https://preview.redd.it/2hfjo22ej3vd1.jpg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50f2daade89532bc3c3e572e329ee0972cf532ca

I recently discovered Gladys, a free app that allows you to stash a variety of data types an a shelf on your computer display to retrieve later or to access from another computer or iOS device. I quickly tested:

• A dragged image from a web page
• Pasted text copied from the web
• A URL dragged from my browser
• An image file from Finder
• A text document from Finder

All of these quickly synced via iCloud and were available immediately on my iPhone.

Some of the functionality is similar to Yoink, a paid app that also features a clipboard manager and a notes function.

Gladys is a native Mac app that supports standard keyboard shortcuts for cut/copy/paste, handoff, Quicklook, Spotlight, Handoff, service integrations and a share extension for apps that don't support drag & drop. You can use notes and labels for each item you add if desired. The app has built in search for any element. You can share items from Gladys with other users of the app, helpful on a workplace team or in a family environment. Glady collections can be exported and imported via .zip files.

Gladys has a strict privacy policy and employs no analytics. You can download it on the Mac App Store.

See title, happy with finder for organisation but when sorting through files I want to go from largest storage to smallest and not super happy with the native functionality.

Any suggestions would be awesome, thanks!

As title. Using stacks will sometimes mix differnt extensions into same stacks, like .csv and .docx will be in "documents". Are there any apps or terminal command that does this?

I came to a point where I actually want to limit the amount of external apps I use. Some apps I have to have to work and collaborate, but many are just there. I understand that everyone's usecase is different, I for instance don't think that I need a tiling app after Sequoia update, but some of you might still find them exceptionally useful. But if you were limited to just 1 utility app, what would it be? So far, I'm thinking I'd choose CotEditor - while there are TextEdit and notes, I really appreciate its simplicity and functionality (and being free).

So English is not my native language so I have a hard time listening to it. Can anyone suggest an app?

Pls don’t recommend the mac system feature as it is not available in my region.

Before I retired, for work purposes I used the whole MS Office suite of applications (a must), on both Windows and Macs.

But now that I am retired, and using a Mac exclusively, will I be shooting myself in the foot if I give up my Office subscription?

I'm mostly concerned about MS Excel & Word files, which I still receive occasionally for various reasons. I just need to know if I can open them reliably and not loose content. Otherwise I'm fine using Numbers & Pages for personal stuff.

I stopped using MS Outlook a while ago, and am very happy with Apple Mail.

What do you folks think?

Edited to add: I'm using Sonoma 14.7 on an iMac M3.

Found this when checking out their page. Could be handy if you use PearCleaner - help the dev. I’m not the dev or affiliated to them.

https://github.com/alienator88/Pearcleaner/discussions/120

Hello everyone,

I need to locally convert PNG images to JPG and compress them in bulk to a size below 1 MB so that the quality doesn't suffer much. Something like tinypng, but an app. Using Photoshop for this hasn't been great. Any recommendations? Thanks. I don't want the image quality to suffer much.

I am looking for an alternative for Postbox Mail (https://www.postbox-inc.com/).

My business still heavily relies on email communication. I am actively using around 10 Email addresses on five different custom domains. All via IMAP. No Gmail, no Office 365 mail.

My most used features are:

• labels (like 'todo', 'waiting', 'done' etc.)
• subfolders (for clients, projects)
• filters (in Postbox, that let's you move emails to specific folders)
• smart folders (like in Apple Mail)
• Keyboard shortcut to label, move, write new mails

App integrations like WhatsApp, Calendar, ClickUp would be nice.
We are a very small team; team collaboration within email app is not important

What are your recommendations?

Is there a way to setup ray casts auto quit to fully quit an app when there are no open windows for a certain period of time?

I’d rather do this with an app that I already have rather than install a new one, but if there’s an app that does this please let me know.

I’ve tried swift quit but it seems to use waay to many resources when it’s not doing anything, and ideally I’d want apps to quit maybe after 5 mins of having no windows open and not instantly.

MacPilot App Features

Mac Pilot, a customization and utility app from Koingo Software is currently $3.00 on BundleHunt. There are similar apps like Onyx and Tinker Tool out there that are free, but for the price I thought I'd take a look.

Applications

Mac Pilot contains settings for several system apps. Here are just of the few things it can control.

• Calendar - change event duration
• Dock - single app mode, enable window previews
• Finder - enable "Quit Finder"
• Help Viewer - user normal instead of floating windows
• Launch Pad - Reset contents, control # of rows and columns
• Music - enable half-star ratings
• Quick Time - Remember open movies on quit
• Safari - Backspace goes to previous page
• Screen Capture - change file type
• Spotlight - Reset index
• System - Disable notification center
• Terminal - Window focus follows mouse
• Time Machine - Do not prompt to use connected drives

Disk

Gives info and lets you perform maintenance on individual partitions

• Disks info
• Files Info
• Maintenance

File Browser

Detailed file information and settings

• General - Includes last backup date
• Details - Over 30 Unix characteristics on each file
• Access - Adjust traditional permissions and ACLs
• Advanced - Allows you to lock files
• Legacy

Login

• Change many features of your login screen - including the displayed image, which is totally worth the whole purchase price to me!
• Show or hide any users of the computer on the login screen
• Enable and disable login items and launch agents
• Set defaults for window states on login

Logs

• Built in log viewer
• Complete list of system receipts for installed software titles that issue them

Maintenance

• Automated - Enable or disable system cron jobs
• Update or rebuild launch services database
• Force empty trash and clear print queue - Very Helpful!

Network

• Detailed info for every network interface
• Custom sharing settings including enabling airdrop on legacy machines
• Shortcuts to hidden utilities: Airport Utility, Wireless Diagnostics
• Complete Port List
• Network Optimization for selected broadband connections

Power

• Hidden settings for system, AC and battery
• Sleep settings for disks, display, and system. Plus auto-power off settings
• Hibernation settings
• Scheduling for wake and sleep

Reference

• Error Codes
• Fonts
• Key Combos
• Manuals
• System Profile

In addition, there is a section for getting more information and doing some optimization, but it requires disabling System Integrity Protection, and I did not explore that.

The final potentially helpful tool is one that strips out the files from binaries for either Intel or ARM processors if you are running low in disk space and want to eliminate things you don't need. I'd make damn sure I had a good backup before using that.

Something that feels like it was built by Apple, currently the main examples I have are [CotEditor](https://coteditor.com) and [Pixelmator Pro](https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/) both feel almost exactly like a perfect native macOS application they utilise all of the right features, layouts and documentation. Even the website of Pixelmator looks like an Apple site.

https://preview.redd.it/tmuml3z63sud1.jpg?width=3600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fde938243eb14a92cd1187f5a52b7bbc72ba43c6

I keep discovering new apps thanks to this community over the past year, and these are the ones that ended up staying on my Macbook Pro (Apple Silicon). They're all very useful, look clean, and feel native to MacOS imo. I think the paid ones are worth it, at least for me as daily drivers.

My apps:

• 1Password (Subscription, $5/month for Families Plan) - My preferred password manager. Works great on MacOS, can't live without it. The only subscription I have on this list. I like its UI and features over other password managers.
• AltTab (Free) - Windows-like window switcher
• Amphetamine (Free) - Keeps my Mac awake when I need to. Clean, minimal interface.
• BatFi (One-time payment, $10) - Used AlDente before but prefer this one. Cheaper than AlDente's subscription, menu bar app looks cleaner imo, feels native, and has the features I need. Don't really need all of AlDente's bells and whistles.
• Clop (One-time payment, $15) - Optimizes everything I need. Photos, videos, PDFs, etc. Hover zone is cool to drag items into that need optimizing. Makes sending videos and photos a breeze with the reduced file sizes.
• Command X (Free) - Brings back cut. Nice and simple, works in the background.
• Dato (One-time payment, $15) - Cleanest and most native-looking menu bar calendar I've used. Has Zoom integration for meetings. Use it every day for schedules and tasks.
• Dropover (Free/One-time payment, $6) - Cleanest file shelf I've used. Nice integration with iCloud and Dropover Cloud for bigger uploads and file links.
• Hand Mirror (Free/One-time payment, $8) - Does one thing well: Opens my camera when I click the notch. Clean interface and checks for audio too.
• Ice (Free) - Free Bartender alternative. Hides menu bar icons well enough, looks clean too.
• IINA (Free) - My preferred video player. Like a cross between the cleanliness of Quicktime with the playback capabilities of VLC. Looks native and clean too.
• Keka (Free) - File compressor/archiver. Simple yet powerful, handles all zip or compressed files beautifully.
• Latest (Free) - Lightweight tool that does a good enough job of checking which apps need updates. Some apps require manual updating, though.
• Mac Mouse Fix (One-time payment, $3) - My preferred mouse app. Makes my cheap Logi mouse feel and scroll like the Mac trackpad. Customizable enough, app looks clean too. Integrates well with Swish. Great value for just $3.
• MediaMate (One-time payment, $8) - My fave notch tool. Only does volume, screen brightness, keyboard backlight brightness, and now playing. Feels so smooth and native. I don't need my notch to have all the features, and this feels super stable and clean for what it does.
• OBS Studio (Free) - My video recording tool. Takes a bit of setting up but works well enough, at least until I can find alternatives closer to Cleanshot X in terms of features, ease of use, clean UI, and video settings.
• Onyx (Free) - Disk utility and options hub. I use it to customize dock behavior and enable other system settings.
• PastePal (One-time payment, $21) - Clipboard manager, handles all sorts of file types. Works closest to Paste without the subscription. Syncs with iCloud. Has a pop-up with clipboard history and image previews, plus a clean desktop app with nicely arranged categories of clipboard items. Has an iOS app too.
• Pearcleaner (Free) - App uninstall utility. Looks cleaner than AppCleaner and does what it needs to do well.
• Raycast (Free) - Preferred Spotlight replacement. I like the interface better than Alfred. I'm not subscribed as I don't need all the bells and whistles. Paired with its Homebrew extension, Raycast gives updating, searching, and installing/uninstalling brew casks/formulae a nice interface.
• Speediness (Free) - Checks internet speed and network quality
• Stats (Free) - Free iStats alternative and looks well enough in the menu bar. I use it just to check network activity and RAM usage.
• Swish (One-time payment, $16) - My preferred window management tool. Feels like magic when I use it with the Mac trackpad. It feels so native, snappy, has haptic feedback, and looks so clean. Pairs well with Mac Mouse Fix to do the same gestures on a mouse. One of the most native-feeling apps on the list.
• Shottr (Free/One-time payment, $8) - Super lightweight screenshot tool. Nice, clean interface with all the tools I need to annotate screenshots. Liked it enough to pay for the license to unlock all features like the background tool.

What are your fave apps?

Basically I am looking for an app which could remove background of a product and add a custom background using the ai prompt. Is there any such app on mac? There are several apps for removing the product background but I am looking for something which can do the whole process.

I currently use Bootcamp driver to use Windows 10. Turbo is enabled on the Mac side which is auto enabled in Windows 10.

I game on this soley. I had no game crashing until I installed MFC. Now whenever I start a game. The game crashes.

Will the pro version solve this or?

I keep getting the Scan and Repair error.

Looking for a system wide microphone eq app, or DAW+VST plugin suggestions. I have a usb mic from FIFINE from Amazon. I have seen the YT videos about using OBS to EQ the mic and it was a pretty great improvement for me. But running OBS for the sole purpose of creating an EQ’ed virtual mic seems a bit heavy handed. Looking for basic EQ and noise-suppression/voice-isolation.

I have used Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba but find its noise suppression plugins to either produce significant artifacts, or not suppress enough of the background noise.

I used to use Krisp once upon a time, but I have no idea what’s going on with that company/software anymore. It’s WILD.

I tried eqMac but I couldn’t seem to figure it out. If it works for others and there is a good tutorial somewhere I would give it another go.

I am open to VST plugin suggestions (preferably free) as Audio Hijack can load them like a DAW.

In general I would just like to get some near -podcast quality mic sounds system wide so that I can configure my mic in one spot.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

On thread after thread, regardless of the app in question it seems, someone always asks "Can I trust this app?" seeking some protection against malware or privacy invasion. It would serve anyone interested in investigating software or trying new apps to learn a few things about how to answer this question for themselves. Here is a list that is not comprehensive but should serve as a good place to start a discussion.

1. Search Reddit, not just the current thread for references to the app.
2. Apps from the Mac app store can generally be regarded as safe from malware, but you should read the privacy policy and make a decision based on your comfort level
3. Use a firewall like Little Snitch or Lulu if you have concerns about an app accessing the Internet with your data. Objective-See also makes Block-Block which will notify you when new apps try to access the Internet.
4. Don't use any pirated software
5. Don't disable System Integrity Protection or Gatekeeper
6. If downloading from third party sites like MacUpdate or GitHub, evaluate the number of downloads or stars an app has to determine how widely used it is. Generally (but not always) apps that have a lot of users have been investigated by enough people to be safe.
7. Stay current on tech/Apple news. If there is a misbehaving app, it generally makes the news.
8. If you want the extra protection, use something like Malware Bytes on demand scanner
9. If you are dealing with highly sensitive financial or other data, learn how to use encryption tools like Cryptomator so that you have control and you are not relying on unknown developers.
10. Learn to use a VPNs if you have security and privacy concerns.
11. Don't believe everything you hear. There are bad actors who spread misinformation about safe apps. Paranoia can also be catching.

Agree? Disagree? What have I left out?

I let you know when thriftmac hit 300 apps. And now here I am at a new milestone of 400 after going through my lists of candidates and finding lots of stuff on this subreddit.

These apps should all be 100% free to use on your Mac. In some cases, the developer asks for a donation — please consider this if you can afford it.

The site has no ads or affiliate links.

Any suggestions are welcome — additions, removals, new categories, whatever.

Does an app exist that's that's like a helper to manual sorting files, something like what I've visualized? Something kind of like a trading card sorting tray? so you can easily just throw files into bins to organize them?

https://preview.redd.it/sg2iwc4rcsud1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=251760e909441ca2b7cdfc97946e6d135347b17f

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D

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Hi, are there any recommended calendar apps that show full-screen reminders?

I was enjoying using the Amphetamine app, but the Activity Monitor shows high memory consumption, and there is a file of roughly the same size that I can’t understand. Could you please investigate this and get back to me? Otherwise, I will have to uninstall this app that I love using.

https://preview.redd.it/288v7fgt2sud1.png?width=1414&format=png&auto=webp&s=303cecb5dcf6932de6d199e59d9a6e2b1a9f8066

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