Upgraded my MacBook Pro M2 Max from macOS Sonoma to Golden Gate 27.0.1 yesterday, and I can't believe how messed up things are.

Tabs on the start page in Safari are basically invisible with some background images. The background image in the photo is one of the built-in images in Safari.

Mission Control is horrible now. There is a noticeable lag when clicking on another full-screen app or desktop, and I can't click on the wallpaper to go to the desktop when I go to Mission Control from a full-screen app.

The new app launcher thingy is awful. The apps are always arranged in alphabetical order, ruining muscle memory. I miss Launchpad.

Tilt reads the lid angle sensor in the hinge of Apple silicon MacBooks. Lower the lid a little and your windows lean back from a flat wallpaper, and the picture holds still while the screen turns. No camera, no head tracking. Lift the lid and everything's back to normal.

- Free, no in-app purchase: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6819511315

- Needs an Apple silicon MacBook with a lid angle sensor, macOS 14+, built-in display only. If your Mac has no sensor, the menu says so.

- Screen Recording is the only permission; frames are thrown away after drawing and there's no network code

I'd like to hear whether it works on your MacBook model, whether the effect looks natural, what you'd use it for, and about any bugs or install trouble (support page: https://tilt.cottonferry.com/support/).

Edit: the end of the video still shows a GitHub link from when Tilt was open source. It isn't anymore, so the App Store link above is the only download.

A few people told me the one thing they missed in DiskFox was a map like DaisyDisk's. So 1.2 has one, with a twist: the colour shows what grew this week, not just how big things are.

Big red block = big and growing. Grey = big but unchanged. Click one and it says it in plain words ("Movies: 20.7 GB, grew 12.5 GB this week"), then click in to find the folder (in my case, a render folder I'd forgotten about).

The rest of the app:

- keeps a dated history of your disk, so it can say what changed and when

- splits System Data into named parts instead of one grey bar

- nothing gets deleted without you reviewing it; most things go to the Trash

Honest limits: startup disk only (no external drives), and some of System Data macOS just won't tell apps about, so it says "size unknown" instead of guessing.

14-day free trial, then a one-time price, no subscription: https://diskfox.app

The screenshot is Demo Mode sample data. What would you want the map to show that it doesn't?

Actually this isn’t an advertisement it’s a free program. I use an external SSD with my Mac mini M4 because I’m constantly running low on storage space. I kept running into issues when downloading DMG files, as I didn’t want them downloaded to my internal SSD. So, I built a custom program to solve this, and then decided to release it publicly, I’m sure there are plenty of others out there facing the same problem.

This program is EXdl please don’t forget to leave a star!

I'm the developer of MenuDart.

My MacBook's menu bar runs out of room fast — I have 18 menu bar icons and only a few are visible, the rest tucked behind the « button. The notch makes it worse, and some app menus don't fit either. I was using another menu bar icon manager, but it started behaving strangely after I updated to macOS 27 Golden Gate, so I built my own with a different approach.

What it does: Two popups from global keyboard shortcuts (⌥⌘[ for App Menus, ⌥⌘] for Menu Bar Icons — or open either from the MenuDart icon). App Menus: shows the frontmost app's menus in a popup next to your pointer, even when the titles don't fit in the menu bar. Submenus open in place with a breadcrumb.

Menu Bar Icons: gathers every menu bar icon into a grid — including the ones hidden by a crowded bar or the notch. Pick one with arrow keys or pointer, and it clicks the real icon for you. The icon's menu opens where it normally does, and MenuDart moves your pointer onto it so you don't have to travel to the top of the screen.

How it's different: Unlike managers that rearrange or hide icons inside the menu bar, MenuDart doesn't touch your menu bar at all — it just shows what's there in a popup. Native AppKit, no Electron. macOS 14+ (Liquid Glass on macOS 26+), Universal (Apple silicon + Intel).

Pricing: $6.99 one-time purchase (not a subscription), 14-day free trial, no account. Launch discount auto-applies at checkout.

Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, distributed directly from GitHub Releases. No data collection — the only network request is the update check. Requires Accessibility permission (needed to read menus and click icons) and optionally Screen Recording for real icon thumbnails.

Link: - https://github.com/studiojin-dev/menudart-public - https://studiojin.dev/menudart

Happy to answer questions and hear feedback from heavy menu-bar users — what's missing?

Hey everyone,

Few months back, I shared Muffle with you all, a lightweight macOS menu bar app that blurs and dims background windows so you can focus on the active one.

There are several apps like HazeOver (dims the background but no blur) and Monocle (beautifully designed app but recently reported causing background performance issues) which does what Muffle does but I wanted to build an app which applies background blur and applies a dim, without taking a toll on CPU or GPU.

Some distinct features:
- ~0% idle usage
- Shake to toggle the blur
- Multi monitor support and monitor specific blur

It's fully local and no data is collected

Changes on the latest update:
- Muffle's blur/dim is much smoother
- Transition animation controls
- Removed accessibility permission
- Mission control support

As a seasonal offer, I'm pricing it at $4.99 for two devices. You can download it and use it for 7 days for free. You can use the code MACOSLAUNCH to get the discount.

It's apple notarized and distributed directly.

Privacy policy: https://www.getmuffle.com/privacy

Feel free to try it out and let me know your thoughts.

Link: https://www.getmuffle.com

First time building a macOS app.

Introducing Dockorate, a cozy Fall harvest that lives on your dock with more seasons and festivals coming soon.

Download it here: https://dockorate.com/

I'm the developer of Paper Birds, a menu-bar app that creates a screen saver experience on macOS.

It follows paper birds through forests, mountains and cities, with the birds, scenery and camera rendered in real time. It runs independently and doesn't replace the macOS security lock screen.

The idea was inspired by Night Bird, an old DOS-era screen saver, and I wanted to bring that feeling to the Mac in real-time 3D.

The camera movement is a big part of it, from following the birds close up to looking down over the city. I'm curious whether you prefer that kind of moving view in a screen saver, or something more still.

Here's a look at the City night scene:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NDp2gzXKHbs

The free download includes Classic. Expanded Flight adds more worlds and flight options for a one-time purchase, currently US$4.99 on the App Store. No subscription.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6814753495

I am having trouble finding the best menu bar app I have tried many apps for the new version macOS 27 but most of them are broken or don't work or lags and has too many issues. So please if anyone knows the best app right now, please help me out here.

I’m the developer of Docktopus. It’s a customizable dock with a bunch of desktop tools built into it, so you can reach them from the same place as your apps.

Compared with the stock macOS Dock, the biggest difference is what you can put alongside your app icons: window previews, clipboard history, audio controls, system stats, and more. You choose the widgets and layout, so it can be a small dock or a full taskbar.

There’s quite a bit in it now:

- Dock and window switching: Hover over a running app to preview its windows and click the one you want. There’s also a keyboard window switcher. You can import your existing macOS Dock, pin apps and folders, place it on any screen edge, and choose which monitors show it.

- Dynamic Island: An optional expandable panel at the top of your screen for music controls, clipboard history, system stats, calendar events, notifications, and audio/display controls. It also has a Drop Zone for temporarily keeping files within reach. Works on displays without a notch too.

- Clipboard manager: Search copied text, links, images, and files; pin things you reuse and organize them into categories. Text recognition runs on your Mac, so you can find a copied screenshot by words inside it.

- Time Spent: See where your day went with app usage, daily trends, and browser titles/URLs where supported. You can add manual entries, run timers, and export filtered records as CSV. Automatic tracking is optional, and the history stays on your Mac.

- Remembrance: For those “I saw this somewhere yesterday” moments. It can save screenshots of your active windows and recognize their text, letting you search past work by text, app, or date. You can copy text from captures or reopen a page when its URL is available. Capture is off by default, with app exclusions and storage/retention controls.

- Audio Mixer: Turn down one app without turning everything else down. Adjust or mute individual apps, switch audio outputs, and manage system volume from the dock, menu bar, or Island. Per-app controls need macOS 14.2 or newer.

- Other useful bits: CPU/GPU, memory, and network stats; brightness controls for compatible displays; calendar, timers, Now Playing, a color picker, and Coffee to keep your Mac awake.

For the look, there’s Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95, all in light and dark versions, plus editable colors, fonts, and icons. Yes, the Windows 95 theme includes the retro taskbar look.

Clipboard history, Time Spent, and Remembrance stay local. There’s also a Privacy Pause that temporarily stops all three from collecting new activity.

There’s a trial before buying. Launch pricing is $19.99 ($29.99 regular), one-time for two Macs, with a year of updates included. You can keep using covered versions afterward without a subscription.

Screenshots, details, and download: https://docktopus.app

I only realized this after switching to macOS 26. Why does everyone feel the need to push such a big lie? Tahoe is literally smoother and faster than Golden Gate!

I keep my OS very pared down, and store most of my media on an external SSD.

macOS 27.0.1, M4 MacMini.

Apple Intelligence removed with Pared, then PureMac, then Onyx.

Anyone got their macOS data lower than this? Watcha got?

Some people have issues with Spotlight - myself included.
That was the initial motivation for me to create "Look" : a fuzzy-finding launcher.

After using it for a while, I decided to make it open-source; it will remain free forever.

If you’re perfectly happy with Spotlight or the tool you’re currently using, then by all means, keep enjoying it!

However, if you encounter any of the following issues, Look might be an alternative worth considering:

- Searching for local files or folders is slow, or you sometimes struggle to find the right app or item you’re looking for.

- You have to pay for basic features, such as clipboard history.

- The app isn't native, leading to high CPU and memory usage, or occasional lag.

- There are limited options for customizing the interface.

....

Look comes with a wide range of features, and I would love to hear your feedback!

Github repo: https://github.com/kunkka19xx/look

Hi r/MacOS, I'm the developer of Compact Contacts.

Apple's Contacts app shows one card at a time, which gets painful once you have a few thousand people spread across iCloud, Google and Exchange. Compact Contacts opens the contacts you already have and shows them as a sortable table. There's no second address book and no sync of its own, so edits go back through macOS like any change you'd make in Contacts.

What it does today:

• One table with the columns you pick, saved layouts, and search across every field including notes
• Merge duplicates field by field (you choose which phone, email or address stays), and undo the last merge for up to 30 days
• Bulk edit with a before/after preview for every card before anything is saved
• Smart Views like "Missing Email" or "Has Notes"
• CSV and vCard import/export

It's been out for a while now and people using it have been really kind with feedback and bug reports, which is a big part of why 2.0 got this big. Thank you if that's you.

Coming in 2.0 (free update for everyone who already has it)

• Health Check: one scan gives your address book a score and lists duplicates, broken numbers and emails, missing names, stray spaces and so on
• Tags with colors, saved as regular Contacts groups so they sync with iCloud and Google
• Birthdays and anniversaries list with optional reminders
• Automatic encrypted backups on your Mac, with a history view that shows what changed and lets you restore a single field or a deleted contact
• Rules, like "when a new contact is added, format the phone number and add a tag"
• Print mailing labels and envelopes, Excel export, business card scanning, and a menu bar search
• Faster loading and search that works properly in every language
• Drag contacts out as vCards
• A redesigned iPhone app, with proper support for foldable iPhones (three columns when it's open)
• Lots of small fixes

Details

• macOS 15 or later, one-time US$24.99. No subscription, no in-app purchases
• No account, no ads, no analytics. The app never sends your contacts anywhere
• English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6790129187?pt=129119018&ct=reddit_macos&mt=8

There's also an iPhone + iPad version (separate purchase): https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6795653671?pt=129119018&ct=reddit_macos&mt=8

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

I’m the developer of Cursor Teleporter 2, a macOS utility for moving the cursor between displays, saved positions, and screen edges.

On a setup with several monitors, the cursor can spend a surprising amount of time travelling back and forth across your screens. Reaching the same windows, panels, and controls all day adds up to repetitive movement, interrupted focus, and a tired wrist. Cursor Teleporter lets you save exact positions and return to them with keyboard shortcuts.

macOS already includes Move Cursor to Next Monitor, which is useful for a simple screen jump. Cursor Teleporter supports a broader range of cursor workflows: returning to exact saved positions, moving through displays and saved points separately, navigating forward or backward, and leaving your windows alone.

With 2.0, I added Edge Teleporting. Hold Option and move through an enabled screen edge, and the cursor appears on the opposite side. You can choose which edges are active and whether the modifier is required. The update also adds a visual saved-points overview, optional cursor highlighting, and actions for Apple Shortcuts and AppleScript.

Pricing and availability

For new users, Cursor Teleporter is $7.99 as a one-time purchase, with no subscription. Updates within a major version are always included; major upgrades may be paid.

For 2.0, I decided to make the upgrade free for everyone who already owns the app, including Mac App Store customers.

Requires macOS 26 or later.

Links

• Website and trial: https://www.apptorium.com/cursor-teleporter
• Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/cursor-teleporter/id6471482080

[Open Source] I built BrewStore — A native, modern SwiftUI GUI for Homebrew (casks, background services, snapshots & Rosetta 2 inspector)

Hey r/macOS! 👋

Like many of you, I rely on Homebrew every single day for my development setup and everyday Mac applications. While the terminal CLI is great, I often wished for a fast, truly native macOS interface to visually browse casks, monitor background services, audit disk usage, and manage updates without dealing with bloated Electron wrappers, web apps, or abandoned projects.

Over the past few months, I built BrewStore — a 100% native desktop application and companion for Homebrew written in pure SwiftUI and AppKit. It is 100% free, MIT-licensed, and runs completely locally with zero telemetry.

🌟 Key Features

• ⚡ 100% Native & Blazing Fast: Built from scratch in SwiftUI and AppKit for macOS 14+ (Sonoma & Sequoia). It opens instantly and indexes over 10,000+ formulae and casks locally in under 20ms.
• 🛡️ Blast-Radius Previews & Dry-Run Safety: Before committing any uninstall, upgrade, or autoremove, BrewStore calculates reverse-dependency trees and orphaned package impacts so you never accidentally break your dev environment.
• ⏪ Time Machine Rollback Snapshots: Automatically creates system state snapshots before package mutations, allowing 1-click rollbacks with visual diff comparisons if an update breaks a tool.
• 🍎 Apple Silicon Native & Rosetta 2 Migration: Visual architecture badges (ARM64 Native, Universal, and Rosetta 2) with an automated scanner detecting Intel apps running under Rosetta 2 emulation, plus a 1-click migration tool to save battery and CPU cycles.
• ⚙️ Background Services & LaunchAgent Monitor: Manage brew services, user LaunchAgents (~/Library/LaunchAgents), and system LaunchAgents in one dashboard with live CPU %, memory RSS, and active listening ports.
• 🧹 Per-App Storage & Cache Cleaner: Dedicated storage inspection breaking down Binary Size vs. Caches & Logs, with safe routing directly to ~/.Trash instead of permanent deletion.
• 💻 Menu Bar Companion & Terminal CLI: Rigid zero-distortion menu bar popover for one-click updates and system health monitoring, plus a bundled brewstore CLI companion for scripting and terminal workflows.
• 🔄 Multi-Provider Git Cloud Sync: Back up and synchronize your ~/Brewfile to GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Forgejo, or self-hosted Gitea instances.

🔒 Privacy & Open Source Philosophy

• 100% Free & Open Source: Licensed under MIT. No subscriptions, no ads, no locked "Pro" features.
• Zero Telemetry / 100% Local: No analytics, no tracking, and no external account required.
• Non-Destructive Coexistence: BrewStore does not replace or alter your existing Homebrew installation; it reads and executes standard Homebrew commands alongside your existing terminal workflow.

📦 Installation

Option 1: Official Homebrew Cask (Recommended)

bash brew tap AMFI-Disable/brewstore brew install --cask brewstore

To upgrade in the future:

bash brew upgrade --cask brewstore

Option 2: Manual DMG Download (GitHub Releases)

You can grab the compiled .dmg from GitHub: * Repository: https://github.com/AMFI-Disable/BrewStore * Releases: https://github.com/AMFI-Disable/BrewStore/releases

⚠️ Gatekeeper Note for Manual DMG:

Because BrewStore is a community open-source project without a paid Apple Developer ID certificate ($99/year), macOS Gatekeeper will flag the downloaded app bundle on first launch.

To clear the quarantine attribute via Terminal:

bash sudo xattr -r -c /Applications/BrewStore.app

(Alternatively, you can go to *System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click **Open Anyway, or Control-click BrewStore.app in Finder and select Open).*

🛠️ Build From Source

If you prefer building it yourself with Xcode:

bash git clone https://github.com/AMFI-Disable/BrewStore.git cd BrewStore xcodegen generate xcodebuild -scheme BrewStore -configuration Release -destination 'platform=macOS' build

💬 Feedback & Discussion

I built BrewStore to make package management on macOS visual, safe, and pleasant. I would love to hear your feedback, workflow suggestions, or bug reports!

A small macOS Tahoe utility for changing or removing window corner rounding.

Simple GUI with presets + custom radius. No SIP changes or code injection.

GitHub: https://github.com/mansarip/mac-window-corners

made this for myself pretty quickly with rea. thought i'd share in case anyone needs it.

https://github.com/fatihacan1/cleanmybrain

I'm the developer of Mac MCP, a small native menu bar app plus a local MCP server that lets ChatGPT, Claude, Codex and other AI clients use the Mac you already work on.

I wanted to solve a very Mac-specific irritation. I'd ask an agent to do something in Safari or another app, and suddenly it was switching my tabs, stealing focus, or clicking while I was in the middle of typing. So I built background Safari/Chrome automation and ownership rules for concurrent browser work. There's also a desktop agent cursor and an optional live activity indicator near the notch so it's easier to see what the agent is touching without confusing its pointer with yours.

It can work with native apps through Accessibility, as well as files and terminal commands. The newer version also handles scheduled AI tasks with result/step reports and local document search with citations and on-device OCR for scanned PDFs.

A few limits worth knowing before you try it:

• It isn't a security sandbox. Tools act with your macOS account's permissions, and an online AI model can receive information it reads.
• The packaged installer for Apple Silicon supports macOS 14+. An installer path is available for macOS 13+.
• The package isn't notarized yet, so macOS will require an explicit first-open approval.
• It's free and MIT-licensed. No subscription from Mac MCP, although your AI provider may charge you.

Project and demo: https://github.com/bulutarkan/mac-mcp

I mostly want feedback from people who actually share their Mac with background automations. Would you rather see a very obvious cursor/activity indicator every time an agent uses another app, or only when it's about to do something that needs your approval?

I must be doing something wrong because this is insane.

I've cleared libraries and caches. I deleted Garageband, even tho I used it. I stopped storing iMessages on my computer and I deleted a ton of photos and documents.

How can Apple say the computer has X memory when it actually has X-100gb?

In image 1 each column use to be a folder. So the first column is folder 1. And the second column is folder 2 in folder 1. And the third column is folder 3 that is found inside folder 2. I used to get this type of view whenever I tried to save an image from browser. But now I accidentally click something and I only get the view from image 2.

I click on folder 3 but it doesn't show me folder 1 anymore. It doesn't show me the chain of folders I've traversed to get to folder 3. It should have multiple columns but It doesn't anymore. It just shows me the one folder how to fix this?

PLS HELP

NotchRobot is a free, open source SwiftUI app that puts Claude Code's working, waiting and done states in the MacBook notch. Claude Code is Anthropic's terminal coding agent; if you run a few sessions at once, this saves you the alt-tab to see which one is waiting on you. I built it with Claude Code and released the source under MIT.

You can approve or deny tool permissions, answer Claude's questions, see task progress and jump to the right terminal tab. It also includes a smart clipboard, file shelf, screenshots, music controls and a timer, with English and Arabic RTL UI.

Source and build instructions: https://github.com/abdomo77/NotchRobot Download: https://github.com/abdomo77/NotchRobot/releases/tag/v2.5

Requires macOS 13+. The release download is for Apple Silicon, and a built-in notch is optional. It isn't notarized yet; first-launch instructions are in the README.

I was playing around doing bandwidth checks. Using devices with macOS 27 I have noticed that the ethernet performance has been lacking. I can plug my 17 Pro Max or Pixel 10 into the same dock and fast/speedtest will use the full bandwidth.

The first dock I noticed this on was a ugreen revodok max 213 2.5gbe limited to 750mb, then a hp g5 1gbe limited to 250mb. Linux and Windows work fine. iOS and Android work fine.

M1 mini, M4 mini, M4 Air all tested, same result. What dock are you using? What is your experience like? I wanted to get a ts5+ to test as well but this post could save me $500.

Caddy Docs is a big deal to me and I am proud to share it with you.

The basic idea is to organize class and work assignments into fun tabs on the edge of your screen.

• Colorful tabs that pop out into powerful workstations
• Desktop Pets that live on these Caddies (included among "Caddy Pro")
• The ability to arrange multiple files into a side-by-side view in one workstation
• A really good Caddy Notebook inside every Caddy.

• A new feature called Ask, powered by Apple Intelligence (also included among "Caddy Pro").

  Caddy Docs: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/caddy-docs/id6802867430?mt=12

100 free codes are in r/caddydocs.

Jax Embedder will attempt to extract the album cover image for each track from the Music app database, and save it directly into your file's metadata for safekeeping, so you never lose it in case the Music database gets corrupted or lost. 

Repository