These macOS utility apps are among the many finest obtainable for the platform

• 1 AlDente
• 2 NearDrop
• 3 Hidden Bar
• 4 EjectBar
• 5 Amphetamine
• 6 At the moment
• 7 Gestimer 2
• 8 Speediness
• 9 CopyClip
• 10 Mac Mouse Repair
• 11 Folder Peak
• 12 Command X

Apple’s macOS working system has been around for decades, which has given ample time for third-party builders to construct out utilities and apps for the platform. There is a rich selection of apps on the market, particularly on the subject of system utilities.

Over the course of a number of years, I’ve developed a passion for various these Mac packages, every of which performs an essential half in my day by day workflow. Listed below are 10 of my favourite utility apps obtainable for macOS, all of that are appropriate with the newly-released Sequoia update.

1 AlDente

A much-needed utility should you typically plug in your MacBook

AlDente

A cost limiter app for sustaining your MacBook’s battery well being.

AlDente is a battery cost limiter utility that is particularly geared in the direction of MacBook customers. The app lets you set a charging restrict beneath 100%, to keep away from stressing your battery when plugging in for prolonged durations of time. MacBooks use li-ion batteries, which keep chemical well being for longer when saved between round 20% and 80% capability.

Apple has slowly been phasing in native charge limiter functionality in a few of its newer merchandise, however at the moment, MacBook batteries cannot be manually capped at a decrease proportion capability out of the field. If you end up typically plugging your laptop computer into the wall, or should you maybe have it docked to an exterior monitor that receives energy, then AlDente is a superb selection.

The free model of the app provides fundamental cost restrict and battery discharge functionalities, whereas the Professional model introduces extra scheduling and calibration choices, warmth safety, amongst different options.

Associated

5 essential free apps I download on every new Android phone

From lowering movement illness to backing up cloud information, these fully free apps are a house display staple.

2 NearDrop

Should you personal each a Mac and an Android gadget, then this software is a must-download

NearDrop

A utility for wirelessly transferring content material from Android to macOS.

Should you’re like me and change between pc and telephone platforms regularly, then NearDrop is a lifesaver of a utility. Apple’s AirDrop is an especially great tool for wirelessly transferring information and knowledge between your iPhone and your Mac, but it surely solely works inside Apple’s personal ecosystem of {hardware} and working techniques.

Putting in NearDrop in your Mac makes it in order that any Android device can send content wirelessly to a Mac utilizing the AirDrop protocol. Consider it or not, it really works like a attraction, with none unusual glitches or operational hiccups to talk of. Open your Android telephone or pill’s share sheet, and your Mac will seem as a sharing goal gadget, nearly like magic. Better of all, the app is totally free to obtain and set up.

Associated

5 free must-have apps I always install on my iPhone

These iPhone apps are solely free, and so they’re put in on my iPhone always.

3 Hidden Bar

Hidden Bar

A macOS utility for hiding away menu bar glyph icons.

Should you begin downloading utilities onto your Mac, you will rapidly discover that the menu bar begins to fill to the brim with icons within the high right-hand nook of your show. These icons are fast setting modules, every with its personal drop-down menu for accessing in-app capabilities.

Sadly, Apple does not supply a chic resolution for obscuring the icon litter, save for the choice of merely disabling every menu bar merchandise solely. That is the place Hidden Bar is available in — it is a free utility that locations a small chevron arrow in your menu bar. From right here, you possibly can place icon modules to the left of the arrow, and so they’ll then be proven or hidden just by clicking on the arrow itself.

Associated

How to quickly find and manage all the apps on your Pixel phone

Should you’ve misplaced rely of all of the Android apps put in in your Pixel telephone, this is easy methods to simply flick through your assortment.

4 EjectBar

This app will velocity up your day should you continuously mount and unmount exterior storage drives

EjectBar

A macOS utility that permits you to eject all exterior storage units without delay.

By default, the primary user-facing methodology for unmounting or disconnecting an exterior USB drive in your Mac is by right-clicking on it is corresponding desktop icon, after which clicking on ‘Eject.’ It isn’t troublesome to take action, however should you juggle between a number of exterior storage units on the common, it could possibly rapidly turn out to be annoying to cope with.

EjectBar streamlines the method by inserting an icon inside your Mac’s menu bar. Clicking on it would reveal a drop-down menu that lists all related storage units, with a fast toggle to eject every one. There’s additionally an ‘Eject All’ button, which might come in useful. EjectBar prices $2 on the Mac App Retailer.

Associated

6 bloatware apps I uninstall the second I get a new Samsung phone

The second the telephone comes out of the field, I delete these apps to create space for these which can be truly useful.

5 Amphetamine

Sure, your Mac wants an occasional pick-me-up as effectively

Amphetamine

Hold your Mac awake and stop it from sleeping with one click on out of your menu bar.

Amphetamine does to your Mac what caffeine does to your physique early within the morning on a Monday. It is a easy and light-weight utility that tells your Mac to maintain its display on, bypassing no matter sleep and display-off timer you’ve got configured within the System Settings app.

The great thing about amphetamine is that it is fully free, and it provides a dead-simple person interface from the get-go. I am keen on the varied glyphs obtainable to select from as your menu bar icon — I at all times go for the espresso carafe, myself. Should you ever end up performing a job in your Mac wherein you need your display to briefly stay on and be prepared for motion, then this app will prevent from having to dig by your settings.

Associated

My 7 go-to Android Auto apps I use on every road trip

These apps make an extended drive simpler, extra bearable, and much more (safely) productive.

6 At the moment

At the moment

A macOS menu bar app that gives fast entry to approaching calendar occasions.

At the moment is a brilliant easy and free utility that locations your day by day calendar occasions inside a drop-down menu in your Mac’s menu bar. The app is extraordinarily streamlined, with an interface that avoids pointless litter. It is capable of sync with iCloud, Microsoft Change, and Google Calendar, so it is seemingly that it will faucet into your current occasions that you have saved.

Should you’re in search of a comparable app that comes with a full-blown calendar grid inside an analogous menu bar icon, the $12 Dato app has you lined. For most individuals, nonetheless, At the moment is greater than purposeful sufficient for rapidly glancing at upcoming and day by day calendar occasions.

Associated

9 unnecessary Pixel phone apps you can go ahead and uninstall

Pixel telephones come full of versatile options proper out of the field, so you possibly can let go of those pointless apps.

7 Gestimer 2

A singular and novel software for organising reminders in your Mac

Gestimer 2

A gesture-based menu bar app that permits you to add timers and reminders with out disrupting your workflow.

Gestimer 2 is a enjoyable and novel Mac utility that permits you to set timers and reminders utilizing a easy drag gesture. The app sits inside your menu bar as an icon, and the additional you drag your mouse away from it, the longer the period of your reminder will likely be. You may alter the drag sensitivity, in addition to present a countdown inside the menu bar should you so select to.

Should you arrange loads of reminders or timers whereas utilizing your Mac, Gestimer 2 is a refreshingly unique-yet-intuitive resolution that does not take you out of your workflow. The app prices $7 on the Mac App Retailer, and it is effectively definitely worth the worth of admission should you’re the kind of one that capabilities by way of digital countdowns.

Associated

What are the new macOS features you can’t access on an Intel Mac?

Surprisingly, there are solely a few macOS Sequoia options which can be unique to Apple-silicon {hardware}.

8 Speediness

An web velocity check app that feels so native, I assumed Apple constructed it

Speediness

An web velocity check utility that feels native to macOS.

Speediness is an app that permits you to verify your web velocity, which does not sound notably thrilling off the bat — various competing apps like Speedtest by Ookla supply comparable performance, and nowadays you possibly can even run a velocity check immediately from inside Google.

Speediness has an ace up its sleeve, nonetheless: the app is fantastically made, utilizing native person interface components that make it really feel like a first-party Apple app. It is solely free, too, so there’s little draw back to downloading it from the Mac App Retailer. The app additionally provides integration with Apple Shortcuts, which ought to appease energy customers.

Associated

You can now use iPhone Mirroring to rearrange your Home Screen in macOS Sequoia and iOS 18

It is potential to activate jiggle mode within the newest Mac and iPhone betas.

9 CopyClip

One of the best ways to reference your copied clipboard objects on Mac

CopyClip

A macOS app that gives fast entry to clipboard historical past by way of the menu bar.

MacOS is not recognized for its sturdy clipboard historical past assist, at the very least not when in comparison with the likes of Home windows and even Android. A clipboard is a digital log of the varied objects you’ve got copied and pasted in your gadget, and it may be useful for saving a number of strings of things or textual content for reference, or to rapidly re-paste inside a distinct app.

CopyClip is a light-weight utility that provides a menu bar icon to your Mac, and clicking on it brings up a drop-down menu that lists all of your clippings. You may select what number of clippings to maintain in reminiscence, in addition to blacklist any utility you don’t need something copied over from. Maccy is one other well-liked resolution that gives a lot of the identical fundamental performance, but it surely prices $10 on the Mac App Retailer. CopyClip, in contrast, is a wholly free utility.

Associated

Window managment for all: Does macOS Sequoia feature a Magnet replacement?

Apple’s upcoming macOS replace brings built-in window administration, difficult Magnet’s high chart placement within the Mac App Retailer.

10 Mac Mouse Repair

A software that unlocks helpful third-party mouse settings in your Mac

Mac Mouse Repair

A macOS software that brings various much-needed settings for third-party mice.

Simply as macOS is not recognized for having the very best native clipboard assist, it additionally is not notably well-regarded on the subject of providing sturdy mouse settings. Should you’re rocking Apple’s personal Magic Mouse product, you then’ve obtained loads of choices to work with. If, nonetheless, you’ve got related a non-Apple mouse to your Mac, you then would possibly need to check out a utility that introduces some much-needed settings into the combo.

Mac Mouse Repair is a free app that ports over tons of choices to any outdated USB or Bluetooth mouse, no matter model or worth. Trackpad gestures will be mapped to your mouse, a momentum-based scrolling algorithm improves on the stuttery expertise that usually plagues third-party mice, and it even helps you to change the scrolling course of your mouse independently of your trackpad or your Magic Mouse.

Mac Mouse Repair is free for the primary 30 days, after which prices $3 to personal after this trial interval ends. It is a bit cheaper than the $8 asking worth of one other comparable utility, BetterMouse, however each instruments supply a much-needed increase to your Mac’s general mouse compatibility.

Associated

What are the new macOS features you can’t access on an Intel Mac?

Surprisingly, there are solely a few macOS Sequoia options which can be unique to Apple-silicon {hardware}.

11 Folder Peak

Flip your Mac’s menu bar right into a full-blown file and app launcher

Folder Peak

Folder Peak is a Mac utility that permits you to simply place any file immediately onto your Menu Bar for fast entry.

Folder Peak is certainly one of my absolute favourite utilities obtainable on the Mac. In brief, it lets you add any and all folders into your Menu Bar, every represented as both an icon or a textual content entry. The utility is straightforward to make use of and light-weight, which I recognize. That being mentioned, there may be loads of customization potential right here for energy customers as effectively.

The flexibility to hyperlink your Purposes folder onto your Menu Bar is especially helpful — with some minor tweaking to get the sizing proper, it could possibly simply perform as an app launcher à la the Home windows Begin Menu.

Folder Peak is a free obtain from the Mac App Retailer, and is solely freed from adverts. As such, it is a no-brainer obtain should you’re trying to streamline the accessibility of continuously used information and folders.

Associated

I use these 7 easy Windows tweaks to optimize usability and make my life easier

Home windows 11 will be unnecessarily sophisticated. Make it extra user-friendly and streamline your expertise with these seven tweaks.

12 Command X

In case you have years of Home windows muscle reminiscence constructed up, then this utility is a must-download

Command X

Command X is a light-weight utility that runs within the background, introducing a Home windows-style cut-and-paste perform by way of the Cmd+X and Cmd+V shortcuts.

Home windows converts to macOS will know the frustration on the subject of slicing and pasting information on the latter platform. Not like on Home windows, the place you possibly can simply lower information from one location (Ctrl+X) after which paste them (Ctrl+V) onto one other spot, by default, macOS requires you to repeat (Cmd+C) after which transfer (Choose+Cmd+V) them to carry out this motion.

Command X is a light-weight utility that may run within the background always, making certain that you just by no means have to recollect to maneuver your file by way of the cumbersome Choose+Cmd+V mixture. Fairly, when the app is enabled, you possibly can cut-and-paste information by way of Cmd+X and Cmd+V, similar to you possibly can on Home windows.

Better of all, Command X is totally free to obtain from the Mac App Retailer, with no strings connected. The app works flawlessly in all instances, with the one limitations being you could’t lower a file identify when enhancing it in Finder, or when utilizing the search subject.

Associated

5 things I really want Apple to add to macOS 15: revitalized Launchpad, the return of Dashboard, and more

For all its deserves, macOS nonetheless lacks some key performance. This is what I am personally clamouring for within the subsequent main replace.