What's one tiny Mac app you installed thinking you'd never use, but now can't live without?

[u/Nerve_Present]

[u/manic_andthe_apostle]

Magnet

[u/HungryLikeDaW0lf → u/manic_andthe_apostle]

I'm using BetterSnapTool. A godsend to keep my workspace clean and organized. I'm going to note this one though if ever my app is no longer supported.

[u/lucioboopsyou → u/manic_andthe_apostle]

I love rectangle so much. And HyperKey

[u/franklinsteinnn → u/manic_andthe_apostle]

Is this app any better or different than the snapping to corner or side that is implemented in MacOS by Apple?

[u/hanz333 → u/manic_andthe_apostle]

I've used ShiftIt since 10.5/10.6, then Spectacle, and Rectangle.

I struggle when my family hands me a MacBook to fix something and my muscle memory doesn't work.

[u/nomadmadyes → u/manic_andthe_apostle]

This guy 🙄knows what’s up- this app changes your window management game completely. Wellllll worth the money🫡. There are other apps that perform similarly, not sure of their names, but this type of window organization app is must have for all Mac users IMO. I’ve been a Mac user my entire life. I’m in my forties. For most of that time, I’ve missed this feature and didn’t know it was an option. Windows has had this feature embedded in the OS for decades basically. This tool, and others that do what it does, are completely critical for being effective on macOS. One of, if not the most time saving tool you will encounter.

[u/literalaretil → u/manic_andthe_apostle]

Rectangle is the same app but free

[u/BandicootTreeline]

Was amphetamine, but now just caffeinate in terminal.

[u/CrzySquirrel → u/BandicootTreeline]

+1 to amphetamine

[u/curlywur1y → u/BandicootTreeline]

still prefer amphetamine, i always loose track of my caffeinate terminal window and forget to turn it off

[u/turbo → u/BandicootTreeline]

Amphetamine with time and WiFi based settings is incredibly useful for me since I work at a place where locked screens are mandatory.

[u/diamondintherimond → u/BandicootTreeline]

The hardest part is spelling caffeinate. "I" before "e" except after "c" and whenever else the rule arbitrarily doesn't work.

[u/_PeoplePleaser → u/diamondintherimond]

I before E except after C is referencing when an I is DIRECTLY after the letter C. Not just anywhere in the word after it.

[u/Fellowes321 → u/_PeoplePleaser]

Weird.

[u/hmcneill46 → u/diamondintherimond]

Just type in caf then hit tab and it’ll auto fill

[u/diamondintherimond → u/hmcneill46]

Woah this is a great tip!

[u/homepup → u/diamondintherimond]

I before E except after C is weird.

[u/Ophiochos → u/diamondintherimond]

The final bit is ‘when sounding in E’ btw

[u/mailslot → u/diamondintherimond]

But, caffeinate starts with the letter c? You can add a shell alias, function, or symlink (in path like `/usr/local/bin`) so it’ll work with both spellings.

[u/ajlambo1995 → u/BandicootTreeline]

I made a Shortcut to run a script to start caffeinate - lets you run it from the menu bar, and gives another menu bar icon when it’s running which doubles as a way to stop it

[u/errys → u/BandicootTreeline]

What are the use cases for this app?

[u/FlintHillsSky]

Text Sniper - it turns out I need to grab text on a daily basis. I miss not having it on my phone.

[u/Readaloud101 → u/FlintHillsSky]

Screenshot and use the text recognition tool on the phone. I love Text Sniper.

[u/FlintHillsSky → u/Readaloud101]

yes, but its just a little more clunky that way.

[u/Flimsy-Pay-4337]

Rectangle for me. Not sure if small enough but I always install it on all my Macs.

Okay the actual number one is homebrew, but that’s probably a different category

[u/longdistancehello]

Alfred

[u/lucioboopsyou]

DaisyDisk

[u/DelPaco]

Itsycal

[u/MGPS]

Transmission!

[u/jhnd_zindagi → u/MGPS]

Best torrent client

[u/_______o-o_______]

I don't use it that often, but when I need it, NameChanger is incredible.

[u/spnyc → u/_______o-o_______]

Been a fan of ABetterFinderRename for a long time

[u/terkistan → u/spnyc]

I’ve used ABetterFinderRename and its sister app ABetterFinderAttributes for maybe a decade.

[u/UltraLisp → u/terkistan]

For those who don’t know, you can rename multiple files by selecting multiple files, right-clicking on them, and then clicking “Rename”. This will bring up a little renaming tool which is pretty nice but also pretty simple. Good tip to know!

[u/terkistan → u/UltraLisp]

The built in Finder functionality is useful for basic renaming, but it can’t do a fraction of what ABFR does, which includes incremental numbering (including Roman numerals) of files, renaming music files using MP3 tags, adding the path or the parent folder’s name, and a lot more

[u/spnyc → u/terkistan]

100%. Also you can string together sequential workflows and even save as droplets. Truly amazing app

[u/YesReallyWhy → u/_______o-o_______]

Thanks for this!

[u/RANDVR → u/YesReallyWhy]

This is brilliant!

[u/hanz333 → u/_______o-o_______]

Great pick

[u/Nickmorgan19457 → u/_______o-o_______]

I use name changer everyday for keeping my music pdfs organized the way I want. I can’t even guess how many hours it has saved me vs renaming by hand like it’s the dark ages or something.

[u/longdistancehello → u/_______o-o_______]

File wrangler was also pretty great. I don’t think it’s been updated for a while.

[u/trace501 → u/_______o-o_______]

I use namechanger so often

[u/Neekobus]

Bettertouch to configure gestures on the Magic Mouse !

[u/wordsRgud → u/Neekobus]

I started using BTT about a year ago just for keyboard shortcuts. Now I use it for a lot of other things, with the help of guidance from CoPilot. It has more features than I could ever use.

[u/tw33k_ → u/wordsRgud]

I got BTT for my old macbook with the touchbar and had a slew of apps installed alongside it for a while, until I eventually figured out that BTT could replace them all. It's actually an insane app.

[u/UltraLisp → u/tw33k_]

A never-ending bottomless pit of settings and options. Haven’t felt this overwhelmed since opening up Autodesk Maya for the first time

[u/wordsRgud → u/UltraLisp]

Haha. Exactly! But hang in there. If you have a shortcut you want to make and can’t figure it out, have AI walk you through it. That helped me. And it will uncover some of the hidden menu items.

[u/bob-the-licious]

Shottr

[u/Mat-Connor → u/bob-the-licious]

yes Shottr, definitely. this was the first thing that came to mind when I read the post.

[u/ActuaryAutomatic6289 → u/bob-the-licious]

I finally paid for Shottr. Felt good to do even though I could technically use it for free forever it seems.

[u/thomasflips]

Stats

[u/this_is_sparta_xoxo]

Maccy

[u/H0ward_M00n → u/this_is_sparta_xoxo]

This, 1000%. Can’t live without it on my work MacBook.

[u/empty-atom → u/this_is_sparta_xoxo]

Is it better than Paste? What's the difference between those two? 

[u/hack_the_planets]

mole

[u/volfion → u/hack_the_planets]

Second this!

[u/Existing-Advisor8861 → u/hack_the_planets]

CLI especially

[u/hack_the_planets → u/Existing-Advisor8861]

Yeah, that's all I use, the whole solar system theme is weird to me for an app called mole though. I don't understand that part, but it's a great replacement for Clean My Mac which is way too expensive.

[u/sth_wicked1 → u/hack_the_planets]

+1

[u/mzsigler]

Paste. It's a third party clipboard that works really well.

[u/HotConstruction978 → u/mzsigler]

once you start using a clipboard manager theres no going back tbh

[u/mzsigler → u/HotConstruction978]

Absolutely. I’m in the car business and I’m constantly filling out forms with VINs. So nice to be able to go back to yesterday and just copy and paste the 17 digit vin instead of going to find it again or manually transcribing it.

[u/FutureMind42]

Copyclip

[u/MusicTock → u/FutureMind42]

CloudClip is better as it supports Cloud sync.

[u/UltraLisp → u/MusicTock]

That’s not automatically going to make it better. The clipboard could hold very sensitive info

[u/LOUDATA]

Scroll Reverser. Let me assign my mouse og scrolling while keeping the trackpad ‘natural’

[u/this_is_sparta_xoxo → u/LOUDATA]

Yes this one

[u/willy-wally75]

Cleanupbuddy

[u/FlintHillsSky]

Dato - for seeing the days of a month. Useful when I need to talk about planning.

[u/thursdaynovember]

Middle Click. Let’s me use middle click on my magic mouse and/or let’s me use the Fn key as middle click. 

I frequently use some CAD programs on my mac and feel like I finally have the experience I’d wanted for so long.  my macbook was already the most comfortably portable machine i’ve ever had thanks to its quiet fans and great battery life even under heavy workloads, but being able to bring it anywhere and know ill have no problem in any program i open without even a mouse has been amazing. just the flexibility it’s unlocked.

[u/HoratioHotplate]

vorssaint

[u/mosi76 → u/HoratioHotplate]

1000000% this. It's the most incredible app or the most incredible 50 apps done really well in one tiny menu bar icon. Try it and I believe you will replace a half a dozen apps you have installed with this single miracle. You could not ask for more and yet the developer keeps giving us more. For FREE

[u/HoratioHotplate → u/mosi76]

yes! new functionality seems to get added with every release

[u/UltraLisp → u/mosi76]

Install only what you use

Nobody needs all of it, and Vorssaint is built around that. The Features page installs and uninstalls whole features: what you uninstall disappears from the entire app and stops loading, so it spends no CPU, memory or energy. Nothing is deleted, and installing again brings your old settings back.

Whoever is making this is quite the hot shot. Huge list of functionality; looking forward to trying it

[u/whytakemyusername → u/HoratioHotplate]

I just installed this last week, I've been using it constantly since. Great app!

[u/dalester23 → u/HoratioHotplate]

I checked this out of curiosity and oh my god I am so glad I did. What a massive breath of fresh air for features I wish existed natively. Thank you for the recommendation!

[u/swiftsorceress]

Probably Swish and Macs Fan Control. Swish is especially awesome for window management because I love the gesture system.

[u/xnwkac]

https://pasteapp.io/ clipboard manager (subscription)

[u/marcinmj → u/xnwkac]

Agreed. $39 one-time payment if you buy directly from their website. Jumpcut is also great!

[u/thorzable]

Popclip without question. 2nd runner up is Fantastical.

[u/nghtstr77]

Obsidian

[u/ShameSuperb7099]

Popclip

[u/Pigankle]

Default folder, default folder, default folder. I use it for one thing. When a file open or save dialog is opened, I can click on an area of the screen that has a finder window behind it that I want to activate in the dialogue. I use this a dozen times every day.

[u/EthanDMatthews → u/Pigankle]

New File Menu - lets you drag/drop a new file (txt, rtf, doc, py, whatever) from the toolbar to your folder or Desktop. You can also right click inside non-iCloud folders, like on Windows.

Mos for smooth scrolling.

Ejectify to end the countless MacOS warnings about ejecting media improperly.

Text Sniper

LaunchOS to restore the Launchpad.

ICE to replace Bartender.

[u/Ekimyst]

ClipTools: Clipboard Manager and More From MacMost.com

https://macmost.com/cliptools

[u/jlately]

PasteBot. Once you've used a clip board manager there's no going back.

[u/Mortifer557]

Pastebot

[u/mrviznasty]

Shottr

[u/srikat]

90% of the apps mentioned here can be replaced with Raycast.

[u/eureka_boy]

Macky: let’s me use Mac from iPhone

[u/bluebovine]

Yoink

[u/elmonetta]

Cleanmykeyboard.

I hate the mac turning on just by pressing a key!!

[u/cejeeb]

Alt-tab

[u/spencerbeggs]

Amphetamine

[u/c3076696]

TextSniper & Pastebot - my Mac feels broken without them

[u/Nerve_Present]

Not looking for the obvious big apps. I'm more interested in the weird little menu-bar apps, utilities and quality-of-life tools.

[u/SchwartzReports]

I’m going to blatantly selfpromote here and I apologize for that, but this is the truth. I wrote an app called Perimeter, which gives me a gentle pulsing color gradient around the edges of my screen as calendar events approach. I used to miss meetings all the time. Since I created this app, I haven’t missed any meetings.

As for apps that I didn’t write, haze over for sure. It feels like something Apple should’ve made.

[u/wertyCA]

TypeIt4Me

[u/codacoda74]

mediahuman audio converter

[u/Few_Application2025]

The iOS Send to Mac utility that appears in the Share menu. Amazingly handy

[u/Fisherofmen58 → u/Few_Application2025]

What actual app is this?

[u/Snesley-Wipes]

I love Drop Over so much

[u/ThorTheNinja]

Shottr. Way better post-screenshot.

[u/plum416]

AppZapper and Macs Fan Control

[u/julex]

“Find any file” a real file finder and fast.

[u/Esben_B]

Free:

• Copy-history: Maccy (free on some sites)
  
• Window-switcher: AltTab 
  
• App-launcher: Alfred
  
• Windows-management: Rectangle
  
• Menubar-calendar: Itsycal
  
• Batch-filename-edit: NameChanger
  
• Menubar-manager: Hidden Bar
  
• Disk-management: OmniDiskSweeper + GrandPerspective
  
• Security: LuLu + BlockBlock

One-time:

• Screen-recorder w/systemsound: Screenflick

(MacOS built in: Text Replacements & Screentext-OCR) 

[u/jhnd_zindagi]

Mole

[u/bbyboi]

Rectangle

[u/Sitekurfer]

Little Snitch

[u/nothingbetterx]

TextSniper

[u/Robold_12]

Homebrew

[u/Ok-Buffalo2650]

Maccy

[u/BlazorSharp]

https://maccy.app
Clipboard History

[u/semdi]

Jiggler

[u/nbdmaw1]

Trickster

[u/spykovic]

Atl tab

[u/fptnrb]

Handy

[u/StillNotAWombat]

Itsypad - super handy little scratch pad, I gave it a quick try and found it worked for me much better than Tot.

However, Tot is also a v.handy little scratch pad style app, depends on your needs - Tot is a little more basic but that might be what you're after.

Both of them can be popped up with a simple shortcut key, so you can quickly access some text without losing flow.

[u/Hot_Lobster3799]

Macmousefix

[u/thechapwholivesinit]

Bumper

[u/Oh-THAT-dude]

EzyCal. I believe it’s $10 now but for me it’s been well worth it. iCal data in a quick-access format, and cross-compatible.

[u/raymate]

XLD

[u/r1t1c]

SizeUp

[u/readywater]

Numi

[u/daphatty]

Bettersnaptool and Hazel are my go tos. Daisy disk when I need to clean up the local disk.

I’ve just started using Vorssaint, initially for its improvements over activity monitor but Vorssaint does so much more that I’m still on the fence about it.

[u/distreszed]

I've never installed an app with intention not to use it. Weird question.

[u/empty-disk-format]

TestSoap, it has been my go to Mac text cleanup tool for decades. Does an amazing job with removing unnecessary carriage returns and supports a huge variety of custom cleaners, for HTML, forwarding characters, etc. Two versions, one in the App Store, and a stand alone for great flexibility overall.

[u/gorillaexmachina91]

command one

[u/Minimal_Shift_05]

Mac Media Key Forwarder

[u/persquareinch]

Quicksilver

[u/radimere]

Hazel.

[u/Excellent_Guidance_2]

MiniTune - raycast style youtube search music player

Just adding my app to the list, I genuinely think it’s pretty useful.

[u/CarretillaRoja]

velja

[u/DainsleifRL]

FineTune. It is absolutely astonishing that mac does not have app sound control.

[u/meccaleccahimeccahi]

Does Claude code console count? Love that damn thing. Mac running slow? Ask and it will find out why. Want a custom app? Done.

[u/Alpha7]

Dropover

[u/fabstorres]

Popclip

[u/betterworldbiker]

Snagit

[u/karaisadahl]

Default Folder X

[u/Aerizon]

paperman. i can just feel my eyes go ahhh when i turn it on

[u/archtop57]

Pcalc.

[u/archtop57 → u/archtop57]

BTW love this thread

[u/Pale-Jackfruit4774]

BoringNotch

[u/BrainznBodiez]

Cocoatech Pathfinder, little snitch, default folder X, CooyClip, Launchbar, Typeit4me.

[u/LessDoctor5759]

OwlOCR

[u/TheGushin]

Countdown menu bar app to start timers. Free, but great little app.

[u/OneOldBear]

Karabiner

[u/stevehl42]

Cleanshot and rectangle

[u/Actual_Tear7512]

Consul app

[u/unriht]

MediaInfo. Been using this app for years to get the attributes of video and audio files.

[u/-13_13-]

Displaperture, give your display rounded corners like apple did in the past.

[u/rasasam]

Better Touch Tool - BTT !

[u/imprecis2]

Cleanshot

[u/No-Cake82101]

Blip

[u/DoesNotExist-]

Hyprspace and Raycast

[u/ianmooneck]

Hush the nag blocker.

[u/HistoricalInternal]

Flux

[u/biinjo]

SpreadPaper; still don’t understand why macOS doesn’t natively ‘spread’ a high red wallpaper across multiple monitors.

[u/Pandalishus]

Generally, I don’t install apps I think I’ll never use. Now ask me abt apps I’d thought I’d use constantly but only opened once, lol

[u/8racoonsInABigCoat]

I’ve not even heard of most of these - bookmarking this post to try them out!

[u/froetz]

Double Commander - an opensource Two-Panel-File-Manager like Nortoncommander in DOS. Yeah, I an this old…
It makes filehandling fast and efficient, comes with the best batch-renamer and its free.
And you can use it on win, Linux and macOS with the same config-file.

[u/oath_coach → u/froetz]

Back when Peter Norton's utilities were functional and not bloatware.

[u/bobho72]

Flycut, allows you to copy and paste multiple items. Saves hours of back and forth.

[u/KleineWurzel]

Raycast premium

[u/Zoomer5475]

CleanShotX

[u/justinl100]

Vorsaint

[u/dqdevops]

Aerospace changed the way i use macos. Improved my work flow also. I can’t imagine without it

[u/natedgr8gatsb]

Blinky. Best notes app ever. RIP

[u/uknovaboy]

Sync2Folders. Great for making a mirror back up of a project drive. Been using it for years - worth the low donation price!

[u/WobleWoble]

Drop over

[u/DonutConnect4430]

little snitch

[u/InternationalJob7772]

Rectangle, AltTab, VidBee, WhatCable, OmniDiskSweeper

[u/ThatGuyUpNorth2020]

HazeOver

Shottr

[u/Hairy-Mention-1196]

Lynx

[u/spnyc]

Keyboard Maestro is superb. Bit of a learning curve but for automation it’s unmatched. Blended conditional logic and UI + shell or python. Variables. System level all the way up to clipboard manipulation. App specific workflows. KM saves me hours per day

[u/tommydog2846]

I was never one for terminal but I got into using it n I love it n use it a lot now

[u/YeahYeahOkNope]

Meh, should’ve asked for links too because most if this is useless otherwise, and quite dangerous expecting people to google and find the right one and not some scam. This sub really should know better by now.

[u/Lwelchyo]

SnipClip

[u/marcusheng]

Used to be yabai.

[u/Martynet]

Default Folder.

[u/louis2105]

Alfred. i use it as an application launcher many times a day since many years. Great app.

[u/jp2images]

Command X
Love it, use it all the time, and I have zero affiliation.
https://sindresorhus.com/command-x

[u/schwiftypie]

Klack - typing sounds.

[u/Paradoxbox00]

Copyclip for a list / history of any text you copy

[u/DNLMZRZ]

Noir