MacOS helpers 2025 edition

We all love them and use most of them in our every day lifes, little tools/helpers we use to fulfil our goals when working with our system(s). Here’s my current list of tools that make my life easier. This is the successor of the 2024 and 2021 edition.

System extensions / menubar tools

• Espanso [Free]: free and mighty text replacement tool.
• Lasso [Paid]: window manager with free definable window areas.
• AltTab [Free]: brings the common Alt+Tab behavior to MacOS, replaces CMD+Tab with single window previous
• Shottr [Paid - free option available]: my favourite screenshot and annotation tool, native macOS application and ridiculously fast; comes with a screen ruler, OCR and the possibility to create scrolling screenshots.
• Ollama [Free]: download, manage and run large language models on your local machine (Apple silicon).
• Amphetamine [Free]: prevents your machine from going to sleep.
• Raycast [Paid - free option available]: app launcher, script launcher, system search - all in one. Completely replaced Alfred5 for me.
• Itsycal [Free]: tiny menu bar calendar, syncs with the macOS calendar application, supports dark mode, iso week numbers and much more.
• ICE [Free]: open-source menubar manager, replaced HiddenBar for me.
• Meeting Bar [Free]: displays upcoming Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, Google Hangouts calls in the menubar.
• QuickRecorder [Free]: open-source screen recorder.
• Obsidian [Free - paid version available]: one-stop-shop for taking and organizing notes.
• Maccy [Free - paid version available]: MacOS clipboard manager.

Productivity tools

• ClaudeCode [Paid]: CLI version of the Anthropic’s coding agent.
• 1Password [Paid]: password manager, simple.
• IINA [Free]: modern media player for MacOS, replaced VNC for me.
• Cursor [Free - paid version available]: VS Code fork on AI steroids.
• wezTerm [Free]: cross-platform terminal emulator.

WebApps

• NextCloud [Free]: own-cloud Fork, basically your very own Cloud solution for file, storage, calendar, contact management - easily extendable via apps.
• ProtonMail [Paid]: privacy-first e-mail solution from Switzerland.
• MIRO [Paid]: one, if not the best collaborative whiteboard solution out there.
• Figma [Paid]: complete UI/UX setup in the browser.