6 Free macOS Utilities That Should Actually Become Features
From niche life-savers to everyday essentials
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I just hit my one-year anniversary with macOS on my beloved 2020 MacBook Pro a while ago. So far, my macOS install has successfully survived through two Java courses’ worth of code, some illustrative work on Affinity Designer, a dozen unfinished web apps/projects, and a crap ton of Google Chroming. After one year with it as my daily driver, here’s my verdict:
macOS is basic af.
To give credit where credit is due, macOS has always felt pretty stable/responsive and has never updated itself without my consent (Windows 11 still does that, smh). Though, I’ve also felt that macOS has been a little stiff in terms of what I could use, see, or do. In other words, it’s still missing some features that I’d really love when using my MBP.
Luckily, the macOS community is extremely cool, and they have developed a bunch of 3rd party nifty utilities that I now can’t live without. In fact, these apps are so good that Apple should seriously consider adding them in the future as features in macOS. And as a cherry on top, I didn’t even need to pay a single penny! Below are my top 6 such utilities/apps which have deemed themselves worthy of this level of praise. Enjoy 😋!
1) AltTab
Seriously, why is the default ⌘-tab so crappy on a Mac?
As an ex-Windows user, I never wrapped my head around the wonky app switcher (⌘-Tab) on macOS. The menu always had ALL apps I had running, which included apps running in the background without any windows open, or apps I had 5 spaces apart from the one I was on. It dawned on me: I didn’t need an app switcher, I needed a WINDOW switcher.
Luckily AltTab was there to save my day! AltTab replaces the ⌘-Tab shortcut to trigger a new customizable UI, which—by default—shows current app windows on the space you’re on (like how Alt Tabbing works in most desktops). What’s even better is the mini previews you get for each app window so you will know what you’re Tabbing yourself into.
You can assign multiple shortcuts to change the behavior of AltTab—switch between windows of the same app across all spaces, for instance (really useful for switching between browser windows btw). You can also change its appearance, including everything from transparency, max height/width, fade animation, and the list goes on.
Link: alt-tab-macos.netlify.app
TLDR: If you miss good ol’ Alt Tabbing on Windows, get the appropriately-named AltTab for macOS.
2) Raycast
Get a better, extensible Spotlight for free!
Spotlight on macOS is pretty neat: a search bar that can do things from finding apps/files to crunching simple arithmetic you can pull up from anywhere with the ⌘-Space shortcut. That’s about all the compliments I have though. It’s laughably slow, feels inconsistent to use, and barely has any integrations with other services.
Well, what about Alfred? It’s pretty cool, except a bunch of its game-changing features are locked under an expensive paywall. Not that I don’t like supporting developers, but there’s already something else that does almost everything Alfred does for a low low price of $0: Raycast.
Raycast can act as your file and/or app search like Spotlight, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can add what Raycast calls “extensions” to add more functionality to your search bar, such as allowing it to look up words on a dictionary or keep track of your clipboard history (this one I use a LOT). Extensions are created by both Raycast devs and the community, so there’s already integration for Spotify, Youtube, Notion, Slack, you name it!
Link: www.raycast.com
TLDR: Bless yourself with Raycast, a much better version of Spotlight, for no extra cost.
3) Itsycal
A proper calendar widget for macOS.
I was extremely, EXTREMELY disappointed for some reason when I realized the calendar widget on Notification Center wasn’t interactable. Anywhere I clicked, it just brought me to the full Apple Calendar app, which meant another window I had to deal with. I honestly can’t tell you why I was so upset, I just was. I’m a weird person 😛.
Anyways, thank god for ItsyCal! It’s the calendar widget I’ve always imagined Apple would make for macOS. Acting as a menu bar icon, ItsyCal lets you view and create new calendar events right from the menu bar. You can also change its appearance on the menu bar to include the date and day of the week, which is fine as you can actually hide the date/day information on the default clock (see below).
Link: https://www.mowglii.com/itsycal/
TLDR: ItsyCal is an awesome mini calendar widget for viewing dates and creating new events!
4) Stats
Monitor your Mac device on the go!
Since getting my MBP I’ve been on edge over memory management, especially because I use Chrome/Brave and a lot of Electron apps (psst, here’s a shameless plug for my previous article where I spend 6 minutes complaining about Electron!). Obviously, pulling up Activity Monitor every couple of minutes wasn’t ideal. That’s when I came across Stats.
Stats allows you to add extra menu bar icons which gives you a brief perspective on how your Mac’s CPU, memory, network, battery, disk, etc. is doing. Clicking on these icons will reveal a pop-up filled with information and sleek visuals. Props to its developers since it has a really polished interface for an open-sourced macOS utility project, and basically gives no reason for anybody to pay for its numerous alternatives that do exactly the same thing.
Link: https://github.com/exelban/stats
TLDR: If you want to see how the internals of your Mac is doing without opening Activity Monitor, get Stats.
5) Hidden Bar
Get your menu bar under control!
Alright, I have been talking about menu bar apps and utilities for a while now. Your menu bar might be stacked with a bunch of app icons and text like mine is. My initial solution was to use Bartender, which went splendid until its trial expired and I was debating purchasing a license from them. That would’ve been the case had I not discovered Hidden Bar.
It does exactly what its name entails: it helps hide and unclutter a portion of your menu bar items. Hidden Bar gives you two icons: a vertical bar and an arrow. All items to the left of the vertical bar get automatically hidden, and you can press on the arrow to toggle the visibility of those hidden icons (or configure a keyboard shortcut to do so). Especially useful if you have a lot of apps running in the background that add their presence on the menu bar.
Link: https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden
TLDR: Hide menu bar icons for free with Hidden Bar!
6) KeyboardCleanTool
Prevent accidental key presses when cleaning your keyboard!
It surprised me how there’s really no easy way of cleaning the MacBook keyboard. Considering I use my filthy hands typing on my MBP every day, I would’ve thought that the laptop had a state where it wouldn’t respond to my keypresses at all, such as when it’s shut down. But Apple being Apple, all modern MacBooks now boot up from ANY keyboard press, or even when you open the lid.
Thankfully, there’s KeyboardCleanTool to disable your keyboard for the few seconds or minutes you need when wiping all the gunk and germs off your keyboard. This is actually the first item on the list which I don’t use 24/7, but one I use anytime I need to do some keyboard cleaning. Seriously Apple, you need to implement something like this!
Link: https://folivora.ai/keyboardcleantool
TLDR: KeyboardCleanTool temporarily disables your keyboard from macOS so you can clean it to your heart’s content.
That’s About It!
I hoped you enjoyed some of the macOS utilities I’ve mentioned in this list; maybe you’ve found something new to try out!
In fact, part 2 is already in the making right now, so be in the lookout for that in the next few weeks!
