Made this for fun because I was curious how many apps on my Mac were using Electron. Figured some people here might find it useful too.

It scans your Applications folders and gives you a table of the apps it finds, their versions, and their size on disk, largest first. Added some color and a few facts to make the terminal output a bit less boring.

It’s a single shell script. No Homebrew, no install, no admin password. It runs locally and doesn’t change your apps. You can read the whole thing on GitHub before running it:

https://github.com/macnative/electron-detector

One thing to clarify: the sizes are disk space, not RAM usage. And if it doesn’t detect Electron, that doesn’t automatically mean the app is native.

In case you are looking for alternatives you could check my website:
https://macnative.io

Hi everyone,

I'm the developer of Claire Mail. It brings Gmail, Google Calendar (or Apple Calendar) and Apple Reminders together in one fast app for Mac and iPhone.

[WHY, IN YOUR WORDS. Suggestion: My day was split between Gmail, a calendar and Reminders, and I kept missing the reply I owed or the meeting I needed to prepare for. I wanted one app that shows all of it together.]

It's in beta, and I'm looking for people who use Gmail on a Mac to try it for a few days.

Problem Gmail on the Mac usually means a browser tab, with meetings in another app and to-dos in a third. You end up switching between them to know what today looks like, and it's easy to miss something.

Solution Claire Mail opens on Today: your new mail, your next meetings, your reminders and the weather in one place, with a short brief every morning. New mail can be handled one email at a time. Your calendar and Apple Reminders sit right next to your mail, so you can turn an email into a reminder or prepare for a meeting without leaving the app.

Comparison

• Mimestream is a polished native Gmail client focused on email. If you mainly want a great mailbox, it's a strong choice.
• Spark works with many mail providers and has its own team and AI features.
• Claire Mail is Gmail and Google Workspace only, and puts your calendar and Apple Reminders next to your mail. AI is optional and can run on the device with Apple Intelligence.

Features

• Today: mail, meetings, reminders and weather together, plus a short daily brief
• Triage: go through new mail one at a time. Archive, snooze, pin or reply with one swipe, and the next email is already open
• Sort like Gmail: Primary, Updates, Promotions, Social and Forums, or Claire's Primary, Other and Newsletter
• Two actions per swipe on the email list: a short swipe and a long one, set your own in Settings
• Apple Reminders built in, turn any email into a reminder, and triage your reminders card by card
• Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, join a call in one click, and Prepare before a meeting
• Ask Claire about any email: key points, a next step and help with your reply
• Snooze and pin that sync between your Mac and iPhone
• Labels, multiple accounts, send from your Gmail aliases
• iPhone widgets and notifications for new mail
• Keyboard shortcuts and a command palette on the Mac
• Quick add a reminder from any app on the Mac (Control Option R)

Privacy

• Your mail stays in Gmail. There's nothing to migrate
• AI is optional. Apple Intelligence runs on the device with no key, or you can use your own key from Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Grok or Groq, or Ollama on the Mac
• Claire never sends or archives on its own. Ask Claire suggests a step and waits for you
• Optional anonymous usage counts (on during the beta, one switch to turn off), never your email or its content

Pricing [e.g. Free during the beta. No subscription yet.]

Status Current version: 2.8.442 on Mac, beta on iPhone through TestFlight Requirements:

• Mac: macOS 13 or later, Intel or Apple silicon. Signed and notarized.
• iPhone: iOS 15 or later, through TestFlight
• A Gmail or Google Workspace account. Outlook isn't supported yet.

What changed recently

• Triage for Apple Reminders
• Sort like Gmail, as an option
• Apple Calendar as a calendar source
• Drafts saved to Gmail from iPhone, and reply drafts shown in their conversation
• Notifications only for new mail
• Sender fonts and a plain list option without date headers
• Claire Mail can be the default mail app on iPhone

Downloads Website and Mac download: https://clairemail.app Try it in the browser with sample mail: https://clairemail.app/demo All features: https://clairemail.app/features Release notes: https://clairemail.app/releases

Transparency Developer: [your name] LinkedIn: [your LinkedIn URL] Privacy policy: https://clairemail.app/privacy Terms: https://clairemail.app/terms

Feedback is very welcome, especially from people who live in Gmail on a Mac. What would keep you from switching from your current mail app?

Hey, just sharing because the normal way of dealing with files on a Mac is still stupid.

Someone sends you a HEIC and you open Preview. File → Export. Pick a format. Save. Then go find it. Same loop for PDF → Word, video → GIF, cropping a screenshot, shrinking a photo.

I made this app that does it mid-drag. Grab any file, start dragging, tap a key. A wheel pops up right under your cursor. Drop it on what you want. The result lands next to the original. Nothing opens. No dialogs.

• Tap ⇧ and you convert. HEIC → PNG, PDF → Word, video → GIF, Word → PDF, zip/unzip. 66 formats.
• Tap ⇧⌥ and you get tools for that file. Crop, annotate, remove the background, compress, resize. Split or merge PDFs. Trim, speed up, or rotate video and audio.
• Tap ⌃ and you get actions. Park it on a little floating shelf, AirDrop it, copy the path, open the folder in Terminal.
• Not dragging? Select files in Finder and hit ⌃⌥Space. Same wheel.

Everything runs locally. No account, no uploads, no telemetry. Your files never leave your Mac. Works system-wide, no Accessibility permission.

It supports multiple files at once. Select a HEIC and a PNG, drag them, convert both to JPEG in one go.

It’s called OpenShelf.

Oh, and btw, I made it and it’s free and open source (MIT). No trial, no subscription, no “pro” tier. Just take it.

🔗 https://openshelf.msantoki.com
💻 https://github.com/Manan-Santoki/OpenShelf

(macOS 14+, Apple silicon and Intel. It isn’t notarized yet, so on first launch go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Once, then never again.)

Roast it, break it, tell me what’s missing. 🤘

Hi, I'm Pam from AA1Labs.

I'm happy to introduce Sciwand, an app for anyone who is a passionate reader, learner, or academic researcher.

It's a reference manager (like Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote, with 10,000+ citation styles) plus a built-in AI writer (think Jenni.ai), and your library stays yours. You can connect a local AI model for extra privacy.

What it does:

• AI columns: ask one question across all your papers (Yes/No, a 1-10 score or a short answer). Click any answer to see the exact passage behind it.
• Online search: PubMed, Google Scholar, arXiv and more, with the same AI columns for faster screening.
• Library chat: ask across all your PDFs and get answers with clickable citations.
• Writer: select a paragraph, find supporting papers in your library and insert the citations.
• Word add-in: cite, build your bibliography and rewrite with AI without losing citations.
• Works with Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and Bookends.

Pricing:

• The reference manager is free, with every feature included.
• The AI has a free demo, with no card needed.
• After that, choose either an optional subscription ($10/m) that works out of the box, or a one-time lifetime licence (from $24 after discount) if you bring your own AI key.

This week only, REDDIT40 takes 40% off until 28 Oct.
Website: sciwand.com

Feedback is very welcome, especially on what would make it fit your workflow.

Hiho,

as the title says Cacophony is a simple audio sink that allows you to route system audio to multiple Airplay speakers.

The reason I wrote this is quite simple; macOS only allows routing system audio to one Airplay speaker at a time. Apps like Music, Podcast and apps that implement Airplay, allow you to select multiple speakers, but that is only per app.

There are plenty of other audio apps out there (e.g. Airfoil, SoundSource and many more), that might do something similar. But they also have features I do no need, e.g. per-app volume control, EQ settings, per-app output routing and so on.

Since I only need a simple audio sink and a way to select the speakers I want to stream to, I really didn't want to deal with apps that come with tones of features I really have no use for.

Cacophony does one thing, is light on resources, lives in your menubar and is easy to use.

Requirements:

• macOS 26 or later (Apple Silicon Macs only)
• Administrator access and System Settings approval for driver installation
• AirPlay 2-compatible speakers on the same network
• Cacophony must run from /Applications

You can find the project on GitHub: https://github.com/stonerl/cacophony

The releases are signed with my developer key and notarized by Apple.

It is forked/uses code from other projects, see: Third Party Notice

Cheers,

…and let me know if you find the app useful.

Hello Mac friends, it's finally available on the app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/highlight-reel-save-scenes/id6814635712?mt=12

Problem: Every time I want to rewatch a memorable scene, I hate having to scrub through the movie to find the exact moment again. Even then, the film gets added back into my continue watching row, and its watch status reset. Searching on youtube yields clips in poor quality and bookended by ads or music. Why not just permanently bookmark those scenes when i already have a well managed Plex library?

Comparison: PotPlayer allows you to make bookmarks but only for local media. Not sure there's many apps out there that are trying to achieve the same thing.

Pricing: $49.99 lifetime option, with cheaper subscription pricing if you want to try it short term. Free to download and you'll be able to make up to 5 bookmarks for free to test it out.

Notable Features:

• Enriched Interface - Metadata like posters and cast info are automatically pulled from Plex to give you a beautiful browsing experience.
• Durable Bookmarks - If a movie file changes on Plex, timestamps are automatically mapped to the new file.
• Bookmark Import/Export - Export a CSV of your timestamps to archive them or take them to a different app. Share and import bookmarks from other users to automatically add scenes for movies you have. Designed to let you keep your bookmark timestamps even if the app dies.
• Subtitle Search - In the video player, press CMD+F to find a memorable line, it will take you directly to that scene (currently only supports external subtitles)
• Tags/Collections - Organize bookmarks with tags and sort them into collections for reference
• Reels Mode - hit up or down arrow keys while watching a movie to cycle through random highlights. Kind of like channel surfing if you're in the mood for a surprise.
• Clip Export - export and save bookmarked scenes as individual MP4 clips.
• Private by Design - Highlight data stays local, Plex credentials are stored in macOS Keychain, and exported data avoids exposing tokens or full media paths.

I’m a filmmaker and curator so it started as a tool for myself but realised people have been asking for a Plex feature like this for a long time. For a film freak like me, it's become the best way to rewatch and reference stuff.

Hope you like it and let me know how I can make it better!

Problem

I work as a backend dev and I run into large json, csv, dat and what ever format files I need to open , format and edit. My typical ide's or text editors all froze or hang on my macbook m3 pro 18gb (VSCode even say straight out 100MB json is too big to format..).

So i decided to make a difference for myself. its available and latest version offers to open , format and edit datasets in hundreds to thousands of megabytes of dataset files.

It's called Inkline, built in Swift and AppKit for macOS. Version 1.6 is out now, with improvements to selection, switching between files and stability.

Most of my everyday files are around 1 to 300 MB. API responses, exported datasets, configuration files and logs. I usually want to open something, format it, find what I need, make a change and save it. I've spent a lot of time on keeping scrolling, searching and editing responsive after loading too.

Some numbers from benchmarking on my M3 Pro MacBook Pro with 18 GB RAM:

• 100 MB JSON: open in 168 ms, format in 84 ms. Peak memory (RSS): 0.49 GiB.
• 300 MB JSON: open in 393 ms, format in 262 ms. Peak memory (RSS): 1.44 GiB.
• 1.07 GB JSON: open in 1.237 seconds, format in 1.604 seconds. Peak memory (RSS): 4.31 GiB.

These are the median of 3 isolated Release runs, with files held in memory. “Open” means the editor is ready. These measurements are from 1.4; the current release is 1.6. It's due for an updated benchmark, any day now.. But it's improved since 1.4.

I also threw a ~10 GB CSV at the newer file-backed code and it opened in around 23 ms with roughly 119 MB peak RSS while working with the document. Not really the normal use case (for me but I read about others with this need), but nice to know there is some headroom.

There are also built-in tools for formatting and minifying JSON and XML, converting between JSON, JSON Lines, CSV and TSV, and filtering matching lines in or out of logs. I use the log tools to remove noise and highlight errors and warnings. There’s regex find and replace, split views, tabs, session restore, themes and custom shortcuts too.

Files are processed locally on your Mac, with no analytics or telemetry.

Comparison:

• BBEdit: an established Mac editor with extensive search, scripting and HTML tools. It has a free mode, and the full license costs $59.99. Inkline is a less expensive option focused on the large exports and logs I work with, with JSON/XML formatting, data conversions and log filtering built in.
• Sublime Text: a cross-platform editor with a package ecosystem, including tools like Pretty JSON. A personal license costs $99. With Inkline, the formatting, JSON/CSV/TSV conversions and log tools are included from the start. The advantage for my workflow is having those tools ready in a native Mac app, at a lower purchase price.

Pricing

149 SEK on the Swedish Mac App Store. One time purchase, no subscription.

Get Inkline on the Mac App Store

For more apps and web demo, check out :

https://viktornyberg.com

Web demo (WIP)

https://inkline.viktornyberg.com/?returnTo=app-inkline

Posted this on r/iosapps and some people liked it

https://www.reddit.com/r/iosapps/comments/1xb5gno/comment/19rg47rxbgjad/

But since this has also has a Mac component. This is just a fun little project. We all use airdrop, pick a file - share - airdrop it. Works fine and feels like magic. But it has no UI. So I have made a Airdrop clone but with a nice UI inspired by continuity. Just drag a file from your Mac straight into the Iphone or Ipad and it just smoothly transfer through. The reverse is also true.

Meanwhile, introduced a few other features: if you are playing a video on iPhone on the app, you can drag to the Mac and it will continue to play on the Mac exactly at the same position of the video on the iphone. Just press and hold while the video is playing and do the same drag to the Mac motion. The opposite is also true if the video is being played on quicktime.

Added the option to the Files app so it is easier to move files to the app, besides the share menu.
it's basically a reserved space to exchange files between IOS and mac devices.
These features are on version 1.2 awaiting approval from apple for the Testflight should be live very soon.

Problem: Airdrop works fine but has no UI and this feels smooth. it is not a must have, more like a nice to have.

Comparison: Other than airdrop, don't know any tool doing this.

Trust & Transparency

I’m Joao Valente, the developer. The Mac component is Developer ID signed and notarized by Apple. The IOS is on testflight

Contact: [joao.valente@outlook.com](mailto:joao.valente@outlook.com)
X user: johnny_xx

https://testflight.apple.com/join/Jb3W17bK

App Website: [](http://%EF%BF%BCtesselwm.vercel.app/)https://portfolio.ovalente.online/draggy-app/

Privacy Policy: [](http://%EF%BF%BCtesselwm.vercel.app/privacy)https://portfolio.ovalente.online/draggy-app/privacy.html

Terms of Service: [](http://%EF%BF%BCtesselwm.vercel.app/terms)https://portfolio.ovalente.online/draggy-app/transparency.html

Hi Everyone,

We're einstein's legacy v2.0 and we would like to introduce you to Chapters MV.

We created a simple, interactive application for users to enhance the usability of a video assets by adding one or more chapter tracks. Chapters MV is a tool with a low-learning-curve for users who want to get immediate results.

Introducing Chapters MV

Chapters MV allows you to create, update and manage video markers within your digital movies. These markers make it easy to randomly access portions of your video content by marking specific events or places along the video timeline. Chapter Tracks contain a collection of markers. Tracks can be associated with a unique playback language or specific video track within their movie. Users also have a choice of formats for exporting their final video.

The Key Features

• Unlimited Chapters - Create and position an unlimited number of markers within any chapter track.
• Multiple Tracks - Create multiple chapter tracks to handle playback situations like internationalization and accessibility.
• Modern Codecs - Create new movies in a variety of formats for a range of devices and playback situations.
• Marker Previews - Thumbnails representing each chapter markers are displayed along with timing information.
• Background Exports - New movies are created in the background, enabling you to continue working without waiting.
• Internationalization - Select from almost 40 languages to assign as the default when displaying your new chapter tracks.
• Sharing - Share your output on YouTube, TikTok Vimeo, Facebook, Instagram and other popular internet services. 

Who Should Use Chapters MV

Chapters MV is perfect for educators sharing video, usability testers, podcasters, researchers, instructional development professionals, video producers and editors, marketing staff, medical observation specialist, and many others.

The Competition

MChapters, Chapter Editor, and Chapter Marker Editor Pro are all competing products available from the Mac App Store. None of these products offers the ability to add multiple chapter tracks or internationalize newly created tracks. The Chapters MV user interface is also a single window design that puts all the necessary tools at the user's disposal without having to manage windows.

Availability and Pricing

Chapters MV is a free download from the Mac App Store. The application Requires macOS 27 (Golden Gate).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chapters-mv/id6744279056​

This download runs in trial mode. The following in-app purchases are available to remove the trial mode watermarks.

• Annual Subscription: $19.99 per year
• Annual Subscription - Family Sharing: $29.99 per year
• Lifetime License: $39.99
• Lifetime License - Family Sharing: $49.99

Product Website

http://www.einsteinslegacy.com/products/chapters.html

Support

if you have any questions, suggestions or other feedback about the software, please email us at  [Support@einsteinslegacy.com](mailto:support@einsteinslegacy.com?subject=Chapters%20Support%20Question)

Thanks for checking out our new application. We hope you'll enjoy using Chapters MV. We look forward to hearing from you.

Black Friday is coming up next month. What Mac apps are you hoping to grab on sale this year?

My number one pick would be Hazel, if they go on sale this year.

Hi Everyone,

We're einstein's legacy v2.0 and we would like to introduce you to Lightbox PX. 

We built Lightbox to address the needs of photographers and other visual professionals who need the digital equivalent of a physical light table to inspect, arrange, compare, and analyze their digital images. These users are often looking for a companion application to augment their current workflow.

Introducing Lightbox PX

Lightbox PX allows you to create an infinite digital canvas to layout, inspect, compare, and experiment with the story your images can tell in a two-dimensional space. Lightbox provides a variety of options to layout, align, and resize your images, along with tools to add visual effects as needed. Your canvas can also be easily exported or printed.

Key Features

• Unlimited Canvas - The virtual canvas automatically expands to accommodate any number of images.
• Layout Tools - Align, resize or re-order items or groups of images relative to the canvas or other images.
• Canvas Automation - Duplicate, replicate, uncover and re-align items using built-in canvas automation functions.
• Interoperability - Drag’n drop (or copy) high-resolution images directly from Lightbox to another application or the Finder.
• Image Effects - More than 70 built-in image effects are available to apply to items on the canvas.
• Canvas Export - Capture the entire canvas layout as a single image which can then be exported in a variety of formats.
• Sharing - Share your canvas with other applications, the Finder, or various internet services.
• Effect Settings - Use the copy and paste features to quickly replicate effect settings from one canvas item to another.

Who Should Use Lightbox PX

Lightbox PX is perfect for photographers, graphic designers, content creators, digital artists, media service and marketing professionals, and many others.

The Competition

The most direct competition for this application is Apple's discontinued Aperture application.

A number of open source tools, like DarkTable, DigiKam, and XNView claim to have light box functionality, but they don't provide the user with methods to position images in 2D or 3D. Applications like Apple's Freeform and various web-based whiteboard apps are available, however the apps tend to be very general and have image-editing-specific function or deep integeration with the Mac software environment.

Availability and Pricing

Lightbox PX v1.1.1 is a free download from the Mac App Store. The application Requires macOS 27 (Golden Gate).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lightbox-px/id6744278985​

This download runs in trial mode. The following in-app purchases are available to remove the trial mode watermarks.

• Annual Subscription: $19.99 per year
• Annual Subscription - Family Sharing: $29.99 per year
• Lifetime License: $39.99
• Lifetime License - Family Sharing: $59.99

Product Website

https://www.einsteinslegacy.com/products/lightbox.html​

Support

if you have any questions, suggestions or other feedback about the software, please email us at  [Support@einsteinslegacy.com](mailto:support@einsteinslegacy.com?subject=Lightbox%20Support%20Question)

Thank you for checking out our application. We hope you'll enjoy using Lighbox PX. We look forward to hearing from you.

Tangerine is a file tools app for macOS. I launched this 6 weeks ago and I've since added a bunch of features to make it even more powerful.

Some tools:

- Compress images, videos, audio and PDFs

- Video and image redaction, audio bleeping

- Trim, crop, split and join videos

- Annotate images

- Add backgrounds to screenshots

- Remove metadata from files

- Merge, split and create PDFs

- Create image collages

- Convert audio into video

Problem

Most people convert files online which is slow and comes with privacy concerns. Offline converters exist but they kind of work the same way as the online ones. You open a window, upload your file, select the target format, convert and then download. I tried to make it as simple as possible. You just tap shift while dragging the file and a wheel shows up with all the format options for that file. The converted file then gets added to the same path as the original. Works in finder, desktop and anywhere you can drag a file. And works with multiple files too.

It started with file conversion, but I've since added a tool wheel(drag+command) and an Action wheel(drag+control). Tool wheel shows the relevant tools for that file and action wheel shows options like airdrop, open terminal at this path and float(for easier drag and drop).

Comparison

There are online and offline tools that can convert files like Permute, but I tried to make it as simple as possible by implementing a ux that skips all the extra steps.

Pricing

Free to try with 20 files, then US$29.99 for a one-time unlock for conversion and tool wheels. Action wheel remains free.
For student discounts please reach out though institutional email id.

Requires Apple silicon and macOS 13+.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tangerine-file-converter/id6813034065?mt=12

Website: https://tangerineformac.com/

Launch Post: https://x.com/th2049/status/2097015553508725184?s=20

Hi Everyone,

We're einstein's legacy v2.0 and we would like to introduce you to Jukebox MV.

We originally built this project to support an automotive-industry kiosk project, but soon realized that a video playlist tool could solve a lot of problems in digital signage, sales, marketing, and the arts. If you need your playlist displayed in a specific order or at a specific time; or your videos support a promotional campaign convention event; or you have a kiosk in your office to provide vital information to your customer; or you are an artist that needs material displayed across multiple screens in your installation - we built this application for you.

Introducing Jukebox MV

Jukebox MV allows you to create, update and play a video playlist across one or more displays connected to your Mac without special hardware. After importing, you can drag'n'drop items to organize clips into the order you want, then trim individual videos to a desired length. The Playback Settings give you the option to automate playback and Watch Folders let you dynamically add items to your playlist.

Key Features

• Easy Organization - Drag’n'drop segments to position them in the order you desire for final playback.
• Watch Folders - Use Watch Folders to dynamically change your playlist without needing to edit your Jukebox project.
• Easy Integration- Use auto-start documents with iCal, AppleScript or as a Login Item to control scheduled playback.
• Multiscreen Playback - Send playback to any monitor attached to your Mac or combine all monitors as one continuous display.
• Simple Segmentation - Include all or part of a movie in the output by adjusting the in-point and out-point handles.
• Looping - Set playback looping to control whether your playlist plays just once or repeats indefinitely.

Who Should Use Jukebox MV

Jukebox MV is perfect for projects involving digital signage, advertising and marketing, corporate presentations, kiosk displays, entertainment venues, and many other content creation activities.

The Competition

Our competition includes products like Elmedia, IINA, and Vidhub. However, none of these products provides multi-screen playback support or watchlist for dynamic playlist creation. Also, as far as we can tell, these products cannot be integrated with iCal to provide automated/timed playback.

Availability and Pricing

Jukebox MV v1.1.1 is a free download from the Mac App Store. The application Requires macOS 27 (Golden Gate).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jukebox-mv/id6744278922​

This download runs in trial mode. The following in-app purchases are available to remove the trial mode watermarks.

• Annual Subscription: $29.99 per year
• Annual Subscription - Family Sharing: $39.99 per year
• Lifetime License: $49.99
• Lifetime License - Family Sharing: $69.99

Product Website

http://www.einsteinslegacy.com/products/jukebox.html

Support

if you have any questions, suggestions or other feedback about the software, please email us at  [Support@einsteinslegacy.com](mailto:support@einsteinslegacy.com?subject=Jukebox%20Support%20Question)

Thank you for checking out our application. We hope you'll enjoy using Jukebox MV. We look forward to hearing from you.

Hi everyone, I'm the developer of No Rush. I posted it here last month, and a lot of the really helpful feedback I got is now in the app. More on that below. This update adds two new special places.

What is No Rush?

It's a nature ambient app for listening to the sounds of real places.

There are already plenty of apps where you pick rain or a fire and mix them with sliders. The trouble is that ten minutes later it turns into wallpaper and you stop hearing it. I work at a computer all day and kept putting nature sounds on to get through the afternoon, and I kept turning them off by 3pm because they'd gone dead on me. So I built the first version for myself.

In No Rush you pick a place, like a bamboo grove in Kyoto or the black sand coast at Vík. I research the location first and then pick recordings one at a time so they belong together. Most of my time goes into timing rather than the audio. I decide when each sound comes in, how often, how far away, and what it does when something else is already playing. That's what decides whether it feels like a place or a playlist.

Each place also follows its own time and weather. If it's midnight in Kyoto you hear midnight, and if it's raining there right now, it's raining in your room. That's why you can leave it on all day without getting tired of it. Once places worked like this, I thought it would be fun to try the same thing with places nobody can reach.

Problem

If you look for Mars sounds you find two things. One is "Mars ambience" on YouTube, which is mostly synth pads and spaceship hum. It can be nice, but it has nothing to do with Mars. The other is the real Perseverance recordings NASA has published. They mean a lot because they're actually from Mars, but most are short clips, and the wind sounds dull, like it's trapped inside a machine. I listened to them hoping to use them, and I couldn't see anyone staying in that sound for long. The ocean under Europa's ice has no recordings at all.

So instead of using recordings as they are, I built these places from what's known about them. They keep the character of the place, and you can still leave them on for an hour.

New special places

- Under the rock at Jezero (Mars) You sit inside a rock shelter in Jezero crater, where Perseverance has been recording, looking out at the plain. Under low wind and blowing sand a stone rolls now and then, and every few minutes a dust devil crosses the plain. Mars air is so thin that sound is about 20 dB quieter than on Earth, and high sounds fade fast with even a little distance (Maurice et al., Nature 2022). So only close sounds are clear, and anything farther off comes through low and muffled. The shelter and the rock ticking as it warms are my own additions.

- Under the ice at Conamara (Europa) A hydrophone hanging in the ocean 25 m under Europa's ice. The low pressure of the sea is all around you and the ice crackles overhead. Every few minutes the ice, flexed by Jupiter's tides, cracks with a boom somewhere far off. I built it from recordings made under ice on Earth with every living thing taken out. No life is known there, so I didn't invent any.

The sense of space might not sound like much. Still, to bring across the feel of each place as much as I could, I used a 3D scene that shows it.

Wait, was any of this recorded on Mars?

1. The Mars sounds are Earth recordings too, like wind in a desert canyon and a gale over sand dunes (all CC0), shaped to behave like Mars air.

Also new since last time

• A few of you asked for something like the menu music to listen to on its own. Focus, Rest, Sleep and Meditation now have their own ambient music.
• Updates install from inside the app now, and you can see what changed.

Comparison

Portal came up a lot last time. It brings back real places as video and sound, and it does that really well. But nobody can go and film or record Jezero or the sea under Europa's ice, so No Rush builds those from the research, and the Earth places follow their own local time and weather. Portal is a subscription with a lifetime option. No Rush is free.

Pricing

It's free ($0) with no account and no ads. Mars and Europa are free too, and they're coming to iPhone and iPad soon. A few places are locked only because I haven't finished them yet. Some later places may be a one-time purchase, but what's free now stays free and none of it goes behind a subscription.

• Special places (desktop app)
• Download for Mac, Windows and Linux
• Earth places in a browser
• iPhone and iPad (special places coming soon)

About me / transparency

I'm a solo developer in Korea and I make No Rush on my own.

• About me
• Contact
• Privacy Policy
• Terms

Any feedback is welcome. Would you like more real places on Earth, or more places nobody can get to?

Many new apps are trying to solve Photos, and for good reason... having an organized library is almost impossible.

For the past 8 months I've been working on a new take on Apple Photos organization, inspired by iPhoto and using the latest in Apple Intelligence.

Cento organizes your existing Apple Photos library into 5 main categories:

Events
It finds the trips, birthdays and dinners buried in your library and brings them together.

Journeys
It follows a story through time: a person, a relationship or a project.
For me, this is the feature that started everything almost 2 years ago, when I wanted to see all the photos of my cat in a way that triggered memories.

Highlights
It helps you select the best 20 of those 200 photos you took on your last trip.

Stacks
Sometimes the right photo takes a few tries. It keeps them together, with the best up front.

Notes & Saves
Photos of tickets, parking lots or WiFi passwords aren't memories. It keeps them separate.

Apple Intelligence - macOS 27
Cento uses the latest Apple AI models, on-device and Private Cloud Compute*, to organize your library.
Private Cloud Compute can be disabled.

The app is focused on Macs that support this technology, but works on macOS 26 as well, just with less magic.

Comparison

I purposefully didn't search for competitors. I wanted this to be my take on photo libraries, without chasing features from others. However, along the way I became aware of one:

Iris is a pretty good app. They are definitely ahead of me and support multiple libraries. Cento won't, because my goal is to bring it to iOS and iPadOS with your main library.

Looking for testers

I'm at a point where I need to see how Cento performs on other people's libraries. If you're up for trying it, I'd love to hear what works, what doesn't, and whether it helps you rediscover some memories.

TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/e23q3NSq

Note: This is a beta, some of it will annoy you. This is the point in a project where saying so shapes what gets built.

Pricing - TBD [Free for testers]
Will be a one-time purchase, somewhere between $30 and $80 - But everyone who downloads the beta will get it free, whether they share feedback or not.

Hey everyone! I’m Vigan Tafili, an art director, and Qark is my first macOS app.

I wanted a more natural way to access the apps, folders, files, and shortcuts I use every day without constantly switching between windows or reaching for the Dock. That idea became Qark, a customizable radial menu that opens around your cursor with a mouse button or keyboard shortcut.

There are already good tools in this space. Kando is a free, cross platform option, while Pieoneer combines app access with app switching, shortcuts, and music controls. With Qark, I wanted to put particular emphasis on visual refinement and the freedom to shape the appearance of the ring.

Qark features seven designs, three surface materials, Auto, Light, Dark, and Metal appearances, adjustable transparency, customizable sounds, and many other settings. You can add your own apps, folders, files, and shortcuts, then import or export profiles to save or transfer your setup.

Qark costs $5 for a lifetime license covering up to two Macs, with a three day free trial. It requires an Apple silicon Mac running macOS 27 or later.

You can explore Qark and try it free at https://qark.vigantafili.com/

For transparency, I haven't submitted Qark for Apple's notarization yet, but I plan to submit it soon. Until then, macOS may block the first launch and require extra steps to open it.

This is version 0.1, and there's still plenty I'd like to refine. I've put a lot of care into bringing Qark to life, and I'd genuinely appreciate feedback from the Mac community as I continue developing it.

Portfolio: https://vigantafili.com/

Contact: [hello@vigantafili.com](mailto:hello@vigantafili.com)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vigantafili/

I spent years trying to get used to calendars and notes. Nothing stuck until I found the original popCalendar.

One click showed the entire year. Another click outside dismissed it. Seeing all twelve months helped me understand how far away something was without switching views or counting through months in my head.

Then the app disappeared from the Mac App Store. Its developer, Michaël Parrot, told me he had quit Mac development and sent me his latest build in 2019. I kept using it for years, but I couldn't rely on an abandoned app forever.

After trying alternatives that never quite felt right, I built a new app inspired by the original. Its name was available again, so I kept it.

This popCalendar is a separate app by a different developer. I built it from scratch, inspired by the original, and went far beyond the original app's capabilities.

It started with the same full-year menu bar experience, then grew from there.

• Drag across dates to calculate days, weeks, and months.
• Show two years side by side and select ranges across December and January.
• Keep events visible in a month sidebar.
• Resize the calendar and personalize it with backgrounds and clocks.
• Fullscreen calendar, clock and notifications.
• Lots of more features and customization.

The new app is now available on the Mac App Store. You can find popCalendar here.

I also wrote the full story with screenshots and a video.

Does anyone else need to see the whole year for dates to make sense? I'd love to hear your feedback.

How it compares

• Itsycal offers a compact menu bar calendar with events and up to two months visible.
• Dato combines a menu bar calendar with upcoming events, world clocks, date calculations, and fullscreen meeting notifications.
• Fantastical provides broader calendar and task management, including natural-language event creation and a year view.
• popCalendar centers the experience on a large, readable full-year menu bar popup, with two years side by side and visual date selection to measure the distance between plans.

For me, the combination matters. I want one click to see the whole year, another click outside to dismiss it, and enough space to understand my timeline at a glance. The month sidebar, backgrounds, clocks, and display-specific sizing grew around that experience.

About the developer

I'm Ighor July, an independent macOS developer working in cybersecurity, reverse engineering, and native app development. I built the new popCalendar to preserve the full-year menu bar experience I had relied on for years, then expanded it with ideas from AppRaven testers and readers.

I use AI in my development workflow while keeping responsibility for the code and its behaviour. I wrote about that approach in How to use AI without losing control of your code.

My other Mac apps include DockLock Lite, Parall.app, LockLines.app, App Trust Preview, DiskPress, and App Archiver. There is more about my background and projects on my About page.

Availability

popCalendar is $9.99 as a one-time purchase on the US Mac App Store, with Family Sharing and no subscription. It supports macOS 12 Monterey or later.

Thanks to everyone who tested the app and shared ideas. Seeing the whole year changed how I understand my time, and I'm curious how others use it. If something would make popCalendar more useful to you, I'd love to hear about it.

Website | Mac App Store | Full story

Problem

I'm tired of meeting transcription apps that send your private audio to their servers, aren't Mac native, and require an account/subscription.

I'm an ex-Apple engineer who built Biscotti: a private and free meeting recorder for macOS. Recording, transcription, and AI all run on your Mac, so nothing is ever uploaded. Free, no account, no subscription, no upsell, no data collection, native SwiftUI.

v1.0 is out! Since my first post here it's grown from 45 to 330 GitHub stars.

Download: https://github.com/scosman/Biscotti

New since the last post

MCP, language detection, and import all came from requests in the last threads on reddit, and five of you sent PRs. Thank you!

• 🗣️ Recognizes voices - learns your voice and the people you meet with regularly, and tags them automatically. It matches voiceprints from your past meetings, plus clues like "Hi, I'm Steve", and your calendar. All local.
• 💬 Chat with your meetings (MCP) - ask Claude or other MCP apps things like "What did Sarah and I agree to last time?"
• 🌍 Detects language - detects the spoken language instead of assuming English.
• 🔍 Instant search - full-text search across 5,000 meetings in under 1ms.
• 📥 Import / export - bring your notes over from CSV, including Granola exports.
• 📖 Custom vocabulary - teach it names and jargon, or pull them from your calendar automatically.
• Plus: more reliable when switching mics/speakers, better Teams detection, and lots of fixes.

Comparison

Lots of apps in this space. But Biscotti is the only one that's free (no upsell), Local AI, with Mac native UI. Others are:

• Cloud AI (your audio or transcript leaves your Mac), paid tiers: Granola, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, tl;dv, Jamie, Fellow, Read AI, Notion AI Meeting Notes
• Local AI, closed source, paid tiers: Talat, TranscribeX, Alter
• Local AI, source available, not Mac native (web app wrappers), telemetry or a cloud upsell: Anarlog, Meetily
• Free, Mac-native UI, local AI, zero data collection, source available: Only Biscotti (that I know of)

Switching from Granola? v1.0 can import your existing meetings.

Pricing

100% free, no upsells, no paid features, source available on GitHub.

New to Biscotti? What Biscotti does

• 🔒 Private by design - your audio, transcripts, and notes never leave your Mac.
• 🧠 AI summaries - automatic summaries, action items, and meeting titles.
• 🤖 No bots, any app - Zoom, Teams, Meet, FaceTime, Slack huddles, or in person. Nothing joins your call.
• 📅 Calendar-aware - offers to record upcoming meetings, and stops automatically when the call ends.
• 🎤 Voice isolation - records your mic and everyone else as separate, clean channels. No echo.

Private AI == Local AI

Every model runs on your Mac: transcription, speaker ID, and summaries. It works fully offline once the models are downloaded. Your meetings live on your machine, and you own and control them.

I spent years at Apple building Photos, Memories, the lock screen, and more, and I wanted this to feel like it belongs on the Mac: native Swift/SwiftUI, launches instantly, small on disk. Not an Electron app or a port.

Requirements: Apple Silicon (M1+), macOS 15+, 16GB RAM recommended.

App details: Notarized, Free (no upsell), Private (zero data collection, all AI is local), Source Available on GitHub (PolyForm Perimeter License), 250 GitHub stars, AI used in development (but not vibe-slop)

About me: the subreddit rules ask for my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevecosman/ . Biscotti webpage: biscottiapp.com

What should I build next? And if you still use a cloud note-taker, what's keeping you there?

First: Don't shoot the messenger. If don't need or like it that's totally fine. Just wanted to share this awesome FOSS project called Mac.apk. It allows you to run Android apps (apks) natively on Apple Silicon Macs.

So what? You can already do that with a VM, brah?

Unlike traditional methods, there’s no heavy emulator, no VM running in the background, and no Linux kernel underneath. It acts as a compatibility layer directly on top of macOS (similar to Wine for Linux apps), translating code, mapping graphics straight to Metal and letting ARM64 native code fly at full speed.

And yes, there will also be bugs too. And not all apps will work, but anyone trying to bridge the 2 ecosystems, this might fit the bill.

You can check out the project page and GitHub repo here:

• Website: https://projects.voltare.us/macapk
• GitHub: https://github.com/kksimp/Mac.apk
• Mac.apk App Compatibility List (71 apps tested: ✅ 58 work · ⚠️ 10 partly work · ❌ 3 don't work yet.)

Now, what about the other way around? 😊 Just kidding....

If you're thinking, "Now we just need Android apps on iOS,"...well, turns out there’s an app for that too!

Check out Husk: https://github.com/Leviidev/Husk

It lets you run Android environments/apps on iOS, although with a translation layser and emulation. And keep in mind it does require sideloading, but good news: no jailbreaking necessary!

Hi Everyone,

We're einstein's legacy v2.0 and we would like to introduce you to Synopsis MV.

We developed this application to assist people who need to create a visual “contact sheet” for their video assets. These users also need annotation functions for adding text captions and more extensive notes; extraction functions that allow them to select frames arbitrarily or by algorithm; and keyword and filtering capabilities that help them organize their visual data.

Introducing Synopsis MV

Synopsis MV lets you extract, tag, organize, and annotate selected frames from a segment or the entirety of your digital video resources. These selected frames give you a visual overview of the action in your clips. Use filtering to restrict the collection of frames based on your annotation text or added keywords. Enhance collaboration by printing or exporting a contact sheet to share your observations.

Key Features

• Project Management - Project documents can reference multiple videos enabling you to keep related files together.
• Simple Extraction - Extract frames from a segment of your video using either a time-based or count-specific formula. Individual frames may also be extracted arbitrarily.
• Keywords - Tag frames with keywords to enhance the ease of searching for related content.
• Filtering - Filtering lets you display only the frames with keywords or annotations that meet your criteria.
• Interoperability - Drag’n'drop (or copy) high-resolution images directly from Synopsis to another application or the Finder.
• Printing - Print high-resolution source material with or without captions and annotations.
• The Big Picture - View your filtered images full screen for quick visual inspection and analysis.
• Sharing - Share images and contact sheets with local applications and other popular internet services

Who Should Use Synopsis MV

Synopsis MV is perfect for video editors, colorist, visual effects artist, archivist, film lovers, cinematographers, entertainment professionals, advertising and marketing, television and movie studios, creative agencies, and many others.

The Competition

MoviePrint is a good product. However, it does not offer any annotation functions. Capabilities for tagging images with keywords and organizing a frame collection based on metadata are not present in MoviePrint. MoviePrint has not been updated to be Apple Silicon native.

There are several browser-based applications (like Cutsio) that can produce a video contact sheet, but have no annotation or organization functions. Privacy and piracy may be a concern for users of browser-based applications.

Availability and Pricing

Synopsis MV v1.1.1 is a free download from the Mac App Store. The application Requires macOS 27 (Golden Gate).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/synopsis-mv/id6744279063​

This download runs in trial mode. The following in-app purchases are available to remove the trial mode watermarks.

• Annual Subscription: $29.99 per year
• Annual Subscription - Family Sharing: $39.99 per year
• Lifetime License: $49.99
• Lifetime License - Family Sharing: $69.99

Product Website

https://www.einsteinslegacy.com/products/synopsis.html​

Support

if you have any questions, suggestions or other feedback about the software, please email us at  [Support@einsteinslegacy.com](mailto:support@einsteinslegacy.com?subject=Synopsis%20Support%20Question)

Thank you for checking out our application. We hope you'll enjoy using Synopsis. We look forward to hearing from you.

So I'm the developer of an app that's listed on homebrew casks, and I just got this email..

I hope nobody actually ends up using this because it's giving scam vibes.

Here's the text

Hi there,

<my app> came up in the Homebrew Cask catalog; it sells for $10 once, and our store could be one more place to sell it.

<who and "company" / brand> It's a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux with its own app store. People install apps from it without a terminal or Docker, and the apps run on their own computer, so you don't pay for hosting when someone uses yours.

We're inviting authors to sell their apps there. You set the price and keep 70% of each sale. We keep 30% and spend it on marketing the apps we pick.

<their brand> can also run AI agents, but that's up to each author. Your app can go into the store without any AI added to it.

The work on your side is small. You put the app into the store once, and we can help with packaging if it needs it. After that, finding buyers is on us. It isn't exclusive, so you keep selling wherever you sell now, and <brand> becomes one more place where people can find and buy it.

Would that be interesting for <my app name>? If yes, just reply here and we'll sort out the details by email. A one-word no is fine too.

<person's details>

This is a one-time note. Reply "no" and we won't write again.
<more details about them>

We built a cross-platform outliner that deals in plain text as a focus, designed as a "tool in a workflow that content moves through it vs a black hole that wants to trap your data in proprietary formats." The focus is on (a) plain text, (b) ability to copy/paste and import/export directly and easily in Markdown, plain text, html, PDF, OPML. There's styles and formatting, but it's at a document level (how to display the document while working on it) vs at the "content" level (e.g. "make this specific topic red"). The document content is independent, and stays independent, of the "make it look nice" editing experience.

What I'd like to know, from actual Mac users, is whether or not general non-technical users find this kind of thing valuable.

Personally, I'm a software developer, so I pretty much live in a plain-text world where I'm constantly copy/pasting between different applications, in and out of code editors etc... in short, a world where "formatting cruft" and proprietary "your notes live in our world, not your own files" approaches rub me the wrong way.

But that's me, a technical user with domain-specific reasons for wanting that kind of open information flow as a bedrock principle. I'm not sure how widespread that is.

Add in the fact that I live mainly in Mac but use Windows for game development so I need everything cross platform... again, maybe not a common scenario. The common scenario is likely either you really, really need cross-platform badly, or you maybe don't care about it at all.

So the outliner (Fractal Outliner) is aimed at slightly more at a technical audience than a "general writers" audience.

I'd love to hear any thoughts for people who are familiar with outliners and/or use them regularly in their setups.

(Disclaimer: we built an outliner that's not public/available yet, though the current near-final beta is free and public though, info at https://fractaloutliner.app if interested in taking a look.)

When the Dock jumps to another display, it doesn't just make you move it back with the mouse. It can also change the height of your windows, often leaving them no longer filling the available screen space. When you're working and need that space, constantly restoring window sizes and moving the Dock back to the previous display gets really frustrating.

That's why I invented DockLock. No AI I tried could help me fix the problem. I had to work it out myself.

Getting this to work back then was a real breakthrough!

And today I made another one. I reinvented DockLock again!

Dock locking without Accessibility permission

Until now, DockLock's core locking depended on Accessibility permission.

I'm proud to announce that DockLock can now lock the Dock without it! Starting with build 616, the core feature that prevents accidental Dock jumping needs no extra permissions.

Still fully sandboxed, offline, and no helpers needed on macOS 10.14 and later.

I feel like I did the day I first made DockLock work. Getting it to work without that permission feels like another breakthrough.

My reverse engineering continues! Vertical Dock support is coming to Mac App Store versions!

With macOS 27 Golden Gate released, I can now bring vertical Dock support to DockLock Lite and DockLock Plus through a Mac App Store update! Both Mac App Store apps will also support a horizontal Dock when displays of equal width are stacked vertically. Both apps will remain fully sandboxed and compliant with the Mac App Store rules, without depending on external helpers.

The update is not yet available, I'll release it in coming weeks.

For me, making DockLock isn't just about making an app. It's a job I want to do in the best possible way. Every part of it is built with that in mind, to be as efficient, stable, and fast as I can make it. I intend to keep it that way as long as Apple keeps ignoring the problem.

I also made all DockLock apps compatible with macOS 10.9 and later. The Dock jumping problem has existed since 10.9, so this is my small protest against Apple's decision to leave us dealing with it all these years.

Comparison

Basic Dock locking is actually a simple trick involving mouse events at the screen edge. AI can now help solve that, and I believe it has learned from how DockLock does it. But the huge amount of work started when the Dock appeared on the wrong display after wakeup or a screen change. I haven't published my failover Dock relocation logic, and I don't believe AI can reproduce that just from a prompt. Getting it right means spending hours testing and tracking down weird, sometimes unpredictable cases. I've spent tens of hours doing that, getting feedback from users, and improving the engine. To my surprise, I found lots of rare cases where macOS wouldn't allow the Dock to move. It feels like mouse hunting. DockLock is the result of those efforts. I'm proud to have fixed the cases I could reproduce, and the current version of DockLock is the most stable ever. With macOS 27, even more rare cases appeared, and I carefully worked through those too. I'm also testing alternatives that try to copy DockLock's features, and I'm happy to share what's different. Once an app exists, it's much easier to copy what it does and make alternatives. The alternatives I've tested still need Accessibility permission for Dock locking. As far as I know, there is no other tool that can lock the Dock without it. In the versions and setups I've tested, none of the alternatives handled all the rare Dock relocation cases at wakeup or startup. You may find the Dock on the wrong display from time to time, while DockLock fixes those cases nearly instantly once automatic relocation is configured, its permission is granted, and macOS allows the move. An open menu or continued mouse movement can still delay it. Another important difference is performance. I coded every piece of the core engine by hand, carefully tested each function, and ran CPU load tests while improving the algorithms to use as little CPU as possible. This matters in apps like these because DockLock and its alternatives constantly track the mouse. You may not notice high CPU usage while moving the mouse because you're busy using it, but your battery life may be affected. I've explained how to measure the CPU usage of your favorite DockLock alternative on the DockLock website, so you can check it yourself. I've seen many vibe-coded alternatives appear and then quickly stop getting updates, leaving bugs unresolved and questions unanswered. That's why I'm not listing them here. There are good alternatives made by developers I respect, such as Displace and DockDoor. In the versions and setups I've tested, I still find rare Dock relocation cases at wakeup or startup that DockLock handles and these apps don't. But if you don't like DockLock, I'd start with those two.

DockLock Pro

DockLock Pro is still in development. I'm keeping the remaining details private for now.

I can confirm that all the planned features are working great on macOS 27 in my tests. Everyone who owns DockLock Plus when DockLock Pro is released will get DockLock Pro for free.

DockLock Pro will be available only from the website, not the Mac App Store.

About me

I'm Ighor July, an independent macOS developer with a background in cybersecurity, reverse engineering, and native app development. I use AI while keeping control of my code, as I explain in How to use AI without losing control of your code.

My Mac apps are popCalendar.app, DiskPress, App Archiver, Parall.app, LockLines.app, and App Trust Preview. You can read more about my work on my About page.

Price and links

• DockLock Lite on the Mac App Store is free to download with a 7-day full trial. Basic Dock locking stays free forever thanks to paid features that need a subscription. Currently $1.99 per month or $16.99 per year.
• DockLock Plus on the Mac App Store is a one-time $49.99 purchase with a lifetime license and no subscription.
• DockLock Pro isn't out yet. It will be available from the DockLock website. If you own DockLock Plus when Pro is released, you'll get Pro for free.