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Lifehacker Best Mac Apps

We bought out 21.5” Apple iMac earlier this year and couldn’t be happier with it. As an avid lover of free software, I have been slowly accumulating free apps for various stuff for Mac OS X.

The app is free, but sessions are limited to 40 mins. To remove time limits the host needs to buy a pro account (currently about $150 per year). The app remains free for all other participants and there are versions for iOS, Android, Mac and PC. (MacUpdate is not showing the latest version. An update to 4.0. Was released April 13, 2017).

I was going to write a list of apps I use and was surprised when I came across this Lifehacker collection of Free Mac OS X apps. A lot of the apps I am using are in this list.

Apps For Mac

So here is a combined list of free Mac OS X Software

Productivity

Mac
  • QuickSilver – a Launchy like application launcher app that provides easy access to apps, files, iTunes, etc.
  • Bean – Free alternative to editing Microsoft Word files. Open Office is a much more robust solution depending on your needs.
  • Notational Velocity – Fast and free note taking app with search, tags, etc.
  • TextWrangler – An easy to use and capable code editor
  • Gruml – A free full featured Google Reader desktop client for Mac

Internet

  • Firefox/Chrome – Very capable alternatives to Safari browser.
  • Adium – A multi protocol instant messenger app (not so good with audio/video chat)
  • CyberDuck – Client to upload/download files via FTP/SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3 and Google Docs
  • Fluid – Create desktop-like apps for web apps complete witg Growl-notifications, Dock badges, etc.

Utilities

  • uTorrent/Transmission – Bit torrent clients
  • Burn – A nice alternative to OS X’s built-in burning capabilities.
  • The Unarchiver – Another nice alternative to to the built-in utility.
  • Growl - Notification utlity that is beautiful as well as integrates with most applications
  • Dropbox – One of the best file multi-OS sync utility with a generous referral program that can increase your free 2GB account.
  • TrashMe – if you want to really clean up after deleting an app, TrashMe is your best friend.
  • WineBottler – Drop any windows .exe file to install and run on Mac.

Media

  • VLC Player – Plays any media format you can throw at it. A must have.
  • SeaShore – A lightweight photo editor for simpler tasks
  • Picasa – If you don’t like iPhoto, Picasa is a great free alternative from Google
  • Handbrake – One of the best video converter apps to make your media files compatible for various devices.
  • Pinta – A multi-os photo editor with layer editing capabilities

Best Mac Apps Reddit

Do you have a few free apps of your own, share it in the comments.