Sometimes I get asked about the things I use to build, stay productive, or buy to pretend I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating (master procrastinator here). Here’s a list of all of my favorite stuff.
Paid tools are marked with an asterisk, though most of my apps are free(mium).
Highly Recommended Apps (MacOS)
- Notetaking: Obsidian
- Flashcards: Anki
- Task Manager: TickTick
- AI Assistants: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude MacOS apps
- Browser: Arc
- Password and TOTP 2FA Manager: Bitwarden
- Screenshot, Editing, and OCR Tool: Shottr
- Window Management: Rectangle
- MacOS Utilities: Raycast
- Clipboard Manager: Maccy
- Text Shortcuts: Expanso
- Compression/Unzip Tool: Keka
- Terminal: Warp
- Auto File Optimizer: Clop
- Menu Bar Manager: Barbee
- AI Voice Dictation: Flow by Wispr
- MacOS Hyper Shortcuts: Karabiner-Elements
- AI Code Editor: Cursor
- Academia Manager: Zotero
- Email Client: Superhuman *
- PDF Viewer: Skim
Other
- Raindrop: Drop all your bookmarks, references, and cool websites here, and you can view them anywhere. It’s free and comes with great tagging organization.
- DeepL: I should really study my Chinese, but DeepL is the only reason why I don’t. Translate screenshots, documents, and text more accurately than Google can.
- AltTab: I love how Windows handles AltTabing, so let’s move that feature to MacOS as well! Works wonders if you have 20 applications open at the same time.
- BatFi: Extend your MacOS battery life. Charging your MacBook battery to 100% is bad for the battery – BatFi will limit the maximum battery percentage to 80%. Good enough for most people.
- Draw.io: Free collaborative diagramming software. Great for creating flowcharts, diagrams, and more for your blogs or projects. The best diagramming app I’ve ever used.
- PDFGear: Anything you need to do with PDFs, PDFGear has you covered. No longer do I need to open a webpage to compress, merge, or OCR my PDFs!
- Latest: A simple app that keeps all your other apps updated. No more manually updating apps, and no more annoying update notifications.
- SoulSeekQT: A criminally underrated music downloading app. P2P connections to download high-quality music. Especially great for audiophiles who want hi-res FLAC files.
- Grammarly: Free grammar and spell checker that works on almost every website and app. It’s a must-have for anyone who writes a lot.
- HandBrake: Open-source tool to convert video formats and compress videos. Better and faster than going online and searching “MP4 to AVI converter.”
- AppCleaner: Thoroughly uninstalls an app and all its associated files. No more leftover files from an app you deleted.
- MacWhisper: Transcribe any audio (files, audio playing from websites, etc) into text. And it’s done all locally on your Mac - no sending your data to OpenAI!
- Folder Peek: Put folders in your Mac’s menu bar. It’s a great way to quickly access your most used folders, especially if you nest folders deep.
- Command X: Cut and paste files using Cmd+X like in Windows. Should’ve been a feature in MacOS from the start.