I have recently switched to a Macbook Pro, earlier than that I have been using a Windows Laptop exclusively and that’s why, I am familiar with Windows shortcut keys, dialogue boxes, Windows control buttons, and most importantly windows apps that made my experience richer and far more user friendly. But due to some problems with the Device Hardware, I needed to change my main machine, I am getting a good deal on a Macbook Pro so I thought why not give it a try, Well once I started using the Mac I felt underwhelmed and the main reason for that is I always customize my main machine according to my workflow, so I started tinkering with the Mac and to my surprise, I found out there are many things that are just simply not available on Mac OS by default you need to download Apps or 3rd Party utilities for many small things that are already built-in on Windows. So I started searching for Apps and found out there are really good options but most of them are paid. No one wants to pay for apps especially when you come from a different OS that does most of it for free. So here are my top 5 Free App recommendations that every Mac user must use.
CheatSheet
Starting with CheatSheet. It is the most useful and simple Mac App that is an absolute godsend for someone like me who is new to Mac OS. Cheatsheet does only one thing and it does it well. It is a simple command that gives you a list of all keyboard shortcuts of a particular app that you are inside off with just a press of a single button. This utility is developed by Media Atelier and it is just a little over 1MB, it is one of the best Productivity tools that is available on the Mac, and everyone should try it.
Link to download CheatSheet
Amphetamine
If you want to use an external display with your Laptop on Windows, it does not matter if your device is connected to power or not it will automatically let you use your external monitor while the main machine’s display will be closed or it is docked, well that does not work on Mac. To use an external Monitor with a Macbook while its lid is down and its display is off you need to connect it to a power source. It is annoying at first but here comes our app for rescue. Amphetamine lets you use your Mac while its display is turned off without connecting it to power, and more importantly, it let you do way more than that, it could even do things like keeping your Mac awake while you work on a particular app and your Mac won’t sleep while that app is running. You could even set custom triggers that will not let your Mac sleep while they are on (eg: If there are 2 external Monitors connected to your Mac or if there is a wifi network, your Mac is connected with, Amphetamine will keep it awake until these conditions are true). These small things make Amphetamine useful and it is freely available on App Store to download
Maccy
Windows comes with preinstalled clipboard manager which comes in handy when needed but in Mac OS there is no built-in clipboard Manager. I know it's 2023 and there is no clipboard manager on Mac OS by default. We need to install a third-party utility for a clipboard manager and there are many paid and unpaid options available. But keeping things simple we have Maccy. Maccy is a simple clipboard manager which keeps the history of what you copy and lets you quickly navigate and search through it so that you can use it once needed. It also comes with features such as pasting without formatting. It can also save images, files, and texts and it can work either with Hotkey or using its icon on the menu bar. Although it is paid on App Store you can get it from GitHub for absolutely free or if you want to support the Developer you can visit Maccy.app
AltTab
After using both Mac OS and Windows, It is easy to say switching windows or switching apps on Windows is fundamentally better than Mac OS. On Windows, you can easily get the preview of every app and its instance that is running by simply pressing Alt-Tab which makes it much more usable as compared to Mac OS in which by pressing the command-tab keys you can only see app icons and not their multiple instances and forget about preview windows. AltTab is a simple utility that works well as it introduces the Alt-Tab command to Mac OS, and brings the app preview window to Mac OS through which you can see multiple app instances, it also has features such as App blacklisting, Dark Mode, Drag and Drop, etc. AltTab is freely available and you can configure it on your own.
Link to download AltTAB
Hidden Bar
I know one thing that many Mac users hate, it is a cluttered menu bar. On Mac OS anyone can use a couple of applications to either jump between them or need them for work or it could be any other reason. Everyone wants instant access to their menu bar items but nobody wants to see them as the menu bar will look cluttered which some might say hinders productivity. In that case, people tend to use apps like Bartender which indeed works great and has many extra features as well but are paid. In that case, Hidden Bar is an amazing and lightweight Mac utility that helps you hide menu bar items. It is open source and available on the App Store for free with a rating of 4.6 stars.
You can get Hidden Bar from App Store for free.
These are some free Mac Apps that will make your experience great.
If you liked the article or have any more Mac apps that you can suggest to me please leave a comment and do not forget to share it :)