Five Interesting Mac Apps Worth Checking Out - March 2018

[Vjosullivan]

Apps designed for the Mac don't often receive as much attention as apps for iOS.

Creating fundamentally incompatible macOS and iOS operating systems has been a disaster for the Mac and is one of the (many) reasons that it has become increasingly marginalised over the years. There was never a good reason (other than short-term expediency) why the two OSs couldn't have been much more closely aligned with the only differences being those required to take advantage of things like touch screen vs mouse pointer, etc.
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Is there an app that ...

This is a good idea for a web site or forum.

 

[MrGimper]

Daisy Disk
Path Finder
Gemini II
Bartender
Shortcut Bar
Moom
iStat Menus
AutoMounter
Carbon Copy Cloner
HyperDock
MonoSnap
Resilio Sync

To name a few .....

 

[Tech198]

Omnidisksweeper and App cleaner are good.... Disk inventory X is another good one.

 

[fairuz]

Omnidisksweeper and similar apps are lifesavers. I always run the app under sudo to avoid any BS with permissions then fire away. Deleted tons of Adobe Creative Cloud garbage (some of which was also wasting CPU in background).

 

[chas_m]

Not sure how a wallpaper app qualifies as interesting.

Oh, let me explain. Not everyone has the same interests as you, so there’s a wide variety of things people might enjoy, so the staff pick items that might appeal to others, or which they might not be aware of.

Sorry if you thought MR was written exclusively to cater to only your tastes. Big world out there, lots of different perspectives. Hope that clears things up for you!

 

[liushi]

WOW!!! I was looking for this! I have 5 drives and I am always looking for stuff in various drives! Just purchased and indexing a 5TB drive. One suggestion: "Find Duplicate files". Are there any size limitations? Any way to have separate indexes?

Thank you!

Currently finding duplicates is not supported. However there are features like exporting file list in the road map. There's no size limitation. Some times a folder structure (eg. a nodejs project folder) is huge, so it may take longer. You can always add those to skipped folders in the app's Preferences.
By "separate indexes" do you mean versions of the folder structure? It doesn't have "versions", but in the future you can export the file list as a backup.

 

[MacDawg]

I would never install any of this malware ********. You have to be senile to buy into any of this crap. Sincerely, it looks like MacTumors is just in this for the bucks at the expense of its readers. SCAMWARE> STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!!!<<<<<

Not every reader of Macrumors is on the same level. Some are new to Macs, and some may have had a Mac a while but just not been a prolific user in the past. Articles/posts such as this can expose some readers to lesser known software that could be quite helpful or interesting. Sure, readers who have been here for years may find these posts to be trivial, but based on most of the comments, many find it helpful. It can even spark other recommendations not in the article that readers might consider. Our own knowledge and experience is not always indicative of the level of expertise or interests others have.

I will say that personally I don't get excited about all the offerings, but occasionally I will see something I haven't seen before or be reminded of software I haven't used in a while.

Of the 5 apps listed, 2 are free, so not all of them have to be bought, and many/most of the suggested apps in the thread are free as well.

To call the software discussed here "malware" and "scamware" leads me to believe you don't know the definition of either term.

Oh, and FYI, these posts aren't paid advertisements
https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en...-news-stories-really-advertising-in-disguise-

 

[nwcs]

An app I like to use is Flume. It’s a desktop app that integrates with Instagram. It’s very easy to use and much handier when you use a computer to process images. It was in the App Store for a long time until it was flagged for using Instagram’s API.

 

[youbzh]

My personal favorites are
• f.lux
• Onyx (a great app for cleaning your Mac and some system tweaking)
• Retina Display Menu
• The Unarchiver
• BetterTouchTool, AppCleaner and GrandPerspective which have been named before

 

[needsomecoffee]

The most important apps for me to make my life easier are:
BetterTouchTool (for resizing and repositioning windows in one or more displays)
Xtrafinder (handy shortcuts for copy, paste, nice explorer option etc). Although I have not been able to use it for the past few months after upgrading OS even though I followed their installation instruction.

I have owned BetterTouchTool and BetterSnapTool for years. Both are fantastic. Not sure of the current configs, but BST is used for windows controls. BTT enhances your options for magic mouse, trackpad, and touchbar. BTT allows a 45 day free trial. Great software from a committed independent dev.

 

[thasan]

Why the hate guys!? There are many nice and interesting apps that many people simply don’t know about. The thread just sparked discussions on what other people find it useful. And this is about mac. Not windows or android! If you don’t find the thread useful, then is it that difficult to keep your mouth shut?!?
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I have owned BetterTouchTool and BetterSnapTool for years. Both are fantastic. Not sure of the current configs, but BST is used for windows controls. BTT enhances your options for magic mouse, trackpad, and touchbar. BTT allows a 45 day free trial. Great software from a committed independent dev.

Better touch tool helped me stop using mouse in my MBP. And I use two external monitors and don’t like to hide windows. Was a lifesaver for me when I moved to Mac six years ago.

 

[0947347]

You already have the app on your computer that allows this. In your Utilities is an app called Audio Midi Setup. Open that up.

Click the + in the bottom left of the window.
Select Create Multi-Output Device.
Then just click the checkboxes under the "use" column for each of the outputs you want to use at the same time.
Change the title to whatever you want and that will show up as it's own audio output selection from the Sound menu item or in your Sound within System Preferences.

Thank you so much, I was not aware of this and it was driving me bonkers
Anything like that available for iPhone?

 

[woodlandtrek]

Is there an app that allows to play both, speakers and output at the same time

Airfoil will do exactly what you're looking for, with the added ability to specify which app is sent to what speakers. The companion iOS app lets you set volume levels, outputs, and receive audio remotely. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way to play multiple outputs from an iOS device without a computer involved.

 

[GGJstudios]

I do not recommend App Cleaner. You don't need "cleaner" apps for your Mac, and many of them can cause more harm than good. No cleaner or app removal software does a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this and this. If you just want to delete the app, drag the .app file to the trash. No other software needed. If you want to completely remove all associated files/folders, no removal apps will do the job.

​

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program​

 

[rembert]

App Cleaner may be free but it only finds little and only obvious related files. iTrash is doing a way better job in general and always finds more linked files. Not free though.

Appcleaner does a marcellous job when you configure it correctly: you have to enable smart delete. The default setup is not sufficient.

Appcleaner is about the first app I install on a fresh mac. iTrash is good as well.

 

[j-beda]

GrandPerspective is a small utility application for Mac that graphically shows the disk usage within a file system. Free download (GPL) or $2 in the Apple Mac Store

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

The graphical layout is very useful, you can see which files are big, and which folders are big due to how they are grouped and displayed.

This is my go-to tool for finding "where did all the space go to?"

 

[sehix]

I can't help but see "paid advertisement" when I see these application suggestions on MacRumors.

I can only imagine the huge payments due from suggestions for free applications.

 

[CylonGlitch]

Instead of OmniDiskSweeper, I use Disk Inventory X, another free app that kind of does the same thing but in a *much* easier to see visual manner:
It's been around for *years* and hasn't really changed functionality in something like a decade, not that it needs to.

Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for Disk Inventory X looks great for what I need.

 

[Bbeelzebub]

No love for EasyFind? I use AppCleaner when I remember, and it does a really decent job. A follow up with EasyFind will find stuff that may have been left behind. EasyFind has been a life saver to rid my Mac of all the Adobe bloat that isn't needed for everyday function of their products. Bye Bye, Creative Cloud. Bye Bye, Adobe Update Manager, etc.

 

[LincolnsiPod]

All of these threads are the same. They start with a list of apps of questionable value... and by page two, everyone is posting the same litany of their favorite apps that have little or nothing to do with the original list... and by page three, we read the same list of "better" or "more productive" apps that appear on page three of the other threads about "interesting" or "useful" or "must-have" apps...

I generally like these threads, no matter how many times it's done someone always mentions an app I never heard of before that I install and find useful.
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My thoughts exactly. Superficial and a bit patronising.

More useful would have been a live wallpaper app that changes based on what the current weather is like.
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No love for EasyFind? I use AppCleaner when I remember, and it does a really decent job. A follow up with EasyFind will find stuff that may have been left behind. EasyFind has been a life saver to rid my Mac of all the Adobe bloat that isn't needed for everyday function of their products. Bye Bye, Creative Cloud. Bye Bye, Adobe Update Manager, etc.

I was going to check it out but a review said it wasn't AFPS (and therefore High Sierra) compatible.

 

[0947347]

Creating fundamentally incompatible macOS and iOS operating systems has been a disaster for the Mac and is one of the (many) reasons that it has become increasingly marginalised over the years. There was never a good reason (other than short-term expediency) why the two OSs couldn't have been much more closely aligned with the only differences being those required to take advantage of things like touch screen vs mouse pointer, etc.
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This is a good idea for a web site or forum.

Is it not a good idea for a threat where people discuss useful apps?
The thing is, hundreds of people will read this thread, but when posting a question, barely anybody reads it

 

[jasonsmith_88]

An app I like to use is Flume. It’s a desktop app that integrates with Instagram. It’s very easy to use and much handier when you use a computer to process images. It was in the App Store for a long time until it was flagged for using Instagram’s API.

+1 for Flume.

Instead of OmniDiskSweeper I use GrandPerspective. They all seem to do the same thing though.

 

[SeattleMoose]

How is OmniDiskSweeper different than using finder to list all your files by size?
Not seeing any of these that look like a "gotta have it"

 

[jasonsmith_88]

How is OmniDiskSweeper different than using finder to list all your files by size?

Because it sorts by folder size first.

Many applications I've used in the past have left rogue data on my machine, usually in /Library and ~/Library. Some of these directories have been hundreds of MB, even GBs on occasion. But listing All Files by Size in Finder would never uncover this, because the individual files aren't large.

 

[dogslobber]

High Sierra has a built in OmniDiskSweeper so it sounds redundant.