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Just got a new Mac? Together, Mac and macOS make for a winning combination. The native apps of macOS make Macs exceedingly capable machines. However, they can\u2019t do everything, and you\u2019ll need third-party apps to get the best out of your Mac.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether you are a student, developer, creative professional, or just someone who is trying to browse the web to find recipes, the right app can help speed up your workflow or even turn a frustrating afternoon into a truly productive one. Here are ten apps that can transform your Mac experience.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nList of apps<\/p>\n
<\/default:svg><\/button><\/p>\n\n1. Maccy<\/li>\n 2. Obsidian<\/li>\n 3. Hidden Bar<\/li>\n 4. Shottr<\/li>\n 5. LaunchBar<\/li>\n 6. Rectangle<\/li>\n 7. FineTune<\/li>\n 8. Consul<\/li>\n 9. BetterDisplay<\/li>\n 10. Setapp<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/section>\n1. Maccy<\/h2>\n\nMaccy comes in rather useful when you have to paste in more than one piece of information.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Copying and pasting is one of the most basic functions on any computer, yet macOS still only remembers your most recently copied item. That becomes frustrating when you are juggling multiple links, chunks of text, passwords, images, or even just basic phone numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maccy\u00a0solves this by storing your clipboard history and letting you quickly retrieve older copied items through a keyboard shortcut that can be customised by the user. Upon reaching the menu, it has a search functionality, pinned clipboard items, and options to ignore sensitive copied content such as passwords. All in all, the app is lightweight and intuitive, so it doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re doing extra work just to reach for your clipboard history. <\/p>\n
Whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0students working on research papers, content creators managing multiple links, or office workers constantly copying information between spreadsheets and documents, Maccy eliminates the repetitive back-and-forth of re-copying the same content.<\/p>\n
Maccy can be installed for free if you, head over to its website here.<\/p>\n
2. Obsidian<\/h2>\n\nAside from the basic note-taking function using the app, you can also use Obsidian as a planner.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Most note-taking apps are either too simple or too restrictive. Obsidian\u00a0sits comfortably in the middle, giving users a blank canvas that can be heavily customised.<\/p>\n
At its core, Obsidian stores notes as local markdown files, which means your information is not locked behind a cloud service. What makes it unique is its bidirectional linking system. Users can connect ideas, projects, lecture notes, meeting minutes, or research references in a way that mirrors how people naturally think. It comes in pretty useful when there is a large meeting topic that is being discussed with multiple key subjects being talked about.<\/p>\n
Aside from being a notetaker, there is also a plugin ecosystem. You can turn Obsidian into a task manager, writing dashboard, study planner, or even a personal wiki. For users who enjoy building highly personalised workflows, few apps offer this level of flexibility.<\/p>\n
Obsidian is free and can be installed here.<\/p>\n
3. Hidden Bar<\/h2>\n\nGreat for hiding away pesky icons you don\u2019t use regularly.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Maybe you\u2019ve heard of Bartender, a popular app that helps manage your Mac\u2019s menu bar when it becomes cluttered with too many icons. Well, Hidden Bar is the free alternative that lets users hide less important menu bar icons behind a simple expandable section.<\/p>\n
Unlike Bartender, Hidden Bar is a much simpler tool and doesn\u2019t include advanced features such as menu bar item search, automation tools, or extensive organisation options.<\/p>\n
However, if you\u2019re looking for a straightforward way to reduce menu bar clutter, Hidden Bar does the job well. It can hide icons from apps such as Dropbox, VPN clients, cloud storage services, and other background utilities, helping you maintain a cleaner workspace with fewer distractions.<\/p>\n
You can download Hidden Bar from the App Store here.<\/p>\n
4. Shottr<\/h2>\n\nYou can also open pre existing images and annotate via Shottr.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
macOS already includes screenshot tools, but they are fairly basic. Shottr adds scrolling screenshots, fast annotations, text extraction, pixel-level cropping, and quick sharing tools. This makes it ideal for anyone who frequently needs to annotate screenshots for documentation or presentations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of opening screenshots in Preview and manually editing them, Shottr streamlines the entire process. Best of all, it’s a free alternative to CleanShot X.<\/p>\n
Shottr costs US$12 (~S$15.46)<\/b>, and you can check it out on its official website here.<\/p>\n5. LaunchBar<\/h2>\n\nLaunchbar even lets you browse your Apple Music playlist directly without having to launch the Music app.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
While Apple\u2019s Spotlight search has gotten a significant upgrade in macOS Tahoe 26 last year, it still falls behind in functionality compared to LaunchBar. The app allows users to launch applications, search files, perform calculations, manage clipboard history, control music playback, and trigger workflows entirely from the keyboard. Its adaptive abbreviation search is especially impressive. You can type shortened versions of app names and still pull up what you need almost instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For keyboard-first users, LaunchBar can help to reduce reliance on clicking through folders or digging through Finder.\u00a0Overall, it helps streamline everyday tasks and, over time, as you continue using it, the app learns your habits and becomes even faster at predicting the items you want to access.<\/p>\n
You can try out LaunchBar for free here. If you intend to purchase it, it costs a one-time fee of US$35 (~S$45)<\/b>.<\/p>\n6. Rectangle<\/h2>\n\nYou can also set hotkeys to quickly shift tabs around.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Bluntly put, window snapping on macOS is a letdown. If you\u2019re a Windows user like me,\u00a0Rectangle\u00a0brings that functionality to macOS by letting users quickly resize and position windows using keyboard shortcuts or drag gestures. It supports half-screen snapping, quadrant layouts, and custom shortcuts.\u00a0If you\u2019re like me and have plenty of browsers and apps open, Rectangle makes multitasking far less painful,\u00a0and\u00a0it has\u00a0your screen\u00a0looking much more organised.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rectangle is available for download here.<\/p>\n