The market is saturated with so many Mac apps, it can be hard to know which ones to download
and which to skip.
That’s why for the last few years, I’ve been making a shortlist of free MacOS app
recommendations.
And wouldn’t you know it, it’s that time of year again!
Hey friends!
I’m Tasia and welcome back to my YouTube Channel where I share tech tips and app reviews.
In this video, I’m highlighting the best Mac apps of 2021.
These are the MacOS apps every user needs.
Come on, let’s go!
So first we’ll start with a few photo, audio, and video apps for mac, then we’ll move
into some Mac functionality apps, and so on from there.
So if you’re looking for any particular apps that fall into those specific categories,
you can use the chapters at the bottom of the video to toggle right to what you want.
But be sure to stick around to the end of the list for a bonus mac app recommendation
that is just so fun!
And, as we go through these, if you’re wondering why some of your favorite free MacOS apps
haven’t made the list this year, it’s quite possible I’ve covered them before
in some of my other free mac apps videos.
I try not to be repetitive every year.
And of course, I have links to all of those videos below and again at the end of this
video.
So first up is ApolloOne.
This is an image viewer that is far more robust than Preview.
Right off the bat, you’re able to rotate your images without having to save them to
that orientation.
But, better yet is all the metadata that’s available on the right-hand side here.
Now the interesting thing about this app is that it’s compatible with a ton of raw image
formats and depending on your raw file, you can click on the photo and it’ll use the
metadata to tell you where the auto-focus is in your image.
ApolloOne is also compatible with Lightroom, so you can use the built-in star rating system,
which will transfer over to lightroom if you open this image up in there.
But it also has macOS tagging too.
So, you’ll have these familiar color tags, but if you dig around a little further on
your right-hand panel and click the note icon, you can actually add a ton of other data to
the image.
So you can add location data and keywords in order for this to be easily searchable
in your spotlight on macOS.
Lastly, ApolloOne also has some histogram toggles here too, which is really handy when
you’re editing photos.
So now let’s move on to a great audio recording app, Piezo.
Or maybe it’s Piezo?
Either way, the application itself is easier to use than to pronounce.
Piezo allows you to easily record audio on your Mac.
You can record from any application or from your microphone inputs.
So you just select your audio source and hit the record button.
You do have a settings gear here too to export in your desired file formats.
Just a simple little audio recording app.
Alright, we’re going to move into the world of Wondershare.
I am a big fan of theirs and they have some great free apps you’ll want to take advantage
of.
But for this video, let’s talk about Wondershare Filmora.
I actually can’t believe I haven’t told you guys about this app before.
Wondershare Filmora is, at its core a video editing app.
It has some cool effects, elements, and transitions built into the app, and yes, while you’ll
need to pay to access some of these cool features, there is a lot available within the free download.
So, for example.
Do you know what I use Wondershare Filmora for?
Take a guess.
Ok, forget it, you’ll never be able to guess it!
I use this app to capture high-resolution png from my videos.
So when I’m shooting my YouTube videos, I literally take video footage of whatever
I think my thumbnail will be, then I pull that clip into Filmora, then I just use this
camera icon to grab a high resolution snapshot of that frame of the video.
Can you believe?
That’s how to take a high resolution picture from a video!
And speaking of high-resolution pictures from videos, go ahead and give this video a like
if you’re finding it valuable.
Wait, what?
Ok, you caught me, that has nothing to do with high-resolution pictures from videos,
but giving this video a like will signal youtube that this really is the content you were looking
for.
Now back to the content.
As promised let’s move into some Mac functionality apps.
First up is Rectangle, an easy way to move and re-size macOS windows using keyboard shortcuts.
Rectangle is a huge timesaver because you can use either built-in keyboard shortcuts,
or create your own keyboard shortcuts to move and resize your windows in macos.
But it would be a pain to have to remember keyboard shortcuts all the time, right?
Well, you don’t have to.
In the top menu bar you can just click on the little Rectangle icon, and voila, you
have all the snap options you could ever dream of, just a click away.
And by the way, many people may recommend the Magnet app to do this on macOS, but guess
what?
Magnet is not free, and as the title of this video would suggest, Rectangle is totally
free and quite literally does the exact same thing.
You’re welcome!
So let’s move on now to a weather app.
And you’re probably like ‘really a weather app for my Mac, puhleaseeeee’.
But hear me out!
I’m not the biggest fan of the native weather app found on iOS or the weather widget found
in the macOS notification center.
So here’s what I mean.
If you click on the date in your menu bar, your notification center pops out from the
right and in it, you can get a quick snapshot of the weather.
However, I don’t think it’s very robust.
Enter the Weather Dock app!
With Weather Dock installed and kept in your dock, you’ll have a quick snapshot of the
weather right there whenever the app is open.
And speaking of when the app is open, you get a handy snapshot of the current weather,
upcoming weather for this day, as well as a three-day forecast.
If you want to splurge and get the full version for $3, that will get you a 7-day ad-free
forecast, but truthfully, I think the free version is great.
Okay, it wouldn’t be a classic Tasia video without a bonus for you guys.
This is for all my fellow Apple geeks, mac lovers, computer nerds, and history buffs!
The bonus app for today is Mactracker.
Simply put, it’s a reference tool app.
But Tasia, what does it reference?
Oh, are you ready for this?
Mactracker gives you detailed information on every single Apple product that has ever
been made.
So take a look at this.
Not only does Mactracker give you crazy detailed info on literally any Apple device, like let’s
pick iBook for example, look at this, we get a little image of what the device looks like,
and we can learn when it was introduced, when it was discontinued, the price, weight, processor
speeds, and so much more.
There are so many detailed sections here and you can even learn more about the history
of each device.
Look!
We can even learn what the tagline was!
Ah, I’m truly gagged!
But wait, there’s more!
You can actually track your personal Apple models with this app too, and the app will
tell you if you are still in warranty or not.
Truly, just so random yet so so epic.
Again, remember that I’m linking to my 2018 through 2020 best mac app lists below, and
I’ll have them at the end of the video here as well.
So, those are my 2021 free macOS app recommendations.
Now I want to hear from you!
What are your absolute favorite free Mac apps and why?
Let everyone know in the comments below!
As always, thank you for watching.
If you liked this video, I want to know!
Give it a like, a share, or leave that comment below!
You can click here to subscribe to my Channel and here for more free macOS apps.
Do it, go down that rabbit hole!
You know you want to.
See ya next time.