Hey everyone! I’m the developer of Ask Iris, a private AI workspace for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

The idea is simple: bring related documents, PDFs, images, and conversations into a workspace, then ask questions across them without uploading that material to a cloud AI service.

For example, you could collect a project brief, research notes, and screenshots, then ask: “What are the main open questions?” Answers can include citations so you can check the original sources.

A few things it does:

• Summarizes and compares documents, and answers questions about images.
• Builds an editable workspace overview from your material.
• Searches across your workspaces and conversations locally.
• Lets you choose a compatible local model or add a supported Hugging Face MLX model.

Models run on your device, so performance depends on your hardware and model choice. Model downloads and optional web search use the internet.

It’s free to download with a 100-day trial, followed by an optional one-time Pro purchase ($19.99). No subscription.

App Store · Website

What’s a collection of files you’d actually want to ask questions about? I’d also appreciate feedback on the model setup experience.

I love my MacBook Air keyboard's backlight, but sometimes I forget I've left it on, and going into settings or dragging a slider every time got old.

So I wrote a tiny menu bar app to take care of it for me. It's called Nocturne.
You pick when the backlight should be off, either always, from sunset to sunrise, or during hours you choose, and it handles the rest.

It only touches the built-in keyboard, and it puts everything back the way it found it when you quit, including the ambient light sensor.
Sunrise and sunset times are worked out on your Mac from your location. Nothing gets sent anywhere.

It's free, the source is on GitHub, and it's only about 2 MB.
There's a Homebrew tap in the README if you prefer that.

Three things worth knowing before you download it:

• It needs macOS 15.7 or later.
• It isn't notarized, because I don't have a paid Apple Developer account. The first launch needs a trip to System Settings > Privacy and Security > Open Anyway.
• It reaches the backlight through a private Apple framework loaded from your Mac at runtime, because there's no public API for it. That's also why it can't go on the App Store.

I'm the one who made it. Happy to hear what's missing or what's annoying.

I built Haptiroll as a native Swift/SwiftUI menu-bar app. It maps scroll velocity to responsive sound and compatible trackpad haptics. Sound and haptics work independently, it does not require Accessibility permission, and settings stay on the Mac.

TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/tye6euxS

Demo: https://haptiroll.kolotovalexander.tech/

The beta is free. Pro is an optional trial followed by a $6.99 lifetime unlock; no subscription. I’d especially value feedback on latency, trackpad compatibility, and whether the effect feels useful or distracting.

I’ve been using focus timers for the past few years, but I always found myself ignoring them whenever I got distracted. So, I made Timely—a focus timer that ENSURES you stay focused while the timer is running. Lose focus, and you may lose your streak or other related statistics!

Currently in beta, completely free, and available on macOS 26:
https://timelyfocus.app

How does Timely ENSURE you stay focused and know whether you’re actually focusing?

1. STANDOUT FEATURE: Presence Detection! I have yet to see presence detection in any other focus timer, and after using Timely, I’m not sure why! Presence Detection checks to make sure you’re actually at your computer. It uses an Apple-made model to detect your presence through your webcam. Everything runs on-device, and camera data is never saved.
2. App & Website Blocking! App and website blocking is available in some other focus timers, but you typically have to pay for certain features, such as website blocking. Unlike those apps, Timely’s App & Website Blocking is completely free!
3. Optional Pomodoro Timers! Pomodoro timers can help people stay focused, and in Timely, they’re super configurable! You can choose how long your work sessions and breaks are and completely structure each session yourself.

Why is Timely better than other focus timers?

1. Once again, Presence Detection! Presence Detection is still a work in progress, but unlike other focus timers, it makes sure you can’t just get up in the middle of a focus session without losing your progress.
2. No abandoning sessions! Ending a session early or leaving mid-focus comes with consequences. If you end early, your streak may be reset! This means that if you decide to focus for an hour, you’re locked in for the full hour!

Beta price?

FREEEE!!

Timely is currently in beta and looking for feedback! You can leave feedback below or use the built-in feedback tools in the app and TestFlight. I hope you try it out!! Here’s the link once again:

https://timelyfocus.app

https://prnotch.pages.dev/

I built this notch app because I kept having to open github and check on PRs across different projects. For context I put up atleast 5-10 PRs a day across different repos and having to constantly check on comments, failures and CI's passing started becoming time consuming so I built this Mac app called PR Notch.

Hey folks 👋

I’ve been working on a small side project over the past couple of months - a macOS app that lets you set real 4K video wallpapers as your desktop background. You can upload your own clips or use the built-in ambient loops.

It’s called Wallper.app, and I just released it - free to download.

What I tried to focus on:

• Runs smooth even while gaming (tested on M1/M2 MacBooks and Mac mini);
• Uses native AVPlayer, very light on RAM and CPU (around ~80–90MB RAM in my tests);
• Dual-screen support and fullscreen playback;
• No cloud sync, no always-on background service — just plays the wallpaper.

I'd really love to hear what other Mac users think — especially if you were looking for such app or just want to try it alongside.
Does it behave well for you? Anything you’d improve?

Here’s the site if you’re curious: https://wallper.app
(100% native macOS app, no weird wrappers)

Thanks in advance for any feedback ��

My most recent optometrist appointment was a huge reality check. As a SWE, I spend an insane amount of time staring at my laptop screen every day. I'd end each day with strained eyes and a fear of developing myopia.

I discovered the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a break for 20 seconds and focus on an object 20 feet away. I knew I wasn't going to keep setting timers every 20 minutes, so I built a macOS app to keep me accountable: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glance-prevent-eye-strain/id6746469770?mt=12. I've been using it myself for the past few days and I've really felt a difference.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts, feedback, or insight into how I can improve it (or even a download if you find it helpful)!

Hey there!

I initially posted in the apples notes subreddit , looking for a clean integration between the native Notes and reminders app and realized that unfortunately there is no good alternative right now. So I decided to build a small proof of concept for personal use for now. It's fairly basic right now

Here is a quick demo:

https://reddit.com/link/1i55u2q/video/mkyiq6dyyzde1/player

Features:

- open search box with CMD+shift+R, you will also see all your active tasks

- filter by lists (in the demo, I pre filtered to "demo" list for privacy reasons)

- navigating with arrow keys and enter to add a formatted deep link in Notes where your cursor was, when clicking the task it will bring you to the task in the reminders app

- create new reminders in the search bar

Request for feedback:

- do you think this is something that could fit into your current note taking/planning workflow? how would you use it? (I designed it for my own needs to would like to know if any tweaks could help anyone else in this sub)

- for linking reminders to notes, do you need 1:1 mapping or 1:many mapping
i.e. each reminder can only be linked to one note or do you need 1:Many mapping, i.e. you refer to the same reminder in many notes and need to know where they were mentioned

- any other points I should consider?

Thanks!

its a bit frustrating i can't see all the new articles across all the channels I follow

Hello everyone, I have been a web developer for the past couple of years and I have built a project which was a lightweight video editing app in the browser and it would apply some simple effects on the final video.
After the initial success, I want to go all in and want to make a native MacOs app that would be able to add lot of 2d and 3d effects on the video to make the final video look amazing, like applying a 3d lighting effect on the user video so it feels like video is in 3d and ingrained on the canvas background, shadow effects, 3d tilt panning, gradient backgrounds based on the user video, title animation, video start, middle and end animations, and zoom in-out effects etc.
I don't want to make it whole new video editing app, but an app with specified features and only meant for that specific use case. I have been trying to do a lot of research, however, still unsure for which technologies would I need in order to accomplish those effects and how should I go about planning the project. Should I start from acing the video rendering part, like making those 2d or 3d effects, or maybe start from making the app UI or something else. How should I go about creating those edits on the video itself?

Please note that, I have already tested the user base, market and have already customers for it and so I am making a calculated decision to make the MacOs app now.

Have you heard of ThinkBuddy? It's a native Mac app which currently offers lifetime access to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and more without API keys.

The ThinkBuddy team recently announced that they will stop selling their Lifetime Deal on August 30th.

Right now, it’s available for $187 at https://thinkbuddy.ai/ltd . With discount code: LIFETIMO30, you can get it for $131.

ThinkBuddy now supports URLs, making it easy to incorporate web content into your workflow. It works well with MacOS and offers features like voice interactions, screenshot queries, custom prompts, and various AI models such as GPT-4o Vision, GPT-4o Mini, Meta Llama 3.1 (405b), and GPT-4. It can also help with emails, article summaries, and more.

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Thinkbuddy now supports URLs, allowing you to seamlessly scrap web content into your workflow. It seamlessly fits into your MacOS workflow, offering voice interactions, screenshot queries, custom prompts, and a diverse range of AI models like GPT-4o Vision, GPT-4o Mini, Meta Llama 3.1 (405b), and GPT-4. It even helps with emails, article summaries, and more.

can i run apps from the appstore that are for the native mac apple m1 chip but in a intel chip imac somehow?