macOS Tips

If we meet or talk about Apple Macs or macOS, I may recommend an app, tool, or command line tweak to you. This is an attempt to summarize everything on one page.

General macOS How To Guides that I have written up can be found at the end of this page.

If you find an outdated link, please let me know. If you’re after my general tips, I have a page for general here.

If you are looking for my reviews or how-to guides check this link.

If you’re looking for a protective hardshell case for your M2 Macbook Air, I’m tracking the best Macbook Air M2 cases here.

Important Note:
If you own, operate, or publish anything I link to, please contact me BEFORE you want to add me as someone who endorses you, testimonial, etc.

This list is provided as a courtesy to family, friends, and colleagues not for you to quote me in marketing material.

The Best macOS Tweaks

• Amphetamine – Free
  Essential if you want to keep your computer awake when on battery (presentations, meetings, etc).
• HiddenBar
  A free app to hide macOS menu bar icons. It works, it’s 100% free on the Mac App Store.
  alternatives to HiddenBar include BarTender (paid) and Vanilla (freemium)
• MOS (preferred)
  Enable smooth scrolling on your Mac (my preferred Mac smooth scrolling tool)
  an alternative to MOS is Smooth Scroll.
• New File Menu – Free (Paid Available)
  If you’re coming from Windows and like to right-click to create text files, but also try QMenu.
• QMenu – Free (preferred)
  The best way to get a Windows-like right-click New File context menu on macOS.
• Tinted Folders Lite (Free)
  Customize the color of your Mac folders in Finder.
• TopNotch
  If you want to “hide” the notch on newer Mac’s, this turns the menu bar black.
• TuneMyMusic
  if you’re moving from AppleMusic to Spotify (or vice versa), the best way to sync or move playlists. Web service, not an app.
• World Time – Free
  If you work across multiple time zones and need another clock in your Mac Menu bar, this is perfect.

Fun Stuff

• If you want to emulate a retro Mac, try this macOS 8 emulator.

Recommended M1 / M2 macOS Apps

• Forklift (File Manager)
  The best file manager for macOS. Dual panes, supports FTP, Cloud Storage, etc.

Discounted macOS Apps

If you’re after discounted Mac Apps, StackSocial is a good place to look. I have picked up macOS software for less than half the price that they sell for on the macOS App Store.

macOS Gaming

Not a tweak, but if you’re looking to see if a game will run on Mac silicon, check out this site. It will also give you benchmarks for games running on Mac silicon.

macOS How To Guides

Separately, macOS-related blog posts with tips, tricks, or advice written by me are listed below: