9 Crazy New Mac Apps You Must Install Today
With AI making it possible for everybody to build and code, we are seeing tons of new applications. While there are some AI slops, but AI helps developers to make better apps faster.
Also, the more the developers, the more the apps. And competition is a good thing. Not for the developers, but for us 
.
In this article, Iāll talk about new useful mac apps that Iāve discovered in the past few months.
Parachute backup
Parachute Backup is a backup companion utility for Apple photos & iCloud Drive. It lets you sync your photos, videos, & Documents to your external drives or even other cloud providers. This gives you a peace of mind and full control.
Itās really one of a kind. Perfect for people who are looking for an easy and streamlined way for iCloud backup.
The best part I liked about this is that it only has read access so even if you delete something from your iCloud drive it will not be deleted from the backup device. This makes it safe against accidental deletions in iCloud.
Also you can save your iCloud storage by moving data to your external drive.
Itās a one-time purchase of $4.99 and is available on the unapp store.
Barrel
Barrel is another application on the similar line as parachute backup, but serves a completely different purpose. While parachute backup was for your iCloud drive, barrel is for your development environment.
It scans your dev setup and creates a portable barrel file that you can import on any Mac. Think of this as āa time machine but for your development environmentā.
It intelligently scans systems, capturing Homebrew packages, dotfiles, version managers, and app configurations into portable .barrel files. Then you can restore environments via step-by-step guides or automated scripts, with full control over included items.
It is still in its pre-release beta phase, so you might notice some bugs and issues.
Itās a one-time purchase of $39 CAD.
ExcalidrawZ
ExcalidrawZ is a native, open-source client for Excalidraw. It works on both macOS & iOS. It wraps the open-source web app into a native experience.
The best part about this native excalidraw client is the streamlined workflow. Features like auto-save, file history, and import & export are some great features. Also you can use icloud drive to sync files across devices.
With full offline capabilities, its good for people who were already using the web version of excalidraw.
Itās free, open-source & is available on the App Store.
Petrichor
Petrichor is another open-source app featured on our list today.
It is an offline music player application that lets you browse your library in an organized view. You can create playlists, manage the play queue, and pin almost anything to the sidebar for quick access, enabling easy navigation.
Petrichor offers everything you would expect from an offline music player experience.
Itās still in alpha, but you can try it out here.
Flowy
Flowy is one of the best apps weāre discussing today.
It is a screen recording software.
Now you may ask: There are already lots of screen recording software. CleanshotX, ScreenStudio, cap, you name it. Why do we need one more?
But we do need competition. Competition makes everybody push their boundaries.
While still in early phases, Iām impressed by how good Flowy is. Itās not a simple screen recording software. It automatically adds zoom effects (zoom in and zoom out) based on pointer movements and interactions.
Also has really great background effects, camera effects & pointer effects.
This is a head-to-head competitor against Screenstudio. While it costs $200 and you still donāt get to keep the software(limited to yearly updates), Flowy is a one-time purchase of $19. Itās a no-brainer.
Check it out on appstore.
Comfynotch
We have got another notch app. Notch apps are coming out like its raining. Iāve seen so many notch apps in the past few months with similar features and styles.
ComfyNotch deserves a spot because itās free, open-source and with tons of customization options.
The animations and few visuals are not on the top-notch-level. But it is still in active development and just been a few weeks since it released.
Some of the useful features are:
- Volume/brightness control
- Music player widget(like every other notch has)
- Clipboard manager
- File tray to access files directly from notch
- Notes widget
- Quick camera peek
Itās free and you can download it from the GitHub releases section.
CmdList
CmdList is a keyboard driven to-do list. Itās simple and clean to work with. Itās not a full-fledged to-do-list though. The best part I liked is that it stays on the top of other screens, so you always see what you are working on.
If you have struggle focusing on the current task(just like me), this can be helpful.
Just jot down the tasks you want to do throughout the day, and keep the CmdList app as a floating window.
Itās free and is available on app store.
Refine
Refine is a Grammarly alternative that works locally using LLMs.
The accuracy depends on the models your system is able to run. The bigger & better the models, the better the suggestions youāll get.
If you are running a lower-end mac, I wouldnāt suggest this app.
Itās currently a one-time purchase of $15.
VoiceInk
VoiceInk is a voice-to-text macOS app that converts what you say to text instantly. This is one of the biggest productivity booster I use on a every single day basis.
I built this app myself and have been workin on it for over a year now. Itās not just a simple dictation app. With enhancement option, you can format or change what you say to the way you desire.
For example, you can create e-mail prompt, and what you say will automatically be transformed into a e-mail format.
VoiceInk enhancement feature.
There are tons of other features like file-based transcription, Power mode to help you in tons of ways.
Itās open-source and a one-time payment of $25.
Written by Prakash Joshi Pax
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