The MacOS app ecosystem is chock-full of hidden gems. Here are 10 essentials to get you started. Best of all, it's completely free and super simple to use. The best Mac apps of 2018; Best Open Source Tools For Developers; open-source-mac-os-apps; If you like this post, consider visiting my other articles and apps. Here at Abeapps, we've spent hours curating the top MAC apps for every purpose, and compiled only the Best, Latest & Most Useful OS X, MAC Apps for 2018.
Which Mac operating system is the best is a topic of numerous debates among Apple fans.
Since the mission of this blog is to refute myths and legends around Macs, it’s time for me to provide my 2 cents about the issue on hand. While everything below is just my opinion, as a long-time Mac user and veteran software engineer, I hope my opinion worth something.
The best Mac OS version is the one that your Mac is eligible to upgrade to. In 2020 it is macOS Big Sur. However, for users that need to run 32-bit apps on Mac, the best macOS is Mojave. Also, older Macs would benefit if upgraded at least to macOS Sierra for which Apple still releases security patches.
How to Tell Which macOS You Are Running
To find out which macOS is currently running on your Mac, follow these steps:
What Version of OS Can My Mac Run?
Not all Macs can be upgraded to the latest OS version. For instance, old Macs powered by PowerPC CPUs cannot run OS intended for Intel-based computers. Also, some versions have hardware limitations.
For instance, Mojave cannot be installed on MacBook Pro earlier than Mid 2012 model.
How to like a message on imessage on mac. Check below to know exactly what version of OS your Mac can run.
Which OS is Best for my Mac
Anytime someone asks me which OS is best for them I always suggested going with the latest. Things have changed recently, however.
Should I Upgrade to macOS Catalina or Big Sur?
While personally I like macOS Big Sur and have it installed on my MacBook Pro, it comes with serious breaking changes. If you have old 32-bit apps, they will not run in the new OS.
macOS Catalina and Big Sur can only run 64-bit apps.
If you wondering whether you should upgrade to macOS Catalina or Big Sur, first verify that you don’t have any 32-bit apps. But first, take a back up, so you can go back in case something breaks after the upgrade.
For instance, I had to remove uTorrent after upgrade. And I didn’t know that uTorrent is 32-bit!
How to Know If App is 32-bit or 64-bit
To find out whether the app on your Mac is 32-bit or 64-bit follow these steps:
Which macOS Should I Use
If you have an older Mac which is not eligible to upgrade with some latest software or hardware, I’d suggest upgrading at least to Sierra (or better High Sierra) for the following reasons:
The most important point when choosing the best OS is the ability to get security updates. While Apple generally does not announce the OS end of life dates, it is possible to know when they stop releasing security updates from this page.
For instance, according to the page, the last security update for OS X Yosemite was released on September 12, 2017. The last update for OS X El Capitan was in July 2018, and Carnegie Mellon University confirmed that El Capitan’s end of life date was August 2018.
Snow Leopard Myth
I know that some users on forums believe that the best OS version for Macs was Snow Leopard. But that is a myth. And I know how such myths get created.
Once I worked in the company, which was selling a 20-year old product. And customers were still using and didn’t want to switch to new versions, because the old one was rock solid.
I then talked to the engineer who worked on the project, and he revealed that the product was a total disaster when it was first deployed. Engineers had to work on-site for almost a year in order to fix all bugs.
After five or so years of polishing the product, it becomes virtually bug-free, and nobody now remembers how bad it was when it was first rolled out. A similar thing happened Snow Leopard, and it was recognized as best mac os version after some time.
How to Update to the Latest Version
There are two ways to update to the latest OS version on Mac:
Using Software Update
This is by far the best option, but it only available if you have Yosemite, or later OS installed already. If you enabled automatic updates, then Mac will inform you that the next macOS is available.
Just open System Preferences, go to Software Update and click on the Upgrade Now button.
This method is also best if wondering how to check if you have the latest version of OS installed on your Mac. Only the version compatible with your hardware will appear here.
For instance, my the latest version for Mac Mini 2012 is Mojave, I can’t install anything newer than that.
Using download links
For older systems or in case you need to downgrade, you have to download a standalone installer in DMG format. DMG stands for disk image, similar to ISO, just different formats.
After downloading the installer, just double click on it and follow instructions. Again, do not forget to take a backup before the upgrade.
Mac OS Comparisons: Requirements, Features, Compatibility, Download Links
Following is a high-level description of all Mac operating systems as early as Mountain Lion.
You can refer to those descriptions when deciding which operating system is best for your iMac, Mac Pro, Mac mini, or MacBook.
With each OS description, I included a list of Macs supported. However, you can use Mac OS compatibility checker for more detailed information.
macOS 11 Big Sur
macOS v11 (codename Big Sur) is the latest version of the operating system for Apple computers.
Release date: October 13, 2020
Hardware Requirements: RAM requirement 4GB. Big Sur is the first OS to support new Macs using ARM technology (in the future).
Features
Software Compatibility Issues
Only 64-bit apps are allowed to run on Big Sur.
How to install
There are two ways to install Big Sur: enable automatic updates in System Preferences or download by using the following link.
List of Apple computers compatible with macOS Big Sur
macOS 10.15 Catalina
Release date: October 7, 2019
Hardware Requirements: RAM requirement increased from 2GB to 4GB.
Features
Software Compatibility Issues
macOS Catalina is the first Mac operating system that does not support 32-bit applications. Only 64-bit apps are allowed to run on Catalina.
How to install
There are two ways to install Catalina: enable automatic updates in System Preferences or download by using the following link.
List of Apple computers compatible with macOS Catalina
macOS 10.14 Mojave
Release date: September 24, 2018
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 18.5GB free space on disk
Features
How to install
If your Mac is eligible to update to Mojave, then the easiest way to install it is by enabling automatic updates. Downloading a standalone Mojave installer could be a little tricky.
List of Apple computers compatible with macOS Mojave
macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Release date: September 25, 2017
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 14.3GB free space on disk
Features
List of Apple computers compatible with macOS High Sierra
How to install
Here is a High Sierra download link.
macOS 10.12 Sierra
This is the first macOS version. Previous OS versions for Macs were called OS X (X stands for 10).
Release date: September 20, 2016
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Features
How to install
Here is a Sierra download link.
List of Apple computers compatible with macOS Sierra
OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Last OS X version.
Release date: September 30, 2015
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Features
Macs compatible with OS X El Capitan
same as OS Mountain Lion.
How to install
Here is El Capitan download link.
OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Release date: October 16, 2014
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Macs compatible with OS X Yosemite
Same as OS Mountain Lion.
Features
How to install
Here is Yosemite download link.
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
First free Mac OS. Previous OS versions vary from $19.99 to $129.
Release date: October 22, 2013
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Features
Macs compatible with OS X Mavericks
Same as OS Mountain Lion.
How to install
OS X Mavericks installer is not available on Apple Site. Follow instructions here to install Mavericks.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
Must be purchased. Fixed many bugs introduced in OS X Lion.
Release date: July 25, 2012
System Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Features
List of Apple computers compatible with OS X Mountain Lion
How to install
Mountain Lion installer is not available on Apple Site. Follow instructions here to install OS X Mountain Lion.
List of older Mac OS Versions
Following Mac OS versions are still running on older Macs, but Apple does not support them anymore, and there is no point to upgrade (or downgrade) to them:
Even though there’s a very decent chance that Apple will bring iOS apps over to macOS High Sierra at some point this year, there’s still a lot to love about the existing catalog of Mac apps today. Because at the end of the day it’s the Mac software, more than anything, that keeps brand loyalists coming back to the Jony Ive-conceived line of expensive goodness.
There is a wide breadth of apps available on the app store in 2018, so the best Mac apps might not all tickle your fancy. There are text editors designed for coders like Atom, that’ll have a limited appeal, especially compared to something like Evernote – which is far and away the best note-taking app available.
Not all of the best Mac apps are available on the Mac App Store, but regardless – they’re all worth a peek. So without any further delay, keep reading on the next slide for the best Mac apps you can download today. From free apps to more expensive options, these are the apps that will breathe new life into your MacBook or Mac desktop this year.
Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article
No brand of computer is without its annoyances. For so long now, it’s been impossible to use our MacBooks – unbound by the chains of a power adapter – while video outputs to an external monitor. As we all know here at TechRadar, Apple’s laptops automatically enter sleep mode whenever the lid is closed. For the lot of us, this can be a huge inconvenience should you prefer the sheer magnitude of a monitor as opposed to a 12- or 13- or 15-inch laptop screen. Ubuntu app download.
Luckily, Amphetamine makes it possible to continue using your MacBook while closed. Previously you could accomplish this using a similar application called Caffeine, but we prefer the UI features you get with this freebie. In addition to fitting in naturally with the rest of your Menu Bar items, Amphetamine also supports hotkey commands as well as deactivation reminders, not to mention there are no pesky advertisements in sight.
While Windows has been able to snap programs to the edge of the screen since version 7, Apple’s solution didn’t arrive until OS X El Capitan. What’s more, even then it lacked some of the comprehensiveness of Microsoft’s alternative. Fortunately, HyperDock gives us that full-fledged functionality we so desperately crave, allowing anyone with a Mac to administer to the app Dock and windows all the same.
For windows, you can drag an app to the left or right edges of the screen (or the corners) and it'll automatically fill that space. This makes it much easier to be productive on the desktop without wasting time dragging windows from the corners. For the Dock, hovering over apps activates something similar to Windows 7's thumbnail previews, providing overviews of windows that can be accessed by a click or closed directly from the preview. Handy.
If you've bought a Mac and miss some of your old Windows programs, don't worry - Parallels Desktop 13 can bring them back. Instead of having to dual-boot your Mac into a Windows partition, Parallels Desktop 13 allows Windows and macOS Sierra to co-exist side-by-side, and you can even run Microsoft-only programs such as Visual Studio 2015, or the Windows versions of the company's Office 365 apps, alongside your native macOS ones.
All you need is a Windows 10 license – so prepare to buy one if you haven't already. Or, alternatively, you can use Parallels to try a handful of free operating systems including Chromium (a free distribution of Chrome OS) or Linux Debian. The latest version of Parallels in particular has seen improvements such as Touch Bar support, better resolution scaling for Retina displays and picture-in-picture for using other operating systems in conjunction with macOS.
If you're anything like us, you'll hate working with one monitor or screen. Portable monitors are still fairly expensive (and not to mention bulky), and luckily you can use an iPad instead using a nifty app called Duet. Developed by ex-Apple engineers, it works by tethering your iPad to your Mac using one of Apple's Lightning cables and firing up the app on both devices.
You can then drag windows and apps onto your iPad's display just like you can a second monitor, and if you have a more recent iPad with a Retina display then you'll get the full benefit of all those pixels. Just know that the bandwidth isn't quite what you would get with a proper monitor, so it can be a bit laggy when you notch the quality up. But it's still more than usable for reading websites, typing up documents and watching videos.
Atom is a text editor that's primarily designed for coders, but its flexibility and customization options make it a viable option for many different types of users. That's because of two reasons: first, you can download a number of different Packages - effectively plug-ins - to make it bend to your will. It can be transformed into a Markdown editor for writing blog posts, for example, or you can hook it up to Evernote for storing notes in the cloud.
There's at least 10 different word counters out there, and you can even add typewriter sound effects as you hammer out your delicious prose. Atom is also infinitely customizable on the visual side thanks to an editable back-end, allowing you to do anything from changing the font size, line height and colors to giving the caret Word 2016-like elasticity.
Whether you're an aspiring rockstar or superstar DJ, Logic Pro X is one of the best music creation apps on the Mac. Developed by Apple itself,76 its accessible interface hides a ton of advanced functionality. The latest version comes with a slick new design, 64-bit architecture and new session drummer that will save you having to shell out for a drum machine.
It also works in natural harmony with iPads, providing a touch-based alternative method of creating song structures to dragging and dropping blocks in the main visual editor. Whether you're a seasoned producer already (Sia used the app to record her hit song 'Chandelier') or are looking to upgrade from Garageband, Logic Pro X likely has what you need.
A simple app but an important one, to-do app Wunderlist's strength lies in its cross-device functionality. It's available on Mac, PC and Android and iOS, allowing you to pick up where you left off wherever you are using macOS's Handoff feature.
Once you've created a list you can schedule reminders, add notes and embed it into the macOS Notification Centre using a widget. Team-based features are unlocked by signing up to Wunderlist's Pro option for a yearly fee, and you can add files of any size without running into limits.
Evernote has morphed into a mighty note-taking app over the years. While some people will say that it's too bloated, the sheer number of things that you can do with it still makes it best-in-class. You can type up notes, obviously, organizing them using a combination of folders and tags. You can even embed Google Drive documents, which are accessible in a click.
There's also the ability to set reminders, share notes with friends, find information related to notes using Evernote's 'Context' feature, create lists, and favorite notes that you frequently return to. Better yet, all of your notes are synchronized using the company's servers, making them accessible on nearly any PC (through a browser or the native Evernote app) or mobile device in the world. The paid version lets you use Evernote with more than two devices while upping the amount of data you can sync each month.
GIMP (standing for GNU Image Manipulation) is one of the best free image editing apps out there. It's a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop and comes with a massive array of professional-quality functions that let you tweak existing images saved in a range of formats or create fresh ones from scratch. Features include layers, highly customizable brushes, automatic image-enhancing tools and filters. You can do even more with it using plug-ins, which are available to download from the GIMP Plugin Registry.
Ulysses is one of the best 'distraction-free' markdown editors out there today, balancing features with simplicity and beautiful design. Unlike Word 2016, or even Apple's own Pages, Ulysses hardly features an interface at all. This allows you to get on with writing without being distracted by superfluous buttons and menus. The app uses its own brand of Markdown — a type of text formatting engine — that lets you highlight your writing in a way that makes organizing it simpler, and a vast number of export styles formats it in an attractive way once you're finished.
There's a handy attachments bar on the right-hand side that features an attractive word counter and lets you write notes to assist you in your writing. Notes can be accessed anywhere thanks to iCloud support, so you can pick up your iPad and carry on where you left off using macOS's Handoff feature.
If you’re a gamer who takes pride in the fact that you use a Mac, whether for work, school or leisure, Nvidia GeForce Now will silence your biggest critics. Since the dawn of time itself, it’s seemed as though PC gamers have shut down the prospect of using a Mac to play triple-A video games. The graphics weren’t there, and neither was the library.
Nowadays, we live in the era of streaming. You don’t have to download your TVs and movies – you can stream them on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Why should games be any different? Well, with GeForce Now, they’re not. You can stream PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Overwatch and more at the highest settings from the comfort of your MacBook or Mac computer.
It’s simple and not at all essential in the grand scheme of things, but DeskCover is a free and easy way to stay focused when you need to.
Best Android Apps For 2018
For those working on larger monitors over 20 inches, full-screen apps are bound to strain your peripheral vision, and so you’ll have no other option but to resort to smaller windows. Of course, in doing so, your desktop background is going to get distracting, which is where DeskCover comes in handy. Mac apps download reddit. Allowing you to easily blur your desktop and lower the opacity, DeskCover puts the task at hand front and center so that nothing else gets in the way.
In other words, DeskCover is basically a free version of Hazeover, which we’re not complaining about. What’s more, your options aren’t limited to manipulation of your existing wallpaper alone. You can also temporarily replace your background with something a little more plain, blocking it out with a solid color of your choosing. Best of all, DeskCover is compatible with hotkeys, thereby minimizing the distraction possibilities of the app itself.
The marketplace of disk cleanup apps is neither desolate nor particularly exciting, especially on a Mac, where Apple does a commendable job of optimizing storage on its own. However, for a program that’s more intuitive and user friendly than, say, the built-in Macintosh HD storage management software, your best bet is to turn your head to Dr. Cleaner. This app splits all of your data into easily digestible file categories that would otherwise be obtuse.
Best Macos Apps 2020
Rather than listing 30GB of documents and 10GB of iOS files you don’t know what to do with, Dr. Cleaner divvies up the junk on your computer into groupings such as ‘Junk Files’ and ‘Big Files.’ Then, you can take a look at the file names themselves and decide whether they’re or not they’re worth keeping. You can also use Dr. Cleaner to monitor CPU, network and RAM usage as well, for the sake of putting some pep in your aging Mac’s step.
While it’s more like three apps than only one of the best Mac apps, SoftMaker Office 2018 takes all of the key features of Microsoft Office and puts them into an interface that tailors to your needs. It comes with a group of programs called TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations 2018 that are similar enough to Office 365 without the rolling subscription.
Whether you want a word processor that’s easy to use or a spreadsheet or slideshow creator of equal accessibility, SoftMaker Office has what you need. Better yet, it’s completely free for the time being. As it’s still in beta on the Mac, you can get a complimentary, albeit temporary, license over email should you be interested in trying it out. Otherwise, there is a permanent version of the software called SoftMaker FreeOffice that’s only available for Windows, Android and Linux.
Since you’re clearly going to install all of the other apps we’ve mentioned since you’re still reading to this point, you’re going to need at least utility that makes your desktop less chaotic. Unclutter is the solution you’re looking for whether you’re a frivolous notetaker or a temporary file hoarder like we are. It’s designed to keep your memos, documents and pasteboard clips in one place instead of scattered across several folders.
Best Macos Apps Of 2018 Torrent
It’s a clever idea made even cleverer by the fact that it can be configured for use with gesture controls. At any given point, you can swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers on the trackpad (or one on the mouse) to reveal a triumvirate of windows that can be concealed and re-summoned at your authoritative disposal.
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