Best Mac Apps I Actually Use!

Snazzy Labs shows off some his favorite Mac apps he installs every time he sets up a new Mac.

Snazzy Labs has long been known as one of the most Mac-focused YouTube channels and today, Quinn Nelson shows you some his favorite apps. While not all are exciting, they’re important: from utilities like PDFpen to launchers like Alfred with writing apps like Ulysses and Spark thrown in between, this is one you won’t want to miss.

[danieleybelman]

0:00 - INTRO
0:26 - Adguard
2:23 - Alfred
5:17 - ApolloOne
7:58 - PDFpen
9:20 - SPONSOR: Setapp (including GoodTask)
10:54 - balenaEtcher
11:37 - Elmedia Video Player
13:42 - Magnet
14:55 - Notion
19:21 - Qobuz
21:00 - iStat Menus
21:49 - Sensei
24:00 - Tot
25:11 - Spark
28:10 - Unarchiver
28:54 - Ulysses
31:27 - Mactracker
32:34 - OUTRO

thank me later.

[koustuvkanungo]

Rectangle is free, open-source and offers pretty much all the same features, so I prefer that over Magnet. Also as others mentioned, IINA is a better alternative to VLC, and is free and open source as well.

[AaronFigFront]

The find feature is also in spotlight. Just hold down option and click the file. The UI is better. I still think spotlight is way better. // IINA is a great player. Free.

[GilDev]

On Spotlight you can hold Command while pressing Enter or clicking on a file or folder to reveal its location in the finder, like Alfred’s find feature. Won’t replace other Albert features but it’s nice if you’re fine with Spotlight.
Also Rectangle is a nice open-source and free alternative to Magnet. Also Keka is an awesome uncompressing utility. Also Karabiner-Elements is amazing to customize keyboard keys, like putting Esc on Caps Lock and making actual use of some weird keys on the TypeMatrix 2030 for example.

[instructormatt_]

“If I feel like I’m memory constrained ...”

*shows off his 72GB free out of 96GB of RAM* 🤣👍🏼

[tolkstein]

I already liked the video for the brief Alfred tutorial. I've had it for years, but somehow never noticed some of the features that seem to make it so much more powerful. Thanks, ​ @Snazzy Labs!

[jfcastaneda]

Quinn, wife and I recent did a compete switch from Windows and Pixels to all Apple and this video is awesome. If I could double like this I would.

[parthpro]

I have an 11 year old crappy windows laptop, and I'm still watching apps that YOU can't live without on a mac 🤣

[Miky]

Actually TRIM is enabled by default in all the Macs with SSDs; it's not a feature that comes with Sensei, that allows only to switch it on and off without using the command line

[kama]

14:43
Windows-type snapping was actually patented by Microsoft a long time ago, Apple couldn’t copy it if they wanted to

[edvard_r]

Some of my must-haves you’d didn’t mention:
– Bartender to clean up my menu bar (SetApp)
– AppCleaner to uninstall apps (easy, free, Edit: you mentioned it)
– Tooth Fairy to easily connect to Bluetooth devices with ONE click in the menu bar. Can’t live without it!
– Fantastical for calendar. It’s such a great calendar app, with its menu bar calendar and fast natural language processing. macOS/iOS/iPadOS syncing. Best calendar.
– The native macOS sticky notes app (like digital post-its)
– Pipifier (one click Picture in Picture in Safari)

[CallMeChato]

Great video. I had Alfred in the OS 8 days and it always broke when Apple updated it's OS. I remember the scars. Maybe worth checking again.

[harrykatsaros]

If you press command return instead of just return in Spotlight it will reveal file in Finder instead of opening. That’s been a standard feature since pretty much every version of Spotlight after Tiger.

[TechnologyGeek]

Quinn: I never pirate content
Also Quinn: Has Sonarr, Radarr and Lidarr bookmarked :D

[jasondworkin]

Mactracker also lets you record all your Apple devices, their serial numbers, MAC addresses, purchase dates, inventory numbers, warranty status, etc.

[ThrushCZX]

Most recently, HazeOver and Bartender 3. HazeOver is one of those apps you don’t even realise you needed until you try it, then you question how you even managed to survive without it. It’s super simple, it just dims the screen behind the app you are using, letting you focus on just that app. And as macOS as got flatter and blander in its windows and look, apps can easily get lost when you have a whole bunch open. HazeOver fixes that really simply and elegantly.
Bartender 3 is just a tidy up for the menu bar icons, letting you hide the ones you don’t need to see all the time. Mine was getting so cluttered and I really only need to see/access 2 or 3 for the most part, so this lets me hide all the others and still access them with either a single click or a keystroke.

[patrik]

Alfred's snippets features are SOOOO useful when you're a developer.
You should try IINA for video playback btw. It's super quick and lightweight.

[gradybartlett]

Better touch tool is a necessity for me; gives me control over everything my mac does (and doesn't do). It also includes better snap tool. Custom touchbar, custom keyboard shortcuts, custom everything. Try it out I love it.

[alecchandler]

Daisydisk - cba to describe but simply put it’s the best disk analyser I’ve ever used. Best ui, one time purchase for paid version and very powerful

[benwaardenburg]

Best app on Setapp is Slidepad, it's just a slideover window, but it means you don't have to have a separate space for many of the webapps and places in windows or on separate desktops, they are just s swipe or keyboard shortcut away. I even the toggle set to one my extra mouse buttons I use it that much.

I would also recommend Typeface for better font management and PDF Squeezer which just shrinks your PDF size down with some customization. Both of these are also on Setapp.

Then other recommendation outside Setapp would be DaisyDisk, literally the best storage viewer for seeing where stuff is stored on your hard drive.