Best productivity apps guarantee best working environment! Have you ever thought how much time do you waste on typing and clicking, organizing files, and trying to find the date? It's time to put your laptop to work with this list of 15 best productivity apps for Mac.
- Best Productivity Apps For Mac
- Mac Productivity Apps
- Best Productivity Apps Iphone
- Best Mac Productivity Software
- Best Windows 10 Productivity Apps
- Free Productivity Apps
- Jul 16, 2019.
- The best part is that even if you reboot your Mac, you can't turn off the application until the timer's up. So if your 'selfcontrol' is not enough, use this small tool to be more productive with your time. Best Mac Productivity Apps – Useful Tools 1. This productivity app is all about managing your tasks.
- Jul 16, 2018.
- If there's one feature that has been conspicuously missing from Apple's feature.
Best Mac Productivity Apps
Mar 25, 2016.
Sometimes you don't need full-screen apps with lots of features to improve your productivity. Instead, have a look at these small tools that do one-two things and make your life easier.
1. Krisp
One of the biggest enemies of every good conference call is background noise. However, there's a solution for that too.
Which Noise Is Annoying You The Most?Use our noise cancelling app
to mute all the annoying noises
Krisp is an easy-to-use but powerful app that recognizes your voice and separates it from extraneous noise next to you, leaving only your clean voice. It's one of the best productivity apps for Mac that can help you to have better conference calls. You can work from any place that's convenient for you and don't worry about the crying baby or airport announcement in the background. Krisp also launched on Appsumo Deals.
2. Magnet
To be productive means having an organized workplace. Magnet app does exactly that – organizes the space on your desktop. This small app allows you to drag windows to show two, three, or four apps side-by-side.
Having multiple windows side by side eliminates the neebad for app switching and enhances your multitasking. Organize your workspace and seamlessly copy the text from one window and paste it into the second one. You can also customize the shortcuts for the app for maximum efficiency.
Price: $1.19
3. Itsycal
Have you ever wondered why your Mac doesn't show full date on menubar? We have. While we don't know the exact reason why Mac doesn't support this function natively, we've found a good solution with this nice productivity app.
Itsycal adds a small calendar on your menubar. With it you can always have a brief glance at the whole month, week, your day and even appointments. It integrates with your macOS calendar and reminders, and you can modify the appearance if you wish too.
Price: Free
4. Flux
Sometimes you have to work during night or in place with bad lighting. For these situations use Flux – productivity app for Mac that changes the brightness and color temperature of your display. It matches them with the time of the day, so you call work better and feel less tired.
Price: Free
5. SelfControl
If you can't resist the urge to check your Facebook, Twitter or any other website you stick for hours – this tool is for you. SelfControl app helps us to save us from meaningless waste of time of these websites.
Simply add the websites which distract you from your work, set the timer and turn it on. The app will block the mentioned sites for the specified time.
The best part is that even if you reboot your Mac, you can't turn off the application until the timer's up. So if your 'selfcontrol' is not enough, use this small tool to be more productive with your time.
Price: Free
Best Mac Productivity Apps – Useful Tools
1. OmniFocus 3
This productivity app is all about managing your tasks. OmniFocus has a clean interface and every feature you need to get stuff done. And its sleek design is simply a perfect match for your Mac.
Add all your projects, to-do lists into OmniFocus and track all details like dates, notes, files attachments. Also you can easily synchronize between your iPhone or iPad. Free up your mind from storing all your tasks and enemies of every good conference call.
2. Bear
One of mac productivity apps in this list is called Bear. It's a beautiful and flexible note-taking app. It has all functions that you've wished the pre-installed Notes on Mac would had.
With Bear it's super easy to jot down your notes on the go. Write prose and outlines, create to-do lists and reminders for yourself, and many more. The best part is that many functions of Bear are free and you can enjoy all the perks without spending much.
Price: Free ($1.49 monthly)
3. CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac is a lifesaver for your Mac. It combines many optimization tools in single app. Monitor the performance, remove malware and clean up your macOS.
This is a must-have app for any Mac user if you want your device to be healthy. And you want it, right?
Price: One year subscription costs $49.95
4. Alfred
Alfred brings productivity to your fingerprints! This app for macOS boosts your efficiency by helping you search your computer and web with great speed.
You can use Alfred for multiple things. It allows you to open things, search for things, define and time them, easily calculate things and expand tests, contact people and manage clipboard and so much more. Definitely give Alfred a try and experience its possibilities.
Price: Free
5. 1Password
Have you ever forgotten your password? Now you really forget your passwords as 1Password will remember all of them for you. Using 1Password is super simple: just save your passwords and login to websites with a single click.
Besides, if you often have a hard time thinking of new and unique passwords – worry no more. 1Passwords has your back and it will create a strong password instead of you and sync between your devices.
Price: $2.99 monthly
Best Mac productivity apps – Utilities
1. Bartender 3
Have you ever wanted to organize the apps on menu bar? Now you can!
With Bartender 2 you can easily rearrange apps on your menu bar, hide them and even move to separate Bartender Bar. Give it a try and find out multiple variations of your menu bar.
Price: $15
2. AppCleaner
This small productivity app allows you to safely uninstall unwanted apps from your computer. As you know any time you install an application dozens of files are distributed throughout your System. Besides taking up much space, they leave traces which are hard to find with custom tools.
That's why you need AppCleaner to clean up the mess and delete all traces of unwanted apps from your device.
Price: Free
3. Things
You definitely have a lot of things, right? Add one more 'thing' to your list – Things app. This is a small and easy-to-use task manager which makes you truly productive.
If you're tired of all big apps with dozens of features (most of which you don't need), then Things is your choice. Give it a try!
Price: $49.99
4. MalwareBytes
Don't believe people who say that you don't need a anti-malware program on your Mac. While, there might not be a need for heavy-weight and cumbersome applications, Malware Bytes is all you need.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans your computer, finds and removes code that lowers system performance or destroys your system. If your Mac is running slow and annoying adware and pop-ups keep coming, definitely install this app and revive your Mac.
Price: Free
5. Gemini 2
Sometimes you can't find the exact file you need, but often times it turns out you have multiples of the same file. Finding and removing every duplicate file seems like a redundant task. That's what Gemini is for!
Forget about the problem of duplicate files with Gemini. It spots duplicates and similar files, sees how they're different and deletes the ones you don't need. Gemini is smart and it learns all the time to improve the process. Sounds amazing, right? Get yourself mac productivity apps like Gemini and free up tons of space on your Mac.
Price: Free
Mac Productivity Apps Bonus: Email Analytics
This app is one of those mac productivity apps that will help you keep in track of and visualize your team's email activity. It is private and secure and will let you to monitor and measure the email productivity of your team and other employees.
Email Analytics provides an opportunity to segment the teams which you need to monitor, and compare their analytics data to rule out the top performing members. You can see the analytics in real-time and the reports are updated frequently to ensure you get the most precise results.
This is great for boosting your and your team's productivity in the long run, so give it a try on your Mac. There's a 14 day trial after which you will have to pay $15 per mailbox a month.
By now you should already have your Mac ready to took off and allow you to be your most productive self. Let us know in the comments which Mac app is your favorite!
We've put together a list of some of the best Mac apps anywhere: if you're looking for a new utility, web browser, or photo app, you'll probably find what you need on this list.
Whether you've been using a Mac for a very long time, or you're unboxing your very first MacBook, it's always nice to see the sort of software and tools that other people use.
While we don't include them in our official best Mac apps list, since they're free and from Apple, new users should always check out Apple's apps that come with every Mac purchase.
Best Mac Apps: Utilities
1Password
Price: $49.99 | Link
1Password is the gold standard of password managers. With people cracking online accounts left and right these days, it's more important than ever to use secure, complicated passwords – and never the same one twice. 1Password can keep track of all your passwords for you, and automatically enter them into your browser. The latest versions also keep track of sensitive data like insurance numbers, bank accounts, and credit card numbers, making it an important resource if your wallet or purse gets stolen. Apps are available for iPhone, iPad, and Android, making your data available wherever you are.
Caffeine
Price: free | Link
Have you ever started uploading a video to YouTube, walked away, and returned only to find your computer had gone to sleep (and thus corrupted the upload)?
While OS X is supposed to be smart enough to not do that, it doesn't always work – and now, Caffeine will guarantee it.
Duet Display Online mac scanner for viruses protection.
Price: Free (on OS X, but requires a $16 iOS app) | Link
Built by a cadre of ex-Apple engineers, Duet Display lets you increase your screen space by taking advantage of your iPhone or iPad. With support for touch tracking and the full Retina display of your mobile device, Duet Display can be a godsend if you're stuck editing on a cramped coffeeshop table.
There are a number of wireless iPad display options, but Duet Display is our top pick.
Best Productivity Apps For Mac
Dropbox
Price: Free (various premium service levels) | Link
By now, you're probably familiar with Dropbox, but if you aren't, this is the company that made cloud storage famous. These guys make sharing and storing files easier than ever, and helps make all your data accessible on each of your devices.
Viscosity
Price: Free 30-day trial, then $9 | Link How to write scripts for mac os.
Viscosity is a great replacement for the built-in VPN tool in OS X. Designed to let you log on with just a couple of clicks, Viscosity will work with a number of VPN clients, whether you need to log into work, protect yourself at coffeeshops, or simply evade regional lockouts on media.
Chrome Remote Desktop
Price: Free | Link
There have been a number of tools over the years that let you log into your computer when you're not at home, and one-by-one, they've all turned to a non-free model. Not so with the Chrome Remote Desktop. As long as both your home and away PCs are on, you'll be able to log in and control the remote PC without paying a dime.
Note: both PCs will also need to have the Chrome web browser installed and allowed to run in the background.
Crashplan
Price: Free to external drives, 30-day cloud storage; $60 per year for backing up one computer; $150 per year for backing up between 2 – 10 computers | Link
Crashplan is backup made simple. If you don't want to pay, the company will offer you free use of their backup software (if Time Machine is not to your liking) as well as 30 days worth of online backups.
Their paid plans are really compelling, however: $60 a year gets you unlimited online backups of your entire computer and network attached storage. You can retrieve individual files or, should emergency strike, pay to have a new hard drive with your backup overnighted to your house.
TextExpander
Price: Free trial, then $45 | Link
TextExpander is kind of like autocorrect, but for your Mac. You can program snippets of text into the TE interface, and when you type them into nearly any program, TextExpander replaces them with your pre-chosen macro.
For example, you could type ‘soon5' in a meeting email, and TextExpander would replace it with 'I'm running late, but I should be there in five minutes.' The new version is easier than ever, and TE includes a fun chart that will show you how many hours you save, based on a specific typing speed.
Airfoil
Price: Free trial, then $29 | Link
Airfoil lets you send any audio from your Mac to any Airplay source – speakers, Airports, AppleTVs, you name it. It offers granular, per-app control that the system option sorely lacks, and lets you send audio out to multiple sets of speakers.
Rogue Amoeba, developers of Airfoil, include a free copy of Airfoil Speakers with each purchase, which lets you receiveAirplay audio on your Mac (or iPhone / Android device).
One fun way to use both of these is to set up Airfoil and Airfoil Speakers on your Mac, then Airplay your iPhone audio to your Mac – this way you can send one phone's audio out over multiple sets of Airplay speakers, something that is otherwise impossible to do.
F.Lux
Price: Free | Link
F.lux is based on the idea that seeing blue light late at night is bad for your eyes, and impairs your quality of sleep. The app works by changing the color temperature of your display (computer displays are typically pretty 'blue') as the sun sets; by the time you're ready to call it a night, things can be looking pretty orange.
It definitely reduces stress on your eyes; if you don't believe us, try quitting F.lux after you've used it for an hour – you'll be scrambling to re-enable it.
GrandPerspective
Price: Free | Link
One of the most frustrating things about the Mac to this day (not that the PC is all that much better, frankly) is the inability to see your disk space. How much free space do you have, what folders and files are using it all, etc.
GrandPerspective is a free utility that gets rid of all that storage uncertainty by displaying information in an easy-to-read, blocky interface.
Little Snitch
Price: $35 | Link
This is the best firewall you didn't know you needed. Little Snitch not only monitors for inbound connections, but also outbound connections. It's a great program for finding out what apps on your computer are calling home and transmitting information; you can block any of them at any time, just by tapping a button.
The devs recently released a companion product known as Micro Snitch; Micro Snitch has a similar philosophy to Little Snitch, except it explicitly monitors your webcam and microphone, so you can be sure nobody is using them to record you.
Malwarebytes
Mac Productivity Apps
Price: Free | Link
Worried about whether your Mac can catch a virus or worm? With the platform's growing popularity, you probably should be.
Marlwarebytes is a trusted name in PC security, and with a recent acquisition, they're bringing expertise over to the Mac.
The software itself is free, but you can sign up for premium service and support at a rate of just $25/year.
Capture Gif
Price: Free, or $6 | Link
3. CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac is a lifesaver for your Mac. It combines many optimization tools in single app. Monitor the performance, remove malware and clean up your macOS.
This is a must-have app for any Mac user if you want your device to be healthy. And you want it, right?
Price: One year subscription costs $49.95
4. Alfred
Alfred brings productivity to your fingerprints! This app for macOS boosts your efficiency by helping you search your computer and web with great speed.
You can use Alfred for multiple things. It allows you to open things, search for things, define and time them, easily calculate things and expand tests, contact people and manage clipboard and so much more. Definitely give Alfred a try and experience its possibilities.
Price: Free
5. 1Password
Have you ever forgotten your password? Now you really forget your passwords as 1Password will remember all of them for you. Using 1Password is super simple: just save your passwords and login to websites with a single click.
Besides, if you often have a hard time thinking of new and unique passwords – worry no more. 1Passwords has your back and it will create a strong password instead of you and sync between your devices.
Price: $2.99 monthly
Best Mac productivity apps – Utilities
1. Bartender 3
Have you ever wanted to organize the apps on menu bar? Now you can!
With Bartender 2 you can easily rearrange apps on your menu bar, hide them and even move to separate Bartender Bar. Give it a try and find out multiple variations of your menu bar.
Price: $15
2. AppCleaner
This small productivity app allows you to safely uninstall unwanted apps from your computer. As you know any time you install an application dozens of files are distributed throughout your System. Besides taking up much space, they leave traces which are hard to find with custom tools.
That's why you need AppCleaner to clean up the mess and delete all traces of unwanted apps from your device.
Price: Free
3. Things
You definitely have a lot of things, right? Add one more 'thing' to your list – Things app. This is a small and easy-to-use task manager which makes you truly productive.
If you're tired of all big apps with dozens of features (most of which you don't need), then Things is your choice. Give it a try!
Price: $49.99
4. MalwareBytes
Don't believe people who say that you don't need a anti-malware program on your Mac. While, there might not be a need for heavy-weight and cumbersome applications, Malware Bytes is all you need.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans your computer, finds and removes code that lowers system performance or destroys your system. If your Mac is running slow and annoying adware and pop-ups keep coming, definitely install this app and revive your Mac.
Price: Free
5. Gemini 2
Sometimes you can't find the exact file you need, but often times it turns out you have multiples of the same file. Finding and removing every duplicate file seems like a redundant task. That's what Gemini is for!
Forget about the problem of duplicate files with Gemini. It spots duplicates and similar files, sees how they're different and deletes the ones you don't need. Gemini is smart and it learns all the time to improve the process. Sounds amazing, right? Get yourself mac productivity apps like Gemini and free up tons of space on your Mac.
Price: Free
Mac Productivity Apps Bonus: Email Analytics
This app is one of those mac productivity apps that will help you keep in track of and visualize your team's email activity. It is private and secure and will let you to monitor and measure the email productivity of your team and other employees.
Email Analytics provides an opportunity to segment the teams which you need to monitor, and compare their analytics data to rule out the top performing members. You can see the analytics in real-time and the reports are updated frequently to ensure you get the most precise results.
This is great for boosting your and your team's productivity in the long run, so give it a try on your Mac. There's a 14 day trial after which you will have to pay $15 per mailbox a month.
By now you should already have your Mac ready to took off and allow you to be your most productive self. Let us know in the comments which Mac app is your favorite!
We've put together a list of some of the best Mac apps anywhere: if you're looking for a new utility, web browser, or photo app, you'll probably find what you need on this list.
Whether you've been using a Mac for a very long time, or you're unboxing your very first MacBook, it's always nice to see the sort of software and tools that other people use.
While we don't include them in our official best Mac apps list, since they're free and from Apple, new users should always check out Apple's apps that come with every Mac purchase.
Best Mac Apps: Utilities
1Password
Price: $49.99 | Link
1Password is the gold standard of password managers. With people cracking online accounts left and right these days, it's more important than ever to use secure, complicated passwords – and never the same one twice. 1Password can keep track of all your passwords for you, and automatically enter them into your browser. The latest versions also keep track of sensitive data like insurance numbers, bank accounts, and credit card numbers, making it an important resource if your wallet or purse gets stolen. Apps are available for iPhone, iPad, and Android, making your data available wherever you are.
Caffeine
Price: free | Link
Have you ever started uploading a video to YouTube, walked away, and returned only to find your computer had gone to sleep (and thus corrupted the upload)?
While OS X is supposed to be smart enough to not do that, it doesn't always work – and now, Caffeine will guarantee it.
Duet Display Online mac scanner for viruses protection.
Price: Free (on OS X, but requires a $16 iOS app) | Link
Built by a cadre of ex-Apple engineers, Duet Display lets you increase your screen space by taking advantage of your iPhone or iPad. With support for touch tracking and the full Retina display of your mobile device, Duet Display can be a godsend if you're stuck editing on a cramped coffeeshop table.
There are a number of wireless iPad display options, but Duet Display is our top pick.
Best Productivity Apps For Mac
Dropbox
Price: Free (various premium service levels) | Link
By now, you're probably familiar with Dropbox, but if you aren't, this is the company that made cloud storage famous. These guys make sharing and storing files easier than ever, and helps make all your data accessible on each of your devices.
Viscosity
Price: Free 30-day trial, then $9 | Link How to write scripts for mac os.
Viscosity is a great replacement for the built-in VPN tool in OS X. Designed to let you log on with just a couple of clicks, Viscosity will work with a number of VPN clients, whether you need to log into work, protect yourself at coffeeshops, or simply evade regional lockouts on media.
Chrome Remote Desktop
Price: Free | Link
There have been a number of tools over the years that let you log into your computer when you're not at home, and one-by-one, they've all turned to a non-free model. Not so with the Chrome Remote Desktop. As long as both your home and away PCs are on, you'll be able to log in and control the remote PC without paying a dime.
Note: both PCs will also need to have the Chrome web browser installed and allowed to run in the background.
Crashplan
Price: Free to external drives, 30-day cloud storage; $60 per year for backing up one computer; $150 per year for backing up between 2 – 10 computers | Link
Crashplan is backup made simple. If you don't want to pay, the company will offer you free use of their backup software (if Time Machine is not to your liking) as well as 30 days worth of online backups.
Their paid plans are really compelling, however: $60 a year gets you unlimited online backups of your entire computer and network attached storage. You can retrieve individual files or, should emergency strike, pay to have a new hard drive with your backup overnighted to your house.
TextExpander
Price: Free trial, then $45 | Link
TextExpander is kind of like autocorrect, but for your Mac. You can program snippets of text into the TE interface, and when you type them into nearly any program, TextExpander replaces them with your pre-chosen macro.
For example, you could type ‘soon5' in a meeting email, and TextExpander would replace it with 'I'm running late, but I should be there in five minutes.' The new version is easier than ever, and TE includes a fun chart that will show you how many hours you save, based on a specific typing speed.
Airfoil
Price: Free trial, then $29 | Link
Airfoil lets you send any audio from your Mac to any Airplay source – speakers, Airports, AppleTVs, you name it. It offers granular, per-app control that the system option sorely lacks, and lets you send audio out to multiple sets of speakers.
Rogue Amoeba, developers of Airfoil, include a free copy of Airfoil Speakers with each purchase, which lets you receiveAirplay audio on your Mac (or iPhone / Android device).
One fun way to use both of these is to set up Airfoil and Airfoil Speakers on your Mac, then Airplay your iPhone audio to your Mac – this way you can send one phone's audio out over multiple sets of Airplay speakers, something that is otherwise impossible to do.
F.Lux
Price: Free | Link
F.lux is based on the idea that seeing blue light late at night is bad for your eyes, and impairs your quality of sleep. The app works by changing the color temperature of your display (computer displays are typically pretty 'blue') as the sun sets; by the time you're ready to call it a night, things can be looking pretty orange.
It definitely reduces stress on your eyes; if you don't believe us, try quitting F.lux after you've used it for an hour – you'll be scrambling to re-enable it.
GrandPerspective
Price: Free | Link
One of the most frustrating things about the Mac to this day (not that the PC is all that much better, frankly) is the inability to see your disk space. How much free space do you have, what folders and files are using it all, etc.
GrandPerspective is a free utility that gets rid of all that storage uncertainty by displaying information in an easy-to-read, blocky interface.
Little Snitch
Price: $35 | Link
This is the best firewall you didn't know you needed. Little Snitch not only monitors for inbound connections, but also outbound connections. It's a great program for finding out what apps on your computer are calling home and transmitting information; you can block any of them at any time, just by tapping a button.
The devs recently released a companion product known as Micro Snitch; Micro Snitch has a similar philosophy to Little Snitch, except it explicitly monitors your webcam and microphone, so you can be sure nobody is using them to record you.
Malwarebytes
Mac Productivity Apps
Price: Free | Link
Worried about whether your Mac can catch a virus or worm? With the platform's growing popularity, you probably should be.
Marlwarebytes is a trusted name in PC security, and with a recent acquisition, they're bringing expertise over to the Mac.
The software itself is free, but you can sign up for premium service and support at a rate of just $25/year.
Capture Gif
Price: Free, or $6 | Link
It may seem like a strange addition, but the ability to quickly record your screen and make GIFs can come in handy. You can keep it simple with basic text GIFs, or record yourself doing full-screen actions (take a look at our El Capitan Split View overview for an idea).
Capture Gif offers a free version with limited settings, but the $6 full copy is cheap and offers you the ability to change the framerate of the GIF as well as innovative mouse tracking features.
Best Mac Apps: Internet
GoogleChrome
Price: Free | Link Adobe photoshop 3 for mac.
Google's internet browser has become the world's most browser, and for good reason. Unfortunately, those reasons don't really exist on the Mac – not only is Chrome slower than Safari, but it's also a power hog and can drop your battery life by up to an hour!
Still, it has its uses. Chrome comes bundled with an always-updated version of Adobe Flash, so you'll never need to worry about updating a version for the Mac. Need to check out a Flash-enabled site? Just spin up Chrome, check it out, and shut it down. Given how many vulnerabilities Flash tends to introduce, it's worth keeping exposure as limited as possible.
Skype
Price: Free | Link
You're probably aware of Microsoft's VoIP product by this point, but it's worth pointing out. Despite competing alternatives, Skype's sheer cross-platform connectivity and pervasiveness means that it's always handy to have around if someone wants to call you.
Transmission
Price: Free | Link
When it comes to BitTorrent, the cat is out of the bag, and it isn't going back in. We like Transmission for an OS X torrent client, because it's cross platform and open source, and also because it isn't constantly trying to get you to download things you don't want (ahem, μTorrent).
Best Mac Apps: Music and Video
Spotify
Price: Free, or $10/month Premium tier | Link
Spotify is one of the world's largest music streaming services, with over 75 million users accessing either its free or pay tiers. The software itself is completely free, supporting your listening with advertising inserted into the streams.
If you don't mind ponying up, however, you can snag unlimited ad-free music streaming for just $10/ month, with the ability to skip around to whatever music you like, and cache songs to your device for offline listening.
iOS and Android apps round out the experience.
VLC
Price: Free | Link
If you keep any quantity of your own media, VLC will be well known. For everyone else, this app is the gold standard for watching videos from the internet. No nonsense codec downloads, nothing else to install, just download it, open, and play.
Best Mac Apps: Productivity
AirMail
Price: $10 | Link
Running just $10 in the Mac App Store, AirMail builds upon the basic functionality in the Mail app and adds some pretty nice integration and power user features (superior keyboard shortcuts, snoozing an email like Gmail's Inbox does). You can import files directly from services like Dropbox or Google Drive, or send attachments that are too large to email by using Droplr. One of the best features over Mail, however, is how AirMail has worked to integrate itself into the best known third-party productivity apps – so if you use software like Wunderlist, Fantastical, and Evernote, you should take a look at AirMail.
Clear
Price: $10 | Link
Clear, like Mailbox, made waves for introducing powerful features paired with an extremely simple and intuitive user interface. Mailbox was for, well, email, but Clear is for keeping you focused at the tasks on hand. It works best when you pair it with the iPhone and iPad apps (which together cost a $5 one-time fee); there's also an app for the Apple Watch
Fantastical
Price: $40 | Link
OS X's Calendar isn't bad, but it's also not very useful if you need to track more than the very occasional event. Fantastical (now actually Fantastical 2) is extremely powerful, with a natural language engine that lets you remember events just by typing them out. It comes with a free trial if you don't feel the need to shell out $40 quite just yet.
Microsoft Office
Price: $70 / year for 1 PC or Mac, $100/yr for 5 PCs or Macs, $150 one-time purchase for 1 computer | Link
There may be the free Google Docs and Apple iWork suites, but nothing can beat the powerhouse that is Microsoft Office. Aside from the fact that its omnipresence nearly requires you to use it (so that your files can all be shared between jobs), new versions for iOS and Android make it very easy to work on your projects on the go. While Microsoft's attempts to send Office into the cloud with a monthly or yearly subscription, they do still offer standalone installations.
Best Mac Apps: Graphics and Photo Editing
Pixelmator
Price: Free 30-day trial, then $30 | Link
Adobe's Photoshop CC might reign supreme at the top of the image editing heap, but if you're not a professional, or very serious amateur designer or photographer, it probably doesn't make much sense to shell out for it. For the price of less than one month of Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription, you can get a permanent standalone copy of Pixelmator. There are definitely Mac photo editing apps out there that can do more than Pixelmator, but few can match it on a features-per-dollar basis.
Best Mac Apps: Programming
Textmate 2.0 (beta)
Price: Free | Link
If you're a programmer, you know that your choice of environment not only says a lot about you but can impact your workflow in drastic and unforeseen ways. Should Vim be getting you down, take a look at Textmate's most recent version, a product of Macromates.
Textmate offers an easy way to work on a project's many files at once without getting lost, and features powerful plug-in architecture should you need a tool that it lacks.
Best Mac Apps: Emulators
Andy Android Emulator
Best Productivity Apps Iphone
Price: Free | Link
If you're on a Mac, chances are you probably prefer to use iOS over Android. Thinking about seeing how things work on the other side? The Andy Android emulator works extremely well to give you a virtual Android tablet. For the most part, this virtual model works exactly like you'd expect.
The only downside is that the most recent release – which came out in November – only goes up to Android 4.2.2, so some apps and features might not work. Hopefully, we'll see an update to Android M or N before too long. If you just want to try things out, however, it's more than good enough.
Best Mac Productivity Software
Disagree with the titles we've put on the best Mac apps list? Sound out in the comments with some of your favorite apps or tools that you think are the must-haves for any Mac user.
Best Windows 10 Productivity Apps
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If you want to start making your own GIFs and join the ranks of other…
