The best Mac apps help you get more out of your Mac by expanding on its capabilities and shoring up weaknesses. They make it easier and more enjoyable to use your Mac, boosting your productivity and helping you get more out of your device.
With that in mind, we've pulled together this list of our favorite apps to install on a new Mac. Whether you just bought a slick new 24-inch Apple iMac 2021 or are looking for some new tools to augment your trustworthy MacBook Air 2020 (which is still one of the best MacBooks you can buy), these apps will help you make the most out of your Mac.
Most Popular Apps For Mac Air
Many of these apps are freely available on the Mac App Store, which you can access by clicking the App Store icon on your Mac's dock (if you can't find it, you can also open the Apple menu in the top-left corner and launch the App Store from there). The App Store is packed with thousands of apps of varying quality, which is why we've relied on our own hands-on experience and user reviews to build this list of the best Mac apps you can get.
Alfred 4 is the latest and greatest version of Alfred, a better way to search for files on your Mac and the web at large. But Alfred is more than a search tool: you can use it to launch apps, look up spelling and definitions, do quick calculations, and generally make the most of your new Mac. The best part? It's free, though you can pay a one-time fee to buy a license and upgrade to a version with more powerful features, including the ability to play music from iTunes, create workflows and hotkeys, customize Alfred's look, and more.
Apple's own iMovie isn't the most robust or professional video editor on the market (those honors go to expensive software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro), but it's one of the easiest to use. More importantly, it's free, whereas most full-featured video editors will cost you $100 or more. Since iMovie is Apple software it may well already be installed on your Mac, but if not, you can easily grab it from the App Store to do some quick video editing at up to 4K resolution.
Sure, you can log into Instagram via your web browser of choice, but it's not exactly the most ideal way to browse the image-sharing service. Enter Grids, a free app that makes browsing Instagram on your Mac a much more enjoyable experience. It has a nice clean interface that loads quickly, and you can use it to view Instagram photos and videos in a variety of layouts. There's also a handy enlarged view mode for when you want to zoom in. The only downside is that some of the standard features of Instagram (like being able to direct message other users or watch their Stories) are only available in Grids if you subscribe to the Pro version, which is $2.50/month on a month-to-month basis or $1/month if you buy a yearly subscription.
Apple's Mac computers have built up a large and ingenious community of app developers, and many of the best Mac apps are made by third-party devs filling the gaps between what Apple's own software teams can create.
From note taking apps to password managers, there are a lot of choices out there, but only a few are considered the best. Whether you just purchased a brand-spanking new M2 MacBook Air or have an older Mac, the following apps are the ones we recommend the most. So check them out and watch this list grow over time.
An Apple Award Winner for 2022, MacFamilyTree 10 is the latest version in a line of genealogy apps from Synium Software that goes back 25 years. That app offers a clear and easy-to-use interface that makes filling out your family tree relatively simple.
If you want creative apps for multiple platforms but don't want to pay a monthly subscription, the Affinity Suite is almost certainly the one for you. Look for a universal license discount from the Affinity website.
One of my favorite Mac apps, CleanMyMac X, is one of those all-in-one apps that keeps improving with each new release. Created by Ukraine-based MacPaw, the app is designed to free up space on your computer and oh-so-much more.
If there was a Mac app hall of fame, Evernote would perhaps top the list. One of the best note-taking apps on the planet, Evernote makes it possible to jot down important information via text, images, audio, scans, PDFs, and documents. Better still, you can access your Evernotes across multiple devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and through the web. You can also find it on Windows, Linux, and Android.
Like so many other apps on this list, iA is also available on other platforms. In this case, iPhone/iPad. Android and Windows versions are also available. Each version requires a separate one-time purchase. For Apple users, for example, you'd need to purchase one license for Mac and another for iPhone/iPad to use it across all three platforms. Syncing across devices is included.
In 2022, Microsoft decided to discontinue the "Microsoft Office" name. In its place is Microsoft 365, a suite of apps for multiple platforms, including Mac. Available at various subscription levels, Microsoft 365 for Mac includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Outlook. Each subscription gives you access to tools on five devices simultaneously, including Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, and Android phones and tablets.
Without taking a poll, it's likely that most Mac users who subscribe to a music streaming service use Apple Music. And yet, there's no doubt many others use Spotify, the No.1 music streaming service on the planet.
If you want to control your multimedia files better, there's nothing like VLC, a free and open-source cross-platform multimedia player. It works with most multimedia files, including DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
VLC supports most codecs with no codec packs needed. These include MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, MP3, and many more. Besides Mac, you can find VLC on iOS, Windows, Linux, Unix, iOS, and Android.
When you want more control of your most important media files, consider the VLC Media Player. Open-source and accessible across multiple platforms, the software has a large following and one that isn't expected to ebb anytime soon.
Your Mac already comes with lots of great apps. When you want something extra, consider the ones mentioned above. The best Mac apps include calendar and note-taking titles, those for photo-editing and other creative tasks, and one offering VPN.
Which are the best Mac apps to try first? That depends on your needs, of course. However, you won't be disappointed to check out Fantastical or ClearMyMac X first. No doubt, Microsoft 365 will be an essential download for many.
In the App Store, if an app has a Get button instead of a price, the app is free. You won't be charged for downloading a free app. Some free apps offer in-app purchases and subscriptions that you can buy. Subscriptions and in-app purchases give you access to more features, content, and more. Learn more about in-app purchases and subscriptions.
While most of the apps in this list are free, some of them offer a paid option. That being said, when it comes to paid apps, I have only included those options that offer a generous free tier. I am using free versions of all the apps (that offer paid options) and find them suitable for most users. No app with a free trial or heavily restricted free tier has been included.
Raycast also connects directly with popular native and third-party apps like Things 3, Apple Notes, Spotify, Apple Music, Notion, and dozens of others, and allows you to supercharge your workflow. For example, you can connect the Notion account and create new pages and search for existing pages using Raycast. Similarly, you can search and manage your to-dos inside the Reminders app or Things 3. The possibilities are just limitless.
Rectangle is one of the apps that I install instantly on a new Mac. Macs are good at many things, but window management is not one of them. Apple has not solved the window management problem in the latest macOS Monterey, so we have to wait one more year to see if the company is willing to do something about this issue or not. If you are also fed up with Apple's native approach towards window management, you should Install Rectangle.
macOS Mojave introduced dark mode to our favorite desktop operating system. The dark mode on macOS Mojave is not half-cooked as it is on windows. When you turn on the dark mode on your Mac, not only it turns the system UI but also the stock apps. Not only that, apps that support automatic dark mode also adhere to the same guideline. Once you turn it on, they automatically default to dark mode.
While that's great in most situation, I wish Apple included a way to create a whitelist for apps that are not functional in dark mode. The default Mail app and the Evernote app are a few examples of an app that still work best in light mode. That's where NightOwl comes in. It's a menu bar app that allows you to create a whitelist of apps that you don't want to use in dark mode. Not only that, but it also allows you to quickly switch between dark and light mode with a simple click at its icon. You can read more about the app in our article here. The app is completely free to download and use with a voluntary donation.
ImageOptim is one of the most used free Mac apps on my MacBook Pro. In my line of work, I have to attach a ton of screenshots (like in this article). And before I upload any picture on my website, I pass it through ImageOptim. The app deletes all the unnecessary metadata such as GPS position and camera's serial number and compresses the image. This allows me to upload the image on the web without any privacy hazards and ensures that the file sizes are low.
The app is pretty easy to use. You just drag and drop images into its window and then click on the button at the bottom-right corner. If you share a ton of images on the web (whether on your blog or social media websites like Twitter and Facebook), it will be good for you to pass it through ImageOptim first. I have used paid image compression apps but nothing has been as good and as easy to use as ImageOptim. 2ff7e9595c
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