Slack has quickly become the first name in business collaboration and messaging since it launched in 2013, and its free Mac app is the best way to keep in touch with your team. Bringing everything.
Advertisement Here you have it – our ultimate list of must-have Mac apps. From email clients to system utilities, time savers to productivity boons; on this page you’ll find the best Mac software used by MakeUseOf staff and readers alike. We will continue to update the list on a regular basis, so be sure to add your favorites in the comments and we’ll consider them the next time we update this page. Last updated: July 6, 2017 Navigation: Audio The old Mac favorite is a You don't need a Mac to make music, but with this much free software available it certainly helps., and it’s free for all Mac users to download and try out. Record audio, play virtual instruments, and get access to the Apple Loops library of royalty free sounds.
A completely free kernel extension for macOS that allows you to pass audio between applications by acting as a virtual audio device. Essential for recording system audio when paired with Audacity (above). One of the best free Unless you're chained to the iTunes ecosystem and have no choice but to use it, you may want to consider switching to one of these alternatives., Clementine supports a huge number of audio formats and external services including Spotify and cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox. You can also transcode music, manage podcasts, and enjoy visualizations while listening.
Spotify changed the game when it first launched, bringing unlimited streaming music to desktops and mobiles for a fixed fee. You can also stream for free, if you’re not bothered by adverts. ITunes Included with your Mac, iTunes is the only way to access the Apple Music streaming service which is one of the best alternatives to Spotify. Browsers Safari Safari is the default browser installed on every Apple computer. We think it’s the best browser for most Mac users, plus there are Safari is probably the best browser for Mac users, but you can make it even better with a few well-chosen extensions. Google’s own browser, Chrome is a powerhouse for those who need developer tools, extensions or multiple profiles for separating work or play. An excellent alternative to Chrome, Firefox has focused on slimming down over the past few years after complaints it had become bloated. If you haven’t tried it for a while, it might be time to give it another go.
Also consider: Email Mail It’s a bit crusty and lacking in new features compared to some of the more adventurous clients, but Mail is free and it works well enough. Dig a bit deeper and you can use it to do cool things like Apple's Mail app doesn't come with a scheduler by default, but you can use Automator or a third-party plugin to add 'send later' functionality. ($9.99) AirMail is When I first heard of Airmail, I must admit I questioned if I really needed a new way to check my email.
Like many people, Mail.app satisfied all of my email requirements, and I struggled., with a beautifully simple aesthetic and full support for labels and starring, among other Google features. Mail Pilot 2 ($20) The second version of Mail Pilot continues the “to-do list” approach to email in a bid to make you more productive by focusing on what’s most important.
A new feature called Dash provides an at-a-glance overview of new emails, outstanding conversations, and responses that are overdue. Nylas N1 is a bit of an oddity in terms of an email app. It’s both a premium sync service and an open source Every Mac comes with a free email application, but it's not the be-all and end-all of OS X email solutions. Here's five of the best alternatives. If you’re happy to compile it yourself and run your own sync engine, you can enjoy one of the best email experiences completely free of charge (otherwise it’s $7 per month). Also consider:, & News ($9.99) The If you’re looking for a fast way to get news updates from specific sources, RSS is still the best way to go about it., Reeder disappeared for a short while before returning in full force. It’s not free but it’s got the best interface, great themes, and supports a wide range of services to provide a premium reading experience.
($9.99) We’ve Still looking for the perfect Mac RSS reader? It's here. before and for good reason. This powerhouse reader works with all major RSS providers and “read later” services, features a new clutter-free reading mode and an interface reminiscent of the original Reeder. If your budget looks something like $0, Vienna is as good as it’s going to get.
Fortunately, you get much more than you pay for with this capable Open Reader compliant RSS app. Also consider: Related: For me, RSS feeds are the ideal way to keep up to date with all the websites I'm interested in - a centralised news-pool, so you don't have to check your browser every five minutes.
Virtualization Run Windows on your Mac for free with VirtualBox, though you’ll still need a valid Windows license to get anywhere. ($79.99) If Virtualbox doesn’t cut it, VMware Fusion is another great option with better support for demanding applications, like games – though it’ll cost you just shy of $80. ($79.99) Parallels is a virtualization environment that lets you run windowed Windows applications on your machine without having to switch to a virtual desktop first. / Wineskin and WineBottler are two (separate) free programs that let you create “wrappers” for Windows applications that run via a compatibility layer on your Mac. Related: Want to play classic Windows and DOS games on your Mac, but unsure where to begin? Today we'll be looking at all your available options, and how to choose between them. Photos & Images Photos Don’t dismiss your Mac’s default image management application just yet.
Its We thought it was about time we compiled a list of our favourite raster image editors for Mac OS X. and filters are fine for small edits, plus it can handle RAW files and recognize people, places, and objects since the macOS Sierra update. ($20/month) The undisputed king of image editing, Photoshop CC is almost affordable now at only $20 per month for a single license. Perfect for RAW processing, photo retouching, designing graphics and logos, 3D elements and terrible memes. ($80) Apple’s “App of the Year” for 2015, Affinity Photo delivers a powerful image editing package for a one-off fee that makes it a solid budget alternative to Photoshop. Work with Photoshop files, edit RAWs straight from your camera, use adjustment layers, and a whole lot more.
($30) Need a capable image editor but can’t justify spending too much? Pixelmator might be the answer. It has many of the same features found in Adobe’s pride and joy, except you can use it forever for a single payment of $30. If you’d rather go the free route, open source editor GIMP comes in a Mac-enhanced version that includes a range of photo editing plugins, including RAW support. Inkscape is Adobe Illustrator might be the gold standard when it comes to vector software for the Mac, but you don't always have to spend a fortune on design software. Cross-platform and open source, it’s the choice of many designers, illustrators and web comic aficionados the world over.
If you don’t like the look of Inkscape, BoxySVG offers another free vector option that’s built with web technologies. If all you want to do is Photoshop is expensive, and while many are happy to fork out a monthly fee for Adobe's revised Creative Cloud system, others will always turn to free software first. One thing is for sure: if you're., then you should give RawTherapee a shot. The interface can at first be overwhelming, but that’s only down to the sheer number of options it provides you with – and it’s completely free. AstroPad AstroPad isn’t an image editor but an app that turns your iPad or iPhone into a full-fledged graphics tablet.
It works best when paired with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil stylus, fusing the intuitive touch controls with the precision of a high end stylus. Also consider: Aperture & Productivity Siri If you’re using macOS Sierra or later, Siri is built in and accessible via the menu bar, dock, and holding the command+spacebar keyboard shortcut.
Apple’s intelligent personal assistant Siri is now on the Mac, and controlling your computer with your voice has never been easier.! Evernote is probably the most popular, widely used and best-supported note-taking solution in the world. Recent changes mean that the free version is limited to just two devices, but it’s still a note-taking powerhouse.
The closest Evernote competitor is OneNote, and it’s completely free. Access your notes from any device, save files and sketches, clip web pages and collaborate with others — all without Evernote’s two-device restriction. Apple Notes Apple’s own Notes app was a bit useless until it received a makeover in El Capitan and iOS 9. Now it resembles more of a cut-price Evernote, and while it lacks many of the features you’ll find in dedicated rival products it’s a Have you switched over to Apple's vastly improved Notes app? Here are a few tips on improving your workflow. ($50) The There are plenty of great third-party apps that serve as a replacement for your Mac's Calendar application, or as add-ons to take it to the next level.
Here are our favorites., Fantastical allows you to schedule appointments by typing a description of your event. It enjoys excellent support, and has integration with Apple’s reminders system and a as well.
Reminders This one also comes with Mac OS X by default. Use it with Siri to make a Don't waste your money on a third-party app, just use Apple free iPhone and Mac apps. If Apple’s own Reminders app doesn’t cut it, you can’t do much better than Wunderlist, a completely cross-platform system that’s easy to use and powerful to boot.
($6.99) Appearing on iOS first, Clear is a slim and easy to use to-do list manager which places an emphasis on aesthetic value and mobile access. If Evernote is overkill, Simplenote might just be what you’re looking for. Free, lightweight and cross-platform; it also gives Apple Notes a run for its money. Do you use Apple’s in-built text to speech services?
Whether you rely on the accessibility feature or you’re just feeling lazy, Dictater makes the feature even better by allowing you to pause, skip, replay, and even read along (plus it’s free). Related: If you work at a home-based office like I do, you no doubt spend a significant amount of time getting things done on your Mac. While I have already written about the advantages of using.
Code & Text Editors Everything you need to If you want to learn Swift, now is the time to dive in. The language has a bright future and the faster you learn it, the sooner you'll be able to reap the rewards., including macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The development tools are free to download, but you’ll need to pay a yearly fee and enroll in Apple’s developer program to list your apps on their various storefronts. Microsoft’s free, open source, and highly extensible code editor is Microsoft's text editor supports myriad languages, and you don't even need to compare it to Xcode, since they serve different needs. ($70) If you need a serious text editor (and if you have to ask that question, then you probably don’t) you should consider dropping $70 on Sublime Text.
($50) Just like Sublime Text, TextMate is a highly capable text editor for those who write code for a living. You should probably try them both before settling on a favorite. TextWrangler is the completely free fork of BBEdit. Though it omits a few of the advanced features found in its bigger brother, it’s still the best free text editor on the platform. ($19.99) A document browser and code snippet manager, Dash is designed to If you're a programmer, you already rely heavily on documentation. Dash is a Mac app designed to make your required reading a more pleasant experience. For a huge number of programming languages.
Writing & Office The whole iWork suite is now free to all Mac users, including Pages and its web-based equivalent. It might not beat out Microsoft Office in terms of features, Many long-time Office users will be unwilling to transition away from the apps they're so used to working with, but it's time to give iWork another chance. Numbers is Apple’s answer to Microsoft Excel. What better way to learn how to use this powerful spreadsheet app than with New Macs come with Numbers, a spreadsheet program that's perfect for helping you get organized.? It’s a presentation app, for making slide-based presentations. You can use the to control the Mac version, or run your presentations from the web using iCloud. If you need a simple distraction-free writing environment for free, FocusWriter is the app for you.
For such a lightweight and minimal app there’s a surprisingly long list of features (but you don’t have to use them all). IA Writer ($10) Looking for something a little more capable? IA Writer is Be it a school paper or a blog post, all of us at some point find ourselves in the position of having to dump a bunch of characters into a text file. While cell phone., coming in both macOS and iOS varieties.
Among the key features is auto-markdown support, syncing over iCloud and support for importing Word documents. ($45) Ulysses prides itself on two things: excellent markdown support and a distraction-free environment. It’s one of the most powerful writing tools on any platform, and it does away with many of the distracting features found in the bigger packages while still providing an impressive array of writing, productivity, and organization tools.
($149) Despite the eye-watering price, if you think you’ll get enough mileage out of the whole Office suite then you can’t do much better than the Home & Student Edition. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and (free app) OneNote for a one-off fee. Looking for an office suite but can’t justify the $150 Microsoft is asking for their budget version? LibreOffice might just do the job. The open source word processor, spreadsheet tool, and presentation app lacks polish but it’s completely free and much less temperamental than most browser-based alternatives. ($45) A few staff members at MakeUseOf swear by Scrivener, the cross-platform and Scrivener has been around since 2006, and it is a favorite application amongst novelists and screenwriters. Scrivener is not a desktop layout application like Word and Pages, but it helps you organize and export your. It’s popular among screenwriters and novelists for When it comes to getting a research paper, ebook or novel completed, Scrivener can help you stay organized and motivated — that is, if you know how to use some of its best features.
And rich feature set, and we’ve produced a. ($9.99) If you’re looking for a diary application, then Everyone has a story to tell. It's not always a story in need of an audience, sometimes a story just needs to be told.
You may want to continue the journal you started when you. It syncs over iCloud or Dropbox with your iOS devices, allowing you to update your journal regardless of where you are. Related: Have you always dismissed Apple's productivity apps as unsuitable for your office needs? It's time to reconsider! Timesavers (donationware) BetterTouchTool allows you to I started using BetterTouchTool back in 2011, and since then it has become one of the top three Mac applications for boosting my productivity and streamlining my workflow. Though BTT can be used by any.
On a touchpad, mouse and Control your Mac with the wave of your hand instead of keyboard presses. BetterTouchTool and the Leap Motion controller can power-up your workflow with dozens of mouseless shortcuts. It now uses a “pay what you feel” donationware model, allowing you to pay anywhere from $3.99 to $50 for a license. ($4.99) Just like the name suggests, Dropzone is a small icon that lives in your menu bar and when you grab and drag files it offers a You could waste time putting your files and folders to use the traditional way, or you could save time and do everything directly from your menu bar using Dropzone. ($5.99) In the style of Dropzone, Unclutter provides a place to store files at the top of your screen. It also adds support for pasteboard clips and notes, speeding up your workflow by providing you with fast access to everything you need. MacOS Sierra allows you to unlock your Mac using an Apple Watch, but if you haven’t got an Apple Watch you can Typing a password is just so much hassle, don't you wish you could use your iPhone, Apple Watch or simply have your Mac unloc.
A visually appealing site is a dream of both a website owner as well as a user. The real task is of the graphic and web designers to make the dream turn into reality. Gone are the days when people only indulged in reading content online. Nowadays, more than the words, the site has to look interesting too.
With eye-catching visuals and gripping content, the user gets convinced to stay on the website and use it, especially in the case of. The graphics play a major role in creating the outlook of your website.
As a graphic designer, this is your territory. In order to with such intriguing visuals, you will require a graphic design software that will help you improvise the images, models, and text that is to be shown on the website. If you’re a newbie in the field of graphic designing. Here at TemplateToaster blog check out 6 Essential software for graphic designers (both paid and free) that will render a professional look to your website graphics.
The road which led to photo editing was never so interesting. The automatic options infuse life to your images making your work ‘the talk of the town’ even if you are a newbie. With Photoshop you can easily combine multiple images and even remove unwanted objects from the image. It offers basic features like perspective correction, channel mixing, and clone stamp tool. Photoshop runs on both Windows and Mac. Photoshop is also considered as one of the best graphic design software for beginners as it comes with simplified options like:.
Basic: Cropping, straightening, rotating and flipping. Auto-Fix: One touch adjustment.
Blemish Removal: Ability to remove any spot or dirt from the image. Colour: Slide controls to enhance the colors of the image. One-Touch filter: 20 eye-catching effects to choose from. Image Rendering: Panoramic image option. Borders: Add your personal touch.
RAW photo support: RAW format support. Sharing: via sites like Facebook, Revel, Twitter, Tumblr, and more. Pros. Video editing is smooth. The crop tool is quite effective.
Performance is highly improved. Cons. No perpetual license. The interface is crushing.
Some tools lack progress bar visibility. GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program is the perfect. The professional tools make it ideal for not just graphic designers but photographers as well. The photo manipulation feature is highly enhanced.
The flexibility of the tool allows you to create crystal-clear graphics. Once you begin using GIMP, it will definitely achieve the pedestal of being your main desktop publishing tool. The interface is totally customizable and the full-screen mode allows you to view and edit at the same time. Yes, not all the extensive features are available.
Still, there are many features that will provide you a great experience. GIMP runs on GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and other OS. Being a cross-compatible graphic design software, it has a strong support community. This is, hands down, one of the prime choices when selecting graphic design software for beginners. Pros. The UI is bright and modern.
Very easy to use. Comes with single windows usage.
Cons. Have a few bugs. Struggles with Cintiq tablets in the initial stage. If you want to use vector art to create logos, sketches, typography, icons or even complex illustrations for videos or mobile then Illustrator is the tool for you. You can create artwork with seamless alignment by drawing pixel-perfect shapes. With Illustrator designing could never be faster. Illustrator comes with its own plugins that help in making a blank web page into a brilliant looking web page.
Some plugins are made for older versions of Ai and have a zest of new features for new versions like Creative Cloud, making it an ideal graphic design software. Being part of Creative Cloud, you get to use the app on both your desktop and Mac. Pros. Touch-type tool is awesome.
The Free Transform tool is very simple to use. Availability for Windows and Mac.
Cons. The price is high. Inkscape, an, is a professional tool ideal for vector art lovers and graphic designers who use SVG file format. The tool is perfect for Windows, Linux, OS, and Mac as well. It doesn’t matter whether you are a professional or just a person who wants to create vector images for a personal blog. In terms of sketching, coloring or making illustrations Inkscape is very easy to use. With the Ghostscript extension.eps files are easily readable.
It also comes with awesome features like:. Ability to directly edit the source code. Keys to move screen pixels. Edit clones on the canvas. Edit gradients. Fill paint-bucket with one click. Pros.
Absolutely free. Endless Filters. New effect tools as a bonus. Cons. Extremely slow.
Are you an aspiring web designer and looking for a graphics editor that gives you the ability to create infinite designs without any restrictions while honing your skills at the same time? If so, you might want to check out CorelDraw, a vector graphics editor, that is hands down one of the most popular Industry Standard editors presently. CorelDraw has some cool productive functions and such an ease of use that no other vector editor can match up to.
The tools give you full control so you can get fast and dynamic results. With CorelDraw version X5 and above, you get an inbuilt organizer (Corel CONNECT) also.
With tools like Twirl, Smear, Repel and Attract – vector object editing was never so easy. The Alignment guide enables you to position objects as per your requirement. CorelDraw works smoothly with large files in Corel Photo-Paint, making it a must-have in the graphic design software list.
It also supports apps like Barcode wizard, Duplexing wizard, Bitstream Font Navigator, etc. Pros. The interface customization is ideal. The design is very fresh. The training videos are very helpful. Choose from perpetual license or subscription.
The right-click gives awesome vectorization. Shaping docker gives maximum usage. Cons.
No Mac version. Tools are hard to learn for newbies. Navigation is not easy. Navigation board is not visible.
The freehand brush is hard to use. Backed by the Adobe brand, InDesign is the business leader for creating clean layouts for desktop and mobile devices alike.
Adobe InDesign is ideal for layout design usage like online magazines. Whether you want to create layouts for printed books, brochures or digital magazines Adobe InDesign is the tool you need.
The flexibility is great as it allows you to easily drag-drop isolated layers and you can resize images with ease. Being part of Creative Cloud you get easy access to the desktop app for PC and Mac. You also get the comparison app Comp CC available for tablets and Smartphone devices including 29 desktop apps and 10 mobile apps. You can also use Behance and Typekit services that enable you to connect your workflow between photography, videos, designing and web or app development. With Adobe Creative Sync you can share or sync all your work between your desktop and mobile apps so you can work efficiently.
Once you join as a member you will get the latest updates and new features with installation decision being solely yours. Pros.
The combining of text and graphics becomes easy. The learning curve is very low, ideal for newbies. The features that come with InDesign are unbelievable. Cons.
Limited tools for creating graphics. The graphics tools are not as powerful.
The adjustment of photos is limited as this is not a photo-editing software. Bonus Tools 7. This graphic design software offers a powerful tool for not just photo designing an editing but, one can also use it for producing creative logos, animations, posters and more. Just because of its oodles of illustrative features, it has been ranked as the top graphic design software. By providing a rating of 9.2 out of 10, the site has given it a marker of being the best in its league. It has a low learning curve making it approachable by both graphic designers as well as beginners.
With this full-featured software, one can even work on intricacies very easily. One can not just work on 3D animations, add effects to the images but also, create vector illustrations.
Pros. Can create a customizable workspace based on your preference. Provides extensive support an option to share. Cons. Lacks some photo effect features like panorama merging, HDR imaging etc.
This software offers a wide variety of photo editing features and illustration tools. It has extensive features that can assist you in maneuvering color and texture of your images. You even have the possibility of removing any distortion caused by the lens, whatsoever. The main page offers the basic tips and guidelines so as to understand the functioning of the design software.
It has certain masking tools available as well. The resizing of images can also be done without having to put the quality at stake. This software has a pretty robust support page that addresses user’s issues and provides solutions for the same. Pros. Tools are available for both vector and raster images.
Can export directly to any social media website. Cons. No history log available; use of undo button to reverse actions. The Paintshop Pro 9 is the latest version released by the Coral team.
It is a seemingly impressive photo editing tool that even helps in photo management. It even possesses professional grade tools that can be easily used by both professionals and newbies. It provides video tutorials and other forms of support forums to better the understanding of the software. It has more than 90 creative filters that can be used to improve the texture and color of your image.
It is compatible with image files like RAW, JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD and PDF. Pros. Auto edit option. A supporter of batch processing, i.e, multiple files can be edited at the same time. Cons. Only compatible with windows. This graphic design software provides an easily navigated and friendly interface.
The Corel PhotoImpact X3 provides one with a wide collection of designing and editing tools made easily accessible to you. This can make it appear tricky, hence, it has been divided into eight operative fields. ExpressFix or Full Edit mode serve the purpose of editing the photos. ExpressFix provides the option to adjust exposure, color, skin tone and focus with just a click. Whereas, Full Edit has the editing options like portrait touch-ups, enhancements and effects. It has an interesting combination of both basic and advanced tools. It holds the compatibility with 32 file formats inclusive of RAW, JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD and animated GIFs.
Pros. Availability of panorama and HDR imaging tools to create visually captivating effects. It offers an extensive support system. It has the main docked panel to hold all the other panels and swiftly hide and show them as per requirement.
Cons. Limited sharing features. Sluggish development in its software.
Apart from the above-mentioned graphic design tools which had broad. Features. A bunch of tools to offer under these tabs, namely, Library, Adjustment, Edit, Layers, Slideshow, and Print. A pen tool to draw colored pixels on photo layers. History log: serve the purpose of undoing the unwanted changes.
Provides a strengthened support system like support forums, telephone support, video tutorial, user guides, etc. Features. Options like Classic Layer Effects, 3D effects, Light Effects, Edge detection etc provides it an edge over other apps. Offers professional painting tools; over 300 brushes, Animated Brushes, and advanced options like scattering and random rotation are also available. Features. Not just a standalone app but a web-based app as well.
It has a low learning curve. Its basic graphics editor is free.
Features. A 3D modeling software with full of ease. Can conveniently customize everything. One can stretch, rotate, copy, paste & even draw lines and shapes. One can add model views to pages by using the Pro version.
Features. It comes in four levels: Prime, Broadcast, Visualize and Studio. Involve 3D animation without any formal training. Amazing support for materials and textures.
Accessible user interface. Smooth learning curve. Features. Allows an intrinsic zoom-in experience. Functions in any color space like RGB, CMYK, LAB, Greyscale. Possess CMYK workflow along with ICC color management. Compatible with macOS and Windows.
Features. Availability of numerous standard photo editing tools. One can draw their own designs or use the software’s pre-designed templates. Better sharing options to offer.
With 3200% as the maximum zooming option. It has a lot of basic editing tools at hand. It offers to import and export options as well.
Features. A tabbed document interface is used to manage multiple images. Highly responsive and said to be one of the “fastest image editor available”.
Has layers for enriched image composition experience. Intuitive and a creative user interface.
Conclusion As a graphic designer, knowing which graphic design software to use is crucial. With so many software available in the market, it is not easy to pick the correct one out. Designing a website and doing away with the burdensome coding can lead you to develop some highly intriguing & professionally looking websites. With TemplateToaster you can design such websites in a matter of minutes. In practically three steps you can bring life to your vision. This website theme builder tends to be compatible with almost all graphic design tools making it flexible to work with.
And hence, generate websites that are no less than visual masterpieces.