16 Best Free Mac Apps. While it is free to download and evaluate the software, the download page does say that the license must be purchased for continued use, However, there is no. 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. With KeePassXC, you can create and store your passwords on your Mac and then sync and use them across all the platforms with a KeePass app, including iOS, Android, and Windows.
The Mac App Store is full of all manner of apps, from simple utilities to complex programs. New apps are published every day, making it hard to find the best of the best — which is where we come in. We've gathered the best free apps for the, all in one place so you don't have to go digging. My criteria for apps on this list In researching the best free apps for the Mac, I started by using Apple's category list. This makes it easier to cover the wide variety of content available. If an app is on the Mac App Store, it is in one of the 21 categories that Apple has listed.
Because this is a 'free' app list, I tried to only include apps that are truly free or whose functionality is not diminished without an in-app purchase. You will see some apps that have premium content that can be unlocked with an in-app purchase, but I've included them on the list because I feel that the free content is noteworthy. Since this is a list of apps, I'm not including services that only have websites without a dedicated app (there are two exceptions to this rule on the list, but they are totally worthy of rule-bending). I've included some apps that are not available in the Mac App Store. That's because some of the best apps in a given category are so much better than any Mac App Store counterpart that I couldn't exclude them. Though this list is long, it is by no means complete.
There are just too many free Mac apps available to include everything. If you don't see your favorite free Mac app on this list, please add it in the comments section with your reason for why it stands out. (Remember: It has to be truly free or the free version of an otherwise premium app that is noteworthy.).
Wave is one of those exceptions to the rule of no services without a dedicated app. It is a free software tool for small businesses. You can use it for invoicing, receipts, accounting, and more.
You can also add credit card processing and payroll for a small additional fee. It is set up to work with what your business needs are. If you don't need a feature, you aren't paying for it. If you only need a feature sometimes, you only pay when you use it. Because Wave is dedicated to making small business tools work the way small business owners need them to, I've included it on this list. Developer tools Xcode.
Khan Academy is another exception to my rule that a service must have a dedicated app, but it is such a fantastic learning website, rich with online study courses of all levels — for free — that I had to include it. You can learn the colors of the rainbow or the Pythagorean Theorem.
It covers basic subjects and works you into deeper involvement, just like you would start off taking basic classes in school and move into more advanced curricula. You can also prepare for the SAT, MCAT, GMAT, IIT JEE, and NCLEX-RN with excellent study guides. It is a great resource for getting started or back into your education. Right inside the iTunes app on your Mac is a universe of knowledge. There are thousands of specialized courses, which you can download for free, that are lead by professors at some of the most popular colleges in the world.
You can learn statistics from Harvard, business from Stanford, psychology from Yale, and much more. Subjects cover architecture to women's studies, with practically everything you can think of in between. To access iTunes U, open iTunes on your Mac and select it from the menu. Entertainment HandBrake. HandBrake is a free, open source software program that lets you convert practically any media file to MP4, M4V, or MKV. You can convert your entire DVD or Blu-ray collection into digital form to watch on your Apple TV without having to pay someone to do it for you.
Free Apple Mac Software Downloads
You can quickly choose which type of device you want your file to be transcoded to support (like iOS or tvOS) and then get to converting within just a few seconds. For more advanced file conversion fans, there are a number of great features to help you perfect your digital movie catalog. VLC media player. If you're not using Apple Music (actually, even if you are), Spotify is the next best music streaming service for the Mac.
With the Mac app, you can listen to thousands of songs across all genres. It includes a useful playlist section so you can keep track of your favorite music. It also has a great music discovery section where you can see what's trending or music you might like based on what you've been listening to. The social aspect makes it one of my favorite, too. See also. Finance Debit & Credit - Personal Finance.
If you prefer to keep track of your finances manually, Debit & Credit is a great check book balancing app (I know, no one balances a check book anymore). You manually enter every transaction and income, and you can keep track of what you're spending with the budget list. The report feature is the best.
You can view your spending habits by category, where you spend, your income and expenses differences, whether you are able to save, and more. There is an in-app purchase to unlock more than two accounts, but if you only have two bank accounts, you don't need the premium service.
If you follow the stock market, you will love the ease with which you can keep track of the major indices with just a little bit of setup. You can create watch lists based on whatever criteria you choose and view stock changes on a chart or by heat map and track them throughout the day, month, and year.
The best part? There is a stock ticker that sits at the top of your screen, which you can relocate to anywhere across the desktop.
The pro version adds some significantly useful features, but for the purpose of simply following the stock market, you can't beat Stock +. Money Wiz 2 Personal Finance. Money Wiz is a great personal finance tracker for balancing your bank account. The free version lets you manually add account information like income, expenses, and account transfers. If you sign up for the monthly subscription, you can connect your online bank accounts and have the work done for you.
You can also create a budget (though you can only track one budget before being asked to upgrade). You can also set up a schedule reminder to keep you on track for paying bills that are due at the same time each month. It features a few more customizable features, like creating a new category for income and expenses, as well as creating finance reports based on your net worth, cash flow, and balance over time. Money Wiz works better with the subscription upgrade, but is very useful for keeping your checking accounts balanced. Graphics & Design GIMP. Macaw is a web design tool for people that don't want to spend a lot of time coding. It features dozens of tools so you can create the perfect website in a short amount of time.
It generates HTML automatically while you are designing web pages and it comes with a series of robust image editing tools to help you make your content look right. Because it is so easy to use, it's a great program for people with a basic understanding of web design, but want to jump right in without needing to know coding. Autodesk Sketchbook.
Autodesk is famous for its artists' apps, which feature a rich selection of brushes that seem hyper realistic. You can use it to create vector graphic images, illustrations, and photorealistic works of art. There are dozens of customizable pens, pencils, and paint brushes, and the color palate is so robust that you can perfectly match practically any color in the world.
The free download comes with dozens of amazing tools, but you can upgrade to the pro version to unlock even more options. It is a graphic artist's best tool on the Mac. Health & Fitness Time Out - Break Reminders. Taking a moment for oneself is one of the most difficult health and fitness steps to take. We get so caught up with our busy schedules that we forget to stop for a moment. Time Out forces you to take those little breaks by dimming your screen so you can't use it for a specified amount of time.
You can set up small breaks every hour, micro breaks every 15 minutes, and lunch breaks to get your eyes off the screen for a half hour or so. You can configure how long the breaks are and how often you take them. It'll make your eyes, your muscles, and your heart a little bit healthier every day you use it. Relax Lite - Stress and Anxiety Relief.
Digi.me is a sort of dashboard for your social networking profiles. You can combine all of your profiles in one place with a nice interface, and you can search through posts by words, find content by a specific date and time, save photos you've liked or are tagged in to your favorites folder, and create special collections of categories in any way you'd like. You can even export your collections as a PDF and read it like a personal magazine. This isn't a feed of your friends' status updates; it's a collection of your social networking personal information. IBooks Author.
If you fancy yourself a writer, Apple's iBooks Author is the perfect app to get your work published without having to sign a publishing contract. You can use Apple's pre-made templates to help facilitate the perfect design. Add images, a video introduction, book cover, and more for a more immersive experience. With the multitouch widgets, you can make your pages interactive. Add photos, audio, Keynote presentations, and 3D objects.
When you've finished you can upload it to the iBooks Store with the in-app export tools. You'll be a famous author before you know it! How many chat and messaging programs are you signed up with? If it's more than one, you need Trillian.
It combines all of your chat and messaging accounts into one simple interface so you don't have to switch between apps to talk to your friends and family. You can chat through Facebook, Twitter, Google Chat, AIM, Yahoo, Bonjour, and more, all in one window. Chat services are delineated by color coding, so you know where a message is coming from. If you have too many chat channels and want to keep them all in one place, use Trillian to keep them organized.
Medical Complete Anatomy. DJ programs can be a pain in the pocketbook. If you're just learning the ropes or want to have a homegrown dance party, don't spend the heavy cash. Cross DJ makes it possible for you to spin the beats without the expensive software.
It features waveforms, beat sync, track cueing, loops, digital scratching, and more. It accesses your iTunes library directly, so you don't even have to load up new music. You may eventually upgrade to a more robust DJ app, but this is definitely a great starter program. The popular song identification program that was folded into Siri on the iPhone is also available on the Mac.
Shazam listens to your music and tells you what you want to know about it. While it's running, it will tell you the name of a song and artist. While you're listening to tunes, it will automatically create a playlist of tracks you can listen to with Apple Music (when available), even if you are currently listening to music with a different service. Click a track to see lyrics and watch music videos on Shazam's website, too.
If you read a lot of news online, follow a lot of blogs, watch a lot of YouTube videos, or all of the above, you need Feedly to help organize and keep track of your content. You can log in with your Google or Twitter account for easy sharing features. It syncs with the iOS Feedly app, so if you track your RSS feed on mobile, this will know when you've already read the day's content.
It is easy to use and you can add content with an RSS link, a URL, or by searching for keywords. RSS Bot - News Notifier. Pocket is sort of like the folder your mom used to keep with newspaper and magazine clippings in it. You can save articles, videos, recipes, and more, right in Pocket for reading later. It's the perfect app for people who like to browse the entirety of the internet with no real focus, but don't have the time to read everything they come across. Save articles for offline viewing so you can read new content while you are on the bus or at the park. The app has a nifty tool that highlights the most important articles of the day, so you can read content organized by priority.
Photography Fotor. Fotor is a super easy photo editing app for the Mac that lets you create fun and unique projects from your collection. You can adjust the lighting, tweak the white balance, add a fun border, lay on a filter, and even add text boxes. It supports batch editing, so you can stylize all of your vacation photos at the same time. The collage tool lets you create pages with multiple photos that you can customize to your liking. It is a fun, simple way to edit your photos without the complex tools that you need to know about with Photoshop.
Autodesk Pixlr. Polarr is a basic photo editing app with excellent tools for image adjusting. You can adjust color, light, clarity, highlights, shadows, and more. Add effects like color shadows, lens distortions, vignettes, and filters.
This app works best when you are trying to enhance your pictures, not when you are trying to get artsy with them. If you can't seem to get your picture just right, trigger one of the helpful tutorials to learn how to brighten dark images or properly add white balance. There are dozens of pro-level tools, but they are designed to be used by anyone. See also.
Productivity Wunderlist. Wunderlist is the best task manager app you can get without paying for it. You can create different lists and add time-sensitive projects to them, create tasks with recurring due dates, and share your lists with others. It syncs across Mac and, so you can take your lists with you everywhere you go. You'll always be ready to take care of business. You can set due dates for tasks and reminders to help keep you on task. You can also include subtasks for specific projects and leave yourself a note if you need more details.
Free Apps Download For Macbook Pro
Tag a task as important and it will move to the top of your list. Evernote is like that basket you have next to the couch or that drawer in your kitchen that has everything in it. You can clip web pages, link status updates, add music, store pictures, create new notes, and share anything you want with others. Not only is it the perfect junk drawer for every digital thing you could possibly want to save, but it is also totally organizable so your junk looks more like a perfectionist's desk. You can make checklists, set reminders, drop notes into existing documents, annotate pictures, and all manner of stuff. It does practically everything except fix the kitchen sink.
If you are a blogger (let's face it, these days who isn't?), then you might want to give Blogo a try. It makes it super easy to publish content to WordPress, Blogger, and Medium. You can write up your post with distraction-free full screen mode, and move all of your content into your online site with specialized tools. It supports Markdown and Rich Text and formats for in line image placement.
When you connect your blogging account, you can even get a live preview of your page. The app recognizes your theme. You can schedule posts, manage categories, and a whole lot more. It's a great little workhorse for the blogger in you. See also. Reference Mactracker.
Apple geeks, pay attention. This little reference tool is going to impress you.
It features detailed information on every single Apple product ever made, including things like processor speeds, original price, and current selling price. Did you know that the first Macintosh only had 1 MB of memory?
With Mactracker, you will know all about all the Macs. And, you can input your own Apple devices, too. So you can keep track of what you own and whether it is still under warranty.
It covers more than just Mac's too. You can look up servers, powerbooks, and every software update for every device.
Sometimes, you're just trying to find that perfect word, the one that rhymes perfectly for your song or the one that is similar to the word you are thinking of, but works better in a sentence. Megawords is a simple little app that gives you a wealth of information in just a few seconds. You can look up anagrams, find rhymes, and even get a little help with crossword puzzles.
Type in a word to get the dictionary definition, synonyms, and even geographical information if the word happens to also be the name of a place. Social Networking Twitter. Your Instagram feed never looked so good on a Mac.
Yes, on a Mac, and I'm not talking about Safari. Flume creates a really nice looking interface right on your desktop screen. You can see pictures from people you follow, search for members and hashtags, and discover new content. You can't post pictures to your account, but you can save your own and other's photos, as well as share them with others via various social media accounts. It is the best way to view your Instagram account on your Mac.
Sports Yahoo Sports. When you just need a quick fix on how your favorite teams are doing, use the Yahoo Sports Notification Center widget to keep track. You can add your favorite teams to see what the score of their most recent or current game is and see trending teams' scores as well.
If you want to read more about a particular game, click on the score to open Yahoo Sports in Safari. The widget also shows upcoming games, including when your favorite teams are scheduled to play next. To find out more about an upcoming game, click on it to view Yahoo Sports online. You can even purchase tickets from the website.
Travel Apple Maps. Apple's built-in mapping service is really convenient to have on the Mac.
You may not realize how often you look up the location of something while on your computer, but it is a fairly common occurrence, at least for me. Having Maps integrated with every aspect of your Mac makes it easy to look up directions from anywhere, like an email, a website, or a contact card. Siri can use Apple Maps to help you find all manner of locations in just a few seconds.
It's already on your Mac and works great with all of the other built-in apps, too. Google Earth. You may think of Google Maps as a means to get from point A to point B, but there is so much more to discover on this big blue marble than just driving directions.
You can virtually travel the globe, visiting cities you'll never get to in real life. Walk around Manhattan with Street View, visit the swelling seas, and even look up to see the stars above you. With the time travel feature, you can go back decades to see what your house looked like, long before you lived there. Google Earth is less of a mapping service and more like a wealth of global information at your fingertips Utilities f.lux.
If you've always wished you could, wish no longer. F.lux is the original maker of soft, yellow-hued lighting for digital screens.
You can set it to your local time and your screen will automatically start to dim and turn a slight yellow color. You can customize the effect by increasing or decreasing the intensity and there are additional color effects, like 'Movie mode' and 'Darkroom' which drastically alter your screen's lighting, but under specific circumstances that you choose. F.lux is designed to help relieve eye strain due to late night computer use. It is a great utility to have on your Mac.
Parcel - Delivery Tracking. Thanks to the mega-boom in online retail services, we are getting packages delivered more often than ever before, and not just during the holidays. Parcel is easy to use. All you have to do is copy a tracking number and then click on the plus (+) button in the Parcel app and the carrier information will be added automatically. You can add a title description and then keep an eye on how much longer before your package will be at your doorstep.
You can add a widget to Notification Center and use Spotlight to look up tracking information. You can only track three packages at a time without an in-app purchase, but the premium price is only $2.99 per year. The Unarchiver.
If you regularly get large files sent to you, you'll love what the Unarchiver can do for you. It quickly unzips compressed and archived files from a number of different sources, including Zip RAR, 7-zip, and more, and it will open older archives from Stuffit, ARC and ISO disc images. As easy as it is to use Apple's Archive utility to simply unzip large files, the Unarchiver takes care of older content that can be a real pain to get open, since it uses smart detection to encode files correctly so that you won't end up with a bunch of garbled text. It is a fantastic secondary utility for opening files on your Mac. See also.
Video GIPHY Capture - The GIF Maker. Giphy, which supplies the single largest collection of GIFs across the internet, has a GIF maker so you can join in the fun. It features a recording window that you place over anything you want to record. You can capture still shots or videos (iTunes movies will go black under the GIPHY Capture app due to copyright protections).
After recording the section you want to use as a GIF, you can edit it by trimming, resizing, and looping it. You can also add a caption to turn it into a meme. When you're done, you can upload it to Giphy.com to share with the rest of the world.
Who knows, maybe your GIF will go viral. Smart Converter. Consumption of entertainment is going digital and it is much easier to simply watch one of your DVD or Blu-ray discs as a digital file right in iTunes instead of having to walk over to your shelf, find the title, walk over to your player, insert the disc, and hit play. With Smart Converter, you can turn all of your movies, TV shows, and homemade videos into files that you can watch from whichever device you prefer.
It is specially designed to make it easy to resize and convert files into content fit for your Apple TV, Mac, iPad, or iPhone, but you can also select and convert for dozens of devices, including non-Apple products. When the conversion is finished, simply add it to whatever streaming service you use with your device and your content is ready to watch. It is super easy to use for conversion beginners, too. Keep a detailed watch on weather stats with Weather Live. Not only can you quickly glance at the current temperature and forecast, but you can find out additional information about wind chill, humidity, precipitation, sunrise, and more. You can set up the app to show a dashboard with icons and labels, or switch to text-only, which includes more information, but less illustration. You have control over what information is on display by customizing the parameters.
You can add or remove the different data sets and even decide where on the display you want them to appear. It's a classy and useful way to stay on top of the weather. WeatherBug Lite. If you just want a quick glance at the current temperature, WeatherBug Lite is just what you need. It is a Menu bar app that always shows the current temperature and weather condition. All you have to do is look up. If you want more information, you can click on the Menu bar widget to get an hourly forecast and a current weather radar.
If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, click on a stat to open WeatherBug on the web, where you can find out about windshield, sunrise, rainfall, and more. WeatherBug Lite is the perfect little at-a-glance weather app because it's always on. For a completely different type of weather reporting, check out what Swackett has to offer.
Not only does it show weather stats or the current temperature and daily and weekly forecasts, but you can find out how to dress for your outdoor adventure thanks to the adorable Peeps. These little faceless fashionistas show off shorts, sweaters, jackets, umbrellas, and more, to let you know if you should layer up or peel off before heading out the door. There is even a dog walking index to let you know when will be the most ideal time to take your pooch for out for exercise. You can select from a variety of different Peeps. For a few dollars, you can unlock the entire Swackett Peep army.
Your favorites? Though this list is long, it is by no means complete. There are just too many free apps available for the Mac to include everything.
If you don't see your favorite free Mac app on this list, please add it in the comments section with your reason for why it stands out (Remember: It has to be truly free, or the free version of an otherwise premium app that is noteworthy.) This post may contain affiliate links. See our for more details.
Looking to make the most of the robust? We’ve got you covered. There are literally hundreds of thousands of great software programs compatible with MacOS in the App Store — not to mention the thousands more that are scattered across the web. Because of this, we’ve compiled some of the best Mac apps available.
Since there are so many apps, we pared our list down to only include programs that are most likely to be useful to the average Mac user, whether you’re looking to quickly access an abundance of RSS feeds or automatically upload your photos to the proverbial cloud. Interface Alfred 3 Think of Alfred as Spotlight with a dash of Siri. It’s an application launcher, but it can do a lot more than just that. With Alfred, you can quickly perform calculations, execute web searches, and quickly find word definitions, among many other functions. It fills the gap between Siri and your Spotlight search, by allowing you to automate tasks and perform advanced functions that, frankly, Siri should be able to handle without voice input. Download now: Bartender 3 ($15) Bartender 3 is an app made for when you’re utilizing too many apps.
It’s a subtle tool that’s specifically designed with organization in mind, and as such, it lets you better systematize various aspects of your interface. With Bartender 3, you choose which apps appear in the menu bar and rearrange their position to your liking.
You can also search for specific items, or move them into the optional Bartender Bar if you’re in dire need of additional space. The latest version added support for MacOS, an interface that leverages the new operating system, and the ability to navigate via your keyboard. You can choose a 4-week free trial before purchasing if you want.
Purchase now: Amphetamine Always a favorite, Amphetamine keeps your computer from going into sleep mode, starting the screensaver, or performing the auto-dim function. It’s ideal for watching streams, videos, or any other activity in which you don’t touch the keyboard or mouse for an extended period of time. Download now from: Dropzone 3 ($10) Once installed, Dropzone 3 feels like an integral part of MacOS. The bare-bones application functions as a shortcut tool, meaning you can use it to quickly copy and move files, launch applications, and share content through popular services such as Facebook and Flickr. You can also upload files via FTP and Amazon S3, or shorten URLs using the newly-added Goo.gl shortener. It’s all housed within a tiny icon that sits in the menu bar.
Purchase now from: Google Chrome Safari will never boast the kind of intuitive integration afforded by Google’s proprietary browser. Chrome is for desktop platforms, one that also features the ability to automatically sync all your information — bookmarks, open tabs, recent searches, etc. — across multiple computers and mobile devices. That, combined with its robust customization and instant search capabilities, make it worthwhile. Download now from: Magnet ($1) It’s not always easy to view multiple windows side by side, at least, not without Magnet. The app is made for the multitasker inside all of us, and thus presents a quick way to arrange your desktop.
With Magnet, you can drag and snap windows to the edges and corners of your screen, which will then lock into place. It’s a terrific tool, complete with predefined keyboard shortcuts, if you want to copy content from one app to another. Purchase now from: Unclutter ($10) Unclutter is a basic piece of software that suits its name. The app is accessible with a quick swipe from the top of your screen, and, better yet, functions as a convenient place for storing quick notes, recent files, and clipboard information. Recent updates also allow for a light or dark theme (although MacOS Mojave now has a native dark mode), and include an option for dragging cards on top of other desktop windows. Files and notes even automatically sync across your devices via Dropbox, a suitable addition that adds to the app’s lasting appeal.
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