Five Useful Mac Apps Worth Checking Out - April 2018

[AZhappyjack]

Bartender looks nice! Does it play well with iStat Menus? I am a big fan of that, and if I can "tuck" all of the menus away to only access them as needed that would free up some menubar space.

Yes.

Been using Bartender for Mac since I moved to OSX in 2009...

 

[Morod]

iStat Pro and Time Machine Buddy for me.
Unfortunately, TMB isn't ready yet for APFS. The developer is working on it. Here:

http://www.bluedog.com.au

 

[Tech198]

iStat Pro and Time Machine Buddy for me.
Unfortunately, TMB isn't ready yet for APFS. The developer is working on it. Here:

http://www.bluedog.com.au

Still using iStat Pro on Sierra

 

[jimthing]

Bartender looks nice! Does it play well with iStat Menus? I am a big fan of that, and if I can "tuck" all of the menus away to only access them as needed that would free up some menubar space.

Yes, iStat can be put into Bartender.

BTW folks, some apps mentioned are a part of Setapp, so don't buy each one individually if you're on that. ;-)

 

[JosephAW]

Long time Menu Meters user. Tried iStat but times out after a few days rendering it useless. Does version 6 eliminate the useless timeout?

 

[inscrewtable]

PureRef is an ultra minimalist free app for viewing and organising reference images.

 

[diipii]

I use MacX Youtube Downloader, MediaHuman Audio Converter, WonTube Video Converter and Reaper.
Don't know if they are from the app store but they are all free and work perfectly. I found them via a Google search on a day High Sierra decided it would open a link. I might give the free version of Avid a try if iMovie £$%^&s me off again. The App Store looks full of junk.

 

[haddy]

The absolute best app for the Mac in my opinion is menuBus (https://www.menubus.audio).

menuBus is a 'must have' for giving you complete control over all audio on your Mac across all apps (iTunes, Skype, Safari, YouTube, ...). menuBus runs seamlessly in the menu bar acting as a 'master bus' for all audio on your system. Its surprisingly simple interface allows you to drag and drop audio plugins in to the 'bus' for performing systemwide audio equalization, on-demand recording, multi-channel audio splitting, speaker and headphone calibration, you name it. Originally intended for professional use in recording studios and for music creation the app is is highly optimized, bit perfect, glitch free, and rock solid.

To this end, the developer Nathan Tiddy who happens to be a really cool guy (a goat farmer in New Zealand) actually listens to the user base and is constantly improving the app. On his website he provides examples of using it with free plug-ins to correct the frequency response of AirPods to make them 'studio reference' flat and is always super responsive to questions by users on his Facebook group page where users even have a vote for the next great feature he focuses on.

While even the free version has plenty of features for the majority of users to enjoy for only $20 the 'Pro' version is well worth it for the ability to save off unlimited presets activated by user-defined hotkeys.

This is an app that seriously Apple should just include in macOs.

I have just installed the Pro version. You are right.
I have a very nice pair of Monitor Audio Bookshelf speakers and sub woofer connected to a Cambridge Audio Sterio Receiver to a Cambridge Audio DAC to a USB bus........and menubus audio is bringing out the best in my setup. Also I can now control the volume from the keyboard.

 

[votdfak]

I prefer iStat Pro widget.

 

[unsaltedrhino]

+1 for Hazel. I use it in conjunction with Evernote and some Apple Scripts to automatically rename (based on date and download source), archive and then delete the original file for bank statements and bills that I download. Can share the scripts if anyone is interested.

 

[Schranke]

Thanks. I’ll give this a shot. The main reason I’ve stuck with VLC is that I know they won’t abandon the project like so many others ave especially those based on Mplayer many of which are still in the beta phase. I’ve looked at the screenshots and it does look nice. Almost like a first party app which is always nice. While functionality is more important than looks, a nice UI is always a plus!

To bee fair IINA is still in beta also, but I have not encountered any problems with it as of now.

Some great suggestions here - IINA - how did I not hear about this? Goodbye ugly/slow VLC, for most things (but thanks VLC for being there all these years).

I also happend to just stumble upon it. I hope that it will get even more recognised in the future as it works great and looks good at the same time

 

[Spacetime Anomaly]

For people who like to access apps, files and folders from a menu item, you can activate the Script Menu and put aliases to apps, files and folders in there.

 

[hfuhruhurr]

You should look into IINA for next month. Super nice (and free) media player build on mpv. A serious competitor to vlc and looks so much better.
https://lhc70000.github.io/iina/

And here is a list of other apps I always make sure to have installed, all well known.
Alfred - better spotligt
Little Snitch - control app internet connections
Airmail - mail replacement
CoconutBattery - battery utility
Amphetamine - keeps Mac awake
1password - password manager

10 thumbs up for IINA! Thanks for the the recommendation. (Though I probably would've dismissed the recommendation had you not built some credibility by suggesting Alfred and CoconutBattery...two of my staples.)

Any idea what IINA stands for? I couldn't discover its meaning.

 

[lerokie]

I don’t run any pirated software so Little Snitch is of no use to me.

I do not use any pirated software, yet Little Snitch is one of my favorite programs. It tells me when an app is trying to reach the internet for whatever reason, like new mail, trying to load things from websites I didn't even know about, to tell advertisers that I opened their email.

Best use is to limit connections based on profiles. While I am at home I have unlimited data on WiFi, but when I'm using my phone's hotspot I don't. Little Snitch knows that it is connected to my phone and activates a profile I made for it and blocks connections from apps that I do not want using data from that internet source.

It is especially useful when using public WiFi, as it also blocks incoming connections from the network. I love that it puts me in control of everything I do.

A little involved while you set up all your rules and profiles, but pretty much seamless after a while.

 

[certen]

Audiobook Creator converts ebooks to audiobooks using text to speech technology. it creates audiobook files compatible with iTunes and iOS.

 

[Schranke]

10 thumbs up for IINA! Thanks for the the recommendation. (Though I probably would've dismissed the recommendation had you not built some credibility by suggesting Alfred and CoconutBattery...two of my staples.)

Any idea what IINA stands for? I couldn't discover its meaning.

Your welcome. No I have no idea what it stands for, or if it even stands for anything...
(good I decided to make that list of other apps)

 

[yellow8]

MenuMeters still works on High Sierra, and is free, compared to iStats menu.

 

[Significant1]

+1 for Hazel. I use it in conjunction with Evernote and some Apple Scripts to automatically rename (based on date and download source), archive and then delete the original file for bank statements and bills that I download. Can share the scripts if anyone is interested.

No expert. Just wonder if Hazel's functionality isn't already in macOS, in the form of folder actions + automator/apple script..

 

[joergp]

Instead of Station I prefer Franz. Franz feels lighter, snappier to have all of your social media apps in one place. However, Station offers some more services Franz does not have. Popclip is another favorite!

 

[MrGimper]

iStat Menus and Bartender as 2 stalwarts I've been using since I moved to the mac in 2012.
Amphetamine is another good tool.
Been using DaisyDisk for a long time too but transitioned to the version from their store as it can find more information as not sandboxed.
Hyperdock is another I've used for a long time, along with Moom and MonoLingual

 

[oldhifi]

I downloaded and installed Istat and now I can't remove it

 

[kirky29]

Whoever said about that IINA media app is a legend! Its incredible!!

 

[hagar]

I use VideoDrive all the time. Puts all my videos in iTunes with descriptions and artwork. If you use iTunes to store all your movies and TV shoes, this is a must have.

 

[Scubaman]

My favourite is more of a hybrid IOS macOS combo-App which adds another display via your iPad / iPhone to your Mac system. It’s brilliant and saved me the cost of a second non-portable display.

The Duet Display IOS App costs £9.99 from the App Store while the partner App for macOS (and Windoze!) is free to download.

 

[kofman13]

Big fan of DaisyDisk. It's almost too easy to use. Smooth interface, it's hard to believe you're actually deleting gigabytes of data. Huge time saver as compared to manually figuring out the culprits taking up so much space. I haven't used GrandPerspective or Disk Inventory X to know how they compare, but $10 seems reasonable for what DD does.

does it delete cache too? like cleanmymac3