This repository provides a list of must-have applications and tweaks for MacOS to increase productivity and overall experience when using your Apple device.
Despite the fact that MacOS is a really good and polished OS, there are still plenty of things missing. So here are a couple of programs that could fix it; pick one you like more:
- Rectangle [OpenSource] - Incredibly powerful window manager! It allows you to snap your application windows to different corners and provides a lot of useful and easy-to-remember shortcuts for arranging your Mac's windows!
- Snap [Free?] - Allows you to open your pinned dock apps with shortcuts! A must-have tool that makes your tasks much easier and more efficient.
- Dockey [Free] - Makes your dock faster. Removes open delay for the dock.
- Pika [OpenSource] - Color picker! Now you can see what the color is just with a small shortcut.
- AutoRaise [OpenSource] - Focuses or raises your windows on hover! It's very useful for a multi-monitor setup and mostly opens your windows in full-size mode. I would really like to use it myself, but only focus mode works poorly with JetBrains tools...
And here are a couple of other important apps related to the system itself:
- AlDente [Freemium, OpenSource] - Manually control your MacBook's charging to increase its lifespan. It's a replacement for "Optimized Battery Charging," which is almost useless on MacBooks.
- Battery Toolkit [OpenSource] - Analog for AlDente, please choose one.
- AppCleaner [Free] - A must-have! Cleans up garbage after you delete applications. Completely free and without useless features.
- Grand Perspective [Paid] - Disk space analyzer. Always helps me find out the reason for the lack of space.
- Little Snitch [Paid] - Network filter. You can see which programs connect to the internet and block access, like a firewall.
- FinderFix [Free] - INCREDIBLY USEFUL. This prevents Finder from picking a random place on the screen when you open it. Must-have.
When you plug in an external mouse, you'll notice how strange its behavior is. The scroll direction is wrong, and there's unnecessary scroll acceleration. It works fine if your mouse is Apple's, but mice from other vendors are almost unusable. Check out the following apps that help you fix it:
- Linear Mouse [OpenSource] - Allows you to disable external mouse acceleration and reverse scroll direction upon mouse plug-in.
- UnnaturalScrollWheels [OpenSource] - Similar to Linear Mouse but with a slightly different interface.
- Discrete Scroll [OpenSource] - Has no interface, and the last version does not support fixing horizontal scrollwheel.
When you connect an external display to your MacBook or Mac Mini, you may notice something strange with its resolution. The external display picture is blurry on the MacBook or lacks sharpness, and when you open Display Settings, you may not see the proper resolution for your display. There are a couple of options you can check to fix your issue; pick only one:
- DisplayBuddy [Paid] - A slightly better analog for Display Buddy (imho). Has a bit less settings, but does the same.
- BetterDisplay [Freemium] - I used only this one for setting completely custom HiDPI resolution for my external monitor on MacBook Pro.
- MonitorControl [OpenSource] - Can't see if it supports setting custom HiDPI resolution, but worth trying.