Since switching from Windows to Mac eight years ago I’ve tried countless apps, and I’m always on the lookout for new ones. Here are my favourites, old and new, from 2022.

Alfred - Launcher

Alfred is a launcher, like Spotlight, but is way more powerful and configurable. It does so many useful things, from basics such as finding files quickly, or shutting down my computer, to more specialised things like showing me my last downloaded file, or opening the URL for a conference call that’s about to start. A new workflow gallery has just been introduced, which makes it super easy to add all kinds of custom functionality created by the community.

Bear - Notes

Notes are great. I have thousands of them for all kinds of things: recipes, yoga postures, ideas, quotes, books I’ve read, plants.. Many new notes apps have appeared in the last few years and I’ve tried the majority of them. Most of the good notes apps use Markdown to easily add formatting and links. Files from one app can normally be moved to another app without too much trouble. I’ve subscribed to Bear for several years, and even though it hasn’t had any new features for a long time, I am still very happy using it for my personal notes. I love the clean design and great implementation of tags. Bear 2.0 is currently in beta, and I’m looking forward to trying the new features.

Other notes apps I use

  • Obsidian. I use Obsidian on Windows for my work, and love it. It’s much more powerful and configurable than Bear, and they keep adding new features. However, I find the iPhone app slow and clunky. Obsidian is free for personal use.
  • Apple notes. I use it for family shopping lists. The sharing feature works really well.
  • Ulysses. I just started using Ulysses to write this blog. It has a lovely experience for writing, has built-in grammar and spell checking, and makes it so easy to publish posts on WordPress, Ghost, Micro.blog and Medium. I find it a bit pricey though.

Things - Task manager

Things has a great balance between power and simplicity. It has all the features I need with a very clean and simple design.

Other task managers

  • Todoist. I used Todoist for many years. It’s a solid app with numerous features, and is available for most platforms.
  • Omnifocus. If it wasn’t so expensive, Omnifocus would be my favourite. It’s very configurable and probably does everything you could think of (except sharing).

Day One - Journalling

Day One is easy to use, reliable and secure. It’s easy to add photos and video, and you can view entries by location. The ‘On this day’ feature is very nice for looking back over the years. It’s now owned by Automattic, who also own WordPress, Tumblr and Simplenotes among others. While Day One is great, it doesn’t support Markdown or linking of entries.

SoundSource - Sound control

With SoundSource and Alfred I can switch between audio input/output devices on my Mac in seconds. It’s great for when I start a conference call and need to quickly and reliably switch to my headset or AirPods. I was reluctant to buy this app as it seemed a lot of money for something so simple, but I’m happy I have. It’s so well implemented that I think it’s worth it. As a bonus, I found SoundSource lets me use a Logic Pro plug-in to clean up the audio on videos, in real time as I’m watching!

BetterTouchTool - Customize input controls

BetterTouchTool is invaluable for automation on Mac. It’s great for mapping shortcut keys to automate things, for example ⌥ ⌘ - V to paste unformatted text. You can also map trackpad / mouse gestures and key sequences, so it can be used for text expansion. It has plenty of other features too, such as a clipboard manager, a windows switcher, and it can be configured to make certain URLs open in a particular browser. I use it to always open Facebook and Google links in Firefox.