Mac OS X is an incredible operating system, far superior to Windows. Apple is designed to be secure and well-optimized for the hardware, but also elegant, simple and user-friendly. They thought about everything that they put in it and the results are spectacular. It comes built in with an armada of apps which are incredibly useful to the users and most app are really cherished. However some are completely ignored by users, even though they are extremely useful and could make their lives much easier. Check out these best Mac OS X apps you might have missed:
This pne ranks thrid in our list of best Mac OS X apps. Spotlight Search. After Apple revamped it in OS X Yosemite, Spotlight Search has been the most useful feature on the Mac, one of the best Mac OS X apps but the tragic thing is that most people just ignore it as they think it is just a big faff. May 06, 2015.
10. Digital Color Meter
May 02, 2019.
For a designer, color is everything. So how great would it be if you could have an app which could tell you the color of a specific pixel on your screen? Well, it turns out that you do have one. Digital Color Meter allows you to know what the color is of a specific selection on your screen. You can choose how big or small the area is, with the smallest that the area can go being a single pixel. The app which is one of the best Mac OS X apps, will allow you to lock both the x and y positions of the selector and also to view the color in native values, sRGB, generic RGB, Adobe RGB or L*a*b*. It will even allow you to view the red, green and blue values as a percentage or as a hexadecimal value and once you have found the value of the color, you can then choose to send to it to the clipboard as either text or an image. You might wanna check out Top 10 Best iPhone Apps for Students.
9. Grapher
Programs which allow you to draw complex 2D and 3D graphs are usually thought to come with a big price tag. Well, not any more. Grapher gives you all the power of programs like Autograph but for free. It’s definitely among the best Mac OS X apps. You still have complete control over the axis and the graph layout, you still have the ability to create any graph known to man and you still have a wide range of examples built in, but the interface is simple and user friendly and all of it is completely free. It doesn’t leave out half of the features because you’re not giving money for the app, you get ALL of the features that you get from competitor apps but for a competitive price.
8. Stickies
Most people probably think that Stickies is a bit of a joke. It isn’t. It is one of the best Mac OS X apps. It is great to remember anything that you need to refer to often. You can use them to remember important information for your day to day use of your Mac, developers may often use them to keep certain snippets of code that they need to use often or designers may use them as mood boards for inspiration.
The best part is the fact that they are fully customization. You can get to choose the color of the note, the color of the text, the font of the text, the size of the text, the kern of the text and also the baseline of the text. You can add in images and use the markup feature to draw over them and you can choose to make the note window translucent, but best of all, you can choose to make it a floating window. This means that even if another window is in focus, the note will still stay above that window. That makes a lot of difference.
7. Terminal
Many people would cry at even the thought of using the Terminal, but actually it isn’t as scary as you may think. The commands are simple and very easy to learn and if you can’t remember one, you can look it up or keep some in Stickies. This app adds so much more control to the user. Using it allows you to customize your Mac so much. You could show hidden files, change the speed that the dock appears, alter file permissions, make screenshots to default to .jpg instead of .png, scan your network and so much more. It really allows you to turn your Mac into a personal computer.
The best part is that because Mac OS X was built on top of UNIX/Linux, it uses the same terminal, which has all of the same commands in it. This means that lots of you may even already know lots of commands for the Terminal but also it means that there is so much support online for those who might not be experienced with UNIX/Linux.
6. Activity Monitor
Most people will be familiar to Windows’s Task Manager. It’s a very useful program for people who know what they’re doing with it. It allows you to view all of the processes running on your device, so amongst other things, you can see what is slowing down your machine the most. Activity Monitor ranks among the best Mac OS X apps. It gives you all of the features of Task Manager but with a user interface that is much more refined and much friendlier to the user. You can see how much of the CPU each process is using, how much of the RAM each process is using, how much energy each process is using, how many bytes each process is reading and writing to the disk and how many bytes and packets each process is sending and receiving over the network.
However, unlike how Task Manager shows the processes with very long and complicated names, most of which don’t make any sense, Activity Monitor shows the processes with much less complicated names and if the process is from an application, it shows that application name and icon. This means that all you see is either the name of an app or the name of a system process which Apple has appropriately named to make it very easy to work out what it does. There is even an option to change the application icon in the dock into a live updating graph about either the CPU usage, the CPU history, the Network Usage or the Disk Activity.
5. QuickTime Player
Most people already use QuickTime Player if they want to play a video on their Mac or Windows PC. However, there is a lot more that you can do with QuickTime Player on Mac. The big thing is that it can record. You can record audio and video using either the built-in camera or microphone or with external ones. Even better, you can record both the screen of your Mac and your iOS device with audio at the same time as well. That is a big feature which people have been struggling to do for years and now you can do it completely legally and completely free. Not bad for a built-in program is it?
4. Time Machine
This allows you to back-up all of your files and settings to a Time Capsule or any other Time Machine supported external wireless storage. It automatically backs-up any file that you update in the background to the Time Capsule but it makes sure that the Time Capsule keeps all versions of a document so you can choose a specific version to restore a file from. The best thing about this app is the fact that it is really easy to use and how it integrates very well with the whole operating system. For example, if you ever wiped your Mac or got a new one, you can very easily point to a backup on the Time Machine and it will very quickly restore your Mac to a mirror image of the state that it was in a couple of hours ago. Another useful list for you – 10 Best iOS 7 Apps That Look Great on Device.
3. Script Editor
Every single thing on Mac OS X can be operated in two ways. They can either be operated by the keyboard and trackpad or by something called AppleScript. AppleScript is a very simple and easy scripting language which can be used to automate time consuming tasks on your Mac. Many of you will be quite intimidated by AppleScript, but is what we call a very high level scripting language. The means that it is incredibly close to human language so it is very easy to understand. For example, this following line of code just gets the name of the open Finder window that was last used i.e. Document or Desktop – ‘tell application “Finder” to get the name of front Finder window’.
In case it isn’t obvious yet, Script Editor is a program which is among the best Mac OS X apps and which you can use to create and run AppleScripts or if you prefer JavaScript. You could use many other programs to create an AppleScript but there probably aren’t many programs which can run them.
2. Automator
Automator allows you to create thing called workflows which are similar to AppleScripts. However the difference between an Automator workflow and an AppleScript is that AppleScripts require you to open Script Editor and to run the script in that but workflows can be run when an action triggers it e.g. an item in the secondary click menu. This means that not only can you use Automator to automate time consuming tasks like AppleScript does, but you can also use Automator to customise your version of the operating system.
However, another benefit of Automator is that instead of having to code the workflows (which you can still choose to do if you want), you can create them by using a drag and drop interface and because there are so many actions to put together and because there is support for third party apps, it means that you can create just about anything with Automator. This pne ranks thrid in our list of best Mac OS X apps.
1. Spotlight Search
After Apple revamped it in OS X Yosemite, Spotlight Search has been the most useful feature on the Mac, one of the best Mac OS X apps but the tragic thing is that most people just ignore it as they think it is just a big faff. However, after you start to get used to it though, Spotlight becomes a much quicker way to boot up apps and documents, to find the definition of a word, to find a certain iMessage or E-mail, to find a contact, to find news about a specific topic, to find a place in maps, to find an event in a calendar or to search the web. Spotlight Search becomes especially quick if you turn on the keyboard shortcut for it in settings (⌘Space).
In case you are a great fan of mobile video game, check this out – Top 10 Collectible RPGs for Android and iOS.
10 Best Mac OS X Apps
- Spotlight Search
- Automator
- Script Editor
- Time Machine
- QuickTime Player
- Activity Monitor
- Terminal
- Stickies
- Grapher
- Digital Color Meter
Written by – Davs Grove
The search for best email apps for mac os is a never ending one and we cannot say that one email client serves the purpose of different types of users. Whenever we talk about Productivity Apps for Mac, Email Client stands first in the line and we need choices to see which one meets our requirement. Couple of years ago we wrote Best Email Apps for Mac OS X Mountain Lion that includes both premium and free mail apps for mac.
We also have the list of paid, premium email client apps for mac that you may want to check and purchase. Most of the Macbooks and iMac’s now running OS X Yosemite, so its time to bring the updated list of email apps for mac for the year 2015.
Also, if you have recently bought a new Mac, then do check Essential Mac Apps for New Macbook, iMac list. Its not just about reading and replying an email anymore. We do business through emails and it is the ultimate point of contact for most of the people in Corporates, Organizations, Small and Medium Companies, Freelancers and so on.
You may have to use and find which email suits for your needs and very well compatible with the devices you own. There are very less number of mail apps available for mac, and you easily select the one for you by giving it a try on your Mac, iPhone and Windows Computers if you have any at office or home.
Best Free Mail Apps for Mac
Without further delay, here we have the list of mail apps for mac os x that are tested and compatible with latest OS X Yosemite. The apps listed here require minimum OS X 10.7 and above to run.
Sparrow mail app was very popular when it released couple of years ago. Unfortunately Google acquired Sparrow and killed the popular mac mail app. Sparrow is still used by many users because of its clutter free mail reading experience and works well on iPhone as well. It was a premium app when it was released and no updates since then, so it is not recommended to buy that app for $9.99 now.
We have advanced mail apps with tons of essential features added that receives regular updates from its developers. Lets explore the list of such beautiful free email apps for mac os.
Mailbox App
Pretty popular mail app for iPhone mainly for its “Reminder” feature. Simply “Swipe” to perform several actions to organize and manage your multiple email accounts. The unified mailbox app experience stays with mac version too. If you are using Mailbox App on iPhone then you will get the same feel once you installed it on your mac. As it uses dropbox authentication, you will be logged in automatically once you supplied the dropbox details after installing mailbox on mac.
Just one drawback i felt while using mailbox app on mac is its pure white and the gray font color makes it hard to look at for long time. So i did sent a feedback as its in beta stage, the developer team responded to consider it in upcoming updates. Rest, its just a beautiful mail app for mac without any doubt. They recently made it as public beta, so anyone can download mailbox app.
Availability: Mac OS X, iPhone and Android
DownloadMailbox App for Mac
Inky Mail App
This mail app has a beautiful clutter free design with sharp and beautiful fonts across the application. The blue and white combination is an excellent choice and i felt google+ application kind of feel while using this app. Filtered Inbox separates newsletters, social notifications from personal messages that highlights the importance to respond quickly. All newsletters quarantined into Subscriptions so that you can read them when you have time. Daily Deals separates the offers, promotional mails, coupon codes and discount related emails to another view.
Notes let you type messages quickly and maintain a local draft copy inside Inky Application. Package Tracking and Maps are another two cool feature additions that completes Inky mail app as a rock star in the productivity apps arena. You can use all your Gmail accounts, Yahoo mail accounts, IMAP or POP accounts and more to sync and access in all you devices.
Availability: Mac OS X, Windows, iPhone and iPad
Download: Inky for Mac
Mailplane App
If you use mostly Gmail for your Personal and Business requirements then Mailplane Email Client App for Mac is just for you. Mailplane brings the gmail experience without loosing the design and quality of Gmail web interface. It just creates multiple tabs for each accounts, so you can switch, browse, view and edit calendars, notes, manage all your accounts settings without logging out. Its just like a dedicated browser for emails on mac computer. Mailplane comparison with Google Chrome browser shows how efficient and brilliant this application can be in terms of features.
Notifications, Keyboard Shortcuts, Attachment management, Connecting with Mac Apps like Evernote, Pages, Keynote, PDFPen, iPhoto makes this app more powerful and productivity beast when you use it in your mac.
Availability: Mac OS X
Download: Mailplane for Mac
Thunderbird for Mac
If you have used Ubuntu or any Linux flavors, then this name must be familiar to you. It is a pretty popular Email Client for Linux and being an open source email client, it just gets better every day and pretty stable for Linux platforms. Thunderbird App is also available for Mac OS X users, to bring the same design and features to be your favorite mac email client. Latest update brings several new feature additions such as Tabbed Email Browsing, One-Click Address Book, Attachment Reminder, Multiple-Channel Chat, Web Search feature, Effective Filter Toolbox, Advanced Email Search Tools, and a lot more.
Thunderbird Email Client also supports add-ons and mozilla has built a separate addon directory that are compatible for thunderbird and you can access it from its official website.
Mac Os X Free Software
Availability: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
Download: Thunderbird for Mac
I hope you have found your alternative to mac mail app from this list today.
Mac Os X 10.7.5 Download
Did we miss anything? Feel free to include it in the comment section below. Thanks for reading and dont forget to share a word about this post with your friends and followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Have a wonderful productive day.