Best Free Mac Utilities (2020)
Make your Mac do more
I spend quite some time searching for free apps for my Mac. I search for apps which will be able to boost my productivity, to reduce the distractions I have, and improve my concentration when I’m working. (Sometimes, this results me in getting less work done as I’m always searching for them. 🤭 )
I have compiled this list of the (free!) Mac apps and utilities that have made a difference in my life and hopefully will make a difference in yours. All of them are free, though some come with premium subscriptions which you may want to try out.
For more on Homebrew (brew install --cask...), read this:
Alfred 4
Many people rate Alfred as the best app to have on a Mac. It’s a spotlight alternative which speeds up your workflow, changes the way you search for files, define and spell words, etc.
To install, copy and paste the following into your terminal:
brew install --cask alfred
Tiles
Tiles is a free Mac app which resizes your windows with keyboard shortcuts (sadly, macOS does not come with such functionality). Center, full screen, left half, right half, upper left, lower right, and definitely a great addition that lives quietly in your menu bar. You can even drag your windows around to resize them!
To install, copy and paste the following into your terminal:
brew install --cask tiles
AppCleaner
AppCleaner is a small application which allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps.
Simply drop an application onto the AppCleaner window. It will find the related files and you can delete them by clicking the delete button.
To install, copy and paste the following into your terminal:
brew install --cask appcleaner
OpenInTerminal-Lite & OpenInEditor-Lite
They’re apps which live in your finder toolbar and open the selected file/folder in your preferred terminal/editor.
To install, copy and paste either of the following into your terminal:
brew install --cask openinterminal-lite
# or
brew install --cask openineditor-lite
Browserosaurus
Choose the correct browser for the link you are about to open (e.g. Chrome for YouTube, Safari for everything else). There’s also an option to copy the link to your clipboard — no need to drag your cursor over the whole link again!
To install, copy and paste the following into your terminal:
brew install --cask browserosaurusHappy working! 😃
