The air has a large touch pad and is cheaper than other Mac at the same price, is not it? In addition, the MacBook Air is the first Apple laptop to introduce the new USB-C high-speed port. You can use your old charger without any problem. The new MacBook Air will bring your pleasure when you do presentation, or just watch movies or playing games.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Macbook Air Free
For a Better User Experience
Screenshot of Alfred search app for Mac
Alfred COURTESY OF ALFRED
BetterSnapTool ($3)
Yes, you can use Split View on MacOS to view two applications side by side, but it’s nowhere near as intuitive as it is on Microsoft’s Windows, where you can simply drag a window to a corner and have it snap into place. This app is worth the $3 if you don’t want to mess with resizing window borders constantly. Magnet ($8) is another good option, although now that they’ve raised the price from $3, BetterSnapTool is a better deal.
Amphetamine (Free)
If you’ve ever had to keep wiggling a finger on the trackpad during a movie or YouTube video to stop the screen from going to sleep over and over (or maybe during a particularly long download), you’ll appreciate an app that lets you keep the screen on for certain tasks. It even works with external displays. Sure, you can keep going into your system preferences to change the screensaver and hard disk shutdown settings, but that can get tiresome quickly.
Tweetbot ($10)
Twitter can be an overwhelming hive stream of consciousness, and finding the tweets you want can feel like looking for a handful of needles in a big, international haystack. Tweetbot’s sidebar makes using Twitter more manageable by giving you one-click access to your timelines, saved searches, and DMs. You can also select from a list of filters to block out tweets you don’t want to see, such as spoilers, sponsored tweets, and specific keywords, users, and hashtags that you personally customize.
Alfred (Free)
The default search tool on MacOS isn’t bad, but there’s room for it to go deeper. Alfred is a supercharged alternative that lets you create custom shortcuts to programs and file folders, activate system commands by typing, create automated custom workflows that begin with the push of a button or a typed phrase, and, well, a lot more. It’s free, but you can purchase a version called Powerpack that has more features, such as contacts and app integrations. It costs 29 British pounds (around $38) for a single user license or 49 pounds (around $64) for a lifetime of free upgrades to subsequent versions of Alfred.
AdGuard ($30 per year)
AdGuard’s stand-alone MacOS app lets you choose from and custom-toggle a huge array of filters to block social media extensions, pop-up ads, URL redirects, and a whole lot more. It works not only on your browser but also on other apps you have installed. There’s a free two-week trial, but you’ll need to pay for a license to use it after the trial expires. For $2.49 a month, you get access to the service on three devices simultaneously.
For a Better Writing Experience
Screenshot of Ulysses writing app for Mac
Ulysses COURTESY OF ULYSSES
LibreOffice (Free)
Tired of paying for Microsoft Office, unimpressed with Apple’s default office suite, and unable or unwilling to switch entirely over to Google’s G Suite on the cloud for everything? Download LibreOffice, a full-featured suite that includes the usual applications, such as a word processor and spreadsheet editor. It’s completely compatible with all the usual Microsoft file types, including legacy formats such as .doc. It’s open source and costs nothing to use, even commercially. For goodwill, donate a few bucks if you end up liking it and using it a lot.
Microsoft 365 ($84 per year)
OK, OK, I know I just presented a very worthy, free alternative to Microsoft Office, but there are two features that make paying $7 a month for a Microsoft 365 subscription worth it, if you use them. First, Word’s included Editor feature, which scans for grammatical mistakes and makes suggestions, is as useful and easy to use as Grammarly. Second, Microsoft quietly rolled out free in-app voice transcription in Word, and it’s as accurate as any expensive stand-alone voice transcription software I’ve used.
Ulysses ($50 per year)
I love Ulysses’ plain text and clean interface for writing longer stories, but it’s also perfect for short stories, novels, poetry, and scripts. It strips away all the unnecessary icons, buttons, and settings and lets you focus on your work. You can get a free trial before committing to the subscription fee. (You can opt for $6 per month instead of the annual payment plan.) If you do shell out, the iOS app is bundled with the MacOS version.
MacBook Air displaying Highland 2 app
Highland 2 PHOTOGRAPH: QUOTE-UNQUOTE APPS
Highland 2 (Free)
Highland is a plain text editor designed primarily for screenplays and stage plays, but there are templates for things like novel writing as well. What’s nice is that it’ll automatically configure exported scripts in industry-standard formats, and there’s a new gender analysis tool that’ll break down how many lines are spoken by your characters, categorized by gender. The basic version (which watermarks PDFs with the company logo) is free, but a one-time $50 purchase nets you upgrades and more features, and it gets rid of the intrusive watermark.
Day One ($35 per year)
Journaling is a meditative experience, but if you’re like me and your handwriting looks like an SOS message carved into a rock, you tend to avoid writing on paper. Day One is a great digital journaling experience that lets you insert photos, save voice recordings, and export your logs in various formats, like PDFs. Your journal entries are end-to-end encrypted, automatically backed up, and secured with a passcode or biometrics too. There’s a free version, but it’s severely limited, so you’re better off paying the $35 per year for the full suite of features. There’s a seven-day free trial available.
Dark Noise ($10)
Working in a noisy place—or a dead-quiet one—can be monumentally distracting. Dark Noise lets you custom-mix its 50 built-in sounds to create the perfect audio illusions, whether “perfect” to you is raindrops falling on a tent or a box fan thrumming away on a windowsill. Even if you’re not under audio attack, a smooth layer of background noise might boost your concentration.
For a Better Viewing Experience
Screenshot of VLC Media Player app for Mac
VLC Media Player COURTESY OF VIDEOLAN
ApolloOne ($12 per year)
If you need a heavy-duty image viewer that lets you edit and view metadata, batch-process catalogs of RAW image files, and set up automated processes to sort and classify photos for you, then step up to ApolloOne. This is a program for serious photographers—or at least people who take a lot of pictures and want to organize them. The 14-day free trial has limits on what you can do, but it’s a good way to see if you’ll want to pay $12 a year for the Standard Edition or $20 a year for the Pro Edition. (You can use the free trial past 14 days if you don’t mind the annoying pop-up reminders to subscribe.) Another alternative is XnView MP (free).
Xee³ ($4)
A lightweight image viewer, this app doesn’t come with all the options and clutter of more advanced programs, but it’s nicer to use if you don’t need all those features. Xee³ is clean, like MacOS’ default viewer, but it lets you browse through folders of images and move photographs more easily. For $4, it’s yours for life. It reminds me of Windows Photo Viewer—in a good way.
VLC Media Player (Free)
An oldie from 2001, this is a great video player that’s continually supported. It works with a ton of file formats and codecs, even allowing you to convert from one file type to another, and it gives you a range of audio and video compression methods for making smaller files out of raw or larger ones. If you download a lot of videos, it’s a no-brainer. It’s also an open source product, so be nice and donate a few bucks for the creator if you end up using it a lot.
Skitch (Free)
From the folks who brought us Evernote, Skitch one-ups MacOS’ built-in Screenshot app. Once you capture a screenshot of a program window, a portion of the screen, or the whole screen, you can edit and annotate it with arrows, shapes, textual callouts, and more. You can also pixelate (make fuzzy) portions of an image to obscure sensitive information, or to draw focus.
For Better Organization
Screenshot of Paprika Recipe Manager app for Mac
Paprika Recipe Manager COURTESY OF PAPRIKA APP
Hazel ($42)
Tidying up folders is a slog, and sorting all your files into place never ends because you have to keep doing it over and over as you continue using your computer. That’s where Hazel steps in. You tell it which folders to watch—say, your Downloads folder—and it’ll automatically move files to new destination folders and sort them by name, date, type, what site they came from, and more. Newly created or downloaded files are moved automatically. It’s a one-time purchase.
Shift (Free)
Instead of having to sign in to all your email, workflow, and social media accounts with individual browser tabs, you can link all of them into Shift. That means having just one app window open for all your work tasks. You can hook up Gmail, Slack, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Spotify, Google Docs, and more (plus Chrome extensions!). The Advanced tier unlocks everything you’ll want for, uh, $100 per year. Try the basic (and free) tier first.
Deliveries ($5 per year)
You’re drowning in packages. Keeping everything straight is a nightmare, and it’s stressful to know that if you miss an email or if a delivery date changes, a porch package thief might make off with your goods. This app gives you a clean, color-coded space (purple for FedEx, brown for UPS, etc.) to keep track of delivery statuses and due dates for all your packages, and you can upload tracking information through Amazon links too. It costs $5 per year or 99 cents per month.
Evernote (Free)
If you need more from your note-taking app than bread-and-butter checklists and wish you could scribble in your own handwriting, upload pictures, and scan documents, Evernote is your app. To sync across more than two devices, have access offline, and upload more than 60 megabytes a month, you have to pay $8 a month for the Personal tier or $10 a month for the Professional tier.
Paprika Recipe Manager ($30)
Save recipe web pages and Paprika automatically formats them into a uniform design. All your recipes are organized in folders, and you can use the app’s interactive features to check off ingredients as you cook and scale up or down the ingredients needed for different serving sizes. There’s an iOS app and an Android app, but you have to buy each separately for $5. It’s also available on Windows for $30, so you can sync recipes across multiple platforms.
Other Good Tools
Beyond adding functionality, you should also boost your security. It has nothing to do with using a Mac and everything to do with using computers and mobile devices in general. To guard against data snoops and identity thieves, I highly recommend paying for a virtual private network (VPN).
Also, that same password you put into every one of your hundreds of website accounts? It’s easy for intruders to guess it. Download a password manager, which will generate complex, secure, and unique passwords for each website (and remember them all for you).
FEATURED VIDEO
Review: Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max
Most Popular
Four colored balls (blue, red, yellow, green) illuminated by a line of light in a dark room
SECURITY
How to Remove Your Personal Info From Google’s Search Results
REECE ROGERS
Le Creuset Bread Ovens on marble counter
GEAR
Le Creuset’s Bread Oven Bakes Great Loaves—for a Price
JOE RAY
Screenshot of Mortal Kombat 11 game featuring character with lightning in hands
GEAR
The Best Xbox Game Pass Games, From Tunic* to *Dead Space
REECE ROGERS
Overhead view of person using a screwdriver on disassembled iPhone
GEAR
Apple’s Self-Repair Program Is Off to a Bumpy Start
BOONE ASHWORTH
ADVERTISEMENT
You should also back up your files regularly in several places for redundancy, both on physical hard drives and on a secure cloud service such as Amazon AWS or BackBlaze. There’s a saying that if data doesn’t exist in three places, it doesn’t really exist at all. Three copies are a minimum, and five isn’t too paranoid. Once you lose non-backed-up data, it’s too late, and those photos of your best friends and you on spring break are gone forever.
To automate your cloud backups, you can use an app. I prefer MSP 360, which is still informally known by its previous name, CloudBerry. It’s free to use, and you can have it upload to Amazon AWS S3 or Backblaze B2. Unless you have loads of huge files, such as videos and raw-format photographs, you’ll likely only have to pay a buck or two per month for either one.
And lastly, don’t forget the tunes. Check out my guide to the best music streaming apps you can use to rock out while you work and goof off on your Mac.
Best site to download mac software for free
- MacUpdate
macupdate
WOT Trustworthiness: 91/100
URLVoid Rating: 35/36
MacUpdate is one of the most popular websites to download Mac software safely. It has a library of more than 32,000 apps.
All the apps in the library have been hand-picked by the site’s team of experts, so you can be confident they’ve all gone through a full vetting process.
MacUpdate can also save you money as there are groups for free apps and apps that are currently on sale. Sometimes you can find savings of as much as 90 percent.
Navigating the site is easy; all the apps are divided into 20 well-defined categories. They include Internet, Utilities, Drivers, Games, Education, Home, Business, Multimedia Design, Development, and Graphics and Design.
- Softpedia
softpedia
WOT Trustworthiness: 93/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36
Softpedia is one of the largest software download sites on the web. Unsurprisingly, it has an entire section dedicated to Mac apps.
The download files are updated every day, so you can be sure you’re always getting the latest available version. Using up-to-date versions is critical for avoiding security bugs and flaws.
Many apps are also tagged with the “100% Clean” label. Here is how Softpedia describes it:
Softpedia guarantees that the app is 100% Clean, which means it does not contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.
This software product was tested thoroughly and was found absolutely clean; therefore, it can be installed with no concern by any computer user. However, it should be noted that this product will be retested periodically and the award may be withdrawn, so you should check back occasionally and pay attention to the date of testing shown above.
Softpedia also has user reviews for many of the available apps. They can provide insight on any issues you may encounter during use.
- Pure Mac
pure mac secure mac downloads
WOT Trustworthiness: 92/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36
If you can look past the slightly dated visuals, Pure Mac is another of the most secure sites to download Mac software and apps.
The site boasts one of the most extensive selections of categories; there are more than 80 to choose from. The large number of groups means the site is excellent for finding a Mac app to perform a particular function.
On the downside, Pure Mac does not run its own download servers. All the downloads on the site are direct links that the app’s publisher or developer has provided. Remember, using one of the best anti-virus apps for Mac can help to catch any malware-laden downloads you encounter.
- CNET Download
cnet
WOT Trustworthiness: 90/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36
CNET’s Download.com is another of the web’s largest collections of apps. Like Softpedia, it covers all the major operating systems, including macOS. In total, the site offers more than 150,000 free downloads.
All the Mac software on the site goes through a rigorous testing procedure to check for malware and other viruses.
Download.com also bans any apps that:
Don’t have easy-to-read end-user license agreements.
Modify default browsers, search-engine home pages, or other security settings.
Send information about your computer usage habits to the developer without prior notification.
Because it’s part of CNET, many of the Mac apps you can download have editorial reviews, accompanying blog posts, and how-to articles. These combine to make sure that not only is the initial download safe, but that you also use the software in a safe and secure way once it’s on your system.
- MacApps
MacApps home screen
WOT Trustworthiness: Not Ranked
URLVoid Rating: 36/36
If you’ve ever bought a new Windows machine, you may be familiar with Ninite. It provides a comprehensive list of many of the most popular Windows apps across a range of categories. You can choose the ones you want, then download them in bulk via a custom installer. It can save hours during the system setup phase.
Sadly, Ninite does not provide a solution for Macs—but there is an alternative: MacApps. The available software is divided into seven categories: Internet, Productivity, Developer, Tools, Utilities, Multimedia, and Messaging. There are download links for all the apps you probably use every day, including Spotify, GitHub, Docker, Evernote, Firefox, Chrome, and many more. In total, there are more than 120 apps to choose from.
To use the tool, select the apps you want from the list, and MacApps will provide you with a custom Terminal command. Paste the command into the Terminal app, and the download will begin.
- Mac App Store
mac app store
WOT Trustworthiness: 92/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36
Of course, if you want to avoid third-party Mac software sites entirely, you could just head to the official Mac App Store. In theory, it has highly robust processes to prevent malicious apps from finding their way into the listings.
But contrary to popular belief, the Mac App Store isn’t bulletproof from a security standpoint. Some bad stuff does sneak through.
For example, in September 2018, Malwarebytes discovered that multiple apps were collecting sensitive user data and uploading it to servers controlled by the developer. In many cases, the servers were in China. Amazingly, one of the apps—Adware Doctor—was number one in the chart for paid utilities until the research was made public.
- Download Directly From the Developer
It’s easy to understand why sites that curate libraries of Mac app downloads are popular. They save time, offer unbiased reviews, and allow you to download older versions of software to get rid of unwanted new features.
But none of the sites we’ve looked at are perfect. If Apple can’t even keep bad actors out of its own store, you can be sure that some malicious software makes its way onto the other platforms as well.
The most reliable way to safely and securely download Mac apps, therefore, is to head to the developers’ own sites and download the file directly. Just beware of phishing attacks for the most popular software!
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Check out other publications to gain access to more digital resources if you are just starting out with Flux Resource.
Also contact us today to optimize your business(s)/Brand(s) for Search Engines