Here’s a list of my favorite (third party) Mac apps.

1Password

1Password is a must app for anybody, in my opinion. It is an easy to use and well designed application that makes it super easy to manage unique passwords for all of your online accounts. It autofills in all browsers, and stores everything else important in your life like Pin codes, credit card numbers, etc. It also supports 2 factor auth codes. It’s a lifeline for me. And it syncs easily between all my devices. 5/5.

Day One

Terrific journaling App. Makes it easy to log your life, and syncs with the iOS and watchOS apps as well. Really well designed, and makes it easy to get writing, format it how you like, and attach images or locations. I think journaling is really important, and Day One fills an important need. There are pros and cons to digital journling, but a few things I like:

  • Easy tagging / searching.
    It’s so easy to find old posts by tags, locations, date, etc. Much easier than searching through physical pages. It’s also fun to look at the different views such as the map with all your journal posts.

  • Password protection
    You can use a passcode (or TouchID) to secure your journal. That way nobody, even with physical access can access my journal. And with end to end encryption, even if Day One servers are hacked, my data is safe. Since my journal contains my most personal thoughts, this is very important.

  • Backup
    There are backups of my journal on Day One’s server, as well as my iCloud backup, Time Machine, Backblaze, etc. There’s little risk of me losing my journal with so many replications of it. With a physical journal, there’s only one.

  • Convienience
    I can type out an entry whenever I want. Sometimes I’ll create a quick entry from my watch with the time and location, then fill it in later. Always accessible.

I get the appeal of a physical journal, but for me, writing digitally is way easier. It’s personal preference. Also my hand would get so tired when I write long winded journals…

IINA

An up and coming open source video player. Plays nearly every format and the UI is more native and prettier than VLC. If you’re a old time VLC user because of format compatibility, give IINA a try.

Tweetbot

A fantastic Twitter client for macOS. Way better than using the website if you’re a regular Twitter user. Has feature parity with the iOS version and the UI design is great.

DaisyDisk

My preferred way to see how the disk space on my mac is being used. Allows me to find and delete unneeded files when I need to make space.

1Blocker

A native content blocker for macOS & safari. Because it uses Apple’s content blocker API, it’s faster and has better privacy by design that other ad blockers. All the rules and filters sync with the iOS app as well.

Sketch

A vector design app that is mostly used for user interfaces. Great for designers, but I also like prototyping in it, as it is sometimes faster and easier than messing with interface builder.

Pixelmator

My favorite drop in Photoshop replacement. No subscription, fairly cheap (~$15), and fully native.

Affinity Designer

I’ll admit I’m terrible with vectors. But this looks like a great app. I’ve tried it a few times…

Screens

I use screens to connect to my work iMac when I need to work from home. And it does the job well. Syncs with the iOS app as well.

Transmit

Developed by Panic, one of my favorite software companies. This is definitely one of the best designed apps on the platform. A nearly perfect FTP/SFTP client. If you need to upload files of any sort to a web server, this is how to get it done.

Sublime Text

A nice text editor.

Paw

Paw is terrific for simulating HTTP(S) requests to test the web services you’re developing, or play with public APIs. I use this everyday at work. Postman is the more well known cross platform alternative, but I like Paw way better.

Sequel Pro

The best way to the contents of your database. I use it during development, but I’m sure it could also be used in production. It’s fast, and just works.

Tower

The best git client I have used on the Mac. Some things are still a little unwiedly and sometimes I’ll have to go back to command line git, but for most operations Tower gets the job done well. If you’re looking for a free solution, Source Tree is fine as well.