Mine is abit of a cheat since its for iOS/Mac/iPad but MoneyStats. It does balance forecasting and unlike Kualto/Dollarbird/other balance forecasting apps, you can actually buy it. No subscriptions please.
Bartender is what I install on every Mac. So many apps fight for real estate on my top bar. Few of them are granted the privilege.
https://github.com/Mortennn/Dozer is a free, open source version of this
Unfortunately Dozer isn’t great for Macs with a notch as it only folds out horizontally, whereas Bartender can fold out a menu below
Something I dislike about Bartender is that you have to upgrade your license every macOS upgrade, but I understand the devs need to eat
There were no subscriptions allowed, but it’s also in SetApp, an “App Store” with a subscription and it includes bartender and around 100 other Mac apps.
Rectangle - It presets window sizes and assigns them to keystrokes. It’s great to quickly be able to move 2 apps to half a screen each, move them between monitors etc. Shortcat - allows you to basically do anything that you would with the mouse by the keyboard. It’s hard to explain so look it up! It also has a brilliant emoji picker that works so much quicker than the native one.
I know you said hidden gems, but I’m fairly new, so I admittedly use more popular apps.
- arc browser changed my relationship with the web
- hand mirror for checking that I’m not a hot mess before my next meeting
- karabiner for keyboard tweaking
- tot - dead simple quick note app
- fucking keyboard maestro!!
+1 for Arc Browser.
HiddenBar replaced my beloved Bartender. And it’s free!
Select text anywhere and a menu bar of tools pops up. Worth every penny.
- MacWhisper (free but recommended upgrade 25 euro) - High quality, customizable and reliable audio transcription software using OpenAI Whisper
- Recordia ($4) - Voice memos if it was lighter, more reliable, and one click in your menu bar
- Orion (free) - Web browser developed by the folks at Kagi that brings the best of Safari and enhances it with QoL improvements, like performance, chrome and Firefox extension support, custom search engines, ad blocking, vertical tabs, etc.
- Raycast (free) - Spotlight for developers. Get quick conversions, calculations, and file searches or extend its powers with the huge extension library that me and many others have contributed to
This is a continuation of my iOS hidden gems thread and part of an unfolding series on the theme.
Edit: if you contribute, please upvote to shake off the douschebag(s) who always give me an obligatory 1-2 downvotes immediately
Shortery is a great elaboration on Shortcuts, where it “listens” for various triggers to launch various shortcuts automagically.
OmniGraffle used to be really useful. I still regularly use it on an old Mac for logic flow diagrams and to-scale construction plans. I can only assume it’s still is a gem because I’m too frugal to update.
“OmniGraffle is a powerful tool for diagramming, rapid-prototyping, and designing on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. It allows you to create beautiful, precise graphics and communicate complexity with stunning visuals.”
I don’t think I’ve seen iStat menus listed yet! Looooongtime favorite of mine. I have network throughput listed on my work machine (+bartender hiding everything else) and that + temp + fan speed on my old old home server
SleepControlCenter is excellent upper-menu bar app that lets you tweak various sleep settings and easily toggling off sleep for various times and triggers.
Boot camp.
