Best Apps For Macbook Pro

Hi there! I’m Andy and this is one blog, of many, dedicated to the best apps for the MacbookPro. We look at Mac apps that are compatible with all the versions of Mac OS – anywhere between 10.6 Snow Leopard and either 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion. Also we highlight great new Mac software for web design, video editing and music creation.

Best Apps For Macbook Pro

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.

Best apps for macbook pro 14

Dropbox
Dropbox Screen
Source: iMore

Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you easily backup vital documents, files, photos, videos, and other things, making it one of the essential must-have Mac apps. While your stuff is stored in Dropbox, you can access it across any other device, as long as you’re logged in to the same account. Any changes to your files get saved automatically, though you can also check older versions on the web interface if needed. Everything you upload to Dropbox is encrypted, and there are also collaborative features that make it easy to share files with others. One thing I love about Dropbox is how it integrates with pretty much any other app I need, so my stuff is accessible from anywhere and in anything.

A free account gives you 2GB for free (and the chance to get more space with referrals), but they have plans that start at around $11.99 for 2TB.

Dropbox Mac Icon
Dropbox
Online backup for all of your files, with integrations in almost every app.

Starting at $11.99 a month at Dropbox
Tweetbot
Tweetbot Screen
Source: iMore

I’m on Twitter pretty much all day, every day. My app of choice is Tweetbot from Tapbots. I use Tweetbot over every other Twitter app because I love the interface, as it’s easy to use and provides plenty of powerful features. You can quickly search for topics that interest you, filter and mute hashtags and people that are annoying you temporarily (or permanently, it’s up to you), create lists, and there is support for a multi-column view. I’ve been using Tweetbot on my iOS and Mac devices for years — there’s no other app that I would rather use. Plus, you don’t see promoted ad tweets or other annoying features, like Spaces. It’s one of my absolute must-have Mac apps.

Tweetbot
Tweetbot
Tweetbot has plenty of powerful features that make it the best Twitter app on Mac.

$10 at Mac App Store
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge
Source: iMore

While I use Safari as my default browser on my Mac, it’s always good to have an alternative, especially since some things don’t always work correctly in Safari. For my alternative, I use Microsft Edge. It syncs with your Google account, has numerous plugins and extensions to enhance the browser experience, and works better with certain Google apps than Safari. And yes, it’s much better than Google Chrome.

Microsoft Edge Logo
Microsoft Edge
Edge is a great alternative browser that syncs with your Google account and has a ton of plugins and extensions.

Free at Microsoft
Fantastical
Fantastical Mac Screen
Source: iMore

I have a lot going on daily, so my schedule gets hectic at times. That’s why I need a calendar, and I continue to use Fantastical on my Mac. Fantastical has a beautiful interface that is easy to use, and you have several different views on how to look at your calendar. It integrates with your iCloud, Google, Exchange, or local calendar, so any changes are saved and synced automatically. The agenda list view is a great way to see what’s coming up in your schedule, and it’s easy to create events with the natural language input support. Fantastical also integrates with Reminders, so your calendar and tasks are in one place. While it has transitioned to a subscription model, it is free to download and try out, and as one of our must-have Mac apps, there’s no reason not to give it a go.

Fantastical
Fantastical
Fantastical provides a beautiful interface for your schedule, and natural language input makes it easy to schedule events and reminders.

Free with in-app purchases at Mac App Store
1Password
1password Blurred Screen
Source: iMore

One of the most important things you can do to protect yourself online is to have secure passwords. For this, you’re going to want a good password manager which can track your passwords and other sensitive data while also helping you generate randomized passwords to use. With 1Password, you can create different vaults for personal and work accounts (or whatever else you need), sync your data across multiple devices (it’s available on everything), and even store things like bank info, credit card numbers, and other things that need extra security. 1Password encrypts everything so that it’s safe, and you can’t even get in without a master password. I’ve been using 1Password for years, and it’s one app that I cannot live without. If you need a great password manager, 1Password is a must-have Mac app.

1Password
1Password
Generate safe and secure randomized passwords, track all of your passwords and other sensitive data, and sync everything on all of your devices.

Free with in-app purchases at Mac App Store
DaisyDisk
DaisyDisk Mac
Source: iMore

Need to do a bit of hard drive cleanup? DaisyDisk is another must-have Mac app. This app lets you quickly see what is cluttering up your hard drive, thanks to bright and colorful blocks, so you can see what’s taking up the most space. You can delete stuff directly from DaisyDisk to free up space, and it’s all done in an intuitive interface that’s a joy to use. Decluttering has never been prettier.

Daisydisk Mac Icon
DaisyDisk
DaisyDisk lets you easily visualize what’s on your hard drive, and you can delete useless files directly through DaisyDisk’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

$10 at Mac App Store
Bartender
Bartender Prefs Screen
Source: iMore

Once you start installing many apps, you may find your Menubar cluttered with a bunch of icons. Bartender is an app that helps you tidy up that Menubar by tucking away unwanted icons into a kind of sub-Menubar. With Bartender, you can choose to rearrange your icons into an order that makes more sense to you, as well as choosing what is shown in the main Menubar and what to hide in a secondary Menubar. Or, you can hide some items entirely because they’re unnecessary — it’s up to you. This is a must-have Mac app that would be one of the first things I put on a brand new Mac. It’s also great for new MacBooks because you can regain a lot of menubar space on that smaller screen.

Bartender
Bartender
Tidy up your Menubar by rearranging and hiding app Menubar icons as you see fit.

$15 at Surtees Studios
Alfred
Alfred Prefs Workflows Screen
Source: iMore

The Spotlight Search in macOS is alright, but you can do much more with Alfred. Alfred is essentially Spotlight on steroids. You can do your basic search functionality, but you can also create workflows to make your life easier, access your clipboard history at any time, view contact info, have app integrations, text expansion, search the web, and more. You can download and use most of the basic features for free, so there’s no reason why you would miss out on this must-have Mac app.

Alfred 4 Mac Icon
Alfred 4
Boost your productivity like never before with Alfred and its many magical wonders with the keyboard.

Free at Running with Crayons
Pixelmator Pro
Pixelmator Pro Screen
Source: Pixelmator Team

Whether you’re an amateur or professional, you may have to do some photo editing at some point. Pixelmator Pro is one of our favorite apps to get the job done. It’s a powerful photo editor that will have all of the tools you need, but it’s intuitive and easy to use, unlike Photoshop, which some may find intimidating. With Pixelmator Pro, you have many professional and non-destructive editing tools, allowing you to bring the best out of your photographs. And the image editing is enhanced by Pixelmator’s machine learning, so you get the absolute best-looking photos quickly. Plus, the price is reasonable and affordable, especially compared to the competition.

Pixelmator Pro
Pixelmator Pro
Pixelmator Pro brings professional-grade tools in a simple and easy-to-use interface for everyone.

$40 at Mac App Store
BBEdit
Bbedit Screen
Source: Bare Bones Software, Inc.

If you’re looking for a professional text, code, and markup editor, you should download BBEdit. It’s often used by web application developers, writers, and software developers who need powerful tools for editing, searching, and manipulating text, code, and HTML/XML markup. Some features of BBEdit include grep pattern matching, search and replace across multiple files, project definition tools, function navigation and syntax coloring for a wide variety of source code languages, code folding, and more.

Unsure if BBEdit is what you’re looking for? The app has a 30-day trial for you to put the app through its paces, and then you can decide whether or not to purchase the full package, which has even more advanced features. But you can continue to use the free version of BBEdit too.

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