Looking for a list of macOS apps every user needs? Well, you've come to the right place. Here's a shortlist of the best free macOS apps for 2022.
The market is saturated with so many Mac apps, it can be hard to know which ones to download and which to skip. That’s why for the last few years, I’ve been making a shortlist of free MacOS app recommendations. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s that time of year again!
So first up is CopyClip, a clipboard manager for your Mac.
The CopyClip app is tucked away nicely in your menu bar, and it stores everything you’ve copied or cut. But what’s most handy about CopyClip is that you can easily search to find the text you’re looking for. So, if you had copied something earlier in the day, but have since copied other text, no worries, you don’t have to open the document to re-copy that text. You can just copy it by clicking on it right in CopyClip and then pasting it where you need it. Plus, you can decide how many clippings you want CopyClip to save and how many to display at one time.
Second on my list of best free mac apps is Notion. If you need a good project management tool or note-taking app, then Notion is for you.
Notion is a robust management app that lets you take organized notes, make to-do lists, create subpages and embed links. Plus it’s a really good tool if you work with a team since you all can keep track of what you’re working on by creating something called Views. These so-called Views let you add in notes or projects that you can click on for more info. There are a few paid tiers to Notion, but they have a free personal version which is great if you’re just getting started and you want to personally stay on track.
If Notion isn’t quite right for you, then you have to check out number 3 on my list of best Mac apps 2022: TickTick. This is a powerful, yet easy-to-use task manager.
TickTick works across platforms, so you can stay organized from mobile to web. My favorite part about TickTick is the ability to add tasks quickly via keyboard shortcuts. So, for example, you can use command, shift, A from any screen to quickly add a task and just hit tab if you need to add a task description. You can also share your tasks with others, and of course, manage your tasks right from the menu bar.
Next on my list of free macOS app recommendations is Google News. Ok, so this is a web app and not one you actually download to your Mac, but it still counts.
So, all you have to do is head on over to google.com/news OR news.google.com and get an idea of everything that’s going on in the world around you. You’ll have top stories, news curated just for you based on your interests. You’ll have your countries news, local news, business, entertainment, sports, science, and health news all in one spot. I head here about once a day and get a good snapshot of what’s going on. Plus, of course, there are android and iOS apps that you can get your news on too.
5th on my list of free macOS recommendations is Time Out - Break Reminders. Think of this as your forced break during through your workday. If you’re like me and you end up staring at your screen for hours and hours on end, your eyes will definitely thank you for taking a time out.
Time Out is really simple. It forces you to take a break by dimming your screen so you can’t use it for a specified amount of time. Now, don’t worry, you set the frequency and length of the breaks. Time Out comes with suggested breaks for you, but you can take micro breaks every 15 or 20 minutes and set the duration to last just a few seconds so you can allow your eyes to focus on something other than a screen. Or, you can set normal breaks throughout your day where you can get up and stretch or move your body, or have lunch away from your desk, retrain your eyes, or whatever you desire, that’s not you staring at your screen.
Number 6 is one of my absolute favorite apps that’s on my MacBook Pro this year: Meeter. This app allows you to keep track of and join all your meetings faster, from one place.
If you’ve got different meeting apps on the go, like Google Meet, Zoom, Webex, Teams, or whatever the heck else everyone is using, you can connect your calendar to Meeter and it will automatically pull all your upcoming calls from different platforms, so they are stored in one central spot. Hallelujah! Not only will all your calls be neatly organized in Meeter, but you can join the call right from there too. So you no longer have to switch from calendar to calendar and find and click on links. With Meeter, they are all in one spot. Plus, if you have an upcoming meeting, it will appear directly in your menu bar and you’ll have a little countdown to the next meeting in your calendar in the menu bar. How neat is that? Meeter is, of course, totally free, and they are extending their Pro for free to users for a limited time. So, run, don’t walk on this one!
And, true to form, let’s throw a bonus Free mac app in here for ya: Complete Anatomy. Ya, we’re going random for this year’s bonus. But it’s a good one.
So remember when we were growing up and we’d look through medical books at the complete anatomy and human body? No, just me? Anyway, if you’re a nerd like me and want to learn more about human anatomy, this Mac app is for you. It’s so cool.
Complete Anatomy offers interactive 3D modeling of the entire skeletal and connective tissue layers. You can zoom in for more details and to animate muscle movements. This app is a great way to teach kids (or yourself) about the human body, for free, no library card or googling needed. Gotta love it.
Phew, we made it! Those are my 2022 free macOS app recommendations. Now I want to hear from you! What are your absolute favorite free Mac apps and why?