Blog
Long-form walkthroughs of our macOS apps and roundups of the ones worth comparing, written for people deciding whether a small native tool is the right shape for their problem.
Focus
The best focus apps for Mac
There is no single best focus app for Mac, because three different problems share the name: not starting needs a timer, drifting mid-session needs a blocker, and never stopping needs a break reminder.
Health
A water reminder app for Mac, feature by feature
A water reminder app for Mac keeps your daily hydration goal in the menu bar, logs a glass in one tap, and nudges you on a cadence you set rather than on a schedule someone else picked.
Productivity
Productivity apps for Mac
A Mac productivity app is a tool that reduces the number of decisions you make about your work, and the two here do it by keeping exactly one thing visible in the menu bar.
Focus
A menu bar Pomodoro timer for Mac, feature by feature
A menu bar Pomodoro timer for Mac runs the work and break intervals from the status bar, and Pawodoro's answer to the break everyone skips is a full-screen video that covers every display.
Utilities
Mac utility apps worth installing
A Mac utility is a small app that removes one recurring annoyance from your day rather than adding a workflow, and the three here handle distraction, file clutter and forgotten dates.
Utilities
An event countdown timer for Mac, feature by feature
An event countdown timer for Mac pins one date you have chosen to the menu bar and shows the time left to it, at a resolution that sharpens from days to seconds as the moment approaches.
Productivity
A menu bar task timer for Mac, feature by feature
A menu bar task timer keeps one chosen task and its remaining time in the macOS menu bar, so the thing you committed to this morning stays visible without opening a window, a tab or a list.
Health
A 20-20-20 rule app for Mac, feature by feature
A 20-20-20 rule app for Mac counts the twenty minutes for you and puts a short look-away break on the screen, because the state where you need the reminder is exactly the state where you will not notice.
Focus
The best Pomodoro timer for Mac
The best Pomodoro timer for Mac is the one whose break you actually take: a native menu-bar app that starts in one click, works offline, and makes the pause hard to skip.
Productivity
A virtual pet app for Mac, feature by feature
A virtual pet app for Mac puts a small animated companion on your desktop, and CatPod ties its pixel cat to a focus timer, so a finished work session is what feeds it.
Health
Desk health apps for Mac
Desk health apps for Mac interrupt long sitting sessions on a schedule, prompting you to rest your eyes, move, or drink water at intervals you set.
Focus
How to block websites on a Mac, and what each way costs
To block a website on a Mac you can edit the hosts file, install a browser extension, or run a native app that watches the frontmost window - only the third one also covers the apps you drift into.
Menu bar
Small Mac menu bar apps worth keeping
A menu bar app earns its slot by removing one recurring decision or chore without ever needing to be opened, which is why the good ones are small, native and quiet.
Utilities
Sorting files automatically on a Mac, feature by feature
To sort files automatically on a Mac you need something that makes the filing decision at the moment a file lands, because filing it later always costs more than leaving it where it is.
What ends up here
Two kinds of article. A walkthrough goes through one app feature by feature - real screenshots, the shortcuts, the settings that matter, the price, and an honest section on what it deliberately does not do, because that is usually the part that decides whether a tool fits. A roundup compares several apps and helps you work out which class of tool you need in the first place.
Both are longer than the app pages, which are there to tell you what something is in thirty seconds.
Nothing here is sponsored, and nothing here reviews software we did not write.