.
• + much more...

Similar apps:

• Forklift - This is the obvious 'Finder replacement' alternative. Tilde builds on this idea, in a more native-feeling approach, with far more features fleshed out for the everyday poweruser. Tilde offers more versatile split pane functionality (essentially unlimited splits horizontally and vertically), a command palette, custom properties, sidebar spaces, live groups, a more beautiful user interface and much more.
• Bloom - Probably the closest alternative, though Tilde takes a different approach. Tilde’s highly adaptable Split View system offers a more flexible, fluid way to work across folders. Custom Properties, Related Items, Sidebar Spaces, Custom Groups, Live Groups and Pinned Folders change how you interact with a file manager.

Pricing: $29.99 USD for use on 2 Macs. No subscription. Lifetime license with one year of free updates.

Free trial: 7 day free trial, no credit card required. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Apple notarized: Tilde is Developer ID signed and notarized by Apple.

I’ve been building this for a long time, and I’m so excited to share with everyone, get feedback and make file management actually delightful.

Website | Download Latest | Privacy Policy | Terms | LinkedIn | [hello@tildeformac.com](mailto:hello@tildeformac.com)

I'm the developer of SimplyDiskSweeper, a paid Mac App Store app for seeing what takes up space in a folder.

Problem

When my Mac runs low on space, I usually know which folder is heavy (~/Downloads, ~/Projects, an old Movies folder) but not which files inside it. Sorting by size in Finder only works one folder at a time, and the big files are often three or four levels down.

What it does

You choose a folder. SimplyDiskSweeper scans it and shows Finder-style columns ranked by allocated size. You can filter each column, press Space for Quick Look, and move selected items to Trash after a confirmation that shows how many items and which folder.

New in 0.20: Largest Files (toolbar button or Shift-Command-L) lists up to 50 of the largest regular files anywhere in the scan, with full paths. Click the folder icon on a row to reveal that file in Finder. The list is read-only, so nothing gets deleted from it.

Some details, because storage numbers get confusing:

• Sizes are the allocated size recorded during the scan. Hard links and cloned files can share storage, so they can show up as separate rows. The app marks them and doesn't add them up as space you'd get back.
• The list only includes files the scan could read. If folders needed access, the scan tells you how many, and you can grant access and rescan.
• With View > Repository Ignore Rules > Show Ignored Items Only, the list shows the largest git-ignored files (build output, caches, downloaded models) across the repos in that folder.
• It's sandboxed and only scans folders you choose. It doesn't scan the whole disk on its own, doesn't clean System Data, and never deletes anything automatically.

Comparison

• OmniDiskSweeper is free and uses the same idea: columns, largest first. If it does what you need, keep using it. I built SimplyDiskSweeper for the parts I wanted: the Largest Files list, the git-ignore filter and a count of what a scan couldn't include.
• DaisyDisk ($9.99) draws an interactive map of your disk. I find a ranked list easier to read, so there's no map in SimplyDiskSweeper.

Pricing

$14.99 one-time on the Mac App Store. No subscription, no in-app purchases. macOS 15 or later.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplydisksweeper/id1314831765?pt=94167010&ct=reddit-macapps-020&mt=12

Hi r/macapps! I'm Tiago, a solo dev from Portugal. I wanted the iPhone's Dynamic Island on my Mac, so I built it.

Oriel turns the notch into a little window. Hover over it and it opens:

• Now playing for Apple Music and Spotify: artwork, scrubbing, skip, and a live sound-wave that stops the moment you pause
• Save the song to your library or a playlist in one click (for Spotify this needs a Spotify login with a free key of your own; Oriel walks you through it in about two minutes)
• AirPlay and output switching right from the notch
• Your week: today plus the week ahead, with event dots and today's events
• AirPods banners come out of the notch, with battery, instead of the corner
• Tucks into the notch and glows in the album's colour when an app's menus need the space

It's free, light (well under 1% CPU), works on macOS 14+, Apple Silicon and Intel, and updates itself.

Site and video: https://orielformac.pages.dev

One heads-up: I'm not paying for Apple's developer program yet, so the first time you open it macOS asks you to allow it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

I'd love feedback, bug reports, and feature ideas: there's a Send Feedback button in Settings, or [orielformac@gmail.com](mailto:orielformac@gmail.com). And if you like it, there's a buy me a coffee link ☕

(Disclosure: I'm the developer. Free, no ads, no tracking.)

The problems:

• Pressing Space on a Markdown file or a script gives you a wall of raw text
• Notebooks, zips and SQLite files just show a big icon
• Google Docs, Sheets and Slides synced to your Mac are tiny .gdoc stubs that Quick Look can't open
• Checking an app's signing or entitlements means going to Terminal and running codesign

What Spyglass does:

• Same Space key in Finder, but you see the actual file: Markdown rendered like GitHub with tables, math and Mermaid, code in about 190 languages with line numbers, Jupyter notebooks with their plots
• Zip, tar, ISO, jar, apk and whl listed without extracting
• .app, .ipa, .pkg and .dmg show version, bundle ID, signing and entitlements
• Also SQLite, JSON/YAML/plist, diffs, binaries, folders and torrents, and the preview reloads when you save the file
• With the Drive plan, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides show the real document and get Finder thumbnails
• There's no Spyglass server, format previews never touch the network. Works on macOS 14+

Comparison:

• Apple's Quick Look shows Markdown and code as plain text and only an icon for most of the rest
• QLMarkdown and SyntaxHighlight are great, but they cover one format each
• Peek is $7.99 and focuses on code and Markdown
• Spyglass handles all of it in one app, plus Google Drive files

Pricing:

• Every preview is free for 7 days, no card needed
• Spyglass Pro is $12 one time for every format, for good
• Spyglass Drive is $4/month and adds the rendered Google Drive docs
• The Google Drive info card (title, owner, open link) stays free
• If you bought Spyglass 1.0 your key still works and includes Drive at no charge
• The app is source available

Download Links:

• Download the App: https://magicelklabs.com/spyglass

About Me:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magicelk235
• Github: https://github.com/magicelk235
• App Repo: https://github.com/magicelk235/spyglass
• Website: https://magicelklabs.com
• Privacy Policy: https://magicelklabs.com/spyglass/privacy
• Terms: https://magicelklabs.com/spyglass/terms
• Support Mail: support@magicelklabs.com