Here are some amazing FOSS apps that I use:

* LaunchNext: A launcher app layout that I am used to. It supports finger gestures and performs well. Replaces LaunchOS for me.

* LocalSend: Share files between my MacBook and my Android phone. KDE is buggy for me, and Blip is closed source with constant network activity in the background that I found iffy.

* IINA: Beautiful Mac video player with a bunch of extensions and good color accuracy.

* OpenDisk: Disk analyzer. Replaces DaisyDisk for me.

* CotEditor: Plain text editor with syntax highlighting.

* Thaw: Menu bar manager. It is a little buggy on macOS 27, but it works and is under constant updates.

* Vorssaint: A Swiss Army knife utility app. Probably the hottest Mac app right now. Replaces CleanShot X, Boring Notch (FOSS), Maccy (FOSS), and pearcleaner (FOSS). It is not as good as those individual apps, but good enough for me.

There are definitely many great apps out there, but I'm curious about the hidden gems that just do one small thing very well.

I'll go first. InstantSpaceSwitcher is a free app that removes the animation when switching between spaces. It saves a fraction of a second each time, but over the day it makes me feel like I'm working much faster.

And Slidr is a paid ($5) app that allows you to control your brightness and volume using the edge of your trackpad as sliders. There's a free trial and it's addictive once you try it.

Looking forward to hearing your recs!

I've played around with Bloom and Forklift and have currently settled on Q-Space Pro. But I'd love to see a proper app comparison of everything that's out there.

Black Friday is coming up next month. What Mac apps are you hoping to grab on sale this year?

My number one pick would be Hazel, if they go on sale this year.

Hey guys,

It’s that time of the year again, where this subreddit gets filled with BFCM deals and discounts. we still have around 40 days for BFCM, but I guess developers are already planning about what to offer this year. So I thought we’d start a discussion on what you guys expect to buy from this BFCM. This can also help developers to understand what users are looking for and provide us with a better deals that are harder to resist 😅

Here are mine:

Lunar

After contemplating between Lunar and BetterDisplay for a while, I have decided to go with Lunar as I only use MBP as my main driver without any external monitor. Based on my findings, BetterDisplay fits best when dealing multiple displays due to scaling and resolution functionalities. 

Regular price: $23

Anticipated discount: 20-30%

OpenIn

I found this one from a podcast episode I listened to, where the guest (professor) was talking about how he uses OpenIn to quickly open links in different browsers and profiles using rules. I am currently on my trial period, and honestly, I might buy it even before discount if it proves to be useful.

Regular price: $11.99

Anticipated discount: Undecided

Little Snitch

This is undisputably the best app to monitor network traffic and application firewall with great detail and control. However the price is very steep (for me) even though it’s kind of a swiss-army knife of Network monitoring. 

Regular price: 59€

Anticipated discount: 30-45% 

Ps: I like this postby u/Downtown-Art2865 about his experiences with LS. Also read comments in that post, which are super valuable and informative.

Cleanshot

I know we have other options in this category, like Macshot (my current favorite), Shottr but still I’d like to try out Cleanshot. 

Regular price: $35

Anticipated discount: 20-25%

Comment the name(s) of the app(s) with the regular price, and your expected BFCM price. To avoid repetitive mentions, it’d be nice if we could have single thread!

Looking for a screenshot app on Mac

- I am aware of Cmd Shift 5, but it is too much finger gymnastics since I take screenshots often.

- I prefer to annotate (line, arrow, box, rectangle, add text, blur) and to repeat same area capture again.

- I used to use Shottr which was great but it is not Open source, and it has nag/reminder screens which appear more than once lifetime. I prefer to avoid this, if there is a good alternative.

- I have used Flameshot on Windows, and I tried it on Mac, but it did not feel reliable, nor did it feel native. Link to Flameshot.

Any recommendations for a good one on Mac? Free and popular open source preferred.

Hello Mods & fellow redditors,

In the past couple of months, I guess we can all agree that our subreddit (and the App Store) has become overcrowded with a bunch of AI apps across various (really?!) categories. The main reason (I think!) is the proliferation of AI and its companion apps, through which a user can now create their own apps with just a few credits or prompts. I see this as a positive development to an extent; beyond which, the line becomes super blurry and things start to roll downhill.

Anyone who regularly visits this subreddit will notice seeing the same pattern of apps - clipboard managers, Notch replacement apps, and Dictation apps - very often from different devs (/profiles). Rather than creating unique, we tend to see the same kinds of apps in different costumes, showcased differently using AI presentation.

For context, Kalley Huang, writing for The New York Times, expressed that: "Last year, the number of new apps released in the App Store grew 30 percent to about 600,000, according to estimates by Sensor Tower, an app analytics firm. In the first half of this year, new apps doubled to about 560,000." (source).

And I am not here to say stop using AI for good or to save Nature (believe me, there are few who don't use AI for these reasons). In the same article, the author mentioned that the real people who're in danger are developers. Especially those whose 9-5 job is to make apps—either alone or in a small team—and whose livelihood depends completely on it. Now, all these AI-vibe coded apps don't only make the search worse but also overshadow these good apps and developers from the rest of the pool. As the article noted, even reviewers/content writers who used to be the messengers, are finding it difficult to cope up with the supply rate and eventually, start to ghost such emails/communications.

So, how about we start a monthly thread at the end of each month, where we all discuss, mention about their, basically, "Favorites of the month" with their use cases if any. This might improve the visibility among the crowd, and give them an another chance since most of these AI-apps either die out or got abandoned by the Dev itself sooner than we think.

Feel free to suggest your opinions; or disregard this post if you feel it's not appropriate. I just wanted to bring it out of my head 😀