10 of the Best macOS and iOS Apps of 2018

[Baletin]

+1 on Magnet, but I like Spectacle better for it's twin "Make Larger/Smaller" and "Next/Previous Third" windowing commands - I have both of them running to take advantage of both of them.

Adding Arq Backup (get the lifetime license!) and Yoink to this thread, on both iOS and my Mac.

For anyone on the fence about Curio, Zengobi is running a 20% discount on both full and upgrade pricing until 12/28.

I did not see any discounts on their site. I bought SimpleMind as a starter

 

[jimsuth]

the ios choices are good. the mac ones are kind of lame. there are so many really good mac apps.

 

[makitango]

A timeless classic: Little Snitch.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Bartender is one of those apps where I wait for it to be updated before I update macOS.

If you do any kind of design work, you really need to get this app--having all the visual clutter of the various menu bar items cleared away (but still available) makes more difference than you might think. Great support from the developer, too.

I'm using Bartender on Mojave and it's completely fine! Go for it.

 

[rafark]

• karabiner
• iterm
• sublime text
• sequel pro

That's my list.

 

[friedmud]

The first app I install on any new mac is still: iStat Menus https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/ . They continue to upgrade it with lots of great features and it blends in seamlessly.

I just tried Paste - I quite like it! I think I'll end up relying pretty heavily on it.

Other Apps I'm always using:

Mac:

• Emacs - Still the best!
  
• Evernote - my work life is here
• Omnifocus - would be lost without it
• Spotify - way better than Apple Music

iOS:

• Mvelopes - better money management
• Baby Tracker - just had one - Baby Tracker is awesome for keeping track of feedings and diapers
• Hours - Great time tracker
• Day One - Almost autojournals
• Round - keep track of the medicine you take! (Works great with the Apple Watch!)
• Dark Sky - I don't like the redesign, but it's still the best weather app out there

 

[citysnaps]

thanks a lot, last question - how the "collector" of the maps looks like? I could not find any pic with catalogue... Which I found is Curio mindmap app which has very beautiful catalogue but too pricy

Sorry, don't think I can help... Other than playing around with mind maps years ago just to see how they work, I've never used them. There seems to be a lot of options and with the ability to import and export.

 

[jimsuth]

I had Paste on my iMac for awhile but I found it to be rather annoying. Personally I don't need anything more than those menu bar copy clips

Plus CopyPaste was the original user of 'Time Machine for the clipboard' certainly not Paste. I remember CopyPaste used that description for multi-clipboard app long before Apple made a backup app out of it. CopyPaste was the original clipboard application on the Mac dating back to 1996-97.
https://plumamazing.com/product/copypaste-pro-for-mac/

 

[campyguy]

I did not see any discounts on their site. I bought SimpleMind as a starter

The Curio 12 discount offer is at the top of the product's web page. Just snagged this screenshot, which includes the discount code. Cheers!


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Which I found is Curio mindmap app which has very beautiful catalogue but too pricy

Chiming in here, are you looking for a diagramming/mindmap app that isn't bloody expensive? The dev of an app I've used for years - Fluid, which should be on this list too - offers a $10 app named Shapes that could suit your needs. That dev is really responsive and supports everything he puts out in my experience. My 2¢.

 

[xxDEATHTRAPZxx]

CopyClip is a better alternative to Paste, it's free and equally as good!

 

[Jigga Beef]

My most important apps on the Mac

- Apptivate
- Bartender 3
- Things
- Alfred
- Magnet
- Bear
- Fantastical 2
- Cardhop
- TextExpander
- Spark

I use every one of these except Spark.

You have me thinking I should try it out.

 

[WriterDude]

It's the end of the year, and 2018 is coming to a close. Over the course of the last several months, we've highlighted several useful Mac and iOS apps in our YouTube series, and for December, we've picked our favorites.

MacOS...

Carbon Copy Cloner, from Mike Bombich
Omnigraffle Pro 7, from Omni Group - couldn’t do my job without it.

iOS...

Star Wars Heroes and World of Warships Blitz, which are proving to be super durable, despite any number of weird game issues.

 

[yellow8]

Will certainly try Paste, love productivity apps

 

[MacBH928]

There's Pixelmator (Universal) and Affinity Photo (for iPad).

Affinity is probably the one I want. I am confused about Pixelmator as I am not sure if its an alternative to photoshop, illustrator, or lightroom.

I register unique email address for every site / company I use. It goes to a catch-all account but as examples I have used tesco@{domain}.com, amazon@{domain}.com, apple@{domain}.com etc..

That way I:
a) Know where my data has been leaked, and by whom
b) Can blackhole that address so it isn't used in the future and my mailbox doesn't get full of chaff.

Some of the worst offenders, responsible for my receiving the highest number of phishing emails have been: LinkedIn, LastFM, Tumblr, and, MyFitnessPal. Just something to bear in mind.

how can you make so many email addresses?

GIMP is free and open-source.
Pixelmator/Pixelmator Pro is ok.
Affinity is very popular.

Still I swear by Photoshop. IMO Photoshop is like Office, Heinz ketchup, Windex and Coke. For some products nothing but the real thing will ever be good enough. I find the $10 photography plan with Lightroom to be a really reasonable price for always being on the latest version without compromises.

Gimp is free and I thank the developers behind it but those free open source apps always feel slow and retarded, The gui looks like something from the 80s commodore machine. There are other open source free apps like VLC, FireFox, and Handbrake which are not only on par with the commercial product but probably better!

Photoshop is the best I know but I do not like when one company becomes the standard because it gives them too much power to do whatever they want. Remember Microsoft in the 90s? Explorer?
$10 is very reasonable but at the end of the year I will have paid $120 which is a significant amount given that I do not use this for work just the casual image every now and then, probably less than 1 image every 2 months.

Comic Zeal!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comic-zeal-comic-book-reader/id363990983?mt=8

By far, my most used & most improved app on iPad! I’ve been enjoying it for over 8 years & gifted it to probably a half dozen people...

It’s amazing how substantially better this is than the myriad 1st party apps by Marvel, DC, & the like.

Enjoy & happy holidays! =)

does it open .cbz and .cbr files?

 

[rmoliv]

No Mac rumors today? They don’t work the day before Christmas?

 

[psac]

I register unique email address for every site / company I use. It goes to a catch-all account but as examples I have used tesco@{domain}.com, amazon@{domain}.com, apple@{domain}.com etc..

That way I:
a) Know where my data has been leaked, and by whom
b) Can blackhole that address so it isn't used in the future and my mailbox doesn't get full of chaff.

Some of the worst offenders, responsible for my receiving the highest number of phishing emails have been: LinkedIn, LastFM, Tumblr, and, MyFitnessPal. Just something to bear in mind.

I know >80% of the spam emails and calls I get at work is because of LinkedIn, but I always assumed it was from simple email logic guessing (first.last@company.com). It doesn't surprise me to hear them actually selling/leaking/exposing the actual email addresses though. I like your method for sure.

 

[fathergll]

My number 1 MacOS app has always been Moom or any app that allows me to snap windows into place. I still don't understand how this is not built into MacOS.

 

[biziclop]

Not on Mac App Store, but imho one of the best Mac app ever ist Better Touch Tool.

… and its friend (in my eyes), Karabiner: https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

 

[justperry]

Errr, isn’t that exactly what the Dev’s Beta Program is?

Besides, APFS has been baked into OS X for well over a year now; how long does DW need?

As far as I know they (Diskwarrior) said Apple has to release it first, last time I read this was months ago, I could be mistaken though.

They did :

• What's in the works

The next major release of DiskWarrior will include the ability to rebuild APFS disks. Apple has recently released the APFS format documentation. Our developers are now using that documentation to update DiskWarrior to be able to safely rebuild APFS disks.

 

[EEzycade]

I prefer Altos adventure more than odyssey

 

[deeddawg]

Procreate still sounds like a fertility-timing app... Just saying...

 

[Awesom-0]

Is there an app like photoshop but cheaper, like a dumb down version for iOS? Maybe like Photoshop elements?




ClipMenu is great but the developer has abandoned it and not updated in ions

Pixelmator but not sure what all you need or blender.

Pixelmator was great last I needed it and compared to photoshop saved a ton of money. Others can probably give you much better detail on it.
[doublepost=1545685351][/doublepost]

A timeless classic: Little Snitch.

God I'm getting old if that's a timeless classic Anymore I have my router log and deal with all that without getting bothered.

 

[Seed101]

IOS:

Clip Studio Paint: pricey subscription but the best drawing experience and great features for production.

Affinity Designer: This is where IOS apps should be at...Affinity really putting together a great suite of apps.

Would really like Apple to sort FCPX/ Motion on IOS for 2019...sure it’s possible to produce a version.

 

[dirt farmer]

I'd be lost without Spek

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

<snip>
does it open .cbz and .cbr files?

But of course!!!! =)