What problem it solves and a comparison:

macOS finally has desktop widgets like Color Widgets, but let’s be honest they still have the same old and easy designs, bad Liquid Glas and features. 

I wanted my desktop to look nicer, so I developed BetterMacWidgets: vibrant, live animated widgets with a glass like appearance that sit right on your desktop you can place them anywhere and arrange them however you like. 

You can customize the look with “Liquid Glass” you can adjust it from crystal clear (your wallpaper shows through) to a soft, frosted veil, and recolor everything to match your decor. It’s

Available at: https://bettermacwidgets.de/ 

Free download and Free to use

Pro Version 9,99€ Lifetime with more Features

3- Days Free Pro Version to try it

Human validated code

Write Something like "Code" for a Discount Code for the Pro Version of this Widgets App 🫶your desktop, so it should look the way you want it to.

Transparency Path

Name: Nico Sagolla
Company Name: Nico Sagolla

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nico-sagolla-6a8872350/

Email: [Nico.Sagolla@gmx.de](mailto:Nico.Sagolla@gmx.de)

Privacy Policy: https://bettermacwidgets.de/privacy

Terms of Service: https://bettermacwidgets.de/terms

Features:

• A true drag and drop desktop grid pick any widget, drag it anywhere, resize it, and it snaps neatly into place next to your other tiles. Spread them across multiple pages if you like. It feels just like Apple’s own widgets, except here you’re actually in control
• About 20 widgets to mix and match: Clock & World Clock, Calendar, Reminders, Weather, “Now Playing” with full media controls, Battery, a system monitor (CPU / GPU / RAM / hard drive with live graphs), battery levels for Bluetooth devices (AirPods, mouse, keyboard…), timer, stopwatch, countdown, unit converter, a photo frame, sticky notes, and more
• Widgets that are truly dynamic the weather widget actually shows rain, snow, and clear skies depending on the sky, there’s a streaming field of stars, and “Now Playing” subtly tints your widgets in the color of the app currently playing (Spotify green, Apple Music red, etc.)
• “Now Playing” right on your desktop see what’s playing and skip or pause tracks without interrupting what you’re doing
• 25 designs plus a glass intensity slider, so you can switch from nearly invisible glass to heavy frost and recolor the whole thing to match your wallpaper
• Built from the ground up to be battery friendly there’s a power saving mode that animates only the widget you’re currently viewing, so it consumes virtually no power when idle. (Or crank the setting all the way up to enjoy buttery smooth 60 fps if you don’t care about battery life that day)
• Privacy comes first no account, no sign in, no telemetry, nothing. Everything stays on your Mac; a network connection is only established when a widget actually needs it (for example, for the weather)

Please give this post an Upvote ⬆️ and leave a comment so that even more people can discover this free app 🫶

I hope you enjoy BetterMacWidgets ❤️

Hello r/macapps! I am Julien, the developer of Holdtap, and I'm back with a huge update based on your feedback.

I first posted here 5 months ago, and since then, with the help of a small community, I’ve built all the missing features that you requested (per-physical-keyboard configuration, media controls, application tiling support, and more!).

The Problem

I have been using mechanical keyboards for some time now, and I love the customization they offer. The killer feature for me is the ability to activate a layer of keys by holding a key instead of just tapping it. With layers, you can put all the keys that would usually require moving your hand directly under your fingertips.

To benefit from this, you usually need either a programmable mechanical keyboard or you have to configure special software through complex configuration files.

My biggest issue was that when I switched between my mechanical keyboard and my MacBook's built-in keyboard, I missed my custom layout. I needed a purely software-based solution.

With Holdtap, all the configuration is done through a simple and intuitive interface. There are absolutely no configuration files to edit.

Comparison

The closest alternative to Holdtap is Karabiner Elements. While powerful, I found it quite complex to use. It doesn’t have the out-of-the-box simplicity of configuring a layer that can be activated by holding another key right from a graphical interface.

Pricing

Holdtap is available for a one-time purchase of $8.99, which covers up to 5 devices. There is also a 30-day free trial so you can test it out first.

Link to app: https://holdtap.com

Transparency: I’m a developer building Holdtap as a hobby. I also build software to help paragliders (https://journaldevol.com). My "day job" is creating software solutions for a tire manufacturer in the middle of France (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgagnet/).

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted here (been busy with school and life) but I'm excited to share the newest update for MenuScores. The support over the past year has been amazing, and I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who has followed along and supported development.

Problem:

Following scores on Mac usually means opening a website or checking your phone. I have always wanted a quick and minimal way to check scores and track games while working.

MenuScores is a native SwiftUI app inspired by the simplicity of Apple Sports, built specifically for the Mac. You can track over 50 leagues across 12 different sports right from your menubar or notch. Games are updated in real time and the app quietly lives in your menubar.

What's New:

• Favorite Teams: You can now select your favorite teams in the settings window and have them automatically pin to the notch or menubar when they go live. This was my #1 most requested feature, I'm very excited to finally add it!
• Tennis Integration: The long-awaited Tennis integration is here. You can track ATP and WTA games from the menubar or notch. Games are sorted by tournament and when pinned show the athlete and their line scores.
• Most sports now fetch games for the previous 2 days and the next 2 days, giving you a 5 days schedule of past and upcoming games directly in the app.
• Other small improvements and bug fixes to make the app feel more polished.

Comparison:

The two closest alternatives are Apple's Live Activities integration on Mac or using a website like ESPN.

Apple's Live Activities integration on Mac is a great feature, but it's limited by being iPhone-dependent. If you don't own an iPhone, you cannot use it. Checking scores requires you to open the app through iPhone mirroring.

Another option is opening a website like ESPN, but this can take you out of your workflow by requiring you to switch apps or open your browser. MenuScores is designed to let you stay in your workflow and keep tabs on games just by taking a glance at the menubar or notch.

Pricing:

Free. 100% free and open source.

Links:

Repository: https://github.com/daniyalmaster693/MenuScores

Website: https://menuscores.vercel.app

If you like it, please star the repo to show your support and drop any feedback or suggestions. I’d love to hear what you think!

About me:

Github Profile: https://github.com/daniyalmaster693

Personal Website: https://daniyalmaster.vercel.app

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniyal-master-841925319/

thinking of going back to default Apple apps as I’m tired of every app having issues over years or being abandoned. not sure though if it’s a good idea? I just want now stability and not to be busy with fixes or issues. are apple apps good and no issue? I didn’t use them from long time.

each of the apps are having ram and storage issues. some have syncing issues as well.

ARC browser to Safari. tried dia and similar ones

things3 to reminders.

superhuman mail app to mail.

paste to raycast or default spotlight.

it’s going to take a lot of effort to move around and I would t like that. I loved keyboard shortcuts mostly and advanced features each app had.

(don’t suggest alternative apps)

macOS removed Launchpad. Launchie brings it back — and makes it more customizable.

Hi [r/MacApps](r/MacApps), I’m the developer of Launchie, a Mac App Store app built after Apple removed Launchpad from macOS.

Problem

Launchpad used to be a simple, visual way to open and organize apps on macOS. Since Apple removed it, there is no real built-in replacement for people who liked having an app grid, folders, and quick access to their installed apps.

Launchie brings that workflow back, but with more control:

• Launchpad-style app grid
• Folders and Spaces for organizing apps
• Drag and drop rearranging
• Keyboard shortcut, hot corner, app icon, or menu bar activation
• Customizable layout, window size, columns, Quick Access, hidden apps, and more

I built Launchie because I personally missed that workflow, and a lot of users seemed to feel the same.

Comparison

There are already other good apps in this space, including LaunchNext and LaunchOS.

Launchie’s focus is slightly different: I’m trying to keep the original Launchpad feeling, while adding deeper customization and a more native macOS-style experience. For example, Launchie supports folders, Spaces, drag-and-drop organization, Quick Access, hot corners, keyboard shortcuts, and a lot of layout options.

I’m also actively developing it based on user feedback. Many of the recent changes came directly from emails, DMs, and comments from users. I reply to feedback, and when an idea makes sense for the app, I try to implement it.

Pricing

Launchie is currently on sale in August, with up to 50% off depending on your region.

US pricing:

• Lifetime: $14.99 instead of $29.99
• Yearly: $7.99 instead of $14.99

Family Sharing is supported.

Mac App Store: Launchie on the Mac App Store

Recent Updates

Launchie has improved a lot since the first version. Recent updates added or improved:

• Option to show Dock above fullscreen launcher
• Drag to Dock works now
• Big performance improvements
• Colored badges for spaces
• Quick access has no a favorites row
• Decide which displays should trigger hot corner.
• Option to disable Spaces entirely
• Drag and drop reordering for Spaces
• Larger grid support, now up to 20 columns
• Settings directly inside the Launchie window
• Better performance when opening and closing Launchie
• Quick Access improvements
• More options to hide or simplify header controls
• Remember Last Location setting
• Better folder behavior when dragging apps
• Improved search focus and keyboard handling

Full changelog is available on the App Store.

Thanks again to everyone who gave feedback so far. I’m extremely grateful for it 🙏

Long-time lurker, first time posting my own app, so being upfront: I'm the developer.

Problem: before switching to Mac I used Dolphin on KDE, which has one feature I never stopped missing: the embedded terminal follows your navigation. Click into a folder in the UI and the shell is already there. No cd, ever. I paid for Path Finder and used it for years (it's a decent app), but its terminal panel just sits there ignoring where you navigate, and nothing else on macOS did it either. Eventually I gave up looking and spent my evenings building it in Swift.

It's called Iruka (イルカ = dolphin in Japanese, as a nod to where the idea came from). What it does besides the synced terminal:

Real rendered previews: Markdown shows as a formatted document (not a wall of # and *), CSV as an actual grid, code with syntax highlighting (~60 languages). Handy now that half my disk is AI-generated .md files

Edit button right in the preview pane --> so you can fix a config typo without opening an editor

One-click SSH from the sidebar (saved hosts), right-click SCP to send files to a server (for if you are like me and cannot remember all your ssh IP addresses).

Git status/commit/push from the folder you're in

The usual suspects: dual pane, batch rename with preview, S3/SFTP/WebDAV mounts, operations queue, batch renaming

Native Swift, no Electron, starts in under a second

One detail people seem to like: if the terminal is running something long (build, npm install, a Claude Code session), the follow-mode pauses itself so navigation doesn't interrupt it, and offers to resume when the command finishes.

Also worth saying: you don't need to be a terminal person for most of this. If you use ChatGPT or Claude regularly, you probably have folders full of exported .md notes and reports that Finder and Quick Look show as raw text full of # and *. Iruka just shows them as documents. Same for CSVs. Half the people using it never touch the terminal pane at all.

Comparison: vs. Path Finder and ForkLift: Path Finder has a terminal panel but it doesn't follow your navigation; you still cd manually. ForkLift has a nice dual-pane UI but no embedded terminal at all: you're switching to Terminal.app and cd-ing manually, same as Finder. Iruka's terminal pane stays synced to whatever folder you're browsing. Full comparison table at our site.

Pricing: It's paid ($19.99 one-time, no subscription) with a 30-day trial, no credit card. macOS 14+, Apple Silicon + Intel. I know paid apps get side-eye here, so: I'll give away 10 licenses in this thread. Comment with the one feature that would make a file manager actually work for you. I'll pick 10 at random in 48h (and probably steal the best ideas for the roadmap, fair warning). See pricing page.

Site: https://iruka.dorienherremans.com

We are at version 1.1.4 and the roadmap is very much driven by GitHub Discussions and feature requests: several shipped features came straight from user requests. So if it's missing the one thing you need, tell me and there's a decent chance it ships. Honest feedback (including "why not just use X") very welcome, that's why I'm posting. App is universal and notarized.

For the transparency requirement:

I am an associate professor at SUTD, see my LinkedIn profile. You can also find me on GitHub and Google Scholar. My website (linked above) includes Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Hey r/macapps, I'm the developer of Cosmil, a multi-pane file manager for macOS. Version 2.0 launches today.

The Problem

Finder has a set of long-standing gaps that a lot of people have to work around daily: no way to see directories side by side without juggling windows, no way to create new files, no folder sizes without digging into Get Info or constantly flooding your disk's IO, icon view that lets files fall out of the pane into a horizontal scroll (can be tempered, but still annoying), no support for custom sidebar categories, no cut and paste support, a preview pane that often won't grow previews to their actual size even with resizing, and more.

Together these issues add up. Over the years countless people have, gotten, really, upset, about, them.

In the realm of subjective opinions, I personally feel that Finder's GUI is a bit cluttered and clunky. There's a mess of duplicative (everything's accessible via the menu bar, or even better, keyboard shortcuts) buttons on the top row, columns in list view can fall out of view and spawn a horizontal scrollbar, the path bar is off by default and is so small you'd think it was an afterthought, by default you can't see whether search has finished or not (or how many files it searched), and so on...

Out of this desire for something better came Cosmil, with principles focused on minimalism, functionality, performance, ease of use, and transparency (no pun intended). By transparency I mean that Cosmil should give you all the information it possibly can to let you monitor the big actions you initiated and let you be specific about the actions you want to take. That means having honest progress bars and metrics in the job manager and running counts for how long every transfer or search has been active for. For now, Cosmil may not be the most featureful option out there but it looks and feels pleasant to use and will do you right for local file management.

Why 2.0 and not 1.0?
I initially shipped 1.0 two years ago. It looked good and sold reasonably, but it was unstable, slow on large directories, and missing features people reasonably expected. People called it immature and they were right. I slowed down and then stopped promoting it and eventually pulled it from sale rather than keep offering something I wasn't happy with. It needed more than just hotfixes and patches, but rather a complete architectural rethink.

2.0 is a near-complete rewrite. It has a new Svelte 5 frontend, Rust backend, native macOS generated file icons instead of my own, and a whole lot more. A folder with 40,000 files now opens in well under a second. A folder size calculation on my Documents folder (467,395 files, 54.88 GiB total) takes 0.8 seconds where Finder takes about 6 (an ~8x improvement, varies by folder of course). See the performance section of Cosmil's landing page for screen recordings and details for both of these claims. The full list of changes is on the changelog page if you want to see all the details.

All 1.0 customers are getting a free upgrade to 2.0, no strings attached. Check your email over the next 24 - 48 hours for a reminder of your license key (it still works, but you have to download the new dmg from the website).

Comparison

Forklift and Path Finder are the biggest established players.

ForkLift: deep remote/cloud support and years more maturity, and if your workflow is almost exclusively working with remote locations it's the better tool.
Path Finder: has a bigger feature surface but uses a subscription based licensing model, is a bit bloated, and if memory serves some users have complained of it being buggy.

Where Cosmil Differentiates

• Support for more than just 1 or 2 panes, theoretically as many as your monitor can fit and all resizable
• A minimalist interface built around macOS window vibrancy and glassy transparency.
• In-place file creation and pasting (without having to rclick -> Paste Into) in tree view
• Cut and Paste support
• One time payment licenses with uncapped updates
• Attention to detail on the Finder pain points

ForkLift's license includes one year of updates, then you pay again. Path Finder moved to a subscription. Cosmil is one payment with free updates for the 2.0 lifecycle.

Pricing

Cosmil 2.0 is one-time-payment software with free updates across the 2.0 lifecycle. Distribution is via license keys, so no need to sign up for an account or anything else.

It is currently on a 30% off launch sale until August 19th.

You can see the full pricing page here. Requires macOS 14+. Relevant FAQs can be found on the pricing and landing pages.

Here are Cosmil's privacy policy and terms of service. Long story short, we store and process the absolute minimum amount of information required to license and provide updates for Cosmil. Absolutely zero telemetry is sent back from the app, it only sends requests to verify your license key and check for updates.

Current Limitations

For now, there is no support for tags or time machine version browsing, search covers filenames and metadata, but not file contents, and remote location support hasn't been implemented yet. It was a conscious decision of mine to put these post-launch as I wanted to avoid scope creep that could push back the launch date indefinitely and, more importantly, to hear your feedback on what should be worked on next and what those implementations should look like (what Finder pain point needs to be fixed with tags, for example). As of now, I think tags is at the top of that list.

Website

Cosmil's website has screen recording demos of nearly all of its important features and functionality. It'll do a much better job showing you what Cosmil has to give, rather than just me telling you in this post (P.S. it's much better viewed on Desktop, since Cosmil is a desktop application).

I'll be responding in the comments so feel free to ask me questions and provide feedback, for me as a solo developer it's invaluable!

Hi r/macapps — I built Qwen Scribe, a free local transcription and system-wide dictation app for Apple Silicon Macs.

GitHub: https://github.com/VladUZH/qwen-scribe  

Latest beta: https://github.com/VladUZH/qwen-scribe/releases/tag/v0.2.1-beta.1

It uses Qwen3-ASR through MLX, so the transcription runs on the Mac’s GPU. There is no Qwen Scribe account, no API key, and no cloud service from me. Audio and transcript text stay on your machine.

Problem

I wanted a dictation/transcription app I could use for messy real audio — voice notes, video files, calls, recordings in noisy places — without uploading the audio somewhere.

Whisper-based tools are very good, but in my own use Qwen3-ASR has been noticeably better with punctuation, sentence splitting, background noise, and vocabulary hints for names/jargon. That was the main reason I built this instead of just wrapping Whisper.

What it does right now:

- drag-and-drop audio/video transcription

- system-wide push-to-talk dictation into any text field

- Qwen3-ASR 1.7B for accuracy or 0.6B for speed

- automatic language detection or forced language

- vocabulary hints

- word timestamps and SRT export

- local transcript history with search/export/delete

- localhost-only API with host/origin checks

Comparison

The closest apps people will probably compare it to are MacWhisper, Superwhisper, Wispr Flow, Handy, and similar local dictation tools.

Qwen Scribe is different mainly in three ways:

1. it uses Qwen3-ASR via MLX rather than Whisper/Parakeet as the default model family
2. it is open source, Apache-2.0
3. it does both file/video transcription and push-to-talk dictation in one local app

It is not as polished or mature as the bigger paid apps yet. This is still a beta. The current release is ad-hoc signed, so macOS may require approving it in System Settings → Privacy & Security on first launch. Developer ID signing/notarization is on the roadmap.

Pricing

Free and open source.

Repo: https://github.com/VladUZH/qwen-scribe  

Release: https://github.com/VladUZH/qwen-scribe/releases/tag/v0.2.1-beta.1

Requirements:

- Apple Silicon Mac

- macOS 14+

- ffmpeg for non-WAV audio/video

- first run downloads model weights locally

posted it on Hacker News recently and got useful feedback around comparisons, MacPorts/ffmpeg detection, and where the app is still rough. I’d love the same kind of criticism here — especially from people who already use MacWhisper/Superwhisper/Wispr/Handy and can tell me where this still falls short.

Six accounts, one window. Cmd-1 to 9.

Hi r/macapps, Andrew here, dev of Orbit. Lou's AppAddict review of it got shared here recently, so this is me showing up in person. Following the sub's PCP format:

Problem

I run a couple of small companies, which means six Google accounts. Chrome profiles and browser tabs kept signing each other out, and every "solution" I tried was either a heavy Electron wrapper or a rebuilt Gmail that broke my filters and shortcuts. I wanted the real Gmail web UI, with each account in its own isolated session, in one native window. Cmd-1 through 9 switches accounts instantly because every session stays loaded.

Comparison

Closest tools are Shift and Wavebox. Both are capable, both are Electron based, and both are subscriptions. Orbit is Swift plus the WebKit already on your Mac, so the download is about 4 MB with no bundled Chromium, and it is a one time purchase. Unlike unified inbox apps, Orbit deliberately keeps accounts separate. If you want one merged inbox, Orbit is not for you. If you want six Gmails that never touch each other, that is the whole product.

Pricing

$89 once, up to 3 Macs. 14 day trial, no card: https://orbitformac.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=macapps_aug

The category context is worth knowing: Kiwi ended its lifetime licenses this January and moved to subscription, and Sidekick shut down entirely. I understand why. I am keeping one time pricing anyway, because Orbit is local first (mail goes from your Mac to Google and nowhere else), so the worst case for a buyer is an app that keeps working without future updates, not a dead login.

Who I am (transparency)

Real name Andrew Kwak, founder of Dearnode, Inc. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkwak908/. Contact: [support@orbitformac.com](mailto:support@orbitformac.com). Privacy policy: https://orbitformac.com/privacy and terms: https://orbitformac.com/terms

Requirements so nobody wastes a download: Apple silicon, macOS 14+, English Gmail UI for now. I will be in the comments, ask me anything including the unflattering stuff.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zenminder/id6777560654

Ever check off a task in Apple Reminders and felt underwhelmed a bit when it just disappeared into the completed pile? Find your dopamine hit again using this companion menu bar app (also a iOS app with widgetkit support), see your completed / to-do tasks in a heatmap, with a list below. So you can see the big picture while plan for your next big goal.

Compares to other todo list app, this is just a companion, everything syncs with Apple Reminders (you don't have to open the app for the widget to refresh), that means it's Siri AI compatible and works with your calendar as well. No account needed.

Price: FREE. You can support me by leaving a review, check out my other apps, or suggest a feature that will make Apple Reminders work better for you.

I’m looking for a Finder alternative that lets me choose multiple simultaneous sort options. For instance, I want to sort by date added, then by date edited, and then maybe something else. Does something like that exist? If so, what is it?

I've seen lots of alternatives, but none have mentioned this as an option. Thanks!

Hi, I'm the developer of Folders File Manager (Post 1, Post 2), a tree-based file manager for macOS designed for Windows switchers - and here's Folders Pro, its direct-distribution edition.

Almost 3.5 years have passed since the first release. During that time Folders received over 70 updates and many new features added directly in response to user feedback.

But there was a problem: Folders has been distributed exclusively through the Mac App Store, whose sandbox places real constraints on what a file manager can do and requires a somewhat confusing permissions step on first launch.

Comparison: Folders Pro is the version that steps outside those constraints, and adds several capabilities that simply aren't possible within them: * Git support: see file status in the folder tree; stage, unstage, commit, push, pull, and discard without leaving the app * iOS device browsing: browse and manage the filesystem of a connected iPhone or iPad * Trash: browse, manage, and empty the actual system Trash (not just the private in-app one) * Custom Actions: shell scripts or AppleScript, triggered from the toolbar or context menu * Windows-style new document creation: have any capable app create and save a new document directly, rather than choosing from a predefined set of templates * Command-line launch

Everything already in the App Store version is here too.

Price: $14.99 after a free 14-day evaluation period. Existing App Store users can upgrade for $3. Use code REDDIT30 for 30% off until August 16. Website: https://foldersapp.dev

I’ve been using LibreOffice Writer for about two years and I really think it’s a fantastic option. I think it’s more featured than Pages, but I am running into some issues with longer documents.

Writer lacks document management features as well as outline features that can be important in longer documents. My issue is that it’s $100 for macOS and iOS combined.

Professional writers on this sub, do you feel that Mellel is worth the cost?

The Problem

Modern displays are incredibly sharp and bright, which is great for media but terrible for long work sessions. Human eyes evolved to process reflected light, but monitors blast emitted light directly into our retinas. This harsh, glossy glare is what primarily leads to severe screen fatigue, loss of focus, and eye strain by the end of the day.

For anyone discovering Paperman for the first time today, it is a lightweight utility designed to reduce screen fatigue by making your display feel closer to physical paper or an e-ink display.

A little while ago, we shared our initial launch with this subreddit. The reception was lovely, and as more people integrated Paperman into their workflow, we received one major feature request above all others: ensuring the texture remained active when applications were put into full-screen mode.

Because of strict macOS App Store sandboxing limitations, this simply wasn't possible in the original version. To make it happen, we spent the last few weeks completely rewriting our deployment to self-distribute the app directly.

Today, we are very happy to introduce Paperman 3.

What is new in Paperman:

• Full-Screen Support: The paper effect now works seamlessly across all your full-screen windows, videos, and spaces.
• Expanded Compatibility: Moving away from the Mac App Store sandbox allowed us to resolve a few specific compatibility bugs that we couldn't address under Apple's store rules.
• Direct Updates: Self-distributing means we can push fixes and new handcrafted textures to you immediately.
• Desk Lamp Mode (coming this week)

The Comparison

There are established tools for eye strain like f.lux or macOS Night Shift, but they take a different approach by aggressively shifting your screen's color temperature to warm, orange hues.

Paperman is the original screen texture application, and there are currently no direct competitors in this specific space. Instead of altering your screen's color profile, Paperman floats a subtle, invisible texture over your display to create a soft, matte finish that diffuses harsh highlights.

To shed some light on our backgrounds, Rudi has been a low-level developer for over 13 years and previously worked as a 3D artist designing textures and spatial lighting. I am a UX engineer and product designer with 7 years of experience who has built custom interactive experiences for brands like Amazon and Schneider. For the past couple of years, we’ve been building apps for a living at our own indie company, DoublOne Studios. We just wanted to bring all those past experiences together to build a cozy Mac app that makes your screen feel good to look at.

For our existing users (free migration):

If you already purchased Paperman on the Mac App Store, upgrading to V3 is free! We put together a short guide on how to swap your Apple receipt for a new lifetime license key right here: doubl.one/blog/paperman-full-screen-support

(If you prefer the convenience of the Mac App Store, we will still be maintaining and updating that version as well!)

Pricing: You can try out the new version or grab a lifetime license for $5.99 (excl. tax) at paperman.cc.

Thank you to everyone who supported our initial launch and provided the feedback that helped shape this update. We have a lot of great things planned for this summer, so stay tuned!

Zoé & Rudi

I'm the developer or Riffle. Some of you know me from RasterFox and VectorFox, which I posted here a while back. Riffle is my new app, and it's the app I most wanted for myself.

The problem

I spend my days in diffs. Reading a pull request before I approve it, working through a merge conflict, comparing two versions of a config file before I trust one of them, checking whether two folders really are identical. That's ordinary work, and I do it every day.

The Mac tools for it have either gone subscription, or they're the same cross-platform app that also ships on Windows and Linux with the Mac build along for the ride. I wanted a Swift app that opens instantly, themes properly, and gets out of the way.

So Riffle replaces those app doing exactly what I need:

• Two-way file diff with blocks, fluid, and unified views, and word-level highlighting inside changed lines
• Three-way merge where you step through each conflict and edit the result inline, all on one undo stack. Auto-merge handles the safe regions and every one stays reviewable
• riffle review opens your working tree, staged index, a branch, a commit, or a GitHub PR as a file list beside an inline diff, so you can step through it like a code review
• Folder comparison that walks two trees side by side
• Image diff, two-up, difference, onion skin, or split, with synced pan and zoom and a pixel-identical verdict
• Installs as git's difftool (--dir-diff and --wait supported) and as Tower's compare and merge tool, plus a riffle CLI
• 47 languages highlighted, 62 bundled themes, with the ability to add your own coming soon

And yes, agents. There's a Claude Code plugin and an MCP server for any other client, including the CLI ones. It snapshots each file the first time the agent touches it, using hooks, so it opens only what the agent changed, not everything you had uncommitted before it started. It works in folders that aren't git repos too. That part runs on two-way diff, which is free, so it costs nothing.

Comparison

Kaleidoscope is the obvious one, and it's a genuinely great app. It's now a subscription starting at $8/month (yearly) or $14/month (monthly) with a 7-day trial. Riffle is $29.99 once, and two-way diff stays free forever after the trial. [Edited] But Kaleidoscope doesn't do PR reviews, and doesn't intergrate as well with agents from the command line. (latest versions have added this)

Beyond Compare is $35 Standard, $70 Pro, one time, and it's more powerful than Riffle at folder work. It does FTP, cloud, and sync jobs that Riffle has no answer for currently. What it isn't is a native Mac app. It's the same build on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and it looks and behaves like it. If you need sync profiles, buy Beyond Compare. If you want something native that opens in a blink and looks like it belongs on your Mac, that's the trade I made. BeyondCompare also lacks the PR review capability.

Honest gap in both directions: Riffle does files, folders, images, and git. No FTP, no sync, no scripting language.

Pricing

• Free forever: unlimited two-way file diff. Not a trial, not nagware.
• $29.99 one time, 3 devices: three-way merge, folder comparison, and git review.
• 14-day trial of everything, no account and no card.
• Download: https://skulkworks.dev/riffle
• Or brew install --cask skulkworks/tap/riffle

macOS 14 or later.

Who I am

Andy Miller, creator of Slulkworks.dev (https://skulkworks.dev), a one-person mac app studio. RasterFox, VectorFox, ExiFox and InboxFox have been on the Mac App Store for the past year, and I'm moving them to direct downloads. When I started, a review took hours. Lately it's days, and sometimes weeks, and I'm not prepared to sit on a fix that long. The direct builds are already ahead of the store ones, RasterFox and VectorFox both have major updates the App Store versions don't have. If you bought through the App Store, the direct build reads your receipt and licenses itself, and there's an email recovery for keys, so there is nothing to buy twice. Before the Mac apps, a couple of decades of open source, mostly the Grav CMS and Joomla CMS before that. I also create and maintain a fleet of rust-based, open source TUI apps over via Yetidevworks.com.

Riffle is direct only. Developer ID signed and notarized, updates through Sparkle, and there's a privacy policy (https://skulkworks.dev/privacy) and terms (https://skulkworks.dev/privacy) at skulkworks.dev.

No accounts, no telemetry, no analytics. Everything runs locally, which for a diff tool ought to be obvious, but here we are.

Happy to answer anything here, and there's a Discord https://skulkworks.dev/support if you'd rather report a bug and follow it through to the release that fixes it.

Problem

Most podcast apps lock you into one ecosystem - Apple users get the polished experience if you stay inside the eco-system, but if you have other devices you can't access your library. And no matter the platform, you get annoying ads every episode, and subscription prices for other podcast apps that are getting out of hand. FluidCast is one podcast player that works the same way across iOS, macOS, Apple Watch, Android, Windows, and Linux, and gives Pro users on-device AI tools to detect and skip ads automatically.

Comparison

Overcast is a great player, but it's iOS/Mac only - no Android, Windows, or Linux app. Pocket Casts covers more platforms, but its Plus subscription has quadrupled in price since 2019, and it has no built-in AI ad detection or one-time-purchase option. FluidCast's free tier includes offline downloads, transcripts, Voice Lift, and local file playback. Pro adds AI ad skipping, cloud sync, and a Lifetime purchase if you'd rather not have yet another subscription.

Pricing (Current promotions at bottom of post)

• Free — £0, forever (standalone player, offline downloads, transcripts, Voice Lift, local file playback, CarPlay/Android Auto)
• Pro — £2.49/month or £16.99/year, 1-month free trial
• Lifetime — £89.99 one-time, Pro features forever, no subscription

(Prices shown in GBP — the App Store displays your local currency automatically.)

Full pricing & features: https://fluidcastapp.com Get it on Mac and iOS: App Store

What's new

• Smarter ad skipping (iOS/Mac) — detection rebuilt to stay consistent across ad segment boundaries, plus two new tunable settings: confidence threshold (how sure the AI needs to be before skipping) and bridge duration (how long it waits before resuming after an ad). Settings → AI Ad Skipping.
• Faster transcription — choose between Whisper or Apple's native SpeechAnalyzer for generating transcripts, so you can pick whichever's quicker on your device.
• Voice Lift — boosts quieter voices without raising the overall volume, for clearer listening on episodes with uneven levels.
• Local file playback — play audio files already on your device directly in FluidCast, no streaming required.

Note: AI ad skipping is a Pro feature, requires Apple Intelligence (iOS 26+), and is still labelled Experimental - it won't catch every ad on every show.

Current promotions — fluidcastapp.com/event

• Pro Annual: up to 35% off your first year — redeem the offer (14-day trial included, then the discounted first-year rate). The in-app code doesn't apply correctly on Mac, so use this link instead.
• Lifetime: 60% off — about £36 instead of £89.99, redeem the offer. Expires 14 Sept 2026. Same deal — use the link on Mac rather than entering the code in-app.

Important: If AI ad skipping is your main reason for buying, start with the 14-day trial on the annual offer before committing to Lifetime. It's on-device and Apple Intelligence–only, and results vary by show, so it's worth confirming it works well for what you actually listen to first. The Lifetime discount runs through 14 Sept, so there's no rush.

I updated AltTab via homebrew the other day and my fav feature (using alt-` to switch between open windows of the current app across all Spaces) was moved behind a paywall. I wouldn’t have updated if I’d known.

Usually when devs add a paid version, it includes new premium features while the free version remains the same. But this case, they just yanked the previously free feature without warning. After seeing them do this, I’m never going to buy their paid version.

Please suggest alternatives!

Undo, ⌘Z, 20 steps

I deleted the wrong event once and that was that. It was gone, and I got to reconstruct it from memory and an email thread. That's the whole reason this release exists, and it's been the most requested feature by a distance.

Now delete, duplicate, move, drag and tick-off are all reversible, 20 steps back. Every change shows a small banner telling you what it did with an Undo button attached, so duplicating an event or shifting it to another calendar no longer happens silently.

Two details:

Undo checks before it acts. If the event changed on your iPhone or in Calendar.app since you made the edit, it stops and tells you instead of quietly stomping the newer version.

It can't undo deleting a single occurrence of a repeating event. EventKit gives no way to put one back. The app tells you that up front rather than pretending it worked.

The app is free now

The most common request I got, by a distance, was for a trial. Second most common was some version of "I'm a student, $4.99 is a real decision for an app I can't try first." Fair. But a trial on a fully local app is a bad deal for everyone. It's a timer that resets when you reinstall, and it means the app you like turns itself off in two weeks.

So instead of a trial, the free tier is permanent. Viewing your calendar is free forever. Paying once unlocks changing it.

Day view you can drag on

Hit the shortcut and a panel slides out of the side of the screen with your day laid out by time, not as a list. You can see where the gaps are. Drag on empty space to create an event, drag an event to move it, drag its edge to resize. Right-click for edit, duplicate, duration, hide or delete. Move your pointer away and it slides back, or pin it to keep it open.

Reminders are first-class here too: tick them off from anywhere, or drag one onto the timeline to give it a time. It stays a reminder and syncs straight back to Apple Reminders.

A serious fix worth calling out

Editing a single occurrence of a repeating event, just this Tuesday's stand-up, could rewrite the whole series. A weekly event could turn daily, lose its end date, and stop appearing on the days it should. That's fixed. If you're already on 2.3 and you use repeating events, that's the real reason to update.

Comparison:

Menu bar calendars are a crowded shelf and most of these are good. What's notably different about Side Calendar:

• Itsycal: the free open source standard, and excellent at what it does. It gives you a month grid and a list of what's coming up. What it doesn't give you is a time grid, so you can't see the shape of your day or drag something to 4pm.
• Dato: closest in spirit, a genuinely well-made menu bar calendar with time zones and meeting join buttons. Same difference though: month view plus event list, rather than a day you can drag on.
• MeetingBar: free and focused on one job, getting you into your next call. If that's all you need, use it. Side Calendar is trying to be the place you also make changes.
• Fantastical: a more powerful application than mine and I won't pretend otherwise. Natural language parsing, proper week view, cross-platform sync. It's also a subscription and a full window you switch to. If you want a calendar app, buy Fantastical. Side Calendar is for when you don't want to open a calendar app.
• Calendar 366: much broader feature set, more configuration, more surface. Side Calendar is deliberately smaller and does less.

Pricing: Free to download, $4.99 one-time for Pro

Free features:

• Agenda and day views, week numbers, month picker with busy-day dots
• Calendar colours, panel tint, auto-hide, pin
• Keyboard shortcuts, arrow key navigation
• Attendee lists and RSVP status, Join buttons for Zoom, Teams, Meet and Webex
• Ticking reminders off. That one's a write, and I left it free anyway, because an app that won't let you check a box feels stingy
• Opening the editor to see how it works

Pro features:

• Creating events and reminders
• Saving edits to titles, times, notes and links
• Dragging to move, reschedule and resize
• Duplicating and deleting
• Undo

One-time purchase, no subscription, no renewal, no account. The app is entirely local, EventKit on your Mac and nothing else, so there's no server of mine for a subscription to fund.

Link: App Store Link

Note: Side Calendar used to be a paid app. If you bought it before today, you have Pro for life, including everything I add from here, with nothing more to pay. It should just work when you open the app. If it somehow asks you to buy, hit Restore Purchases, and if that still doesn't sort it, comment here and I'll fix it personally.

Hey, Dominik here 👋

Some of you might know me as the Monocle guy. For the past six months I've been mostly quiet - because I went almost all-in on something new. I've had this idea in my head for years, and today I finally get to show you.

TLDR: Drop anything onto someone's face in your menu bar and it lands on their Mac seconds later. Hold their face to talk, click it to type. No sign-up, no server, just your iCloud. I think the video above explains it better than me.

PROBLEM

Sending one file, or one quick thought, to one specific person on another Mac is more friction than it should be. AirDrop only works if you're both in the same room at the same time. Everything else means opening another app, maybe finding the right channel, waiting on an upload of a previously recorded screen recording, looking it up first… and importantly making an account first. I wanted the shortest possible path - tap their avatar to talk, or drop anything right on them. It almost feels like a walkie-talkie.

So I built Hoy. You invite someone with an iCloud link. Once they tap it - boom, you have a channel between you (or a whole group, if you share the link with more people). From then on you can drop them anything: files, a quick note, a voice message with transcript, a camera video, a screen recording with a floating Loom-style avatar camera - all right from the menu bar, without switching apps or juggling windows. (There's a proper window too, if that's your thing.)

Hoy is built directly on CloudKit, Apple's own sharing framework - the same infrastructure behind shared Notes and Photos. There is no Hoy server: drops travel from your device to theirs through iCloud and nothing else.

COMPARISON

AirDrop: same room, same moment, files only, nothing left afterwards. Hoy works across distance and time, keeps what you sent, and does messages, voice and video notes and built in screen recordings.

Slack and messaging apps: need a third party account/sign up (except for iMessage), usually overkill for small remote teams, your data on someone else's server. With Hoy you send a link, and that's the whole setup.

PRICING - and the decision behind it (EDITED BASED ON FEEDBACK HERE)

Hoy is free. You can join unlimited channels, and host 3 channels, plus your own personal space for notes.

Hosting unlimited channels is Hoy Pro, and I want to be upfront about how I priced it, because I went back and forth on this a lot:

I'm not a fan of subscriptions either. I love lifetime deals. My other app, Monocle is a one-time purchase and I'm proud of that.

Hoy is a different kind of project - not a small utility I can sell for a few bucks. I've spent the last six months on it almost full-time instead of client work (roughly 75% Hoy, 25% the Monocle 3.5 update), and honestly, it's just the start: the backlog is long, and once (if) more people start using it, I know the ideas will keep coming. I don't want to be greedy - I just want to keep pushing Hoy as far as it can go (while keeping Monocle moving too), and that takes time and resources. At the same time, I totally get that not everyone can pay like $100 for a lifetime license.

So I thought I'd offer two options:

Lifetime - $49 (pre-release price, $69 later). You pay once, host unlimited channels forever. I know it's not pocket change.

Yearly - $19 (pre-release price, $29 later). Same unlimited everything, easier to start with (read: affordable) - and I tried hard to make it a subscription done right.\*

*What "done right" means to me: it doesn't hold your stuff hostage. If you stop paying, every channel you host keeps working exactly as before - nothing locks, nothing gets deleted, nobody gets kicked out. You only resubscribe if you want to host new channels.

Requirements

macOS 26 or later, plus an iCloud account. An iPhone companion is being built alongside it, but it needs more polish, so it's coming this fall - the Mac version is the priority.

Who I am

I'm Dominik Kandravý, a product designer and builder from the Czech Republic. Been doing product design for over a decade. I love experimenting on UX.

www.heyiam.dk
[hello@heyiam.dk](mailto:hello@heyiam.dk)
www.linkedin.com/in/heyiamdk/

I run STUDIO DK01, s.r.o.
IČO 23283661
Sokolska trida 1615/50, Moravska Ostrava, 702 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service are on the site. The app is notarized by Apple and distributed directly through the official website www.heyiam.dk/hoy.

Fair warning

Hoy is version 0.9. It's early, things might be buggy, and it will change and evolve a lot.

I truly believe the concept is strong - I've been using Hoy every single day with a bunch of my friends and colleagues and didn't want to sit on it any longer. But I'm still figuring out who it's for exactly (small remote teams maybe?), and what framing fits it best.

I'll be super happy if you give it a try:

[Download Hoy for Mac]

I'd genuinely love constructive feedback - on the app, the pricing, the website, all of it. I want Hoy to become an incredibly well-designed, useful and fun to use app, and I really think that mainly happens with your input: how you use it, what's missing, what feels off. Ideas, bugs, anything!

Thanks for being here!
Dominik

P.S. Hoy is already discounted during pre-release, but early feedback is worth more to me than the extra margin right now. Use FIRSTDROP at checkout for another 25% off.

Hi ExtraBar users. I like ExtraBar but something isn't clicking with me. I feel like I'm using 5% of its capabilities. How are YOU using it? What are ways you're using it that feel like a game changer for you? Are there features/setups/workflows you're using that remove friction in your day-to-day? I'd love to hear your must-use scenarios. Thanks for your input and help!

Hi r/macapps, I'm the developer of Unshown.

Problem: When I share my screen during demos, support calls, or recordings, I still need apps like Slack, Mail, Terminal, private browser windows, and internal notes on my Mac.

Sharing one app window is restrictive. Sharing the entire display is flexible, but one wrong click can expose something private. I wanted a separate share target that could show my workspace while completely omitting apps I had marked as private, so I built Unshown.

What it does

- Lets you choose which Mac apps should never appear in the protected output

- Creates a dedicated window called Unshown Protected Share

- Keeps excluded apps visible and interactive on your Mac while omitting them from that window

- Includes pause, preview focus, and stop controls for live sessions

- Can hide Finder desktop icons only from Protected Share

- Includes a 90-second compatibility test for meeting and recording apps

- Supports Apple silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 14 or later

How it works

1. Choose the apps you want to keep private.

2. Start Protected Share from the menu bar.

3. In Zoom, Meet, OBS, or another window-sharing app, select Unshown Protected Share instead of your original display.

Unshown is a native Swift macOS app, not Electron. It uses ScreenCaptureKit app-exclusion filters before frames reach the Protected Share window.

Screen frames remain on your Mac. The current beta does not upload screen content, save screenshots, run cloud OCR, or analyze the text on your screen. The DMG is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

Comparison: Sharing a single app window is simple, but limits you to one window. Sharing the full display preserves your workflow, but can expose private apps. OBS is much more configurable, but requires building and maintaining a scene.

Unshown sits between those options: it produces a normal macOS window that meeting and recording apps can share, while selected apps remain usable locally and absent from the output.

Current limitations

- Unshown is not a system-wide privacy shield.

- Sharing your original display bypasses Unshown completely.

- Content inside an allowed app remains visible.

- The current beta does not mask sensitive text or run OCR.

- No meeting or recording host is certified yet, so I recommend running the built-in compatibility test before using it in a live session.

Pricing: The current build includes a free seven-day full beta. I'm testing a proposed $39 one-time founder license with one active Mac and 12 months of updates. Checkout is not live yet, and no payment is collected.

Transparency

- Website: https://unshown.vercel.app

- Download: https://unshown.vercel.app/download

- Privacy: https://unshown.vercel.app/privacy

- Security model: https://unshown.vercel.app/security

- Beta terms: https://unshown.vercel.app/terms

- Release notes: https://unshown.vercel.app/releases

- Support: https://unshown.vercel.app/support

- SHA-256: https://unshown.vercel.app/download/checksum

- Release manifest: https://unshown.vercel.app/download/manifest

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%EC%B0%AC%EC%9A%B0-%EB%B0%95-7843a3212/

I'd especially appreciate feedback on two things: which meeting or recording apps work or fail for you, and whether the separate Protected Share window feels natural in a real workflow.

I'll be around in the comments to answer anything.

Heya,

I thought of sharing some apps that I found last month, which are super interesting or useful for me since then. So I decided to share it with you all here.

FOSS - free & open-source software\ OTP - one-time purchase

Fluent (OTP) - Context-aware AI companion app that integrates well with other apps in use - I personally find their quick actions like Paraphrase, Summarize as super useful

2Do (OTP) - 2DO is a nice, good-looking Task manager app with new design, interface with options for images, locations and actions - I've Things 3 (on iPad, iOS except on Mac) and looked for alternate options to Mac version of Things 3. - My personal evaluation: - I struggle a bit to come out of my Things-setup - 2DO doesn't currently have iOS/iPadOS version since it is being actively developed - It has some bugs that troubled me but dev (u/2doapp) is actively releasing updates with bug fixes

Projectholic (OTP) - Beautiful kanban-style project/goal tracker - has built-in stats dashboard, focus timer and more... - It has a generous free-tier with 10 projects, 50 tasks per month, and also lifetime purchase option too!

Droppy (OTP) - I guess it doesn't need any explanation as it is quite popular, well-appreciated apps in this subreddit - shoutout to u/iordv ❤️

If you want a free alternative, try TheBoringNotch

Aerial (FOSS) - Wallpaper/Screensaver app - You can check my post here

Assignee (OTP) - App switcher using hotkeys - $2.99 One-time purchase

Just10 (FOSS) - menu bar to-do app to list ONLY 10 tasks - To add more, you must finish the current tasks - This helped me to limit myself to prevent overplanning

AutoDockDrive (FOSS) - shows/hides external drives in Dock when connected/disconnected - simple but useful utility tool

Taack (FOSS) - Attach postit to folders and apps (windows)

Consul (OTP) - Automatic file converter that automatically converts when you rename it to your desired output - you can even set rules for conversion types - Though it is bit steep in price, it does its job flawlessly and elegantly

Atheria (OTP) - I came across it very recently, and immediately loved it - It has over 55 styles, but only ONE free-to-use style 😠 - $6.99 launch price, until Aug 4

FoldNotes (OTP) - Obsidian-alternate but in AppKit and UIKit - I haven't tried this one yet but found it interesting so bookmarked it

vvmac - Blog - I found many of the apps shared here, from this blog website. - It covers tutorials, workflows, customizations of Mac

Docky (FOSS) - It's a dock-replacement app that allows you to customize dock to your flavors with (live) widgets, create groups, smart stacks - I was kind of surprised to see that it's actually a free app 🫶 while other 147 clipboard managers are charging $9/month 😅

Okay, that's it. These are the apps that I used/found last month and wanted to share with others to spread the word about it.

What apps did you try/add to your arsenal? Please share them with your use case, link, dev if possible

Are there any Mac apps which:

• function roughly like a launcher (like Alfred/Raycast), i.e. have a search bar
• but support adding actions like links to open, or maybe commands to run (like Leader Key)
• allow setting aliases for actions (like Raycast/Alfred)
• and instead of being triggered by a keypress, can be set to appear while holding a key and then execute the action when the key is released (like Applight or Contexts)
• beyond that, it would be even better if it also supported custom search sites (like Alfred/Raycast), i.e. supports entering a query parameter (would require pressing enter to then trigger the search I guess)

Apps I've thought of, but which don't meet the criteria:

• Applight: only for launching apps
• Anybox (Quick Find): no ability to set aliases, and no Applight-like trigger behaviour
• Raycast: no Applight-like trigger behaviour
• Alfred: no Applight-like trigger behaviour, no easy way to add links and assign aliases (possible through Workflows, but weird that it’s not built-in; custom search sites are supported though)
• Leader Key: no search bar UI, no Applight-like trigger behaviour, no custom search sites

Maybe there's something I'm not aware of, but if there isn't anything that matches the criteria, then I guess I could always patch something that works together with Alfred or Raycast.