Since I migrated from Windows to macOS, I've discovered one of the major advantages that macOS has over Windows - the abundance of productivity apps and their high quality. As I started using my main computer, I came across some interesting apps that have significantly enhanced my productivity. I'd like to share them with you:

One Thing

Free

One Thing is a free application that does exactly what its name suggests - it displays text in your Mac's menu bar. "Any idea or thing you want to keep in mind can be written in One Thing and will always be within sight."

Hand Mirror

Free

Hand Mirror is an application that allows you to have a mirror at hand in your Mac's menu bar. Simply click on the mirror icon and using your Mac's camera, you can have a mirror to check how you look before your next call. If you want to learn more about this app, you can visit its Official website.

Itsycal

Free

Itsycal is a free app developed by MowGlii. It's like having your calendar living within your menu bar. You can sync it with all your emails, create events with just a few clicks, and view your events for each day.

AltTab

Free

Personally, when I switched from Windows to MacOS, one of the things that took me some time to adapt was the quick app switching feature. In Windows, using alt + tab allowed for quick tab switching, but this doesn't exist natively on Mac. That's why AltTab exists - an app that shows you a window with all the open apps, allowing you to switch between them quickly.

AppCleaner

Free

AppCleaner is an application that allows you to completely remove files associated with an app. When you delete an app in MacOS, only the app itself is removed, but sometimes there are still some files related to the app left behind. This app searches for those files and removes them, optimizing storage space.

Amphetamine

Free

Amphetamine is an application that helps you keep your Mac awake for as long as you need. Often, we need our computer to stay awake for a download or a process to finish. This app allows you to select the duration for which you want your computer to stay awake.

Latest

Free

Some of these applications can't be found on the App Store, and you have to get them directly from the developers. This brings a general problem - not knowing which apps need to be updated. Latest is an app that shows you which apps need to be updated and allows you to update them directly from the app.

Dropover

Free-ish

Dropover is an application that makes it much easier for me to move a large number of files between locations on my Mac. By making a quick movement gesture, a window appears where you can drop the files you want to move. You can navigate to a different folder and drop them all in one smooth movement. It also allows you to share a large number of files via Airdrop, message, mail, or a link for others to view your documents over the internet.

GetIpSum

$2.00

GetIpSum is an app that lives in your menu bar and allows you to quickly generate lorem ipsum text of different sizes. It's handy when you need placeholder text for prototypes or sections.

Vivid

$10

If you have a 14/16-inch MacBook Pro or a Studio Display, this app might interest you. These computers have a technology called Micro-Led, which means that instead of having a single backlight illuminating all the pixels, there is a grid of small LEDs behind the screen that individually illuminate the pixels.

Normally, Macs for regular use are limited to 500 nits, but these computers can reach a maximum of 1000 nits. However, this feature is only activated when working with HDR content. Vivid allows you to increase the brightness to the maximum without needing HDR content, which is useful when working outdoors and needing a bit more brightness. If you want to learn more about Vivid, you can visit its official website.

Sip

$20

Sip is a color picker app that lives in your menu bar. It allows you to configure the color format you want to receive, from Hex to specific formats for operating systems like Android and iPhone.

PixelSnap

$40

PixelSnap is an app that allows you to measure dimensions on any part of your screen. It also lets you add vertical and horizontal guides on top of what you're currently viewing on your computer to check dimensions in your designs and alignments. Additionally, you can select an area of your computer, and PixelSnap adjusts to the content, making it easy and quick to capture it.

Magnet

$100

Magnet is an app that solves one of the main features that we still don't understand why MacOS hasn't implemented - the ability to adjust different windows to full screen or to a specific section of the screen. Knowing that the cost of the app is high, here are some alternatives:

• BetterSnapTool
• Rectangle

Bartender 5

$15

Bartender is an app that, in my opinion, is essential if you use MacOS. It allows you to customize your menu bar and organize how each of your extensions is displayed. With the new version of Bartender, you can even customize the area that the menu bar uses.

CleanShot X

$30

CleanShot X is an app that I personally use every day. It's like having an enhanced version of taking screenshots on a Mac. After taking a screenshot, you can add arrows, text, blur text, add backgrounds, and more. It also has OCR, which allows you to extract text from a screenshot. When recording the screen, it shows the pressed keys, areas where you click, captures audio from the computer and microphone.

If you don't want to pay the $30, there's a free alternative that is equally good called Shottr.

I hope you liked this post. Thank you so much for reading :)