12 Best macOS Apps and Utilities to Transform What You Can Do With Your Mac

Must-have utilities for your MacBook

Is your Mac powerful by default? Without a doubt. Does it have some functionality gaps? Yes, it does. (Think of the always-cluttered menu bar or the lack of a powerful cleaning tool.) So, do you need additional apps? Absolutely. We’ve compiled a list of the best MacOS utilities that fill its functionality gaps. The apps are not highly specialized, so most users will find them helpful. We use these tools, too, and we’re happy to recommend them.

Feel like your Mac could do more?

Subscribe to Setapp and get apps to unclutter your menu bar, customize your touchpad, quickly manage your apps, and dozens more.

Security-tested

1. Bartender: Unclutter the menu bar

The space for icons in the menu bar is extremely limited. You open just a few apps, and it’s cluttered. Only the Bartender can bring the order.

Bartender minimizes all the icons, leaving only the ones you choose to display. For example, we keep the battery, Wi-Fi, and keyboard indicators in view. You can even group them if needed, like when we combined Google Drive, Mega, and Dropbox into one “cloudy” folder.

✕ Remove app banner

Even though the icons are hidden most of the time, program changes won’t go unnoticed. If an app is updated or has a problem, the Bartender will show its icon in the menu bar and hide it only when the issue is fixed.

Price

• $16 on the developer’s website www.macbartender.com
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

2. One Switch: Access macOS features fast

Some basic Mac settings, like turning Wi-Fi on and off, are always at your fingertips. But some require a lot of clicking. For example, to prevent your Mac from sleeping, you probably do the following: Apple menu > System Settings > Lock Screen > the settings you want. Phew.

One Switch is the most useful Mac software for controlling your most-used switch functions. With just two clicks (literally!), you can toggle between light and dark modes, connect Bluetooth devices, manage display settings, lock the keyboard, hide desktop icons, and more.

✕ Remove app banner

Some One Switch users say they have already forgotten when they were using some of the settings on their Macs the usual way. So yes, this app does make life easier.

Price

• From 4.99 for one device on the developer’s website fireball.studio/oneswitch
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

3. BetterTouchTool: Customize all your input devices

If you think of a keyboard as just a way to type and a touchpad as just a mouse, there’s an opportunity to improve your productivity.

BetterTouchTool lets you customize literally any input device on your Mac: Trackpad, Magic Mouse, regular mouse, keyboard, Touch Bar, iPhone or iPad (with BTT Remote), as well as Siri and Apple Remote.

You can create gestures, shortcuts, or triggers that launch specific actions. These actions can be general or app-specific. In our example, Command + S connects AirPods to your Mac. But you could also use the same combination to, say, insert template text into your Notes.

Price

• From $10 for one device on the developer’s website folivora.ai/buy
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

4. PopClip: Use instant text actions

We work with text all the time, but have you ever thought about how few quick tools we’ve got for it? Sure, there’s Command + C and the like, but most tasks require right-clicking or switching between apps. But there’s a solution for that, too.

PopClip appears as soon as you select text and offers many valuable actions: change font case, replace line breaks with spaces, send the selected text to ChatGPT, convert Markdown formatted text to HTML, speak the selected text aloud, send the selected text to a note-taking app, and so on. There are more than 150 actions available. You can download any of them and add them to your PopClip. We promise that it will speed up your work significantly.

✕ Remove app banner

Price

• From $17 for one device on the developer’s website www.popclip.app/buy
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

5. Paletro: Access app menu commands

Tired of navigating through endless menus to find the command you need in your Mac apps? We too. That’s why we installed the handy macOS utility Paletro and can now find the right setting in seconds.

When you’re in any app, press Shift + Command + P , and you’ll see a handy menu with all available commands. You can scroll or use the search to find the one you need.

We know Paletro is especially popular with designers, developers, and users who’ve had to memorize different shortcuts for different apps.

Price

• from $6.99 on the developer’s website appmakes.io/paletro
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

6. Paste: Never lose anything you copy

We’ve all been there: you copy something and lose important information that you previously copied. It’s a huge pain.

That’s where Paste comes in. This app saves all your copied files in one convenient location. This includes text, code, images, video, audio, links – in short, everything that can be copied. If you want, you can sync with your iCloud to access information from other devices.

This is what a real clipboard should be like!

✕ Remove app banner

Price

• From $29.99 on the developer’s website pasteapp.io/pricing
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

7. start: A single app launcher

The Dock is too small to hold all the apps you actively use. But start can place all the apps from your laptop at your fingertips and even group them with tags. Just like this

✕ Remove app banner

Some tags (Apple, Office, or others) are pre-installed when you first launch Start. Other tags are up to you to create according to your needs.

Note the pin button in the upper left corner. It pins the start window and allows you to open multiple apps in a row (which is impossible with Launchpad, for example).

Price

• From $29.99 in the Mac App Store.
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

• Filepane Walkthrough
• Customize Menu Bar on Mac
• How to Use Bettertouchtool
• Clear Mac Clipboard

8. Dropzone: Take most-used actions at your fingertips

Tired of jumping between apps and tasks? Compressing a file here, shortening a URL there, and sharing files elsewhere. Sounds like a chore. That’s why we streamlined many processes with macOS utility called Dropzone.

Dropzone is a space in the menu bar where actions and folders that are vital to your work live. To perform an action, just drag and drop the file to the appropriate icon in Dropzone. And you’re done! This way, you can copy, move, and extract files, access SFTP and FTP servers, upload files to Google Drive, etc.

✕ Remove app banner

You can also use this space to store files temporarily. Store photos, documents, and more, and retrieve them when needed. You’ll see your desktop become less cluttered and the number of unnecessary folders significantly reduced.

Price

• $35 on the developer’s website aptonic.com
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

9. SideNotes: Jot down faster

When you need a quick note that won’t clutter your Dock, choose SideNotes, a simple utility for Macbook for taking notes.

After installing the app, a neat bar appears on the side of your screen. Click it to expand the notepad, ready to write. Here you can create to-do lists, jot down code, add images, and more. Folders and colored tags help you organize your notes. This is a full-featured note-taking app that takes up zero percent of your workspace. Perfect!

✕ Remove app banner

Price

• $19.99 on the developer’s website www.apptorium.com/sidenotes/bu.
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

10. uBar: Make the Dock useful

You might feel cramped in the Dock, and that’s not surprising. It doesn’t have enough space, and sometimes apps you’ve accidentally opened get stuck there. The most functional replacement for the Dock we’ve found is uBar.

uBar is a compact window manager that you can customize to your liking. You can display all running apps or only those with multiple active windows (to exclude inactive or accidentally opened ones). When you move the pointer to a shortcut, you can see a preview of the app.

✕ Remove app banner

But what makes uBar work best is a multiscreen setup. Its dock displays not all running apps but only those running on a specific screen. It’s a perfect companion for developers, designers, editors, and other creative types.

Price

• From $30 on the developer’s website ubarapp.com
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

11. TabFinder: Search through tabs from all browsers in one spot

For a long time now, we’ve easily managed dozens of tabs in different browsers thanks to the TabFinder.

This app creates a list of all active tabs in your browser and allows you to search through them. It works with Safari, Chrome, Brave, Opera, and other popular browsers.

We used the one the app offers – Option+Tab , but you can set your own in the settings.

✕ Remove app banner

Price

• From $14.99 on the developer’s website sites.fastspring.com/noteifyapp/product/tabfinder
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

12. Lungo: Keep your Mac awake

Sometimes, your Mac goes to sleep at the wrong time. For example, when you have a recipe on the screen or when an app takes a long time to update. To keep your Mac awake, you need a special macOS utility called Lungo.

Lungo lives in the menu bar and sets the wake-up time for your Mac with one click – from 10 minutes to infinity.

✕ Remove app banner

At the same time, it doesn’t interfere with your general settings. For example, setting a schedule in System Settings > Battery > Schedule or an automatic logout in System Settings > Security & Privacy > Advanced will take priority over Lungo.

Price

• $3.99 in the Mac App Store.
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

13. CleanMyMac X: Speed up and declutter Mac

CleanMyMac X is one of the best macOS utilities that keeps your Mac running smoothly, not just adding functionality. You may have heard of it as an app that removes system junk, large hidden files, and more. It works instantly: click one – your laptop is scanned, click two – it’s scrubbed.

But with CleanMyMac X, you should think of cleaning in a broader sense. It removes malware, frees up RAM, scans for old files and email attachments, and optimizes speed. In addition, it is a single place to update and uninstall apps.

✕ Remove app banner

Despite its many features, the interface is straightforward, and any task can be completed in just a few clicks. It’s a great option, especially considering that the Mac lacks powerful built-in cleaning tools.

Price

• From $34.95 on the developer’s website macpaw.com/store/cleanmymac
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

14. CleanShot X: Take excellent screenshots

The built-in screenshot tool on the Mac works great, but its capabilities are limited to capturing or recording a screen and editing the file.

It’s CleanShot X that helps you take great captures and videos. The ability to hide icons on the desktop wins you over the first time you use the app. You get a blank canvas in no time and maintain your privacy.

✕ Remove app banner

The app can take long (scrolling) screenshots, has a built-in timer, and a capture history with the ability to restore a deleted image.

When recording a screen, you can turn on Do Not Disturb mode to prevent pop-up notifications from interfering with the video. For an aesthetically pleasing picture, turn off the cursor image or highlight clicks. And for high-quality audio, you can record the sound from a screen and a Mac microphone separately.

Price

• From $8 on the developer’s website cleanshot.com/pricing
• $9.99 per month on Setapp, together with dozens of other apps.

Supercharge your MacBook with best utilities

As we see, even good things have room for improvement. These essential Mac utilities will boost your device performance and speed up your work. Each tool has a free trial, but their total cost is over $250 a year. The good news is that you can get all of these apps (and dozens more) for $9.99 a month with a Setapp subscription, and you can try them for free for 7 days. The platform is free of ads and hidden fees. With it, you get access to dozens of best Mac apps, AI writing tools, VPNs, ad blockers, and more.

12 Best macOS Apps and Utilities to Transform What You Can Do With Your Mac

Your Mac is already pretty powerful out of the box, but you can do even more with it using third-party apps and utilities.

We pulled together the best Mac apps and utilities to let you organize windows with a gesture, automate file management, eliminate ads from your web browser, and more.

Take a look below!

Related:

• 10 Mac Apps Every User Should Consider
• Best Spotlight Replacement Launchers for macOS
• How to Use macOS Grab Utility to Take Screenshots

• Paste: Keep countless items in your clipboard
• Keyboard Maestro: Automate anything with key commands
• Magnet: Organize your windows however you want
• Swish: Use touch gestures to organize your windows
• BetterTouchTool: More gestures for your mouse or trackpad
• Hazel: Keep your files in order with automated actions
• Alfred 4: Enter a new world of productivity
• iStat Menus 6: Get more information about your Mac
• Amphetamine: Keep your Mac awake when you need it
• HiddenMe: Hide everything from your desktop
• Bartender 3: Keep your menu bar neat and tidy
• Wipr: Eliminate ads, trackers, and cookies from the web

Paste: Keep countless items in your clipboard

You might not have noticed, but your Mac is incredibly limited in its copy-paste ability. You can only hold one item in your clipboard at a time, which often isn’t enough.

Enter Paste. This utility lets you save countless items to the copy-paste clipboard. Keep them organized in pinboards, sync over iCloud, and access all of it using simple keyboard commands.

Download: Paste ($14.99 with a 14-day free trial)

Pro-Tip: BundleHunt is currently offering the Holiday Mac app bundle at $2 a month. This Holiday offering has a list of legitimate 42 macOS apps that you can use. These Apps have been tested for macOS Catalina. When you use our link at BundleHunt, we get a small commission.

Keyboard Maestro: Automate anything with key commands

You can already automate tasks on your Mac using Automator. But Keyboard Maestro earns its price tag with a lot of extra features and easy usability.

Here are some of our favorite things you can do with Keyboard Maestro:

• Launch all the apps you need to start working at once.
• Quit background apps you haven’t used in a while.
• Arrange app windows exactly how you like them.
• Manipulate text and images to generate stock documents.

Magnet: Organize your windows however you want

Magnet has been a longtime favorite for many Mac users. Use keyboard commands to snap your windows into different configurations on your display.

It’s far more flexible than the rudimentary split-screen function in macOS. With Magnet, you can place an app in each of the four corners, create multiple columns across the screen, or organize windows above and below each other.

Download: Magnet ($1.99)

Swish: Use touch gestures to organize your windows

Swish is a new take on Magnet’s window management. Now you can reorganize your apps with a swish of the fingers.

Use intuitive touch gestures on your trackpad or Magic Mouse to snap app windows into different positions on your display. You can even use Swish to minimize apps when you’re finished using them.

BetterTouchTool: More gestures for your mouse or trackpad

Mac gestures are already pretty great, but with BetterTouchTool they’re out of this world. This is the best Mac utility to unlock advanced gestures on your trackpad, Magic Mouse, Touch Bar, Siri Remote, and more.

You can add custom gestures for a range of different Mac functions: adjust volume and brightness, cycle through browser tabs, capture screenshots, and more.

Hazel: Keep your files in order with automated actions

Hazel automates file management on your Mac, with a huge range of options. By default, Hazel applies color-coding to your Downloads folder and sends Movies, Music, or Pictures to the relevant folders on your Mac.

But you can create your own rules to do much more:

• Automatically compress and archive old files.
• Rename and relocate important downloads.
• Or clean up your desktop into filetype subfolders.

Alfred 4: Enter a new world of productivity

At first glance, Alfred looks like another version of Spotlight. Use the search bar to find files, search the web, or open apps on your Mac. But there’s far more to it than that, especially if with the PowerPack upgrade.

With the full version of Alfred, you get a clipboard manager, easy automation, remote control for your Mac, text expansion, and more. It makes a lot of the other apps on this list redundant!

Download: Alfred 4 (Free, with Pro version available)

iStat Menus 6: Get more information about your Mac

Whether gaming, video editing, or even browsing the web, it can be helpful to know how your Mac is performing. iStat Menus gives you all the information you could possibly need, right in the menu bar.

At a glance, you can see your CPU, memory, and SSD usage as well as your current download speed. You can even get local weather updates.

Amphetamine: Keep your Mac awake when you need it

Stop your Mac from going to sleep with Amphetamine. Start a new “session” and select the duration to keep your mac awake for. It’s great for servers, long processing tasks, and plenty of other situations.

Amphetamine is also highly customizable. Edit the menu bar icon, create custom settings for different apps, or set up triggers to automatically start a new session.

Download: Amphetamine (Free)

HiddenMe: Hide everything from your desktop

A cluttered desktop can be a real eyesore. Fortunately, HiddenMe makes it easy to sweep all that under the rug.

This simple Mac utility hides everything from your desktop. Turn it on and off using the menu bar icon or by recording your own shortcut.

It’s great for taking cleaner screenshots, clearing your head of clutter, or presenting a professional side to others.

Download: HiddenMe (Free, with Pro version available)

Bartender 3: Keep your menu bar neat and tidy

With all these awesome new Mac utilities, you might find your menu bar is getting a bit cluttered. That’s where Bartender comes in.

With Bartender, you can choose which items to show or hide from the menu bar. For each app, choose to show, hide, always show, or always hide. Then expand or minimize your menu bar with a click.

Wipr: Eliminate ads, trackers, and cookies from the web

Wipr is a streamlined ad blocker to make browsing the web more pleasant than ever. All you need to do is turn it on and let it do its thing.

Wipr blocks ads, trackers, cryptocurrency miners, EU cookies, and GDPR notices. It doesn’t sell data or ad space to other companies and updates the “blocklist” twice a week.

Download: Wipr ($1.99)

If you are looking for a service that allows you to use multiple macOS apps without paying individually for them, you can explore some of the options made available by companies such as BundleHunt. They are currently offering a Holiday app deal starting at $2/month for 42 different macOS apps that have been tested with macOS Catalina.

Related Posts:

Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.

https://setapp.com/app-reviews/macos-utilities

https://appletoolbox.com/12-best-macos-apps-and-utilities-to-transform-what-you-can-do-with-your-mac/