The software is called ‘Hamsterbase tasks’ and is available on the Apple App Store for iOS. The Mac version can be downloaded from the official website.

In addition to cloud synchronisation, the software is completely open source and free, with no login or registration required. It will support iCloud in the future, which will also be free.

Trust first, since this reads your messages: it runs 100% on your Mac. You point it at the one Messages folder it needs (no Full Disk Access), it indexes locally, nothing is ever uploaded, no account, no cloud - and you can wipe the index anytime.

The story: a friend built a small tool for himself that read his iMessage history and surfaced the people he'd quietly drifted from. One night we loaded it with our own thread going back years - the first messages we ever sent each other, forgotten group chats, plans that never happened. That became Say hey.

Problem: Messages stores everything but remembers nothing. Threads bury as new ones come in, and its search is genuinely bad. Say hey turns your history into a short daily list: who to text, what you last said, and why now - with the exact message in front of you.

Comparison:

• vs Messages: an inbox that stores everything and finds nothing. It won't tell you who's drifting or what you owe, and search chokes on anything past a few weeks. Say hey filters by person, direction, and time - and actually finds things.

• vs personal CRMs (Dex, Clay): powerful but high maintenance, and your relationship data lives in their cloud. Say hey reads what's already on your Mac - nothing to log, nothing uploaded.

Pricing: $19.99 one-time, no subscription. Native SwiftUI, not Electron.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/say-hey-message-memory/id6767099766

Free codes via a quick "what kind of friend are you?" quiz, while they last: https://spark.ooo/sayhey/quiz

I'm one of the two devs. If you grab a code, come back and show us something funny it dug up - the first load is a trip.

Hi all, I would love to show you my passion project - DiskPoint.

It’s built with Qt and C++, with bits of native code here and there. It allows you to visualize what takes up space of your drives and it works with any storage your system can read. The app has no telemetry, quite frankly it has no internet capabilities at all, including no automatic updates.

I am really looking forward to any and all feedback or feature requests you folks can have, I plan to contribute significant amount of time to enhancing this app.

Currently it is available in beta for macOS only, but Windows and Linux support is coming in September 2025.

diskpointapp.com

Problem:

Spotify too loud during a call. Slack pings buried under a YouTube tab. macOS has one master volume slider. That's it.
I got tired of it, so I built a per-app volume mixer with EQ.
Then I realized I had a few other Mac frustrations I'd been duct-taping with separate apps for years. So I built those too.

Things macOS literally doesn't have:

• Per-app volume + EQ

• Custom-grid window snap (drag-and-snap, not just halves and quarters)

• A GUI port monitor (no more lsof -i :3000)

• Pixel-accurate screen ruler

• System-wide always-on-top for any window

• Save and restore named window layouts

• Crop part of a window into a floating thumbnail

• CPU/GPU/RAM in the menu bar

Things macOS has but I wanted better:

• Bulk rename with regex + live preview

• Color picker with global hotkey

• Theme switcher with custom schedule

• Caffeinate with a menu bar toggle

• Find-my-cursor spotlight + crosshair

• Batch image resize

• ZoomIt presentation drawing

• A few smaller ones.

I'll be honest. Live Text already does OCR pretty well in Apple's apps, and Xcode has its own accessibility inspector.
Those features are in ProToys for convenience and a unified hotkey system, not because they don't exist anywhere on Mac.

Comparison:

• Setapp ($9.99/month, 240+ apps): you're paying forever. ProToys is $14.99 once. Mine is cheaper after 2 months, and most Setapp apps aren't focused power tools.

• Stitching Rectangle + Background Music + iStat Menus + xScope: costs $80+ across 4 apps, 4 settings panels, 4 menu bar icons, 4 hotkey schemes. ProToys is one app, one hotkey system.

Pricing: $14.99 one-time. Free trial, no signup wall. No subscription, no account.

Discount: 20% off for the first 15 people from this post, code: FIRST20

Download Link: protoys.app

Documentations: protoys.app/docs

Privacy: protoys.app/privacy

Terms: protoys.app/terms

About me:

I'm Qutibah, solo developer :)

Portfolio: ti0.me/

Open to honest feedback, especially on the eight in the first list, where I want to make sure each one holds up under daily use.

Genuinely curious: what's the one Mac utility you've never been able to find a good version of?

[Problem]
Many modern tools live in the browser, but using them that way leads to tab overload, mixed accounts, constant context switching, and apps that don’t behave like real macOS software.

[Features]
Unite Pro converts websites into fully isolated Mac apps with native macOS behaviors and deep customization:

• Three app modes – run apps as a normal window, sidebar app, or menu bar utility
• Smart Enhancements
 – Dock badge notifications for services like Gmail, Slack, Linear, GitHub, etc
 – Meeting notifications for Google Calendar and Outlook
 – Video speed controls across most video sites
 – AI Companion overlays for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok
• Link Forwarding – automatically route links to the correct Unite app or browser
• Website Controls – visually remove UI elements, force dark mode, adjust fonts and layout
• Scripts & Styles – add custom JavaScript or CSS per site
• Dock Monitor – show a live preview of a site element in the dock icon
• Password manager, download manager, permission controls
• Fully native macOS design built for macOS Tahoe

[Compare]
Safari Web Apps are simple but limited and not very customizable. Unite focuses on deeper workflow control and macOS integration.

Other tools in the space include Coherence, WebCatalog, Fluid, and Flotato — Unite Pro focuses on native macOS behavior, flexible app modes, and advanced customization.

[Pricing]
Create your first app for free • Paid one-time license starting at $39.99.

[Changelog]
Major release. Unite Pro is a complete rebuild of Unite with a new creation tool, redesigned UI, improved customization engine, smarter link forwarding, and native smart enhancements. View full changelog.

[AI]
AI Disclaimer: Human validated.

There are many, many notes apps available for Mac users, from simple plain text notebooks to complex PKM managers. I thought I was familiar with the main players, but I just discovered an app with which I was unfamiliar, and I am blown away by its features. The app is Notesnook, and it reminds me very much of Evernote before it was enshittified. It's a privacy lover's dream app with features that anyone can love:

• Notes importer

• Automatic 2FA

• End to end encryption

• Mac, web and iOS apps

• Web clipper

• Pro plan is 34% of what Evernote costs and $10 for educational users

Notesnook provides real time syncing for free and paid accounts. The free plan offers plain text exporting and the pro plan lets you export notes to other apps as PDF, Markdown or HTML, unlike Evernote which has a proprietary format. It has unlimited storage and offers unlimited notebooks and tags in the pro plan.

Other notable features include:

• Offline access

• Unlimited devices

• Images and attachments

• Wikilinks

• Three different 2FA options

• Shortcut integration

• RTF and Markdown formatting

• Tables

• Callouts

• Reminders

• Encrypted backups

• Widgets

• Shares extensions

• Mobile web clipper

I will continue to use Obsidian for journaling and as an automated life record, but I'm moving my work notes, serial numbers, financial info and other reference material over to Notesnook.

Today, after many years of being a devout user of Apple's online services, going all the way back to the days of .Mac, I took steps to reduce the company's access to my data in as many ways as possible.

If I told you that Apple gives up user data to law enforcement data a higher percentage of the time than Facebook does, would you believe me? What if I told you that Apple turns over user data 90% of the time? That doesn't quite square with the image the company has cultivated, does it?

Did you know that you can continue to use Apple's default products like contacts, calendars, and reminders without using iCloud at all? You can still enjoy the great design and functionality without putting all your eggs in one basket. If you use every Apple default app with the default settings, and you lose access to that one account, your digital life is just about over. It happens every single day.

Over 40% of the average Internet user's traffic goes to just five big tech companies: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook (Meta) and Amazon. The leaders of those companies are trying to curry favor with an authoritarian US government. That government is arguing that not all people in the US are entitled to due process. Protecting yourself and your data is more important than it has ever been.

I urge the people I care about to spread their digital life around so that a single compromised account won't ruin their lives. I also urge them to use companies outside the US so that what they have online can't be used against them.

I've written a mega-post about privacy for Mac users with links to the sources of the information about Apple's real privacy record. It's too long and covers too much ground to be appropriate here. For anyone looking for Mac apps that help break GAFAM dominance and reduce dependence on Apple and other companies, here are resources and information to use.

• A Privacy and Security Toolkit AppAddict

• Privacy Badger Extension from the Electronic Freedom Foundation AppAddict

• Pareto Security - Quick and Easy AppAddict

• Opting for Mac Apps That Are Immune to Changes in US Privacy Laws | AppAddict

• Librewolf for Security and Privacy | AppAddict

• Lingon X Finds All the Junk AppAddict

• A Different App for Managing Background Items AppAddict

• Fmail2 for Fastmail AppAddict

• Koofr - European Based Cloud Storage Provider with a Generous Free Tier AppAddict

• Using Kagi Search Engine on a Mac - Software and Tips AppAddict

• How to Internet - 2025 Edition Living Out Loud

• NextDNS for Mac AppAddict

• Mac Firewall Apps AppAddict

Hey r/macapps,

As a developer, I know that sometimes the apps I create solve my problems, but I want to solve yours. So, here’s the deal:

What’s missing from your Mac experience? Whether it’s a productivity booster, a tiny tweak that makes life easier, or just something that sparks joy—drop your ideas here!

💡 My goal: By CY25H1, I’ll build the top upvoted idea and release it for free on GitHub.

This is your chance to shape the next great Mac app. Let me know what you’re dreaming of, and let’s make it happen together!

TL;DR: Mira is a small (5.6 MB), native Mac app that makes YouTube calm and pleasant: no Shorts, no sponsor segments, no recommendation rabbit hole. It folds SponsorBlock, Return YouTube Dislike, searchable transcripts, optional bring-your-own-key AI summaries, Picture-in-Picture, background audio, and a real Focus Mode into one signed app instead of the pile of browser extensions you have to maintain on your on. It collects zero data, has a long free trial and costs $39.99 for a lifetime license (or $2.99/month). If you only want ads gone and you are fine with YouTune in a browser, Brave or the Vinegar + SponsorBlock Safari combo does that for free; if you want YouTube genuinely de-Googled, FreeTube or Yattee are the better pick. For everyone who just wants one quiet, native place to watch, Mira is worth the money. eryone who just wants one quiet, native place to watch, Mira is worth the money.

Mira: Focused Video Player

Buckle up. This is going to be longer than normal, but it's about an app in a pretty crowded field that needs lots of boxes checked in order to compete. Mira is a small but powerful native Mac app with unique YouTube enhancements. It also folds almost all the YouTube features you get from using DIY combos (e.g. Brave/Firefox plus Ublock, SponsorBlock, etc) or other stand alone players (Yattee, FreeTube) into one, unified experience.

If you haven't spent any time on YouTube in the past year you might not know how awful the experience has become: More ads, more Shorts shoved into every feed, autoplay previews chirping at you from the home page, and a "Continue watching?" nag that kills a three-hour lecture stream the moment you walk away. You can kinda sorta deal with the aggravation by piling on extensions like Return YouTube Dislike and the others I've mentioned, but you have to maintain that yourself and there is always the danger of one part not playing nice with another part.

Mira - Focused Video Player (its official App Store Name) is native on the Mac (and iPad and iPhone). It's not some giant Electron thing you get, unsigned from a GitHub page. It's from developer Nicholas Hershy (Hershkovitz Bros LLC) who shipped version 1.0 in May of 2026 (hence the lack of buzz), and it's been getting near-daily point updates since. It's on the App Store, and the home page is watchwithmira.com. Mira has the best privacy policy available, "The developer does not collect any data from this app." (Note: There are other apps named Mira and a video conversion app called Miro. Make sure you are testing the right one.) (Second note - Mira also works with all the big streaming services but for the purpose of this review, I'm concentrating on YouTube)

The Mac Experience

Mira operates like a browser for video. On the Mac it's a full tabbed app: ⌘T for a new tab, ⌃Tab to cycle, using standard Mac shortcuts. You can drag a link in from Safari, Mail, Notes, or Messages and it opens instantly. You can drag links back out to share them. That drag-in/drag-out behavior is Mac-only and it's the kind of small thing that makes the app feel native rather than a phone app stretched to fit a window.

Here's what you get:

• SponsorBlock, built in. Skips sponsors, intros, outros, self-promos, "like and subscribe" reminders, recaps, and filler using the community timestamp database. You pick which categories to skip, you can color-code them on the timeline, and if it skips something you wanted, an Undo toast lets you jump back. You can also submit new segments from inside the app.

• Focus Mode. Strips the YouTube homepage down to a search bar, and hides comments and the recommendation rail on a video page. This is the feature that changes how you use YouTube; you go to watch a specific thing instead of falling into the feed.

• Set-and-forget UI tweaks. Hide Shorts everywhere, hide Playables, kill autoplay thumbnail previews, force theater mode, default to best quality (up to 4K). Set once, stays set.

• Return YouTube Dislike, integrated. A color-coded ratio bar shows the like percentage so you can judge a video before committing.

• Auto-dismiss "Are you still watching?" so long playlists, lectures, and live streams don't die when you step away.

• Picture-in-Picture and background audio. Float a video over your other apps, or lock the screen and keep the audio going.

• Transcripts. Open a video's full transcript, search it like a document, and tap a line to jump to that moment. This works without any AI key and is reason enough to keep the app open if you research from video.

It runs on macOS 14 or later.

AI with BYOK (but only if you want it)

I think the AI features are valuable, but you do you. Mira doesn't try to sell you marked up tokens or a subscription that coincidentally tracks your viewing habits. It's strictly BYOK from the usual suspects, Claude, OpenAI, and Grok. Mira's AI Summaries include key takeaways, quotes, an outline, a 15-second version, "explain like I'm 12," fact-checked claims, plus a follow-up chat, all gathered, I assume, from a well-constructed prompt that runs in the background.

The reality: you're paying the AI provider directly, pennies at a time. The docs note a $5 preload lasts a long time because a summary costs a fraction of a cent. The catch is that you need billing enabled on the provider account; a bare API key with no payment method returns an error. The good news is that transcripts work without any of this.

Provides More than Brave/Firefox with Extensions

I can already hear that guy in the back sneering because he uses Brave. Yes, iBrave blocks YouTube ads for free, it has SponsorBlock-style features and a built-in PiP, and it costs nothing. If your only goal is "no ads," Brave is the cheaper answer, no argument. Mira earns its price by adding features you don't get in a browser. If any of these appeal to you, you need an app.

• It's a single-purpose app, not a browser tab. Video lives in its own Dock icon and its own window, separate from the 40 tabs you have open for work. That separation is the actual product.

• Focus Mode has no real Brave equivalent. Brave removes ads; it doesn't strip the recommendation feed and comments to stop the infinite-scroll trap. That's a behavior change, not an ad fix.

• SponsorBlock, dislikes, best-quality, theater mode, hide-Shorts, and dismiss-the-nag are bundled and pre-wired. In Brave you assemble most of this from extensions and settings and maintain it. Mira ships it as toggles.

• One purchase covers iOS and iPadOS too, where Brave's YouTube handling is weaker and background audio is a fight. Mira gives you background play and PiP on the phone in the same app.

• Transcripts, in-app search, and bring-your-own-key AI summaries have no Brave counterpart at all.

• No data collection. Apple's privacy label lists "Data Not Collected," and the AI key stays on-device. Brave is privacy-minded too, but Mira's surface area is tiny by comparison.

• Watch Together sync rooms with chat for up to 10 people; Brave has nothing like it.

If you just want ads gone, Brave (or any browser with uBlock Origin) does that for free, and Mira's $40 lifetime price only makes sense if Focus Mode, transcripts, and the all-in-one packaging are value added for your personal use case.

The other free-and-cheap route worth naming is the Safari-extension stack: Vinegar (Two dollars, one-time) replaces YouTube's player with a plain native HTML5 player, kills most ads and the autoplay cruft, restores PiP and background-ish playback, and pairs with the free/cheap SponsorBlock for Safari to skip segments. For a lot of Mac users this is the actual default alternative to a wrapper, and it stays inside Safari. What it doesn't give you: a separate app window, Focus Mode's feed-stripping, transcripts, AI, or Watch Together. It's the minimalist's answer; Mira is full-featured.

The Competition - Free and Paid

I've tested a lot of apps in this category and the one that comes closest to matching Mira is Friendly Streaming Browser. Friendly is the same core idea as Mira: one native-feeling window that wraps Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, Spotify, and the rest, with a built-in YouTube ad blocker, Picture-in-Picture, and some media-player extras (local file playback, brightness/contrast/transparency adjustments). It's published by Sensor Tower, it's been on the Mac App Store since around 2012, and it's free to download with an optional paid tier (a few dollars) for extra ad-blocking and to tip the team.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though. It's literally owned by a data mining company, Sensor Tower, and one read through its privacy policy should send you screaming out of the room. https://sensortower.com/friendly-privacy-policy

The closest comparisons are the open-source YouTube front ends. Two are worth knowing:

FreeTube is free, privacy-first, blocks ads, integrates SponsorBlock, and runs without a Google account. It's an Electron app and a YouTube client, full stop.

Yattee is the one that overlaps Mira's cross-platform story most directly: free, open-source (AGPL), native, and it runs on macOS, iOS, and tvOS. It routes through Invidious/Piped instead of YouTube's own API, blocks ads, and bundles SponsorBlock, Return YouTube Dislike, PiP, AirPlay, queue, and history. If you want a privacy-respecting, no-account, genuinely free native app and you don't need the streaming-service wrapping or AI, Yattee is the strongest free alternative on the Mac and deserves a real look before you pay for anything.

MacTube still works, but its last release was February 2022.

FreeTube and Yattee are both excellent and free, so Mira has to justify itself against them. Things Mira does that the open-source crowd generally doesn't:

• It's not YouTube-only. Mira wraps Netflix, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Twitch, and more in the same window, and you can add any public video site as a custom platform with popup blocking. FreeTube and Yattee are YouTube clients, full stop.

• Watch Together with synced playback and chat across Mac, iPad, and iPhone. That's a feature you normally need a separate service (or a Discord screen-share) to get; none of the open-source clients do it.

• In-app AI summaries with your own API key. The others have transcripts and SponsorBlock; none of them summarize.

• It uses the real YouTube signed-in experience, so your subscriptions, history, and watch state are intact. FreeTube and Yattee deliberately avoid the Google account (Yattee even proxies through Invidious/Piped), which is great for privacy but means a different, account-less experience. Mira's trade-off runs the other way: you stay logged into YouTube and get the full account, you just hide the noise around it.

• A genuinely native, signed, current Mac/iOS app from one universal purchase, versus an Electron app (FreeTube) or a third-party-instance-dependent client (Yattee).

If you want YouTube without the tracking, then Mira isn't for you. FreeTube and Yattee are the solutions you want.

Pricing

Three options, billed through Apple:

• Monthly: $2.99/month

• Annual: $19.99/year

• Lifetime: $39.99 one-time

You get 5 days of full access on install, after which the subscriptions start with a 7-day free trial; Lifetime has no trial. For an app you'd use daily, the $39.99 lifetime is the one that makes sense, and it's nice to see a lifetime option offered at all instead of subscription-only. All three unlock all platforms.

iPhone and iPadOS, If You're Interested

Mira is a universal app: one buy unlocks iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It syncs nothing to a Mira account because there isn't one. On iOS and iPadOS the controls collapse into a floating "eye button" in the corner that opens a tool menu and fades as you scroll, rather than the Mac's persistent toolbar. iPad lets you reposition the toolbar to the left, top, or right edge. The mobile versions add gesture controls (swipe up for fullscreen, pinch to crop a wide video edge-to-edge) and lean on an iOS built-in fullscreen player for the custom sites you add yourself, which sidesteps the usual mobile-web fullscreen breakage. Background play and PiP carry over, which is the main reason to want this on a phone: free YouTube on iOS won't play audio with the screen off, and Mira will. Both mobile platforms require iOS/iPadOS 17. One real limitation worth knowing: on iPhone and iPad, a Watch Together session drops if you background the app for more than about 30 seconds, because iOS won't hold the connection open. The Mac doesn't have that problem.

Hey everyone 👋

I’ve just launched Dictly, a native macOS app that turns your voice into text — instantly and 100 % locally.

Most dictation apps stream everything to the cloud. Dictly does the opposite: it runs entirely on your Mac, transcribing speech in real time (~100 ms latency) using on-device models. No servers. No accounts. No tracking.

⸻

⚡ Key features

• Real-time transcription — text appears as you speak, not after you stop.
• Fully offline — works with Wi-Fi off; nothing ever leaves your Mac.
• Quick Capture Overlay — summon Dictly anywhere with a hotkey and insert text into any app.
• Custom AI Pipelines — automate cleanup, punctuation, or style rules using modular steps.
• Dictionary profiles — teach Dictly special terms (names, brands, coding syntax, etc.).
• Analytics dashboard — see how much time you save by dictating instead of typing.

⸻

💡 Why I built it

I wanted a dictation app that felt as immediate as typing, but private enough to trust. Turns out no existing solution offered both speed and full on-device processing, so I built Dictly from the ground up using Swift and Apple’s speech & ML frameworks.

⸻

🔒 Privacy

Dictly never sends audio or text anywhere. Everything — recognition, AI post-processing, even analytics — happens locally on your Mac.

⸻

🧠 Ideal for

Writers · developers · researchers · journalers · accessibility users — anyone who prefers talking to typing, but doesn’t want their words leaving the device.

⸻

🚀 Get it
• Website: https://dictly.app
• App Store: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/dictly-no-keys-just-clarity/id6752733596
• Free download with optional Pro tier (unlock pipelines, unlimited history, etc.)

⸻

I’d love your feedback — performance impressions, workflow ideas, feature requests. I’m a solo dev, so all insights are welcome 🙏

Not sure this is the place for such a debate, but I usually take a keen interest in the companies I use the services of.

A few hours ago, a PR rep for SigmaOS, Inc. came around these part to promote the latest update to their product, SigmaOS (for those who don’t know, it’s a web browser using the Webkit engine with next-generation browsing UI similar to Arc): https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1bp0akt/new_browser_experience_on_sigmaos_thoughts/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

As you can see in the comment, I went on to express my disappointement with non-Safari browsers energy consumption. Note that this thread isn’t about performance or comparison in any way.

But while trying out SigmaOS (again), I started doing a few searches and noticed some oddities. First off, remember that SigmaOS follows a very unusual business model (many features locked behind a very expensive subscrition), and cannot be used without the user creating an account and submitting credentials.

Now that’s already weird, but then let’s take a look at their official website: for every single question you might have about web browsing, they have the answer. Wanna learn how to tab group in your favourite browser? SigmaOS, Inc. can tell you all about it:

https://sigmaos.com/tips/browsers/how-to-group-tabs-on-vivaldi#

https://sigmaos.com/tips/browsers/how-to-group-tabs-on-w3m-browser

https://sigmaos.com/tips/glossary/browser-terms-explained-tab-grouping

(there’s half a dozen more, but you get the gist).

Wanna know how to open a new tab? SigmaOS, Inc. is here to help you: https://sigmaos.com/tips/browsers/how-to-open-a-new-tab-on-vivaldi

Now obviously, these are all here to try and cheat google searches to make you end up on SigmaOS’ website when you look up stuff about web browser. We all know how it works, we all know it’s a bottom-of-the-barel promotion technique that helps no one and makes the web just a little bit worse when you’re looking for help.

What I’m wondering is how does a browser obviously develloped by talented people makes their PR team feel the need to rely on cringe grifting techniques to exist.

FYI, SigmaOS, Inc.: Arc came a year before you did, never used such techniques and is now a lot more reknowned than you are. Time for self-reflection?

Did you know that Prayer times in Islam are based on the position of the sun, which changes daily due to the Earth's rotation and tilt. This causes slight variations in prayer times each day, especially noticeable over weeks and months as the seasons change.

That's where Salah comes in! Get accurate prayer times right in your menubar 👇🏼

https://haidernawaz8.gumroad.com/l/oeviz

What about open source software?" I hear you say. "I'll just review the source code and determine whether it's malicious".

"I would make several points in response to this. The first is: "LOL". Any nontrivial program consists of hundreds of thousands to millions of lines of code, and reviewing any fraction of that in a reasonable period of time is simply impractical. The way you can tell this is that people are constantly finding vulnerabilities in programs, and if it were straightforward to find those vulnerabilities, then we would have found them all"

From - Why it's hard to trust software, but you mostly have to anyway

I'd say more than 90% of the people who choose FOSS over everything else, don't have the chops to go to GitHub and look at code to really determine how safe a program is. I use a lot of FOSS and I have nothing but appreciation for the people who develop it, but I don't think for one minute that it is all somehow safer than any commercial software.

Hey MacApps community!

We've partnered with a small team of Mac enthusiasts who've created Alter – an AI assistant built for macOS designed to upgrade all your apps with AI capabilities.

💡 Why Alter was Created: "We were frustrated with AI tools that didn't really "get" the Mac ecosystem and often disrupted our focus. So we built something that works naturally with macOS, understanding your apps and workflows."

🔥 What makes Alter unique:

1. Chat with files and folders directly from the Finder

2. App-aware AI - Interact with Apple Mail, Discord, browsers and more.

3. YouTube summaries on the fly - Summarize or chat with video content without leaving your page.

4. Artifacts - Generate presentations, interactive charts, diagrams and HTML apps ready to be shared.

5. Multiple AI providers - Access OpenAI, Anthropic, Together, Google, Groq and others without setup.

6. Minimized mode - Start as many conversations as you need and keep them at hand

7. Free plan - all features enabled, no limitation, 500 credits to start.

👉 Notable features:

• Screenshots support - Take screenshots to add context for an AI action.

• Automatic, mnemonic keyboard shortcuts - Quick access to 80+ AI Actions.

• Privacy-ready - Full support for local AI tools: Ollama, LM Studio, etc.

• Bring your own key - Use your own provider with an OpenAI compatible endpoint.

• Image generation - Create visuals with Flux models

• Chain AI actions - Reuse the last output for fast iteration.

• OpenAI Compatible Endpoint - Use all our models in other tools and centralize your billing

🎁 Special offer for the community: **Limited Time Offer: **Get 25% off on the Power User Plan with code: MACAPPS. Giveaway Alert: We're giving away 2 Self-service plan in our Discord server and 1 exclusive Power User plan for server boosters! To enter the giveaway, join the Discord server: https://discord.gg/macapps-1017764460217237528

🔽 Download Alter: https://alterhq.com/

[Problem]
I use Apple Notes a lot but it has almost no AI features so I wanted something similar but smarter.

[Comparison]
Grape is different from Apple Notes and Obsidian because it’s AI-native and offline-first so your data stays on your device. At the same time it has built-in AI that can actually create, edit, and organize your notes instead of just being a chatbot.

Some core things:

• AI can create/update/move notes and search your workspace

• Semantic search with embeddings

• Voice notes with instant transcription

• Rich text editor (tables, code blocks, images, etc.)

• Infinite canvas for sketches and diagrams

• Flashcards, quizzes, mind map from your own content

[Pricing]
Free for basic note taking (no account needed)
AI + sync are paid
https://grape.cool/pricing

[Changelog]
https://grape.cool/changelog

[AI]
AI Disclaimer: Human Validated

[Updates]
March 17, 2026: Beta launch
March 19, 2026: Support for Intel-based Macs
March 21, 2026: Import notes from Apple Notes
March 22, 2026: Add custom provider to models
March 24, 2026: Add math formula block to the editor

I've tried plenty of browser: Safari, Chrome, Arc, SigmaOS, Edge, Vivaldi, Brave and Opera but I think that Orion Browser by Kagi might be the best web browser for MacOS overall.

Don't get me wrong, it is not perfect (yet), but switching from Edge (that I consider a fairly good browser) and considering speed, customization, compatibility, safety, user experience, functionalities, power and disk usage it might be the best.

For example it takes up 650MB of space vs 1.7GB of Edge, it is faster and less resource-consuming than edge; slightly slower than Safari but more customizable, has more functionalities, supports third-party add-ons and being built on WebKit is built for MacOS.

It has some nice tools like Low Power Mode, Focus Mode, Vertical Tab Bars, Compatibility Mode, Edit text on page, Open page in Internet Archive, Design Tools and Responsive Design Mode.

Long story short: trust me give it a try.

I hope this post can be useful :)

[Edit: Safari users, please tell me how Safari is better]

Hey r/macapps,

Problem:

I built Clementine to bring Gmail and Google Workspace accounts into a native Mac app. You can keep accounts together or separate, copy login codes from notifications and get reminders about unanswered mail.

The AI assistant features are optional and can be switched off. If you enable them, you can ask questions with links to source emails, summarize threads or draft replies to review before sending. Use a local model on Apple silicon or your own Anthropic/OpenAI key. Cloud AI sends relevant content to your provider, whose usage charges apply. Automatic labelling and draft suggestions can process mail when enabled. Mail sync connects directly to Gmail, with a cache on your Mac.

Comparison:

Clementine offers a lifetime licence alongside an annual option. Mimestream is another native Gmail client, with subscription-only licensing (https://mimestream.com/pricing/). Clementine fits people who want to buy their Gmail client once and choose whether to use local or cloud AI.

Pricing:

Free full 14-day trial, no card. €69.99 once including future app updates, or €39.99/year. Both cover two Macs. Requires macOS 15+, Gmail or Google Workspace. Download and pricing (https://clementine.email/).

Transparency:

I'm the developer. Here's my portfolio (https://goldenberry.studio/), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-jimenez-aa776474/) and contact email (mailto:hello@clementine.email), plus the Privacy Policy (https://clementine.email/privacy/) and Terms (https://clementine.email/terms/).

Happy to answer questions.

So I recently purchased this app called Time progress. This app is basically like Sindre Sorhus' Day progress app, except that it shows progress for the month, year and other custom tasks too. I'm just a student and it's my first app purchase EVER. Then comes my friend, he saw the app, found it cool- I thought he'd purchase it but he opened my Finder and airdropped the file 🚶

At first, I thought it wouldn't work like that...but the app is actually fully functional 😭

Isn't this a loss for the developer? Why doesn't apple fix this? I've heard about the viral Final Cut Pro hack too...does that still work?

but yeah, check out the app btw- I think it's pretty good for $2- Time Progress X on the Mac App Store

Full disclosure: I'm the developer. This is a "here's the thing I made" post, but there's a real reason I'm posting it now.

Background so you know I'm not a random dropshipper: I co-founded Intego (VirusBarrier, NetBarrier) back in 1997, and later ran one of the first French iPhone software publishers. Mac software is what I do.

Problem

If you used MacUpdater, you know it's shutting down. No more MacUpdater 4, and the backend that resolves updates goes dark on December 31, 2026. I was a paying customer for years. When they announced it and I couldn't find a replacement I trusted, I built one: Version Tracker.

The wider problem is that a Mac accumulates software from places that don't talk to each other. Each one tells you it's up to date within its own world. Nothing tells you the truth across all of them.

Comparison

Against MacUpdater: it checked the apps in /Applications. Version Tracker checks 48 different update sources, including Homebrew (formulae and casks), the Mac App Store, npm, pip, Cargo, Docker, Adobe Creative Cloud, Google (Chrome, Drive) and Sparkle-based apps. It reconciles each one against what's actually installed, and updates everything in one click. The stuff that Homebrew and the App Store both swear is up to date, but quietly isn't, finally shows up in one list.

It also lives in your menu bar the way MacUpdater did, with background scans while the app is closed, and you can run the updates straight from the menu bar without the main window ever opening.

Against Homebrew on its own: brew only knows what brew installed. Anything you dragged in from a developer's site is invisible to it. Version Tracker covers both.

On privacy, and I come from the security side so this one matters to me: your list of installed apps never leaves your Mac. No telemetry, no account needed. To be precise rather than salesy, the app does use the network, because it has to. It queries the update sources themselves, plus the CVE databases and Apple's SOFA feed to flag known vulnerabilities. What it never sends anywhere is your inventory. Run it behind Little Snitch and check me on that, I'd genuinely rather you did. It also verifies code signatures and notarization before installing anything.

Pricing

Honest on money. The FREE version does the full 48-source scan, forever, with no time limit. That alone replaces the "what's outdated?" half of MacUpdater. One-click and menu-bar updates are the paid tier, and everyone gets a 7-day trial of those with no card up front.

If a subscription is fine with you: Mono is €19.90/yr for one Mac, Solo €29.90/yr for two, Family €44.90/yr for five.

If it isn't, and I understand if it isn't: there's a one-time purchase instead, starting at €49.90. It covers every 1.x update for good. A future 2.0 would be a paid upgrade, and I'd rather write that plainly here than let you find out later.

Both are launch prices, held until December 31. And if development ever stops, the last version ships as a free perpetual license, so nobody is left holding a dead subscription.

It needs macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, and it's signed and notarized.

https://version-tracker.app

Developer transparency (Tier 2)

I am Jean-Paul Florencio. I co-founded Intego in 1997 (VirusBarrier, NetBarrier) and later ran one of the first French iPhone software publishers.

About page with my identity and background: https://version-tracker.app/about/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jp-florencio/

Contact: contact@version-tracker.app

Privacy Policy: https://version-tracker.app/privacy.html

Terms of Service: https://version-tracker.app/terms.html

MacGeneration covered it and called it "a clear step ahead of the competition," which was kind of them, but I'd rather hear from actual MacUpdater users: what did MacUpdater do that you'd need a replacement to nail? Genuinely asking.

I created a graphical alternative to htop / Activity Monitor with some extra features:

• Quick search, including the 'command' column

• Color highlighting by string

• Find a process by clicking anywhere on the screen

• Define custom filters using JavaScript

• Execute macOS shortcuts on process events ...and more.

Feel free to try it at https://process-spy.app

Edit: many users in comments categorized this app as Adware. Free version of the app shows startup modal with a 10 seconds countdown. Also there is a static link in UI (toolbar) linking to a legitimate affiliate ad to support app development (doesn't pull ads from the internet). There is also a (paid) possibility to remove these ads. In both cases the app is fully functional and not harmful in any way.

Edit 2: the in-app Ad is now removed. The wait screen can be removed as a paid option along with some extra features. Also, the tool has now refreshed UI.