The best Macs have a reputation for being easy to use, and as someone who switches between Windows and macOS on a daily basis, I can attest that this reputation is well-deserved. But macOS isn’t just a straightforward, foolproof system with about as much depth as a puddle—it’s also a brilliant platform for power users.
Much of this is due to the thriving ecosystem of apps available on macOS. Load up your Apple computer with a few select apps and you can do so much more with it than you ever thought possible, from automating tedious processes to cleverly leveraging AI and everything in between.
In this article, we’ve compiled eight of the best Mac apps for power users, each tailored for Mac fans and enthusiasts who want to get more out of their computer.
BetterTouchTool
BetterTouchTool is one of my favorite apps for Mac thanks to its massive capabilities. Want to add custom gestures to your mouse or trackpad? Need a great way to automate repetitive tasks? Want to create keyboard shortcuts that save you time? And that’s just the beginning of what BetterTouchTool can do.
One of my favorite uses for BetterTouchTool is one of its simplest features: it lets me manage window layout and assign custom shortcuts to each window position. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be, but either way, it’s a huge step up from Apple’s window management system.
Aside from that, this app lets you design your own “Drop Zones” that interact with the notch on your MacBook, create new layouts and features for your Elgato Stream Deck, use MIDI devices as triggers for actions and shortcuts, and more. It’s so packed with power user tools that the easiest way to understand it is to try it out for yourself – trust me, you won’t regret it.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT has completely turned the world on its head, putting a tremendous amount of power at your fingertips to help you research new ideas, improve your writing skills, create images and videos, and more. However, you don’t have to open your web browser every time you want to use it, as ChatGPT developer OpenAI has released a custom Mac app that you can use from the comfort of your desktop.
OpenAI has built in a few extras to encourage the use of the desktop app instead of the ChatGPT website. For example, you can have it pull images from your photo library, webcam, or directly from a screenshot, making uploading images that ChatGPT can help with quicker and easier. You can also talk to ChatGPT directly, which isn’t possible on the web.
The way you start ChatGPT is also elegant: just press Option-Space to open a chat window. It is similar to the well-known Command-Space Control that launches the Spotlight search bar in macOS. Not only is it easy to remember, but it’s also much faster than having to load a web browser.
If you enjoy using ChatGPT’s powerful tools in your everyday life, this macOS app could become an essential part of your routine. With all its features, it’s a great addition to your Mac.
Alfred
Alfred was designed as a comprehensive overhaul of how you use macOS. The idea behind it is to save you time while giving you powerful tools. Its extensive features include finding files, browsing the web, managing your clipboard history, using the Terminal, sending emails and attachments, and more.
A key aspect of Alfred is its Powerpack. It allows you to create detailed workflows that automate almost any task you can imagine. It also lets you incorporate hotkeys, keywords, and actions into detailed automations without even writing any code.
Alfred also has a text expansion feature that saves you a lot of unnecessary typing. Once you have this feature set up, all you have to do is type in a custom trigger word or keyboard shortcut to have Alfred spell out the full phrase you’ve memorized. If you find yourself typing the same thing over and over again, this can be a huge time saver.
This is just a small sample of what Alfred can do, but it’s worth checking out the full list of features on the app’s website. This could be the best way to make your Mac life a little easier.
hazel
The more you use your Mac, the faster files can pile up in its nooks and crannies. If sorting through those files has become an overwhelming burden—or if you simply want to make sure you never end up in such a state—Hazel is an essential app.
Hazel is essentially a batch processing program. You set a few rules, such as how you want to rename files, where you want to move them, and where you want the app to look for them. Then Hazel will launch automatically, scan through your files, and sort them in seconds – potentially saving you hours.
The best part is that you don’t even have to tell Hazel to start working. Because it monitors the folders you define, it knows when you’ve added files that your rules should apply to. So just drop a file into a folder and watch it get moved, renamed, or whatever else you need. It’s one of those rare apps that’s both extremely powerful and a real time saver.
Keyboard Master
Keyboard Maestro is all about one thing: automation. And we’re not just talking about a small selection of tasks. As the developer says, “If you can do it manually, Keyboard Maestro can almost certainly automate it for you.”
This includes a wide variety of choices, from launching an app or visiting a website to generating full reports and managing multiple items in your clipboard history. Keyboard Maestro can combine actions into long and complex sequences with conditions, loops, and more, making it very versatile and up to almost any task you assign to it.
Its versatility makes it a Mac power user’s best friend, able to adapt to any demanding task you can think of. It takes a little learning curve at first, but once you’ve mastered it, you’ll never want to go without it.
Links
Apple knows about power user apps – in fact, its own Shortcuts app (preinstalled on your Mac) can enable some incredibly granular actions that are well suited to avid Mac users. Fire it up and you can create shortcuts that perform repetitive or difficult tasks. You can also set automations to trigger at a certain time of day – when you arrive at a certain location, when you connect to CarPlay, and more. All of your shortcuts sync with your other Apple devices, so they’re accessible from whatever Apple product you’re currently using.
Despite its name, the Shortcuts app isn’t just about saving time by automating tasks. It can also be used to enable you to do things that would not only be tedious or time-consuming if you did them yourself, but also downright fiddly. For example, one of my favorite shortcuts was created by the MacStories website to automatically insert screenshots into a device frame, for example, inserting an iPhone screenshot into a picture of one of Apple’s phones. This is something I don’t really have the skills to do myself, but thanks to a handy shortcut, I can do it in a matter of seconds.
It’s a fitting example of the power of the Shortcuts app. While I wish it was a little easier to get started, there’s no doubting the power that lies under the hood of Apple’s app. If you consider yourself a power user, you’ll love learning what it can do.
Little Snitch
It’s worth knowing which of your apps are connecting to the internet and where they’re sending your private data. If you’re not careful, you could be giving away far more personal information than you ever intended.
To put an end to this risk, use Little Snitch. This handy app shows you exactly what is connecting to the internet, when it is happening, and how much data is being sent and received. With this knowledge, you can stop leaky apps that reveal more than you want.
And it’s not just about blocking apps – you can also decide which website connections are allowed, giving you precise control over what data is sent to and from your Mac. And with plenty of analytics tools at your disposal, you don’t have to guess what metrics Little Snitch is showing you.
Sound source
Managing audio on your Mac can be a hassle, especially if you’re working with multiple sources, inputs, and outputs. What if you want to send your Spotify music to your Bluetooth speakers, but still want to play system sounds from your Mac, for example? That’s not possible by default, but with SoundSource, it’s a breeze.
This handy app sits in your Mac’s menu bar and offers a simple menu for detailed audio management. You can control the sound output (like music or movie sound) from your headphones, but mute the macOS sound effects to avoid distractions. Or you can change the microphone you use on the fly, without having to dig into the settings menu.
Even better, SoundSource lets you control things app by app. Want the Apple TV app to play through your headphones, but Safari audio to come through your Mac’s speakers? SoundSource makes it a snap. If you’ve ever been frustrated by macOS’s limited audio control options, this app is worth your time.
