Mac OS X has all essential software built-in (like word editor, screen recorder, video editor, etc.) But still, it’s always nice to have some extra apps, to increase your productivity.
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10 of the most useful free Mac apps for travelers. Monday, April 30, 2018 4:28 pm Monday, April 30, 2018 4 Comments. Apps designed for the Mac don't typically receive as much attention as apps made for iPhones and iPads, so we have a series here at MacRumors designed to highlight useful and interesting Mac apps. In addition to all the free programs offered by Apple to all the fresh Mac owners, there are some extras essential Mac apps too that help to make the most out of your Machine. We’ve organized a list of the most useful Mac software and programs that are categorized into ten major categories, ranging from Best Mac Cleaning utility to Best Media. 30 free macOS apps every Mac user should have From useful utilities to handy archivers and transcoders, here are 30 free yet powerful macOS apps you can download today.
So, here are some free MAC Apps (video demo on YouTube), that will increase your productivity and eliminate the mild annoyance of OS X.
Useful MAC Apps
#1 Flux
It’s a small utility that runs in the background and gradually changes brightness/color of the screen, such that it matches your external environments. It aims at blocking the blue light coming from your computer thus helping you sleep better
Flux is available for both Windows and Mac, and for Android, try Twilight or c.f lumen if you have ROOT access.
#2 Caffeine
- 10 of the Most Useful Free Mac Apps for Travellers Share Tweet Reddit Share Pin it Stumble Travelling can be a wonderful mind-expanding adventure, but it also comes along with its own unique set of challenges, like figuring out exchange rates, staying within our budget, keeping documents organised and safe, documenting our trip to preserve our.
- 30 free macOS apps every Mac user should have From useful utilities to handy archivers and transcoders, here are 30 free yet powerful macOS apps you can download today.
Apple's operating system for Macs includes some pretty useful applications that you can use for free, but that's not always enough. Whenever you buy a new MacBook or do a fresh install of the OS on the laptop that you already have, there are a few third-party tools that will make your life a lot easier and give you some extra features that you.
Mac OS goes to sleep, after a few second of inactivity. This is annoying if you are chatting to your colleague, in front of your work desk or recording audio with Audacity. But with caffeine, you can prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep.
You can specify the time (like 30 mins or 2 hours), you want to keep your screen awake. However, if you want to keep your computer running while the lid is closed, use NoSleep.
#3 HiddenMe Free
A simple utility to hide/unhide your desktop icon. Comes in handy, if you want to take a screenshot or record your computer screen. It also supports a keyboard shortcut for quick access.
#4 ImageOptim
Compress images without compromising with the resolution or visual quality. A must-have tool for bloggers or for anyone who uploads a lot of images on the web.
Related: Compress bulk images without losing visual quality
#5 Flycut
When you copy something to your clipboard, the previous entry automatically gets removed. Right? Well, Flycut solves this problem. It stores 100s of text entries in your clipboard. Also, it’s free and open source.
#6 Cinch
This small utility brings Windows Aero Snap feature to Mac. Simply hold the top of the window with your cursor, and drag it to the corner of your screen, and cinch will automatically resize that window. Useful for comparing two documents side by side.
Cinch is a paid app (on apps store) or unlimited free trials (if you get it from its official website). Another alternative is the spectacle. It’s a free, open source, and does the same thing as ‘cinch’, but with keyboard shortcuts.
#7 CCleaner
It’s a popular program to quickly removing the temporary file and optimizing your computer. There is also an option to uninstall applications and repair system file.
#8 Handbrake
A powerful open source video compressor. Typically, it can reduce a 1 GB video to 100 MB, without any significant change in quality.
I, use it for all my YouTube videos, However, if you try to compress a video that’s already compressed (like 700 MB movie file) that it won’t work.
See: Compress videos for YouTube without losing quality
#9 Monosnap
MAC has a built-in screen recorder and a keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot. But both of them are very basic.
For a power user, Monosnap is a better option. It has a built-in editor that lets your annotate your screenshots. Or you also add face cam or change fps, while recording your screen.
#10 DiskInventory X
It gives you a block size representation of your hard drives space. Useful to see which files are taking most space on your hard disk. It also shows you the file’s location side-by-side, so if you decide to delete it, you can do that directly from the app.
#11 NTFS 3G
By default, you can only read NTFS formatted drives on MAC. There is no write support. But, with NTFS 3G (and few other programs), you can do both reads and write on an NTFS partition.
Related: Ways to Use NTFS drive on MAC
#12 Smartflix
Netflix is now available in almost every country — except China. However, the content they offer in India (I am sure, it might be the case with other countries as well), is much less than what they offer in the US.
So, with Smartflix, you watch the entire Netflix catalog without any country restriction. But how it’s different from using a VPN? Well, it’s free (apparently), has a dedicated app, shows you the entire catalog of Netflix instead of just one country.
#13 MalwareByte
MAC don’t have anti-virus. And you probably don’t need one, if you keep everything updated and browse safely.
However, if you are suspicious about spyware in your system, then use Malwarebytes. Though remember, the free version does not have real-time protection. So you will have to run the scan manually.
#14 Adapter
It’s a powerful audio/video converter for your MAC. There are many things that it can do, but some of the popular ones are — changing the format of your video files, extracting audio out of the video, or making the batch transformation of images/audio/video, etc.
#15 Download Shuttle
A simple download manager for MAC which I like for two reasons. One, you can pause and resume your download. Two, it also supports downloading, from sites that require authorization like– Dropbox or your web server.
Edit: It does have chrome plugin, but unlike IDM, this didn’t work that well.
Video: 15 Useful MAC Apps
Update: Here are some better alternatives to the above apps.
#16 Amphetamine
With caffeine, you can keep your MAC awake for a period of time. Right? But Amphetamine goes one step further. You can set a schedule or keep your system awake when a particular app is running.
#17 Progressive Downloader
It’s similar to Download shuttle but with more customization option. For instance, you can set up a speed limit or prioritize individual download.
#18 Quitter
Does what its name suggest. It automatically closes (or hide) any app you are not using for a set time interval. For instance, if you do not use photoshop for more than 15 minutes, it’ll auto hide it from your desktop.
- January 02, 2020
- 18 min to read
Most free photo editors available on the App Store are quite basic, offering just a limited number of filters and allowing you to easily and quickly liven up your photos before posting them on social media.
But if you’re an aspiring or professional photographer, you probably need a more powerful app with a broader set of tools to use your creativity to the fullest. Besides, you probably use your Mac for photo editing because working on a large screen makes it possible to adjust the slightest details.
1. Apple’s Photos (Built-in app)
Apple’s Photos app is included for free on all recently released Macs. It does a good job at organizing your photos, but its collection of photo enhancement tools leaves much to be desired. Hopefully, our selection of the best free programs for photo editing on Mac will help you choose the right app to suit all your creative needs.
2. Luminar (7 days trial)
Luminar is another full-featured photo editor that’s popular with both Mac and Windows users. It can work as a standalone app as well as a plugin for such popular programs as Apple Photos.
Luminar uses Artificial Intelligence to enable sophisticated yet quick photo enhancements. Among these AI features are Sky Enhancer, which adds more depth and detail to the sky in your photos while leaving other areas untouched; Accent AI, which analyzes a photo and automatically applies the best combination of different effects to enhance your image; and Sun Rays, which allows you to place an artificial sun and adjust the lighting to your liking or make the sun rays already in your photo look even more incredible.
Luminar has over 60 filters you can apply to your photos to enhance them in a moment. Luminar also provides a set of powerful tools for cropping, transforming, cloning, erasing, and stamping, along with layers, brushes, and many more incredible features. Luminar supports the Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pro, making photo editing even more effortless and pleasing.
3. Photolemur 3 (Free Version with watermark)
Photolemur is a relative newcomer on the photo editing market but it has all the chances to win the favor of beginner photographers and hobbyists. Running on Artificial Intelligence, Photolemur is a completely automatic photo enhancer, meaning that it does all the editing for you in no time. It has the simplest interface, with only a few buttons and sliders to adjust the enhancement to your liking and view the before and after results.
Best Free Mac Apps 2018
All you need to do is choose a photo (or a few) that you want to improve, drag and drop or import them using the Import button, and let the program make enhancements. After it’s done, you can compare the edited version with the original image by using the before–after slider and, if you want, adjust the skin tone or even enlarge the eyes using additional sliders. Pretty easy, huh?
Photolemur also offers a number of impressive styles to touch up your photos and give them a sophisticated and professional look. With this app, you don’t need to stuff your head with photo editing nuances and terms. Just run Photolemur and watch the magic happen!
4. Aurora HDR (14 days trial)
As you probably can tell from the name, Aurora HDR is designed to help photographers enhance their HDR photos, making them even more detailed and beautiful. It’s an ideal tool for editing your photos, with an extensive collection of more than 20 tools including details, tone, mapping, color, glow, and vignette. Each tool has its unique selection of controls to adjust its effects.
Aurora HDR enables you to work with brushes, layers, and masks, and provides a number of automatic AI tools for recognizing and removing noise, enhancing colors, lighting, and details, improving clarity, and adding contrast to dull areas while leaving other areas untouched.
Aurora HDR does a great job dealing with difficult lighting situations and creating full-of-life images while being easy to use.
5. Pixelmator (Trial 30 Days)
Pixelmator is a photo enhancer beloved by many Mac users, as it offers a good combination of a modern and simple interface, the ability to work on multiple layers, and powerful features that take photo editing to a whole new level. With so many editing tools, brushes, and effects, you can enhance your photos to your liking. You can choose between two versions of Pixelmator – standard and pro – depending on your needs. The standard version is great for basic photo editing with its selection of essential tools and filters, while the pro version is packed with extra brushes, tools, and effects that let you push your creativity to new boundaries. You can decide which version is suitable for you according to what features you’re looking for in a photo editing app.
6. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 (Trial link)
Photoshop Elements isn’t as affordable as other photo enhancers for beginner photographers. But luckily there’s a trial version available, so you can check it out before deciding whether this app is worthy of your money. Photoshop Elements acquired many powerful features from Photoshop, only Elements is simplified for amateur photographers and enthusiasts. It includes a good number of effects and filters, plus automated editing options for improving lighting, color balance, and exposure, and even opening closed eyes and reducing the effects of camera shake.
In addition to all of these awesome features, Photoshop also offers editing modes for beginners, intermediate users, and experts. Beginners will probably prefer Quick mode, as it focuses on essential tools to quickly enhance your photos by improving color, lighting, and other basic settings. Guided mode provides intermediate users with step-by-step guidance with more professional features like artistic effects, skin tone correction, and background replacement. Expert mode gives you full access to the app’s really powerful editing features and is ideal for creating stunning images.
7. Affinity Photo (Free Trial)
Affinity Photo’s interface may seem overwhelming at first, especially for novices, but when you come to grips with it you’ll find that the app is just what you’ve been looking for. Its numerous professional tools, effects, and filters encourage you to get creative with your photos. Among the coolest features Affinity Photo has to offer is a before and after view to compare the original photo with its edited version.
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Affinity Photo works with 15 file types, including common ones like PDF, PSD, JPG, and GIF as well as some less popular ones. The app amazes with its abundance of basic and top-notch editing tools, allowing you to tweak your photos using all possible kinds of instruments. Affinity Photo allows you to edit HDR photos, apply artistic filters and effects, play with masks and layers, and create breathtaking compositions by combining several images in one. If you find its interface a bit much and are afraid of getting lost in all those advanced tools, you should probably look for something more suitable for your level. But Affinity Photo is worth mastering.
8. Google Photos
Google Photos is a popular cloud storage service for photos and videos. It can’t boast countless masterly tools like other photo enhancers that we review in this article, but it includes some fundamental features like filters, color adjustment sliders, and transformation tools.
Although Google Photos may not be that helpful when it comes to editing photos, it does a pretty good job at storing high-resolution images and videos with 15GB of free online storage, compared to iCloud’s mere 5GB (which you can upgrade to 50GB for a monthly fee). If you’re planning to go on a trip and take plenty of photos, then it might be smart to sign up for Google Photos to use that extra storage space when you come back.
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9. PhotoScape X (Free)
A relatively new photo editing app, PhotoScape X has been gaining popularity with many Mac and PC users since its release in 2008. Its interface is simple but unconventional, with a number of tabs running along the top of the window. Each is responsible for a specific stage of editing. The Viewer tab allows you to browse and organize your photos. After you pick a photo, you can switch to the Editor tab, which includes a broad set of instruments, filters, and effects and a useful feature that enables you to compare the adjusted photo with the original.
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The next tabs, including the Batch tab, mainly concentrate on editing and renaming multiple photos at once. The GIF tab allows you to easily create an animated GIF from a group of selected photos.
The downside of PhotoScape X is a lack of selection tools, so all changes are applied to the whole image rather than to a selected part.
10. Gimp (Free)
Apps For Mac
Gimp is a free open-source photo editing app that has been on the market for over 22 years and is available for Windows, Mac, and even Linux. Unlike many free apps, Gimp doesn’t have any ads or in-app purchases. Its grey interface might seem a little old-fashioned and it may be a bit sluggish when it comes to complex effects, though.
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Gimp offers a vast collection of advanced tools that hardly any free photo editor can boast. It has numerous enhancement options such as clone and heal brushes, layers and channels, accurate selection tools, a number of transformation instruments, and, of course, color adjustment controls. Gimp is one of the most powerful tools for enhancing photos and is beloved by so many users for its price (free) and versatility. But if you can’t come to grips with Gimp’s interface, it may be worth paying some cash for a more user-friendly program.