SYSTEM INFO / HARDWARE / MENU BAR
About This Hack
Shows detailed info about your Mac that was available in the Apple menu “About this Mac” from Lion to Ventura.
AirBuddy
Shows AirPods battery + a cute pop-up when you open the case near your Mac. Feels very Apple-y.
Battery Buddy
Menu bar battery stats for your Mac and connected devices. Simple, useful, unobtrusive.
Macs Fan Control
Lets you see (and control) fan speeds + temperatures. Great if your Mac runs hot.
Mx Power Gadget
Shows real-time CPU usage, temps, and power draw. For curiosity or troubleshooting.
Vetero
Weather app for the menu bar—clean and minimal.
Hidden Bar
Hides extra menu bar icons so things don’t get cluttered. A must.
Only Switch
One-click toggles for system stuff (Dark Mode, AirDrop, Keep Awake, etc.).
Display Menu
Quickly change screen resolution/refresh rate from the menu bar.
Displaperture
Dims the area around the notch so it’s less distracting on notched MacBooks.
TopNotch
Makes the menu bar black so the notch basically disappears.
Lickable Menu Bar
Pure vibes. Makes the menu bar glossy/animated. Not necessary—just fun. You can also use this to make the notch disappear if you go into Finder, click it once, and choose “File + Get Info” and check “Scale to fit below built-in camera”. Useful to “open at login”/
Mini Calendar
Tiny calendar dropdown in the menu bar. Good brain support.
Reminders Menu Bar
Shows Apple Reminders directly in the menu bar.
Hand Mirror
Uses your webcam as a quick mirror from the menu bar. Weirdly useful.
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PRODUCTIVITY / FILE STUFF
Alfred 5
Replaces Spotlight (Cmd+Space) with something faster, smarter, and customizable. Power users swear by it.
AltTab
Like Windows Alt-Tab: shows previews of open windows instead of just app icons.
Amphetamine
Keeps your Mac awake when you need it to (downloads, movies, presentations).
Caffeine
Same idea as Amphetamine, just simpler.
Command X
Adds real “cut + paste” for files in Finder (Cmd+X actually works).
Find Any File
Way more powerful file search than Finder.
Find Empty Folders
Exactly what it sounds like. Spring cleaning helper.
Delete Apps
Uninstalls apps cleanly (gets rid of leftover files too).
New File Menu
Adds “New File” options to Finder (text file, markdown, etc.).
Folder Preview
Lets you peek inside folders without opening them fully.
Clippings
Save bits of text, code, or images to reuse later.
WordService
Extra text tools (case changes, formatting tricks).
CalcService
Calculator you can use from anywhere text is selected.
XMenu
Adds a customizable app/folder menu to the menu bar.
Sentinel
Drag “Unknown” apps here to approve them without disabling security entirely.
Semulov
Safely eject USB drives from the menu bar instead of Finder.
The Unarchiver
Lets macOS open .rar and other archive files it can’t handle by default.
Bloom
A Finder alternative with columns
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DESIGN / VISUAL / AUDIO
Color Picker
Advanced color picking for designers/art folks.
Revisual
Paid, but replaces the default volume/brightness sliders with something way prettier.
Replacicon
Change app icons system-wide easily.
Shareful
Adds extra sharing options to the macOS Share menu.
Paintbrush
Simple Paint-style drawing app.
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MEDIA / MUSIC / VIDEO
VLC
Plays basically any video format. A classic.
Infuse
Beautiful video player, especially good for large libraries.
Spotify
You know her 💚
Sleeve
Shows beautiful album art on your desktop or screen.
Music MiniPlayer
Floating mini player for Apple Music.
Music Remote
Control Apple Music from your phone or another device.
Music Widget
Desktop widget for music playback.
NepTunes
Last.fm scrobbling + music tracking for Apple Music/Spotify.
QuickTune
Quickly change audio output and volume per app.
MediaMate
Replaces system media controls with cleaner, customizable ones.
reAMP
WinAmp, but for Mac. Nostalgia in app form.
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INPUT / MOUSE / TRACKPAD
Scroll Reverser
Lets you keep natural scrolling on the trackpad but Windows-style scrolling on a mouse.
MagicPrefs
Advanced customization for Apple mouse/trackpad gestures.
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GAMES / FUN / MISC
Start Menu
Windows-style Start menu launcher for Mac (chaotic but fun).
The Sims™ 2: Super Collection
$25 on the App Store and absolutely elite. Runs great on modern Macs.
The Sims™ 2: Body Shop
Create Sims and custom content. You can get this from the link within the Super Collection.
The Sims™ 2: Package Installer
Installs custom content easily. You can get this from the link within the Super Collection.
WinxAdventureGameMac
Winx Club game. Self-explanatory. No notes. From onlinewinxclub.com
Zoom
CleanMyMac
All-in-one cleaner/maintenance tool. Controversial but handy if used gently.
Apparency
Shows detailed info about app installers (signatures, security, etc.).
AppHub
Central place to manage and discover apps.
Macarte
Customizes Dock and system visuals.
Glance
Quick previews of files with gestures or shortcuts.
Apps With Official Download Sites (Not App Store)
Below are links (or where to get them) for apps that are downloaded directly from their developers’ websites or MacUpdate:
• Alfred 5
Official site: https://www.alfredapp.com
— click “Download Alfred” (app launcher)
• AirBuddy
https://airbuddy.app
– AirPods/air device battery popup
• AltTab – open-source Window switcher (GitHub)
• AppHub – launcher/index of Mac apps (search online)
• Apparency – app-info inspector (developer site)
• Battery Buddy – also in App Store but has developer site
• Bloom – visual bloom effect (look up “Bloom mac app”)
• Caffeine – simple awake utility (many mirrors; classic version)
• Captin – cursor/emoji utility (developer site)
• CalcService – service for calculations (search)
• Clippings – snippet manager (developer site)
• Color Picker – macOS color tool (various open source)
• Command X – cut paste for Finder (open source/GitHub)
• DesktopUtility – various utilities (indie download)
• Delete Apps – uninstaller (site or GitHub)
• Displaperture – notch dimming (site/GitHub)
• Display Menu – free Apple extra app (App Store or download)
• Find Any File – powerful search (developer site)
• Folder Preview – folder previewer (indie download)
• Flux – eye-comfort screen warmer (f.lux official)
• Find Empty Folders – niche utility (GitHub/indie)
• Hand Mirror – webcam mirror utility (site)
• Glance – quick preview utility (developer site)
• Hidden Bar – hides menu bar icons (site/GitHub)
• Macarte – Dock/customization (indie download)
• Macs Fan Control – hardware fan/temp control (developer site)
• MagicPrefs – mouse/trackpad customizer (indie)
• MagicQuit – quick quit launcher (developer site)
• MediaMate – media controller (developer site)
• Music MiniPlayer / Music Remote / Music Widget – various music helpers (search sites)
• MX Power Gadget – Intel/ARM power/usage tool (Intel’s tool)
• New File Menu – adds new file options (open source)
• Only Switch – toggle utility (developer site)
• reAMP – WinAmp-style music app (site)
• Revisual – cosmetic sliders (commercial site)
• Replacicon – icon replacer (open source)
• Reminders Menu Bar – menu bar reminders (developer site)
• Scroll Reverser – reverse scroll directions (developer site)
• Semulov – USB eject menu bar app (developer site)
• Sentinel — security app drag-in (site)
• Shareful — extra share extensions (site)
• Sleeve — album art desktop (indie site)
• Start Menu — Windows-style menu (developer site)
• WordService — text tools (site/GitHub)
• XMenu — menu bar launcher (developer site)
• QuickTune — audio output/allocation utility (site)
• Paintbrush — simple Paint clone (site/GitHub) https://paintbrush.sourceforge.io/
• NepTunes — Last.fm scrobbler (site)
• Vetoro / Flux etc — various weather/utility tools (search exact names)
(Because many of these are hosted on independent GitHub or developer pages rather than the App Store, the easiest way for your friend is to search the app’s exact name + “mac download” — e.g., “AltTab mac download”.)
Tips for your friend getting these quickly
For App Store ones: open the App Store app, paste the name into the search bar, and install directly.
For non-App Store ones: Google the app name + “mac” and look for the official site, GitHub repo, or the developer’s download page. You can also use MacUpdate.com for these :)