Apple continues to stay at the top of the market by consistently plugging new features intomacOS. However, if you’re really serious about maximizing yourproductivitymore than the average Mac user, you should seek tools with a little more power or functionality. That’s where utilities come into play – a utility on macOS is a lightweightappthat runs in the background to provide or improve the native user experience. Utilities aren’t like most apps, where they’re used to complete work. Instead, utilities are leveraged to make workflows smoother and more streamlined.
A utility on macOS is a lightweightappthat runs in the background to provide or improve the native user experience.
Fortunately, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get some of these great tools – in fact, you don’t have to spend anything at all. Here are 13 of my favoriteMac utilitiesto dramatically improve your Mac experience without spending a dime.
Apple explains why it doesn’t matter where the Mac mini power button is
The Mac mini’s odd power button location caused quite a stir online. Apple has a simple reason for it.
Free Mac menu bar management
A powerful, free menu bar manager for macOS.
This article covers a lot of menu bar apps. If you’re like me, you’ll probably install more than you have space for. Therefore, a menu bar manager is essential. While I used to useBartender, I stopped after reporting about aconcerning acquisition. After some research, I chose the free menu bar manager,Ice.
Ice allows you to hide menu bar icons under two tiers. You can reveal the first tier by selecting the Ice icon. I chose to customize mine and put my Memoji. The second tier is under ‘Show the Always-Hidden Section’ for those icons that are more rarely used. Ice is still under active development, and the developer continues working on new features.
The MacBook Pro is powerful, well-designed, and in a rut
Apple successfully turned its Pro laptops into crowd pleasers, and made them less interesting in the process.
Emoji input made much easier
Instantly access and insert emojis and symbols using a quick shortcut.
Rocketis the best app you could ever ask for if you’re a frequentemojiuser. This utility has you set a custom trigger; for me, it’s a double colon (::), and when entering it, you can continue typing the name of an emoji. Hit return, and you’ve added it. Rocket makes adding emoji to text far more efficient than using the native emoji picker.
Plus, you may rename and add aliases to emojis for emojis you think should be called something else. Rocket also offers a $10 upgrade for some pro features.
Still clinging to the M3 MacBook Pro? These 5 M4 features are hard to ignore
Apple’s MacBook Pro has finally arrived with its next-generation M4 chip. Here’s what it gives you over last year’s M3.
3Hand Mirror
Check your appearance before any call
Hand Mirror
Quickly access your webcam from the menu bar for checking your appearance before video calls.
Hand Mirrorprovides quick access to your Mac’s webcam with a single click from the menu bar. Whether you’re about to join a video call or just need a quick glance at your appearance, Hand Mirror makes it easy and convenient to check how you look.
I often use Hand Mirror to adjustContinuity Camerabefore a video call.
For $6, you can upgrade to Hand Mirror Plus to adjust window placement, gain a notch trigger, and much more.
How to make a voice or video call on WhatsApp Desktop
WhatsApp isn’t just great for chatting on your phone, but can also let you make voice and video calls on desktop.
4Battery Monitor
Time estimates for your Mac’s battery
Battery Monitor
Monitor your Mac’s battery health and charge time from the menu bar.
Battery Monitoroffers glanceable insights into your Mac’s battery health and usage from your menu bar. It tracks battery cycles and capacity and alerts when the battery is running low, helping you be more aware of your usage. My favorite Battery Monitor feature is its time estimates for how much charge I have left and how much it’ll be until I’m fully charged again.
The M4 Mac mini is one of the best devices Apple has released in years
Thanks to its new sleek, small design and the M4 chip, the Mac mini is nearly perfect.
5AnySwitch
Effortlessly toggle system settings
A versatile tool for managing and toggling system settings directly from the menu bar.
AnySwitchis a versatile menu bar app that easily lets you toggle various system settings on your Mac. A few available settings include activating your Lock Screen, hiding desktop apps, locking your keyboard for screen cleaning, and stopping your Mac from sleeping. Of course, there are many more, too, all of which you can customize their position on the list or show altogether.
AnySwitch has an in-app purchase for $5 for more features.
We’ve got bad news about the next MacBook Pro redesign
Apple’s next MacBook Pro redesign is reportedly two years away in 2026.
Customize dock placement across multiple displays
Customize your macOS dock appearance and behavior based on your connected displays.
HiDockis a utility that enhances your Mac’s Dock by allowing you to customize its behavior across multiple monitors. It lets you set different Dock positions and sizes for each display, ensuring a consistent and personalized workspace layout. Personally, I use HiDock to hide my dock when using my MacBook without a display but show it when connected to my Apple Studio Display.
Here’s how iPhone mirroring works in macOS Sequoia
With its latest macOS update, Apple aims to more tightly integrate the Mac and the iPhone with new Continuity features.
Create links for files in Finder
Link and access related information across different apps and files with ease.
Hookmarkis a powerful productivity tool that connects your files, emails, web pages, and more through context-aware links. The free version of Hookmark allows you to easily create URLs for files on your Mac, which you’re able to quickly find. Personally, I use Hookmark a lot to add a file URL to Reminders. Users can upgrade to the standard tier for $30 and the Pro tier for $70 to unlock more features.
Yes, the M4 Mac mini’s power button is on the bottom
Why is the new Mac mini’s power button on its base? Your guess is as good as mine.
8Amphetamine
Never let your Mac fall asleep
Amphetamine
Keep your Mac awake and prevent it from sleeping with one click from your menu bar.
Amphetamineis a simple app that prevents your Mac from sleeping or activating the screensaver. Keeping your screen active can be helpful for a remote computer, long processes, and presentations. Amphetamine gives you easy control over your Mac’s screen saver with a single click from the menu bar.
You can now use iPhone Mirroring to rearrange your Home Screen in macOS Sequoia and iOS 18
It’s possible to activate jiggle mode in the latest Mac and iPhone betas.
9Online Check
Easily check your network connection status
Online Check
Monitor your internet connection status and receive alerts when it drops.
When the internet stops working on your Mac, the first check is to ensure it’s still connected to Wi-Fi. What’s frustrating is when we show connected, but there is no internet connection.Online Checkis a lightweight tool that monitors your internet connection, not your Wi-Fi, and notifies you of any outages.
Should modern tech products start embracing the iMac G3’s fun translucent design language?
Once upon a time in consumer tech, roughly around the turn of the millennium, fun translucent colors were the bee’s knees. Whether you were purchasing a new video game console, a desktop PC, a computer mouse, or even your favorite pop star’s new album on compact cassette, see-through electronic gadgets were ubiquitous in the 90s and in the early 00s.
For better or worse, this particular design trend faded into the rear view mirror as quickly as it arrived. While we’ve thankfully moved on from the era of drab beige PC towers, most modern tech products now ship in rather uninspired black, white, and gray colorways.
Every now and again, we’re treated to a gorgeously colored product – my personal all-time favorite happens to be the burgundy red Microsoft Surface Laptop 2. Unfortunately, the company ripped this SKU off the market, and we haven’t seen it return on a Surface product since.
See-through electronics are arguably even cooler, allowing us to peer into the inner workings of ou
10YellowDot
Make Apple’s privacy indicators blend in
A utility that blends Apple’s privacy indicators into your menu bar.
YellowDotis an ecstatic-focused utility that blends Apple’s yellow recording, blue location, and purple screen capture dots black or white into your utility bar. The screen capture and microphone icons can also dimmed. Privacy is important, but Apple’s constant addition of new icons can restrict the limited space in the menu bar. YellowDot addresses some of the visual frustrations of those privacy indicators.
Apple’s MacBook Air quietly gets a long overdue update
In an unexpected move, Apple has finally admitted that 8GB of RAM just isn’t enough.
