Apple developers make some useful tools for OS X that extend the usefulness of Yosemite, the latest version of Apple’s OS. We’re listing 18 essential Mac apps for Yosemite, including utilities, video apps, photo apps and productivity apps. Try them out and we’re sure you’ll want to download and install these awesome Mac apps for Yosemite to get things done faster, easier or cheaper than you would otherwise using built-in tools or well-known programs.
TextExpander
- I've been using the free version of Essential PIM Portable for a number of years now, and it is a top notch program. In that time I have accrued a lot of contacts. I bought an iPod Touch and I wanted to be able to transfer my contacts over to the device without having to type them all in by hand, plus I wanted an app that would keep in secure.
- Apr 16, 2018.
Oct 14, 2015.
TextExpander beefs up keyboard shortcuts in OS X Yosemite.
OS X includes some simple keystroke shortcuts that let uses enter text quickly, but TextExpander ($34.95) gives us that feature and much more.
Create a snippet of text to type. For example, use adr and tell TextExpander to automatically turn adr into a home address. It saves time with powerful shortcuts. Check out the video below that shows some of the really powerful ways users can harness TextExpander making it one of the best Mac apps for Yosemite.
Adapter
Adapter (Free) impressed us as one of the best file conversion utilities. It’s a drag-and-drop utility that converts audio, video and image files from one format to another. For example, drag a PNG file to the open app window and it will convert it to JPG or some other format. Use the drop down box at the bottom of the window to choose the resulting file format.
BitTorrent Sync
Most people think that people only use BitTorrent (Free) to share pirated movies or music, but it’s actually a great tool for transferring any content. BitTorrent Sync will make it easy to get the power of BitTorrent on your side. The app makes sharing large files, like a big video file edited by a group of people or a really large zip file of photos, easy. Criminals can use it, but honest people shouldn’t fear BitTorrent.
Macbook Essential Apps
Why use BitTorrent Sync instead of Dropbox? There’s no central server that stores the files. People will rest assured they don’t need to worry about hackers going after Dropbox or one of the other cloud services. It’s potentially safer and more anonymous.
FilePane
The FilePane pop up lets users work with their files by dragging them onto the pop up.
FilePane ($6.99) makes it easy to handle files through a drag-and-drop interface. This makes it one of our awesome Mac apps for Yosemite because it starts up with OS X and runs in the background waiting for the user to select and then drag a file. The FilePane window pops up with icons that represent various things the utility can do with those files. Drag it on the Finder icon to move the file or the trashcan icon to delete it.
Forklift
Finder does what many of us need it to do, letting us find and manage files. However, it could do so much more so. Forklift ($19.99) jumps in where Finder stops, adding better file management to a Mac.
Here are a few ways it improves file management compared to OS X Finder:
- Dual pane file manager window
- FTP for transferring files to a server
- Saved workspaces for repeated tasks
- Folder sync
- Delete apps and clean up files that stay behind when a person drags an app from Applications to the trash
- Tabbed interface like Finder
Outline
Microsoft makes OneNote for Mac, but it doesn’t look like other native Mac apps for Yosemite. So some Apple purists would rather not use it, but they share notebooks with Office users. Outline ($6.99) offers a great note taking tool that syncs between computer and iPad and opens and saves OneNote notebooks. It also syncs with OneDrive. Use the Outline notebook format syncs and sync with Dropbox or Box. Use OneDrive when syncing OneNote notebooks.
TeamViewer
Lots of apps and services give users remote management features, including Apple’s built-in Back to My Mac solution, but TeamViewer (Free for personal use) does it better and lets users work cross-platform.
Let’s say someone wants to upload a file from their home computer running Windows to their Dropbox account so they can access it on their Mac while on vacation. The person forgot to save the file in their Dropbox folder. Log into the home computer via TeamViewer and copy the file over. To do this the person will need to install software on both computers. There’s also a version for iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Window Magnet
Window Magnet brings Windows style window snapping to OS X.
Windows snaps program windows by dragging the window to the sides, top or bottom of the screen. To get this feature on a Mac use one of our favorite Mac apps for Yosemite, Window Magnet ($4.99). The app brings to Mac the cool Windows feature.
Drag the title bar of an app to the top of the screen and it fills the entire screen. Drag it to the right or left and it snaps into place on that half of the screen. Use keyboard shortcuts to move windows to each area of the screen plus the four quadrants of the screen.
DaisyDisk
See what’s cluttering up a Mac hard drive using DaisyDisk.
When a Mac hard drive starts to get full it can slow down the computer and keep users from installing apps or downloading files. There’s no easy way to find out what’s hogging the hard drive space in OS X. Use DaisyDisk ($9.99) to scan the drive and show the contents visually.
When a user finds a folder of content to move or delete, they can drag them to the icon in the lower left corner to “collect” them. Then right-click the icon to get rid of them.
Click on colored pie piece and it will expand and fill the screen with a new pie showing the file and folder sizes. Click in the center again to go back to the containing folder. See the video below for a demo of how it works.
Fantastical
The best calendar app on the Mac is Fantastical ($9.99). Like other Mac apps for Yosemite, it runs in the background and a menu bar icon shows the calendar when the user clicks on it (see above). To add an appointment type into the box in the top of the drop down box. Use natural language to enter appointments. For example, type “Meet with Donna at 2 pm next Thursday at Chipotle.” This will start to add the pertinent details to the appointment. The drop down also shows upcoming appointments, a month view and reminders from the Reminders app in OS X.
iA Writer
iA Writer ($9.99 or $19.99 for iA Writer Pro) offers a distraction free writing environment and adds markdown formatting. That means that writers can quickly add things like bold, italics and more without taking their hands off the keyboard. A # creates a heading, an * adds italics to text, and ** adds bold formatting. People who don’t like markdown can add formatting using the program’s menu.
Put the app into full-screen distraction-free to get rid of all visual distractions, like menus, the OS X Dock or anything else. The user only sees the text and the background. In the iA Writer Pro version users can also write in a dark background and white text.
Put iA Writer in full-screen mode using the green dot in the upper left corner.
The developers created an iPad version that syncs via iCloud. There’s also an Android version in beta testing. It only syncs using iCloud.
Notability
Notability ($6.99) now runs on OS X, bringing the great iPad app to the computer. Use it to type notes in class, a meeting or any other time. Users can sync notes between Mac and iPad over iCloud. They can edit them or create on a computer and sync them back to the iPad.
Here’s a list of the key features of Notability, besides typing and writing text on the page. See the image above. The numbers below correspond with the numbered areas of the app in the screenshot above.
- Toolbar – insert text, select fonts, and pick a pen, eraser or highlighter.
- Notebooks – the notebooks one creates to organize their notes
- Note Previews – small thumbnails of the notes in the selected notebook
- Pen Tool – select colors, pen sizes and styles
Notability also includes the ability to insert pictures and audio notes recorded within the program.
NoteBurner M4V Converter Plus
Essential Mac Apps 2015 2017
If people want to strip DRM from their iTunes movies, NoteBurner M4V Converter Plus ($44.95) will do the job quickly and easily. The program grabs videos from iTunes removes the DRM so the user can watch the videos on non-Apple devices, or in programs like VLC Media Player (see below), also featured in this round-up of Mac apps for Yosemite.
Pixelmator
People who want Photoshop quality photo editing on a Microsoft Paint budget should look at Pixelmator ($29.99). It offers layer-based editing plus all the basic photo editing tools most of us will ever need. It handles text and layout for creating posters or fliers. Filters quickly add interesting looks to images.
The program interfaces with other apps using OS X Yosemite’s sharing feature. The Yosemite and iOS Handoff feature lets a user open a photo in the OS X version and then it will automatically open on the iOS version on an iPad.
VLC Media Player
VLC Media Play works better than QuickTime because it doesn’t come with any of the restriction. It plays any file format you throw at it. It also will capture from the Mac’s FaceTime camera. With some help from third-party codecs it can handle DVD playback as well. The program offers to install the third-party codecs when running the program’s installer.
Reflector
Reflector turns any OS X computer into an AirPlay receiver.
The iPad or iPhone can share the screen to any Apple TV using Apple’s AirPlay technology. Reflector ($12.99 for 1 computer) turns a Mac or PC into an AirPlay receiver.
Why would someone want to share their iPad or iPhone screen on a Mac? Maybe a user wants to demo an app in a tutorial video or for a class using a computer hooked up to a projector or TV. Reflector makes that happen as quickly as hooking up to an Apple TV. The app also lets a user take screenshots. They don’t need to transfer the screen shot from the iPad to the computer since it’s already on the computer.
Handbrake
NoteBurner strips DRM from iTunes movies. Handbrake (Free) does the same for DVDs. Load up a DVD into a USB drive on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and the program will read the DVD, let the user open it and convert it to multiple formats or sizes for viewing on an iPad, an Android phone or on a computer, to name a few formats it handles.
Ejector
Use Ejector to quickly eject one or all removable disks in Yosemite.
People who connect a MacBook to a docking station or Apple Thunderbolt Display with one or more external disks connected via USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt, can use a tiny app like Ejector (Free) to quickly remove the drives with two clicks (the icon bar and the menu item) or one keystroke (COMMAND+OPTION+CONTROL+SHIFT+E). This keeps the user from ejecting a USB drive without doing it the OS X way. Unplugging a drive before telling the OS to reject the drive can result in corrupted files, since OS X may be writing a file to the disk at the moment the user pulled out the drive before ejecting it in OS X.
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Essential Mac Apps 2020
Bought a new Macbook Pro, Macbook Air or iMac ? you may be looking for some best and essential apps to download for your new apple mac os computer. Well we have you covered with some best mac apps that helps with your Productivity and Entertainment. Apple Mac OS X is known for its Rich productivity purposes. Video Editing, Animation & Film Studios, Music Production Environment, Schools, Colleges and mostly all areas you can see the effective use of Mac today. It is an amazing productivity machine and choosing the correct apps will make it more powerful. People choose apple products specially because of its Quality Apps than other platforms.
We wrote about some of the best and Essential mac apps for new iMac and Macbooks. Today we have some updates to the list and i like to call this article as Essential Mac Apps.
Best availability, stability and excellent collection of apps are the primary reasons that wins the high price argument. Mac App Store is the best place to search and download apple verified apps easily. Well categorized sections, easy to search and find option, ratings & reviews makes the quality apps rank well in mac app store.
Essential Mac Apps for New Macbook and iMac
Apple introduced Mac App Store in OS X Mountain Lion changing the way Apps are downloaded and installed on Macbook and iMac computers. It is also possible to download and install apps from third party developers who offer apps directly from their websites. If the third party developer is an identified developer then you can install it by enabling “Mac App Store and identified developers” feature under “System Preferences -> Security & Privacy” in your OS X. Additionally you can install apps from unidentified developers by enabling “Anywhere” feature in the same section.
However, it is not advisable and can cause security risk to your OS X and Data. Some malicious files or viruses may be installed this way when apps are installed from such sources. Alright lets see the list of Essential Mac OS X Apps for your new Mac computer.
HandBrake Mac Video Converter Software
It is a popular video converter software for Mac OS X that works really well and one of the essential app that should be downloaded and kept handy. If you shoot some video using your digital camera and want to upload the video to youtube, handbrake will help you convert the video file easily to most video file formats. Handbrake is also available for Windows 7, 8 and Ubuntu OS.
Handbrake has best and widely used codecs, so you can select preset values to convert videos in any format to an Apple TV, iPhone, iPad compatible file format. Play your favorite movies downloaded from Torrents, Direct Downloads or any other file sharing services on Smartphone and Tablets. You can also manually select the output file formats such as .MP4, .MKV, H.264, MPEG-4 and so on. Audio Codecs such as AAC, Core Audio AAC/HE-AAC,MP3,FLAC,AC3 or Vorbis also well supported with Handbrake.
This is a free video converter software for Mac OS X and you will be liking it from the very first use of this beautiful and easy to use software.
Download: Handbrake
Wunderlist To Do App for Mac
It has won several awards including Mac App of the Year 2013. Wunderlist App is a widely popular To Do App among mac users for its easy to use user interface and brilliant features it has. Its a free app with limited features, however existing users feel that it is absolutely worth upgrading to a Pro version. Free App will let you do most of the daily tasks and routines, but if you want more options, then consider doing In-App purchase and unlock all the features.
Wunderlist allows you to share your ideas, things to do, places to see with your friends and family. Wunderlist is well compatible with Android, Linux, Kindle, Chromebook and Browser extensions are also available.
Download: Wunderlist
The Unarchiver
Small and Simple looking app to unarchive common file formats such as .zip, .rar, .tar, .gzip and .bzip2 . This app can also open many other file formats that are compressed and not compatible with Mac OS X by default. This is a must have unarchiver app in your mac os x. The unarchiver app also automatically detects filename encoding in the archives it opens. So you dont have to worry about compatibility or file names being changed to some random values.
The same developer have similar app for your iPad and iPhone. “Archives” now available in App Store will let you open archive files on your iOS devices.
Download: The Unarchiver
Folx GO App
How about an Internet Download Manager that utilizes your internet speed properly when you download files from direct sources ? Well, Folx GO is my favorite internet download manager for Mac OS X that comes totally free with limited features. If you want to go for more number of simultaneous downloads and File split download options, then you can upgrade to Pro version that unlocks many useful features.
Folx is like IDMan for Mac OS X that has beautiful updated design with Retina support. Faster download speed, efficient file management by tagging, organizing downloaded files, web browser integration (Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox compatible) are free totally. This is sufficient for a normal user, however if you download lot of files regularly then you can get Folx Go Pro license to get Smart Speed Control, Downloads Scheduler, Splitting downloads up to 10 threads and iTunes Integration.
Download: Folx Go
Windows Phone App for Mac
Well this is not an essential app but if you own a Windows Phone then this is an essential app to manage your smartphone using Mac OS. Microsoft officially released this Windows Phone App for Mac OS which allows you to Sync your favorite media files (movies, music, tv shows, podcasts, photos etc.,) from your Mac computer to your Windows smartphone. You can sync these files from your existing iTunes library.
You can copy Photos, Videos stored in your windows phone memory to Mac iPhoto or Aperture for editing purposes. Make sure you run Mac OS X 10.7.4 or higher version to run this app. Managing your windows smartphone with drag and drop options.
Download: Windows Phone App
Shazam App for Mac
Recently updated with some intelligent features that makes this app really powerful. I still a fan of Soundhound which is another popular Music Search and Discovery service. Shazam will be well integrated with iOS 8 that lets you recognize musics from your iPhone, iPad with the help of SIRI. The recent update makes it run silently in the background and listen to the music played in the surrounding. You can access the lyrics of the songs being played, video of that song or you can buy that music track in one click via iTunes.
Shazam will be your best music discovery app for Mac. Its a free app and you can download it from Mac App Store. Enjoy discovering and listening to whatever songs that you like.
Download: Shazam
That is all for now. These are some of the best and essential apps for your macbook and imac. We regularly Handpick Mac Apps and write about them. Do follow our social feeds to stay up to date. Thanks for reading and we hope you found this post interesting. Do share it with your friends and followers across social networking websites. Have a wonderful productive day.