11 Best Free Mac Apps You Might Need – The best free Macbook/Mac apps, a must download and install for new Macbook or iMac users. New to Mac computers? Need a choice of apps that can be use for various activities? You are on the right page! In this article, we’ll cover a variety of free apps that you can download from the Mac App Store or third-party developers.
When you first use the Mac OS operating system. Maybe you are still confused about what apps you must install, as well as what apps are can help you with work, productivity, or other daily activities. So here we will provide references for any app that you might need.
11 Best Free Mac Apps You Might Need
All of these apps we mention are free and some of them can be use for daily activities.
1. Chrome or Firefox browser
Indeed, the main browser from Apple Safari is very good and is the main browser, but why are browser apps like chrome and firefox also included in the recommendations for the best MacBook apps?
The reason itself is because when downloading large files, Firefox has a download speed that tends to be stable compare to Safari. And for some people, they are more used to browsing using a browser like Google Chrome. Maybe Safari will still be the best choice if you also use devices like iPhone or iPad, but for me Chrome or Firefox is still better, you should give it a try if you haven’t.
Before deciding which browser to go with on a Mac laptop, also consider features like extensions for productivity that are only available in Chrome/Firefox but are very hard to find in safari. Therefore, the choice of browser becomes the first list of the best Macbook app that must be installed on a Mac.
2. VLC Media Player
VLC is a multimedia player app that has a large user base and has been around for more than 10 years. Based on open-source, freely available and continuously worked on by the community at the VideoLAN Organization, VLC consistently keeps the latest features up-to-date.
VLC is an app to play various types of multimedia formats, video or audio. Often used by computer or laptop users, to watch movies or videos. This app can play various media formats from MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV to MP3 without the need to install additional plugins or codecs.
Download VLC Media Player for Mac here
3. The Unarchiver
Apple has provided the Archive Utility feature to archive and open archived documents that you have. However, you can enjoy more complete features in The Unarchiver. Available on the Mac App Store, The Unarchiver app, which has the same function as WinRar on Windows, is one of the app you must be install on a Mac.
Supports archived documents in various formats. such as ZIP, RAR, 7z, ISO, XAR and various other archive document this app is available for free for Mac users, and is classified as very light. You just need to double click the archive file and the file will be processed automatically in the Finder.
Download The Unarchiver on the Mac App Store
4. Dnscrypt OS X Client
Do you often browse sites that are blocked by your ISP like reddit, tumblr? How to open blocked sites on MacBook without using a VPN, on Mac you can use this simple and lightweight Dnscrypt OSX Client app.
This mac app takes advantage of the DNS feature of the system so that we can freely browse the internet.
If you want to turn it on, click enable DNScrypt on the taskbar, and to change the DNS click preferences and select DNS as needed. The exclamation mark logo on the taskbar will change to a lock if the DNS has been successfully connected.
Download DNScrypt OS X Client here
5. Alfred
Alfred is one of the very useful app and one of the best apps for mac, whose function can help increase your productivity, when using a Macbook or iMac. basically has almost the same functionality as Spotlight search, which is available on Mac OS by default. Where we can access anything, by typing keywords in the search.
However, there are some differences. Such as additional features and functions that we can do in Alfred, but we can’t do in Spotlight.
For comparison, you can try to install and use it first.
Alfred is available for free, for the paid version you can buy Powerpack.
6. App Cleaner
App Cleaner is an app that can be used to remove or uninstall Mac OS apps cleanly.
So, the remaining folders or files on the system will also be deleted, without leaving junk or trash files again.
To use it is also very easy, you just drag the apps icon, which you want to delete. Or you can also type the keyword app name, in the search field.
This App is compatible with various macOS versions 10.6 to the latest version. Get this best free app for mac now.
or read here on How to Clean Junk Files and Cache on your Mac
7. GIMP
Need a photo editing app on Mac that has Photoshop-like features but is free? GIMP is the answer. This open source app has quite complete photo manipulation tools. You can add layers, adjust the contrast, brightness, and color of a photo, use the crop and selection features and much more.
Get GIMP for Mac for free here
8. TextWrangler / BBEdit
Do you often use Notepad on Windows? Although there is a default TextEdit from Mac, but because the basis of TextEdit is Rich Text Editor, there will be a slight difference when we get used to Notepad.
Well, TextWrangler / BBEdit is the right choice to replace it, especially since this app has many features that make it easy to manipulate text such as html / xml. Complete features for php coding developers on Mac, or casual users who want to create text files in .txt format.
The app, which changed its name from TextWrangler and is now BBEdit, is also available for free on the Mac App Store.
Download TextWrangler / BBEdit from the official website, click here
9. Dozer
Dozer is an app that lets you hide, and show a row of icons in the menu bar.
For those of you who have many apps running simultaneously. You may need Dozer, to tidy up the appearance of your Mac screen shortcut icon to make it cleaner.
10. Folx Download Manager Macbook
Having trouble moving on from IDM on Windows? Don’t worry, on Mac there is also a download manager that functions the same as IDM on Windows.
Folx Download Manager is the MacBook’s best choice of app for file downloads.
When using a browser like Safari sometimes the speed is very slow, but it will be very fast when using Folx. Don’t forget the Pause and Resume Download features that we can’t find when downloading directly through the browser.
Folx also categorizes downloaded files, into several tags. Such as movie files, apps, music and others, so they look more organized.
The Folx Download Manager app also supports all MacOS, a solution for fast downloads on Macbooks.
11. Coconut Battery
Coconut Battery is one of those apps you might need to install in your Mac. Useful app to read battery status on Mac in full details. With this app you can find out how old the battery in your MacBook is, production date, cycle count (number of charging), to whether the battery condition is still normal or it’s time to replace.
At least with the coconut battery we can find out how to save battery on the macbook so that it last longer.
Download CoconutBattery on their official website
Conclusion of 11 Best Free Mac Apps
Those are the The 11 Best Free Mac Apps You Might Need and install on your device. In addition to being free, the above apps is very useful for daily activities.
Some of the app above also available in premium or pro versions, so if you like the features you can buy them to support the developers.
That’s it the best Mac apps or must be installed whether you are a new Mac user or an old user.
What apps are installed on your Mac? Are there any other recommended apps you can recommend for new Mac users?
