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Ask HN: Suggestions for native Mac apps?

22 points by _justinfunk 8y ago

With an updated Mac App Store coming this fall, I started evaluating my own use of Mac software. Aside from a code editor and music player, practically everything else that I do on MacOS is in a browser (streaming video, documents, maps, email, etc). Help me change this (should I change this?) - what apps should I be using natively? I work full-time doing programming, consulting, and other general-purpose internet-y things.

mtmail 8y ago
I quite enjoy native Markdown editors with instant preview. https://macdown.uranusjr.com/ https://macdown.uranusjr.com/ or https://getlightpaper.com/ https://getlightpaper.com/
- jp_sc 8y ago
  In that space, my favorite is Typora (https://typora.io/ https://typora.io/)
- writepub 8y ago
  Please give http://write.pub http://write.pub a shot. And a nod to Typora, we're inspired by them
ljsocal 8y ago
Notes app is a really usefully tool. It’s easy to use but has a lot of powerful features if you dig a little.
ecesena 8y ago
In addition to editors and notes, I user mail, terminal, and IMs. IMs are really important to me -- basically for everything I care about being notified, I prefer an app rather that in-browser.
kiwicopple 8y ago
It’s worth checking out https://setapp.com https://setapp.com (no affiliation). They have some useful utilities. Personally though, I like the interoperability of a browser-based workflow. I use multiple different computers - Mac, windows, and Linux - and the switch feels seamless because most of my life is spent in Firefox, chrome, and VSCode
writepub 8y ago
Please try http://write.pub http://write.pub WYSIWYG markdown editor + git baked in, with rich WYSIWYG diff visualizations. For power users, it has a raw markdown editing mode, plenty of extensions. Would love your feedback on 6+ months of blood, sweat & tears poured into this
- maz1b 8y ago
  When will collaborative editing be launched?
sgillen 8y ago
I really like the mail client, since I have 5 different email addresses I use that would otherwise be difficult to coordinate by just forwarding everything to one gmail inbox. Also I big fan of the messages app, if you use an iPhone it’s very convenient.
jonhendry18 8y ago
OmniOutliner OmniFocus NetNewsWire Photoshop Corel Painter Autodesk Fusion 360 Cura (3D printing slicer) WWDC.app (WWDC videos app for macOS, from a 3rd party) Skim.app (PDF reader) Timing (time tracker) Audio Hijack Navicat for SQLite WireShark
m3tr0s 8y ago
Noizio, Bear, TickTick, Airmail, GitKraken are one of my favourite Mac apps, have a look at them. Most of them are cross platform too.
alexanderpetrex 8y ago
I would suggest using xamarine platform to build native apps
righteous 8y ago
- OmniGraffle - Magnet (OS X missing window manager) - IA Writer - iTerm2 with ZSH - Atom - SletchApp
SyneRyder 8y ago
I just finished reinstalling my Mac, so I've been working on a list of all the native apps that I reinstalled. Apologies for the giant comment, but I hope it helps: Mac Specific Utilities * Alfred (best reason to own a Mac) https://www.alfredapp.com/ https://www.alfredapp.com/ * Bartender 3 (for tweaking the menu bar) https://www.macbartender.com/ https://www.macbartender.com/ * Coconut Battery (battery menu-bar monitor) https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ * Focus (block distracting websites & apps) https://heyfocus.com/ https://heyfocus.com/ * Camouflage (hide desktop icons) https://briksoftware.com/products/camouflage/ https://briksoftware.com/products/camouflage/ * Caffeine (stop your Mac going to sleep) http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/ http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/ * Soundsource (switch between audio inputs) https://rogueamoeba.com/soundsource/ https://rogueamoeba.com/soundsource/ For coders / developers * Panic Transmit 5 (File transfers, S3, Backblaze B2, Dropbox, OneDrive) https://www.panic.com/transmit/ https://www.panic.com/transmit/ * Panic Coda 2 (an IDE for editing websites) https://www.panic.com/coda/ https://www.panic.com/coda/ * Cathode (gorgeous terminal app) http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ * Sequel Pro (beautiful MySQL admin tool) https://sequelpro.com/ https://sequelpro.com/ * Beyond Compare (cross-platform diff tool) http://scootersoftware.com/ http://scootersoftware.com/ * Tower (Git client, alas subscription only) https://www.git-tower.com/mac https://www.git-tower.com/mac * MAMP (Run MySQL, Apache, PHP etc locally) https://www.mamp.info/en/ https://www.mamp.info/en/ * Synalyze It! (Color-coded Hex editor for Mac) https://www.synalysis.net/ https://www.synalysis.net/ * Feeder (RSS editor / micro-blog tool) https://reinventedsoftware.com/feeder/ https://reinventedsoftware.com/feeder/ * Xojo (cross-platform IDE for making native apps in Basic) https://www.xojo.com/ https://www.xojo.com/ * Corona SDK (mobile focused cross-platform apps in Lua) https://coronalabs.com/ https://coronalabs.com/ * Parallels Desktop 13 (for running Windows / Linux) https://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/ https://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/ * DropDMG (create DMG installers for Mac) https://c-command.com/dropdmg/ https://c-command.com/dropdmg/ * Iconographer (multi-platform icon creator) http://www.ohanaware.com/iconographer/ http://www.ohanaware.com/iconographer/ For Backup * SuperDuper! (create bootable external USB backups) https://shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html https://shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.ht... * Arq (cloud backup to your choice of host) https://www.arqbackup.com/ https://www.arqbackup.com/ Internet Utilities * Tweetbot (Twitter without ads or annoyances) https://www.tapbots.com/tweetbot/mac/ https://www.tapbots.com/tweetbot/mac/ * Postbox (Powerful email client) https://www.postbox-inc.com/ https://www.postbox-inc.com/ * EncryptMe (VPN with a Mac-first design) https://www.encrypt.me/ https://www.encrypt.me/ Productivity * Soulver (spreadsheet as a text notepad) http://acqualia.com/soulver/ http://acqualia.com/soulver/ * Harvest (timetracking service for freelancers) https://www.getharvest.com/apps/mac https://www.getharvest.com/apps/mac * NeoOffice (Mac specific version of OpenOffice) https://www.neooffice.org/ https://www.neooffice.org/ * Affinity Photo (non-subscription Photoshop competitor) https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/ https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/
codyogden 8y ago
Loving [Numi](https://numi.io https://numi.io) as a nice scratch pad for math. Has support for things like variables, constants, functions, and even px/em/pt values conversions. You can hack it with JavaScript to add personal global values, etc as well.
andrei_says_ 8y ago
Gitup is wonderful if you use git.