The Mac has long been a standard platform for developers to create for, and it shows. From casual time-wasters to full-featured office suites, OS X is packed with great applications you can use at work, at home, or on the go.
We’ve spent hundreds of hours testing programs from every corner of the Mac universe to save you time and trouble in finding the best apps for your needs. And we’re always looking for new ones to add to our list—so if you find an app that’s worthy of our top picks, let us know in the comments below!
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Osx
The best Mac apps help you get more out of your Mac by expanding on its capabilities and shoring up weaknesses. They make it easier and more enjoyable to use your Mac, boosting your productivity and helping you get more out of your device.
With that in mind, we’ve pulled together this list of our favorite apps to install on a new Mac. Whether you just bought a slick new 24-inch Apple iMac 2021 or are looking for some new tools to augment your trustworthy MacBook Air 2020 (which is still one of the best MacBooks you can buy), these apps will help you make the most out of your Mac.
Many of these apps are freely available on the Mac App Store, which you can access by clicking the App Store icon on your Mac’s dock (if you can’t find it, you can also open the Apple menu in the top-left corner and launch the App Store from there). The App Store is packed with thousands of apps of varying quality, which is why we’ve relied on our own hands-on experience and user reviews to build this list of the best Mac apps you can get.
Best Mac apps you can download right now
BEST MAC PRODUCTIVITY APPS
The Rectangle app’s menu bar menu
(Image credit: Future)
Tom’s Guide’s own Henry T. Casey raves that Rectangle is the one Mac app he can’t go without, while global editor in chief Mark Spoonauer describes it as the best Mac app you’ve never heard of. And it’s actually free, too. Which, honestly, it should be: Rectangle helps you manage and organize all of your many windows, with a laundry list of keyboard shortcuts and the ability to snap windows to corners and sides of the screen. This is all the kind of stuff that Windows users get by default and have loved for years. While there’s a $10 Pro edition of Rectangle, the free version is definitely the one most should start with.
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Download Rectangle
Bear
Bear mac app screenshot
(Image credit: Shiny Frog Ltd)
Bear is a free note-taking app that’s versatile, encrypted and easy to use. While Apple continues to make meaningful improvements to its own free Notes app, Bear does a lot of what Notes does better, and with a bigger priority on your privacy. The free version of Bear lets you write notes and to-dos in portable Markdown, organize notes with nested tags, pull assets (like images or text) from web pages into your notes, and even draw or dictate notes using a stylus (for drawing) or Apple Watch (for dictation). If you subscribe to the upgraded Bear Pro version ($14.99/year) you get even more useful features, like the ability to sync notes between devices, encrypt individual notes with a password, or lock the Bear app with Face/Touch ID.
Download Bear
Fantastical
fantastical calendar view
(Image credit: Flexibits)
Sure, your Mac already has a built-in calendar, but Fantastical does it better. This award-winning app has long been a favorite of ours, and at least one Tom’s Guide editor swears by it as a productivity tool. The free version of Fantastical offers a slick, easy-to-use calendar that makes it easy to organize your tasks and see what’s coming up with a glance. If you’re willing to pay a monthly fee, you can subscribe to the upgraded version that offers more useful features, including cross-platform Fantastical access and syncing across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Download Fantastical
Spark
Spark email app screenshot
(Image credit: Readdle Technologies Limited)
You can do better than the default Mail app on macOS, and Spark is one of the best alternatives. This free email client offers a number of handy features the competition doesn’t, including a suite of tools that make it easy for multiple people to manage an inbox by doing things like assigning emails to each other or composing emails collaboratively in real time. It also offers excellent tools for organizing your inbox, scheduling emails, and finding exactly the message you’re looking for using a natural language search engine. You can also find stellar Spark clients on iOS and Android, making it a great tool for managing email across multiple devices.
Download Spark
BEST MAC UTILITY APPS
Alfred 4
Alfred 4 screenshot
(Image credit: Running with Crayons Ltd)
Alfred 4 is the latest and greatest version of Alfred, a better way to search for files on your Mac and the web at large. But Alfred is more than a search tool: you can use it to launch apps, look up spelling and definitions, do quick calculations, and generally make the most of your new Mac. The best part? It’s free, though you can pay a one-time fee to buy a license and upgrade to a version with more powerful features, including the ability to play music from iTunes, create workflows and hotkeys, customize Alfred’s look, and more.
Download Alfred 4
Daisydisk
DaisyDisk screenshot
(Image credit: Software Ambience Corp)
DaisyDisk is one of the best disk space managers for Mac because it’s powerful, versatile and beautiful to look at. This $10 app will quickly scan your storage drive(s) to show you a gorgeous interactive map of how your Mac’s storage space is being used, and its drag-and-drop tools make it easy to quickly move files around and clear up some space. Plus, the latest version now supports scanning drives on cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and more.
Download DaisyDisk
Meeter
Meeter screenshot
(Image credit: Bardeen Inc)
Meeter is a handy little app that sits in your Mac’s menu bar and organizes all your video calls in one place, whether they be on BlueJeans, FaceTime, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Zoom or about thirty other video-conferencing platforms. In normal times Meeter is ideal for remote workers, but during the COVID-19 pandemic it’s a useful app for anyone who regularly hops on video calls with family and friends. The free version connects to your calendar and automatically pulls in details for your upcoming calls, making it easy to quickly see what you have coming up and join with a single click — no more rooting through your email to find the right meeting link.
Download Meeter
BEST MAC PHOTO/VIDEO EDITING APPS
CleanShot X
Cleanshot x screenshot
(Image credit: Make The Web)
CleanShot X is a turbocharged screen-capturing tool for Macs, and if you spend a lot of time capturing pics or video of your desktop it’s a real life-changer. The basic version costs $29 and gives you a more powerful suite of screen-capturing tools that make it easy to quickly snap a pic, edit or annotate it, combine it with other screenshots, and share it with whoever you need to via drag-and-drop. You can also record video of your screen (even while scrolling) with the option to capture your clicks, your keystrokes, or your webcam, then quickly upload that recording to the cloud or turn it into a GIF. Upgrade to the $8/month Pro version for unlimited cloud storage (the basic version gives you just 1GB), custom domain and branding options, and more.
Download CleanShot X
Pixelmator Pro
pixelmator pro screenshot
(Image credit: Pixelmator Team)
With a $40 asking price, Pixelmator Pro isn’t the cheapest photo editing app on the App Store, but it’s certainly one of the best. As of this writing it offers more than 50 image editing tools (including a full set of vector tools), including some pretty neat options like photo editing tools that tap into the power of machine learning. It’s a strong competitor to Adobe Photoshop, with the added bonus that you only have to pay for Pixelmator Pro once, whereas Adobe wants to charge you a monthly subscription fee to use its best photo editing tools.
Download Pixelmator Pro
iMovie
iMovie screenshot
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple’s own iMovie isn’t the most robust or professional video editor on the market (those honors go to expensive software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro), but it’s one of the easiest to use. More importantly, it’s free, whereas most full-featured video editors will cost you $100 or more. Since iMovie is Apple software it may well already be installed on your Mac, but if not, you can easily grab it from the App Store to do some quick video editing at up to 4K resolution.
Download iMovie
BEST MAC SOCIAL MEDIA APPS
Grids
Grids screenshot
(Image credit: ThinkTime Creations LLC)
Sure, you can log into Instagram via your web browser of choice, but it’s not exactly the most ideal way to browse the image-sharing service. Enter Grids, a free app that makes browsing Instagram on your Mac a much more enjoyable experience. It has a nice clean interface that loads quickly, and you can use it to view Instagram photos and videos in a variety of layouts. There’s also a handy enlarged view mode for when you want to zoom in. The only downside is that some of the standard features of Instagram (like being able to direct message other users or watch their Stories) are only available in Grids if you subscribe to the Pro version, which is $2.50/month on a month-to-month basis or $1/month if you buy a yearly subscription.
Download Grids
Tweetbot
Tweetbot for Mac screenshot
(Image credit: Tapbots)
If you use Twitter frequently, Tweetbot is a must-have app for Mac. This $10 app makes the experience of using Twitter much more enjoyable by giving you access to a powerful suite of filters that can help you block out spoilers, sponsored tweets, and more. It has a slick user interface with that makes it easy to track hashtags, switch between accounts, and jot down notes on user profiles that only you can see.
Download Tweetbot
BEST MAC ENTERTAINMENT APPS
Spotify
Spotify desktop client screenshot
(Image credit: Spotify)
If you’re not already using Apple Music to kick out the jams, chances are good you’re a Spotify user. Even if you aren’t yet, Spotify makes it easy to set up a free account and start listening to your favorite artists, and the macOS desktop app gives you more control over your playlists than the web app in a slick, easy-to-navigate design.
Download Spotify
Steam
Steam for Mac promo image
(Image credit: Steam)
If you want to play games on your Mac, it’s a good idea to download Steam. Launched by Valve nearly two decades ago, Steam has grown to become one of the biggest PC game platforms in the world. Not every game on Steam is compatible with macOS, but Steam makes it easy to filter through its 50,000+ games to see which ones run on Macs. There are lots of amazing options too, including everything from Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and Stardew Valley to Cuphead, Hades, Disco Elysium and more. Plus, you can connect a compatible Bluetooth controller for some old-fashioned gamepad gaming on your new Mac.
Download Steam
VLC
When you absolutely, positively must play a video file and you’re not sure Apple’s QuickTime player will support it, VLC is the first media player you should download. It’s one of the best media players on the market because it supports so many different types of multimedia, including DVDs, audio/video CDs, and file formats like Xvid, DivX, Real Video, and more — including Ogg Vorbis, a personal favorite. The best part? It’s free, open-source, and available across multiple platforms, including iOS.
Download VLC
VLC media player screenshot
(Image credit: VideoLAN)
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best apps for macbook pro 2020
Setapp
Setapp is one of the easiest ways to find many awesome apps to try without having to purchase a bunch of different ones. Think of it as a Netflix subscription for apps. Some of my favorites are CleanMyMacX, Wi-Fi Explorer, CleanShot X, Mockuuups Studio, and iFlicks. All of the apps included in Setapp are full versions and receive software updates like their direct pay counterparts.
1Password
I’ve been a Mac user since 2004, but the app I remember using the longest is 1Password. I’ve been using it since version 2, and it’s something I don’t ever plan to uninstall. 1Password stores all of my passwords, social security information, secure notes, and I even use it to generate two-factor authentication codes. I am currently subscribed to the family plan, so my wife and I can share passwords to joint accounts in a shared vault.
Sensei
If you want a streamlined solution to help with maintenance on your new Mac, check out Sensei. It helps you free up storage, uninstall apps, and monitor the overall health of your computer. If you only have 256GB of storage, you’ll appreciate the ability to delete unnecessary language files to free up more space for photos and video.s
Ulysses
If you purchased a Mac and plan to increase your writing output in 2021, check out Ulysses. It gives you a focused writing experience combined with built-in document management, fast syncing, and flexible export options. It syncs with the iOS versions as well. If you want a simpler option for just Markdown writing, check out Byword for Mac.
TextSniper
TextSniper is one of those apps you’ll wish you had when the need arises for it. It takes text in a graphic or non-selectable PDF and turns it into actual text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Using it is as easy as taking a screengrab and then pasting.
Day One
If journaling is on your 2021 goals list, then Day One needs to live on your macOS dock. It’s the best tool for journaling on the Appel platform with built-in sync from Mac to iPhone/iPad. Day One makes it easy to document the funny things your kids say, great school projects, or the best cup of coffee you had on an overseas trip.
Alfred
If I had to sum up Alfred into one sentence, it would be that it’s macOS spotlight on steroids. In my day job, I spend a lot of time using other people’s computers, and whenever I hit CMD+Space, I am immediately reminded of how much I’ve come to rely on Alfred. Alfred is a free app, but I highly advise purchasing the Powerpack if you find you like it. A lifetime license is right around $45 (£35), and a single version license is around $25 (£19).
NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire has gone through many owners in its history, but it’s back in the rightful hands of Brent Simmons, and it’s seeing rapid development on macOS and iOS thanks to a team of open source supporters. If you want to streamline your news reading in 2021, moving away from social media for news consumption to RSS will put you back in control of what you read. Reeder is also another great RSS reader for Mac as well.
Best apps for a new Mac: A better email app
The macOS mail app leaves a lot to be desired for features, but there are some great alternatives for the Mac. Spike is a conversational style email app that lets you use email like a chat app while including notes and tasks inside your inbox. Another modern option includes Spark, and one of its key features is creating, discussing, and sharing an email with your team before its sent. Both of these apps support snooze and scheduled send, unlike Apple’s mail app.
Best apps for a new Mac: A new calendar app
If you need more out of your calendar that Apple offers, there are a number of great options for the Mac. Check out Fantastical if you want to combine reminders/tasks and calendars into a single application. I’ve been using it for many years and happily pay for the subscription. One of my favorite features is the included weather forecast each day. If Fantastical doesn’t work for your budget, check out BusyCal
Best apps for a new Mac: Task Management
The built-in Reminders app does a great job of keeping simple lists, but it’s not built for project management or more complex tasks. Thankfully, there are several great task management apps for the Mac that all sync to their mobile versions. Some of the most popular ones are Todoist, Things, GoodTasks, and OmniFocus. I’ve used them all in the past, and they’re all great additions to your Mac.
Backing up your Mac
Getting your new Mac backed up is essential, and there are two ways I recommend. The first is a local backup using a Time Machine drive. Time Machine is built into the Mac, so as soon as you plug up an external drive, it’ll offer to begin a backup. Time Machine is the fastest way to restore your data to a new Mac in the future as well.
I also recommend signing up for Backblaze to complete your backup strategy. Backblaze is a cloud-based backup tool that makes sure you always have a copy of your data even in the event of theft, flood, or fire. As good as Time Machine is for backups, it generally means your backup is in the same location as your computer. By using Backblaze as well, you’ll always ensure you have a backup offsite.
Mac Accessories
If you want to outfit your new Mac with some accessories, here are some ones I recommend:
Logitech MX Master 3
Waterfield Vertical Crossbody Laptop Brief
RAVPower Mac laptop charger
Braided USB-C charging cable
Wrap up on best apps for a new Mac
The new M1 Apple MacBook Air is the best computer I’ve ever used. The long battery life means that I charge my laptop at night like I do my iPhone. I love never hearing a fan. Regardless if you own a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, by downloading some of the best third-party apps, you’ll be able to supercharge all that you can do on your new Mac. What apps did I miss? What’s on your list of best apps for a new Mac? Leave me a comment below.
Conclusion
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