Top 10 BEST Mac Apps For Productivity: M1 & M2

Maximize productivity on your Macbook with the TOP 10 BEST M1 & M2 apps that you will ACTUALLY use.
This list of the top 10 best apps for mac took years of trial & error to narrow down. Boost your productivity and save hours of time and effort using these apps!
Best deals on new Macs on Amazon ⬇️
Best 14" MacBook Pro to buy in 2023 ➡ geni.us/Gltxlc
Best 16" Macbook Pro to buy in 2023 ➡ geni.us/2mcOjE
All Applications in the video ⬇️
Alfred - geni.us/KGrfz
HandMirror - geni.us/chMuD9N
Rectangle - geni.us/y8I3aG
HiddenMe - geni.us/lDuPhC
Bartender 4 - geni.us/1q4jBx
TempBox - geni.us/BA6e7Wt
Dropzone 4 - geni.us/LBWB7
CheatSheet - geni.us/qXA2OAU
MonitorControl - geni.us/TPRa6J
AppCleaner - geni.us/oA3TV
MY FAVORITE TECH & GEAR
» Everyday Carry Tech (EDC) - geni.us/EverydayCarryTech
» Desk Setup - geni.us/kITyMuj
» KZbin Studio - geni.us/sRih1Y
BEST HEALTH TECH & GEAR
» Workout gear (Save 15%, code: CTOMSHACKTT15) - geni.us/TenThousandCC
» Whoop (Free Whoop 4.0 & One Month Free) - join.whoop.com/ChrisTomshack
BEST APPS TO SUPERCHARGE PRODUCTIVITY (non-sponsored):
» Superhuman Email (one FREE month) - geni.us/SuperHuman
» SigmaOS - geni.us/SigmaOS
FREE WALLPAPER PACKS
» Phone/Tablet/Desktop Wallpapers - christomshack.gumroad.com/
MY OTHER SOCIALS
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Timestamps ⬇️
Intro - 00:00
App 1 - 00:54
App 2 - 01:54
App 3 - 02:52
App 4 - 04:00
App 5 - 04:50
GIVEAWAY - 05:25
App 6 - 06:00
App 7 - 07:54
App 8 - 08:35
App 9 - 09:20
App 10 - 10:16
Conclusion - 10:45
*Giveaway has ended*
Giveaway rules - christomshack.notion.site/You...
Music generated by Mubert mubert.com/render
___
Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through them. However, rest assured that these are all products I have personally tested, own, and recommend.
#Macbook #Apps #Productivity #BestApps #bestMacApps #MacbookAir #MacbookPro #M1Mac #M2Mac

[@Subaaker]

Alfred is my favorite one. game changer!

[@Christomshack]

Hey Suli, You won the giveaway! Send me an email to [e-mail] and let's get you the gift card!

[@Christomshack]

@@Subaaker sending it via email to the address you emailed me from. Really appreciate the compliment and hope to see you stick around for future content!

[@Subaaker]

@@Christomshack I look forward to receiving it soon. I really appreciate your prompt response and attention to detail. It's great to see someone who takes pride in their work and is dedicated to providing excellent service. Looking forward to staying in touch and seeing what else you have in store. Have a great day!

[@Christomshack]

@@Subaaker Sent 🤝

[@iliajie]

@@Christomshack I use Alfred custom workflow to split the screen. No need for extra apps. Thanks for the cool video!

[@MuhammadIshmaell]

Man, this is by far the most useful Mac recommendation apps video I've ever come across on KZbin. I'm a minimalist and I can't tell you the number of times I have to always clear up my desktop. Hidden Me will come in very handy. Thanks a lot!

[@zoltanzana]

How about opening a new desktop space. It does the same, if the zoom meeting is over, you can go back to work.

[@pasquale78]

You are 100% correct on how many times you install an app based on a review and then deleting it after a few days of never ever using it. The apps that I find I can't live without are Wipr, Darkreader for Safari, AltTab and Rectangle.

[@markrome9702]

You didn't mention it but one of my favorites is Scroll Reverser. If you use both a trackpad and mouse this allows you to control the scrolling direction for each independently.

[@Christomshack]

Definitely going to check it out. Thanks for the recc 🤝

[@rakshityadav840]

is it free?

[@markrome9702]

@@rakshityadav840 yes, it's free. by Pilot Moon.

[@thatsreallyamoon]

I got my first MacBook a month ago and couldn't believe this crap! Wtf? Lol. How did apple never get feedback that people don't want to use the mouse and the track pad with the same scroll direction?

[@dhanukaperera594]

Rectangle. Very much underrated

[@nobodysaysmynameright]

Just a tip on app cleaner: there's an option called smart delete under settings that kicks in the clean up process automatically when you delete an app without you having to open the app + drag and drop

[@MrMoto655]

Rectangle is definitely my favorite. I just got my first MacBook Air(M1 base model) and on my (linux) desktop i use a tiling window manager so it felt very natural moving over.

[@evan_kuo]

I love rectangle and bartender! I often find myself needing to split screen or resize windows and it just makes it so much easier to do that. Also, bartender is pretty much essential for the m2 macbooks because of the notch hiding all the other icons.

[@Christomshack]

Totally agree. I feel the same way about MacBooks that have the notch

[@stillmattwest]

Every time a new version of MacOS drops I ask “did Apple finally figure out window management?” Nope. Too hard for them, I guess. Oh well, at least there are third-party apps.

[@otwer22]

@@stillmattwestif I am not mistaken there are patent reasons why Mac OS isn’t as good at windows management compared to windows.

[@stillmattwest]

@@otwer22 why do you say that? Doesn’t seem to affect any of the Linux orgs like Canonical or System 76.

[@otwer22]

@@stillmattwest Apple has a ton of money so Microsoft is much more willing to litigate with them. With Linux distros there is no money to be had so why bother. I don’t have definitive evidence of this, compared to I have read that there are patent issues.

[@Djwhynotlove]

I just got my Mac today. Everything you showed me, Alfred, rectangle, and Bartender. All all are great.

[@breezeimac1]

Love you Chris, your videos have helped me a lot. I can finally get rid of the annoying search and plit screen functions on my Mac😊

[@buluiz]

Rectangle is one of my favorite app for Mac. Simple yet effective, makes my workflow much easier. And thanks for the recommendations, loved your video!

[@Christomshack]

Glad you like it and thanks!

[@jajasaria]

are you using another monitor ? would you recommend it using an ultrawide monitor?

[@Christomshack]

@@jajasaria Yep - Both monitors are linked here: 💻 Desk setup & accessories - geni.us/kITyMuj

[@jajasaria]

@@Christomshack thanks for the quick reply.

[@TheThaiLife]

The "Hiden Me" app was exactly what I was looking for. I love your channel and am excited for more of your videos!

[@Christomshack]

Glad to hear, thanks! More videos to come

[@alexconnelly]

This was really insightful and helpful information. Thank you for taking the time to research and present the material in such a handy way. Can't wait to try these out!

I've seen hundreds of videos like this, but you've brought up some apps I've never heard of that are extremely useful. Thanks!

[@alinaim496]

I've been a pc guy all my life. Picked up my first mac 3 days ago, so this was super helpful! thanks for making this!!

[@pushkarbaral4064]

Same here. Picked up a mac 3 days ago. PC guy.

[@user-mf6zs4fe7u]

Finally, a Mac tutorial that is actually useful and doesn't make me feel stupid. Thank you, and greetings from the UK.

[@Christomshack]

Glad to hear! Thanks for the comment. Cheers

[@mr.rickshultz4316]

Wow, never knew Alfred could make things so much easier. Thanks for the tip.

[@JohnnyBravoGn]

Thanks for making an amazing video on very useful apps. Bartender is my favorite among the list. Now I like my mac even more.

[@DanielNeubauer]

Raycast is another good one - it is an Alfred alternative that also has built-in window management.

[@AsherSkylark]

Thank you for providing this! every mac user should know this since it makes your experience convenient

[@Christomshack]

My pleasure. Glad you liked it!

[@CompeteEveryDay]

Great list and shares, thanks Chris!

[@user-zo5dy3up4w]

Alfred for definite awesome recommendations thanks😊

[@kambans624]

Great set of tools. Rectangle is super nice. On a note, Elephas AI is one of the cool AI tools for Mac that you may want to include. There are other AI tools like MacGPT, but Elephas supports customizing AI with users' data.

[@ElGordoEseMike]

my favorite is Alfred OMG I can't go back to normal now

[@weirdways7966]

Why what makes it unique?

[@smajaffery]

Great Video and thanks for the sharing this with everyone, i was looking for shortcut on my mac......thanks to you i'll be enjoying them

[@KelseyNash-ls8ks]

Thank you, so much! The most organized/no BS video I’ve watched on this topic 👍🏻

[@vincenzoschifano]

Hey Chris, I would pick Monitor Control, it's extremely useful with a second display, and in case you didn't know, it works also if you are connected to a tv at work in meeting rooms

[@Christomshack]

Great to know, thanks for sharing!

[@leonardorezza]

Appreciate your videos, they have helped me with setting up my laptop as a first time mac user. Love the Alfred app, but the most useful app for me is probably going to be the Cheatsheet app to learn all necessary shortcuts. Your channel is a hidden gem, great videos!

[@Christomshack]

Many thanks Leonardo. Happy to hear my videos have been helpful! Cheers

[@rkloete]

Chris thanks for these great apps. I'm a fairly new Mac guy and the split screen always drove me nuts. Cannot wait to start using Rectangle. Awesome stuff man. Thank you!

[@coolex74]

I recently bought a new Mac and hasn't been using a Mac for a couple of years. Now when I'm back :) I ended up using most of the apps you recommended. So thank you for that. This review was very informative and explained well. Thank you.

[@riccohen6057]

I absolutely love Rectangle. A fantastic app. Not only short cut keys, but you can drag the windows to the corners of the monitor for resizing and placement

[@tomishraelfilart5408]

How do you remove the icon on the desktop though?

[@RoderickMonroe]

I am downloading Rectangle as you speak, this will save me so much time!! Thank you!

[@Christomshack]

Glad it was helpful!

[@lfontes]

I love Bartender 4. I’m so glad you included it in this top listing

[@cjmsgm]

As I have just bought my first Mac after using Windows since early 1986 , I found your clip very interesting . Thank you. I will start with Alfred and see from there.

[@Kobayashi360]

Man, what a great video and list. So input for you / others: - I love HiddenMe, use it for the exact reason you mentioned. Although it has been a bit buggy for me; I find I have to relaunch it pretty often. - Hidden Bar: which seems pretty similar to Bar Tender; pretty sure it's free. - Moom: another window organizer, super powerful. - Ejectify: I use a MacBook on a docking stating with an external drive attached - this helps automatically eject the drive when I put the machine to sleep, thus cutting down on those irritating "didn't eject drive before disconnecting" notifications. - Amphetamine: another good task bar utility that keeps the machine awake, just in case you're running a task that you want to be sure doesn't get interrupted. I don't use it often, but it's great when you need it. One last thought: I don't understand Alfred!! Seems kind of unnecessary to me. Maybe I need to give it another try?

[@Christomshack]

Greatly appreciate the reccs! I will check out those apps this week. Alfred settings are unnecessarily complex, soI’m with you. If you’re interested, checkout my latest video on Alfred! It goes over Alfred setup, several extremely powerful features, and I’m even giving away 5 PowerPack licenses for the app in the video. I guarantee it will help smoothen the learning curve and you’ll be using Alfred more often 🤝🏼

[@juancarlosizaguirre1908]

It's incredible how a little more than a month you jumped from 155 to 8,36 K subscribers. Impressive - Keep doing great videos!

[@Christomshack]

Much appreciated, Juan! Cheers

[@amadorm.1855]

Great video. Thanks so much ❤

[@BDiHaze]

1st time macbook owner and NEEDED this! Know I will be downloading Alfred and Rectangle FIRST! Thanks much!

[@DarlantenCaten]

Raycast replaces Alfred, Rectangle and others, trust me. I still use Alfred because I bought the lifetime license but Raycast is becoming way more powerful. My favorite from your list is Bartender 4, love it!

[@yashashgaurav]

Raycast setup videos needed.

[@laredt]

I was coming in the comment to write exactly that 😂 Raycast has been a life changer for my productivity and eliminating so many little apps with it. It’s truly Alfred on steroids and way more powerful and customizable until your heart’s content 😀

[@FabioBrachtPlus]

@@yashashgaurav There's basically no setup to Raycast. You install it and it starts teaching you how to use it. Then, it's just a matter of going into the app's Settings and Store to discover commands and features that are useful to you. Alfred has some deep stuff around automation that I'm not sure Raycast is able to do, but for 99% of people, Raycast has every useful Alfred feature, for free, and with a much nicer user experience.

[@patriark]

Raycast is brilliant. For me Craft and Raycast are the big game changer apps which truly turned me over to MacOS

[@MarioDuch]

So great to see someone make massive jumps in their channel! Keeps me super motivated to keep going! That cheatsheet app is an absolute blessing!

[@Christomshack]

Thanks Mario, we both need to keep going!

[@knotprasertsimla3969]

It's useful. Thank you

[@iannbrennan]

Alfred!!! amazing! Thanks Dude

[@TheMatschkind]

I love betterDisplay for my M1 Pro. I can use it (pro version with one Time payment) to make use of the higher nits of the internal display and can also change the brightness and contrast settings of the external display very easily. Which is great since changing it on the monitor itself is quite the hassle!

[@robertf863]

Trying get it to work with my dell ultra sharp so I can adjust volume of desk speakers connected the dell hub. Any suggestions?

[@TheMatschkind]

@@robertf863 sorry, Never had to make it work with audio

[@georgemadyabi4567]

For me Alfred is a must have app

[@stevenrae2797]

Great video. Just put Alfred on my new Mac. Works great!

[@alexpacheco7472]

Loved Alfred thanks!

[@n360media6]

Rectangle is really a game changer for Mac OS! Coming from windows this program is a necessity

[@djuzla89]

Great list, i'd like to add these apps as well: 1. Clipy - free 2. Shottr - free 3. ALDente -paid 4. NightFall - free 5. DarkNight -free 6. App Tamer -paid 7. NearDrop - still in early phase, but has potential

[@hughmac13]

If I may, this list could be tasty indeed, were you to include a brief description of what each app does. I could be wrong, but I suspect I'm not alone in feeling reluctant to go hunting each one not knowing if it's applicable to my needs and habits. Thanks for your consideration!

[@tushar_sachde]

NearDrop is good, thanks for sharing.

[@jamesgillispie2430]

Alfred is definitely the best as well as the rectangle. Thanks for the recommendations.

[@hafizhadzori]

Lifesaver! I love the Rectangle app and Alfred! Been looking for these apps for a while now.

[@fastturtlex5]

I love the recommendations. I’ve downloaded Alfred before but I found it a little confusing with all the settings and I didn’t feel it did anything more than spotlight does. I’m probably using it wrong. But I’ll give it another shot.

[@Christomshack]

It’s definitely confusing at first with all the features/settings it has. I’m actually almost finished with a video walkthrough of the best Alfred workflows and shortcuts for productivity to help everyone get the most out of it. As soon as I get over this gnarly case of Covid it will get finished and uploaded. Also giving away 5 PowerPack plans in the video 🤝

[@gokulabinashj.c4526]

"Rectangle" is the best app according to me because I am student and I often have to do multitasking but in apple one two windows can be opened so if I use rectangle for that purpose it will be easier for me to multitask and switch between windows while coding in VS Code and designing new using Xcode and also to check the webpage designed. Thank you for posting this video this is really helpful for me or students like me.

[@Christomshack]

Happy to hear the video was helpful. Good luck on your software engineering journey!

[@RVDS1996]

Damn dude, so much value in your videos I love it. Got my first Mac and they are so helpful. Also, 4 months ago 155 subs!? You're on 26k now and deserve way more, you're killing it! Had to let you know, thanks for the quality vids

[@pennyleroy4273]

Alfred is fabulous Chris! Thanks!

[@MaltePersike]

Agree with so many others here: Rectangle everytime.

[@gmikay]

I've been using Rectangle for more than 5 years, but recently I found a better alternative: Raycast with Window Management extension (one of built-in extensions). Also Raycast itself is a much better alternative to Alfred

[@godofwar85_]

I have been using Magnet for a few years already. Something like that is a must

[@phanishwarjonnalagadda3432]

Trueeee

[@junostr]

Since apple released Stagemanager I just don’t use it that often anymore.

[@tuandungle1797]

Rectangle lacks of ability to change focus between windows and trust me if u have lot of them its bullshit

[@sven0409]

I think the app swish is doing a better job at window managment, than rectangle especially when you don't use a mouse and just the trackpad. You can manage your windows through swipe gestures and I just love this app.

[@Christomshack]

Thanks for sharing, I will check out swish this weekend 🤝

[@Stan_sprinkle]

I agree I’ve tried them all, and I landed on swish. It has cool gesture capabilities, but the keyboard shortcuts are what I like.

[@archiiiii_m]

This was definitely an extremely helpful video! The Alfred program is a great find and I am very grateful for your work and help. I look forward to new videos 🙌✨

[@vrushilkalsariya1234]

Have been using Macbook for more than a year. Got to know about a lot of new apps. Thank you Chris!

[@nobody_kn0wz]

in addition, I'd like to highly recommend 2 of my favorites: 1) CleanShot X - it's an app for making and instant editing screenshots, screen video recordings, and GIFs - PAID, but it is worth it! 2) DeepL - it's an ML-powered app for translations. You select some text and press Cmd+C+C (like a copy but press C 2 times) and it will immediately open a window with the selected text, translated to any pre-selected language. - FREE

[@Christomshack]

Thanks for the reccs! I bought CleanshotX too and use it ALL the time - Big fan! Looking forward to checking out DeepL🤝🏼

[@nobody_kn0wz]

@@Christomshack I'm sure you'll love it🖤

[@nobody_kn0wz]

​@@Christomshack btw, there is one more - CopyClip - it stores some amount (it's configurable) of your recently copied text - pretty useful if you need to copy one by one, e.g., 3 text lines from one app into another. For not to switch between apps 3 times you could just copy that lines one by one, then switch to another app and paste them from the app's tray icon

[@calvintong396]

impressive work Chris. Keep it up!

[@user-mz2kb7rj5q]

I like #1, #6 and #10 in your presentation since I’m retired and found them useful for day computing. Thank you for sharing with the public, Ken

[@pinochioo5678]

he makes the best content on KZbin without click bait thumbnails

[@vDereks]

WAS a long time Alfred user. Tried the latest Raycast, and it's in a whole different and better world. The Pro version with built-in AI (ChatGPT) is great. Many, many more extensions and it's getting rapid release features. Alfred by comparison is old, barely any new features, and the UI IMHO looks terrible. I tried Raycast when it first launched a couple of years ago and went back to Alfred. But last month I tried Raycast again, loved it so much, I immediately bought Pro and dumped Alfred in the trashcan. Haven't missed it since.

[@MitchGurowitz]

For some reason I tried Alfred at the beginning, I don’t recall if I was beta testing or just an early adopter, but for some reason it didn’t thrill me at the time. Seeing your video, I’m definitely going to get the latest version and install it asap. I was surprised that your channel doesn’t have a great deal of subscribers, I watched one of your videos last week and subscribed at once. Great work! Keep it up Chris!

[@SyedAli-iw8vw]

Very helpful. Thanks man.

[@adamarchibald984]

App 3: You don't have to hold the full screen button in macOS to do splitscreen just hover over it. Also the native multi-desktop is kind of useful when you understand how it works. But Rectangle seems really cool. Thank you for the video.

[@andrewtomic]

Am I missing something? This doesn’t work for me..

[@jugaadusapere1610]

I love temp box as it keeps junk away from my actual email addresses. I have attached that to my raycast shortcut to enhance my productivity. Monitor control is another best in my list as I have multiple monitors hooked up to my Mac.

[@MartinMenge]

why use TempBox when mail app has this feature built-in with icloud?

[@VERONICA-og8vl]

Wow! Thank you Ill be adding 9-10 of these, my fav are Alfred, Triangle, TempBox.

[@user-iq3ti1yh6c]

Great video, thank you!

[@saab_9]

magnet does the same job as rectangle

[@p8tgames]

I am not commenting to win the gift card (if I do manage to win pick someone else xd), I am commenting to tell you I am impressed with your video quality. It's nice, non-distracting, webcam elements add personal touch that feels "welcoming" and you show how to install each app for people that may not be tech savvy. I am impressed and I hope you keep it up in the future and that the algorithm will be nice to you because you made a video better than 99% of videos out there. Huge props!

[@Christomshack]

Your comment means a lot, thanks a ton. Doing my best to put out quality content over quantity and its comments like yours that keep the motivation up! Cheers

[@Christomshack]

Morning! Oddly enough, you mentioned that you didn't comment to win the gift card... And you won the drawing! Send an email to [e-mail] (also shown in the About section of my Channel page for verification) so I can send you the gift card. If you would like to forego winning, let me know and I will draw another winner!

[@p8tgames]

@@Christomshack feel free to give it to someone else - wasn't lying about the "not wanting to win the gift card" part :) I just think you have a lot of talent and wanted to motivate you - no financial incentive! Also cool thing of you that you kept your word! Definitely keep going :)

[@MrApples555]

A great informative review

[@lordverbik1589]

Just got my firsst mac and installed these!! thank you Chris!!!

[@Christomshack]

This list took years of trial & error to narrow down to the top 10 that I believe you will actually use! Timestamps ⬇ Intro - 00:00 App 1 - 00:54 App 2 - 01:54 App 3 - 02:52 App 4 - 04:00 App 5 - 04:50 GIVEAWAY - 05:25 App 6 - 06:00 App 7 - 07:54 App 8 - 08:35 App 9 - 09:20 App 10 - 10:16 Conclusion - 10:45

[@AndRei-yc3ti]

Alfred is very similar to Krunner in Linux!

[@shanks310]

Thank you!

[@alexisgalea5837]

Awesome! Thanks

[@deborahtodd3088]

thank you! You and I agree on most of the apps you have HOWEVER THANK YOU for the tempbox recommendation--this should be awesome!

[@alextarashkevich4575]

Thank you, this was very helpful :)

[@albert408]

Thnx mate, keep up the good work!

[@Lafgr81]

Great video! Thanks!

[@obed818]

Nice vid man thanks!

[@user-hz4rq8dm8i]

I liked the HandMirror App. Thank you for the excellent recommendations you shared.

[@Sterlingix]

Thank you very much!!!

[@mikejames7684]

Some good suggestions here, thanks

[@alfabaykal]

This is the best video on KZbin about must have Mac apps. Thank you.

[@user-kd2rx5lg2n]

Great List

[@sbmtech2389]

thanks for the help sir

[@akshaysarkardbit]

Thank you for sharing, gonna be very useful for new users

[@isaacamofahdanso8231]

Great very informative, you are always on point... Alfred is my favorite.

[@Tilgabriel]

Excelent and helpfull video. Thank you!

[@ModernRemade]

I'm still learning my way around Mac after being a lifetime Windows user, so this video is a true asset. Rectangle is a must-have, especially for ultra-wides!

[@user-cp1hh5xq3y]

This is to acknowledge that the list is really really useful. You have done a great job man and you have earned a subscriber for sure.

[@Christomshack]

Much appreciated! Thanks for subbing and taking the time to leave a comment 🤝🏼

[@chenghantsai7258]

That's very useful Thank you

[@scholar329]

good video, thanks!

[@MsAmyMyers1]

Alfred! Thanks for the video!

[@Christomshack]

You bet! If you’re interested, checkout my latest video on Alfred! It goes over some extremely powerful Alfred features and I’m giving away 5 PowerPack licenses for the app 🤝🏼

[@olasgard411]

aaawesome, thanks!

[@thisisbgm]

This video was insanely helpful. THANK YOU!

[@gergemall]

Tempbox ❤! Killer list and video! Thx . Good luck with your channel! You’re unique in your style of content!😊

[@_techtopia_]

Thanks Chris for the suggested apps

[@hanord]

Good review that comes from an actual Mac power-user and not some marketing department. I've been using Alfred myself for years.

[@gurselalpay673]

Thank you for great video. Alfred will be the most useful for me along with app cleaner.

[@ilar1ma]

Really helpful ❤