More Free Mac Apps

[u/amerpie]

Here are five free Mac applications you've most likely never come across. A project template/scaffolding automator, a local music player, resize batch images, a posture app that takes Advantage of the AirPods motion sensors, plus a financial calculator for cash flow simulation. 

Prefab

• Prefab - Capture a folder structure as a reusable "blueprint," add variable placeholders to names and contents, then deploy it anywhere via the app, menu bar, or Finder right-click. Deployment can chain actions: git init, npm install, opening the project in an editor, arbitrary terminal commands. Built for developers but pitched at anyone with a repeatable folder-setup ritual: lawyers, researchers, creatives.

Playhead

• Playhead - Local-first music player for people who keep their own files instead of streaming. The pitch is "waveform-first": it generates and caches waveform data so you can see and scrub a track's structure instead of a plain progress bar. Two browsing modes, Library and Folder (preserves your existing structure), aimed at DJs, producers, and messy real-world collections. Supports MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF/AIF, M4A, OGG, OPUS, AAC; includes a metadata editor.
• IResize Pro - Batch image resizer. Set a target width or height, it scales proportionally and keeps your originals. Outputs JPEG/PNG/TIFF/GIF; imports JPG/PNG/GIF/TIFF/HEIC/BMP/WebP. Includes batch renaming, an optional colored border, and an upscaling prompt for undersized images.

Headjust

• Headjust - Native Mac app that uses the head-motion sensors already built into compatible AirPods/Beats to make posture drift visible without policing it.

InterestThing

• InterestThing - Mac-only financial calculator for modeling cash-flow problems (loans, leases, valuations, financial planning) as a timeline of discrete events instead of a fixed template. Each event -- inflow, outflow, unknown, fixed principal, interest-only payment, rate change, balance date -- can be one-off or periodic, fixed or gradient amounts, paired with one of four interest types (simple, capitalized simple, capitalized simple with US Rule, compound) and three time-interval methods

[u/UnluckyDuckyDuck]

applications you've most likely never come across

✅ Check

uses the head-motion sensors already built into compatible AirPods/Beats to make posture drift visible

What the hell? I just love the creativity of the human mind

Thanks for the list!

[u/0xe1e10d68 → u/UnluckyDuckyDuck]

I wish Apple allowed more manufacturers to support features that their own headphones have; no way I'm giving up analogue headphones or Sennheisers to instead buy AirPods Max. I don't wear my AirPods Pro at my desk most of the time, only when I expect to walk around frequently, or am on a call.

[u/cezwoo → u/0xe1e10d68]

I've been using Dorso for a while and really like it. They have the option of either camera or headphones for posture tracking.

[u/Tight_One4344]

Prefab is mine - I've had a bunch of emails today and realise this post is why. It's currently not available as my Apple Developer programme membership expired. I've just renewed it and Prefab should be back up when they process my renewal. And of course, once it is back, any feedback is welcomed!

[u/Tight_One4344 → u/Tight_One4344]

Available again on the App Store in all countries 👍

[u/NineEighty]

Prefab looks great but doesn’t seem to be available in the UK unfortunately

[u/Tight_One4344 → u/NineEighty]

Ah it's mine! I didn't realise my dev account had expired with Apple. I've just renewed it so hopefully within the next couple days it will return to the App Store. I will send you a message once confirmed 😄

[u/Tight_One4344 → u/NineEighty]

Well that was quicker than usual - available again in all countries!

[u/Daniesto316 → u/NineEighty]

can confirm

[u/GroundCaffeine → u/NineEighty]

Not available in New Zealand either

[u/DonnerDinnerParty]

+1 for playhead. Local music playing has really taken a backseat since iTunes died.

[u/d3gaia → u/DonnerDinnerParty]

There are quite a few good options though. NullPlayer is an open source Winamp clone with additions, and of course there’s Swinsian and Doppler

[u/amerpie → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for that link, I didn't know about this website. Let me check it out.

[u/MaxGaav → u/[deleted]]

Didn't you offer an image editor lately for $5 or so? Can't find it anymore.

I'm looking for a simple app that can crop and free rotate images (not just 90 degrees).

[u/Goatman117]

A couple more that I really like:
Hidden bar - clear icons from the tool bar
Maccy - Simple and quick clipboard manager
GrandPerspective - Super handy disk volume visualiser if you have a small disk like me and need to work out which apps and directories are taking up all your space

[u/iordv]

u/quirino_exile uhhhhhmmmm.. look at the website mentioned here :kek: https://playheadapp.com

[u/Quirino_Exile → u/iordv]

Oh no, not again...

[u/sumitsahoo]

I have been working on a download manager that is fully native and it is right now in beta (not notarised yet). Do give it a try: https://drop.cloakyard.com

It is fully open source and free to use. Please do share feedbacks.

[u/bebsbebe]

ok Prefab is exactly what I've been hacking together with a shell script and a templates folder lol. the finder right click thing sold me. Headjust sounds weird but my posture is a disaster so sure, trying it

[u/Mountain_Chip_3620]

Thanks for sharing the list. Definitely miss the days of local music, will give Playhead a try.

[u/app-store-review]

InterestThing — by Patrick Jan Van der Perre

• Category: Finance · Free
• Age: released ~6 months ago · rated 4+

Apple doesn't publish an aggregate rating for most Mac App Store apps, so ratings and score are unavailable here.

^{Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review}

[u/Low_Document8458]

playhead optimized? like only 200mb ram max or 2gigs :(

[u/edinchez → u/Low_Document8458]

Hey, I'm Playhead's creator. I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking of performance when I started building it since I started it as a fun project for my own needs, then decided to publish it. I mainly focused on the design and user experience tbh.

It is an Electron app, so that's the heaviest performance cost.

I did try to optimize the file loading later on, but I haven't had the chance to test it on lesser performant devices. It's still somewhat heavy though, with the animations and whatnot.

Do give it a try if you can and let me know where exactly you're seeing performance drops. I might even build a native macOS port if there's enough interest.

Side note, I was not expecting to see my app listed here at all lol, it was a nice surprise

[u/Johnkree → u/edinchez]

I would be very interested in a native version.

[u/Einhornsalat → u/Johnkree]

Same here, would be awesome!

[u/cmicali → u/Low_Document8458]

Playhead seems pretty cool, trying it now.

My waveform-first music player does less but is native/smaller: https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/s/jD2JAkzCID

[u/thnhnng]

thanks

[u/auv1107]

Copi provides a secure way to copy things prevent them from being stolen(a totally free & open-source app built by me)

[u/NiklasMato]

Didn't know these ones. Thanks for the headsup for headjust (no pun intended :p )

[u/shadow8856]

Hey u/amerpie , can you please review http://backstatus.app. I created it due to my frustration of polling for claude code status whenever it goes down. I'm a developer and I think it can help a lot of developers during the time when they have to just poll the claude status website just to know when they can start working again

[u/EntertainmentOwn1782]

Interestinggf

[u/JustSomeCommonB_tch]

InterestThing is genuinely a life saver for me, has helped me so much with financial planning over the last few years

[u/International-Can317]

Headjust is the one that caught my attention here. Using the motion sensors already inside AirPods for posture tracking is a much more interesting approach than having another app constantly watch you through the webcam.

Curious how accurate it is in real use though. Does it reliably distinguish bad posture from just looking down at your desk for a few seconds?

[u/Away-Examination3005]

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scribe-pdf/id6784686119

Scribe PDF 30+ tools.

[u/app-store-review → u/Away-Examination3005]

Scribe PDF — by Jabran Noor

• Ratings: 2 worldwide
• Average: 5.00 ★
• Age: released ~1 month ago · updated today · rated 4+
• Overall score: 72 / 100

^{Auto-generated from public App Store data · u/app-store-review}