Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Eight Useful Mac Apps Worth Checking Out

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,487
37,762


Mac apps can often go under the radar, with apps for the iPhone and iPad receiving more attention. For that reason, we have a Mac-focused video series that highlights useful Mac apps we've come across. Our first picks of the year are largely simple, one-task apps that add utility to your Mac.


  • Ice Menu Bar Manager (Free) - Ice is a menu bar management tool that's an alternative to Bartender. Last year, Bartender was quietly acquired by a less than trustworthy company, and many no longer want to use it. Ice has a rich feature set. You can rearrange menu bar apps, change the look of the menu bar with colors, hide cruft, and more.
  • DropOver ($5.99)- DropOver is a simple macOS app that enhances the Mac's Drag and Drop functionality. You can grab multiple files and move them around without opening side-by-side windows. You activate DropOver with a shake of the cursor, add items to a "shelf" and then you can move to your destination folder and unload them.
  • Latest (Free) - Latest is a super simple app that checks to ensure that your apps are up to date. It supports apps that use the Mac App Store and those that use Sparkle for updates, which is a good deal of the Mac apps out there.
  • NotchNook ($25) - NotchNook turns your Mac's notch into a little Mac version of a Dynamic Island. You can click into it and get shortcuts like a media player, the Calendar, quick notes, and more, plus it has drag and drop functionality that makes it easy to move files and send them using AirDrop. It's $25, or $3 per month.
  • Shortwave (Free, but unlocking more features costs $7/month) - Shortwave is yet another email app, but it uses AI in a helpful way. It organizes your inbox to surface what's most important, it can create to-dos for you, add labels, archive unimportant email threads, search for content, alert you to emails that still need a response, and more. You can also use AI to summarize emails and get writing help, with the AI able to respond in your own voice based on past email correspondence. This is not a bare bones email app, so note that it can take some time to get used to. This is a subscription app and it starts at $7 per month, paid annually.
  • Local Send (Free) - If you need to share content between an iOS device or Mac and an Android device or a Windows PC, you can do so with Local Send. This is great if you're not entirely in the Apple ecosystem, because AirDrop doesn't work on non-Apple devices.
  • Hyperduck ($4) - With Hyperduck, you can share links between your Macs, iPhones, and iPads with more control than AirDrop. You can, for example, save a webpage on your iPhone and have it open up later on your Mac, even if your Mac isn't turned on when you first save the website.
  • Rocket (Free) - Rocket is another simple, one-function app that lets you add emojis in any app. Press on the colon key and then start typing in the emoji that you want. It's free to use, but a pro version adds options for adding GIFs and images.
Know of a great Mac app that we haven't highlighted yet? Let us know in the comments below and we might feature it in a future video. For more of our Mac app picks, check out our Mac apps archive.

Article Link: Eight Useful Mac Apps Worth Checking Out
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/30/eight-useful-mac-apps-january-2025/
  • Like
Reactions: icanhazmac and apostolosdt
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: mhnd, tiptopp and TheDailyApple
Apple needs to sherlock menubar apps. It’s pretty pathetic, lacking a native solution to icons being covered by the notch. I’ll keep using HiddenBar in the meantime…
 
  • Like
Reactions: icwhatudidthere
DropOver ($5.99)- DropOver is a simple macOS app that enhances the Mac's Drag and Drop functionality. You can grab multiple files and move them around without opening side-by-side windows.
Click to expand...
Or we can just use Command + C and then Command + V , or Command + C and then Command + Option + V
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Disagree
  • Haha
Reactions: Vulkan, mhnd, rskin and 2 others
Wtf Notchnook, $25 for something that is built into the iPhone? That’s highway robbery.

Arguably it’s a missed opportunity on Apple’s part for a cool built-in feature. I would 100000% prefer that feature over the native (and janky) Now Playing menu bar icon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDailyApple
Most of the apps listed feel gimmicky or unnecessary to me, (i.e., you can already just press ctrl+command+space to insert emojis).

Ice, though, is a must for any notchbook owners. It’s really pathetic that Apple just hides overflow icons by default without any way to click on them.
 
jz0309 said:
Thanks for this, I like to read about these and the story title "worth to check out" is fine. The video title ".. YOU NEED" is simply not appropriate ...
Click to expand...
Yup. There isn't a single one of these that I need. Not one. Yet some yahoo is trying to tell me I do need them. Truth and honesty is a forgotten trait.
 
I was hoping for an intuitive multi-copy multi-paste app. All the ones I see don’t seem to work right, or are more trouble than they’re worth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mganu
DunedinD said:
I missed proof of Bartender’s new owner being shady. Anyone got a link about it?
Click to expand...
MacRumors posted about the change in ownership last June, linking to a reddit thread. It began with a post about a warning from MacUpdater, but unfortunately this post is now archived.

As this article mentions, Bartender faced an undisclosed acquisition. The app updated with new certificates, twice. More telemetry frameworks were implemented, which included location data. And finally, the new owners were radio silent until social media users made a fuss about it, pretty opaque.

Edit: the telemetry framework Amplitude analytics was removed after public outcry, I didn't mean to mislead with this omission. Ben Surtees, the original developer of Bartender, didn't view the framework as malicious, but pragmatic.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mhnd
mansplains said:
MacRumors posted about the change in ownership last June, linking to a reddit thread. It began with a post about a warning from MacUpdater, but unfortunately this post is now archived.

As this article mentions, Bartender faced an undisclosed acquisition. The app updated with new certificates, twice. More telemetry frameworks were implemented, which included location data. And finally, the new owners were radio silent until social media users made a fuss about it, pretty opaque.
Click to expand...
Opaque is disappointing but is that definitive proof of the company being “less than trustworthy”? Without more evidence, feels like MacRumors just opened itself to potential action over defamation. It’s the site’s responsibility to have proof of that statement, not the Bartender owner’s responsibility to prove the statement is incorrect.

I mean, those three words are a strong statement – lots of organisations are opaque – that the company is up to something nefarious. Prove it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jib2 and steve62388
DunedinD said:
Opaque is disappointing but is that definitive proof of the company being “less than trustworthy”? Without more evidence, feels like MacRumors just opened itself to potential action over defamation. It’s the site’s responsibility to have proof of that statement, not the Bartender owner’s responsibility to prove the statement is incorrect.

I mean, those three words are a strong statement that the company is up to something nefarious. Prove it.
Click to expand...
Unless you have some fancy telemetry recording the drop of active users up your sleeve, I don't think you'll find "definitive proof".

Adding location pinging/tracking to software that has no need for it is nefarious to me.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
Reactions: jib2 and mhnd
mansplains said:
Unless you have some fancy telemetry recording the drop of active users up your sleeve, I don't think you'll find "definitive proof".

Adding location pinging/tracking to software that has no need for it is nefarious to me.
Click to expand...
that detail is more the sort of thing I was curious to learn. Any idea whether the company withdrew that aspect? Was it at least requesting permission for it through macOS’s transparent privacy mechanism?

I gather that request is to support location-based alterations to what items are shown on the menu bar, though, so at least it sounds like a plausible benefit to the user.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AgeOfSpiracles
DunedinD said:
that detail is more the sort of thing I was curious to learn. Any idea whether the company withdrew that aspect? Was it at least requesting permission for it through macOS’s transparent privacy mechanism?

I gather that request is to support location-based alterations to what items are shown on the menu bar, though, so at least it sounds like a plausible benefit to the user.
Click to expand...
They did withdraw the location telemetry, I didn't mean to sound like they ignored it in my original post, I've edited it now.

While I still think adding location pinging is nefarious, I can understand your point about users enabling location permission for a feature like you describe. However, Amplitude analytics can collect location data independently, through IP addresses.

It appears as though AppStore Connect has pointed this out to developers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DunedinD
mansplains said:
MacRumors posted about the change in ownership last June, linking to a reddit thread. It began with a post about a warning from MacUpdater, but unfortunately this post is now archived.

As this article mentions, Bartender faced an undisclosed acquisition. The app updated with new certificates, twice. More telemetry frameworks were implemented, which included location data. And finally, the new owners were radio silent until social media users made a fuss about it, pretty opaque.

Edit: the telemetry framework Amplitude analytics was removed after public outcry, I didn't mean to mislead with this omission. Ben Surtees, the original developer of Bartender, didn't view the framework as malicious, but pragmatic.
Click to expand...

After the initial rumpus about change of ownership I tried all the alternatives but all had something not quite right and I went back to Bartender, like many others I think...reassured by Ben Surtees post. Although the transition was not handled well, in the end I think it was much ado about nothing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jib2, CarlJ, Big Bad D and 1 other person
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back