They pay additional money to get the computer of their choice, and they want the best productivity Apps for Mac. They would like their software to work together well on their preferred operating system, with accepted keyboard shortcuts and design standards. Most importantly, they want those apps to behave like native macOS apps. It is not enough just to pack the web version in a window.
It’s nice, therefore, to see that many developers put their efforts into creating Best Productivity Apps for Mac that just get this job done and done better than you can find on other platforms. That’s right: some of the top productivity apps on the face of the planet aren’t Mac-based. Sorry, Microsoft team—it’s the truth.
Productivity, though, isn’t one-size-fits-all: the top in terms of Best Productivity Apps for Mac will be different from person to person—what works for me may not work for you. Taking this into consideration, below is a list of productivity apps that every Mac user should have, after testing them for dozens of hours, and my own experience of using these tools.
Have You Considered Your Mac’s Pre-installed Productivity Apps?
All Macs come with a bunch of built-in Apple Office apps and tools (I’ll explore a few of them throughout this article). undefined
- Reminders is a to-do list system that can be shared and that allows you to assign tasks, set reminders on time or location, and add additional elements such as sub-tasks, URLs, and pictures to your list.
- Calendar is a basic calendar built into Apple. It works with almost all of the popular calendar services and has inbox capabilities for invitation acceptance and review of new meetings.
- Mail, its counterpart Mac app, is an elegant and powerful mail app with excellent features for snoozing, scheduling, un-sending, and filtering messages.
- Freedom can be one of the less-known productivity apps of Apple. It’s a coherent space where you can come up with innovative concepts, maps, and strategies.
- Focus is a feature that allows you to turn on Do Not Disturb for all the apps except the important contacts in your contacts list.
Still, if the built-in productivity apps are not your cup of tea, here are my handpicks of the best Mac productivity apps that are worth a shot.
Quick Overview: Top Mac Productivity Applications
Name | Category | Standout Feature | Pricing |
Zappy | Screen recording | Allows you to make GIFs | Free for local recordings and screenshots |
Things | To-do list | Intuitive keyboard shortcuts | $49.99 for the macOS version; $19.99 for iPad; $9.99 for iPhone |
SelfControl | Distraction blocker | Impossible to disable once set | Free |
Read-it-later app | Turns articles into podcasts | Free; $4.99/month for Premium | |
iCloud Keychain | Password manager | Works seamlessly in the background across Apple devices | Free with an Apple ID; iCloud+ plans start at $0.99/month |
Fantastical | Calendar | Apple ecosystem focus | $4.95/month for individuals; $4.95/user/month for teams |
Be Focused Pro | Pomodoro timer | Syncs timers across Apple devices | Free with ads; $12.99 for Pro on Mac, $9.99 for Pro on iOS |
Apple Notes | Note-taking | Instant loading and support for lots of file types | Free with 5GB of iCloud storage; Paid plans start at $0.99/month for 50GB of iCloud storage |
Top Choice for Mac Productivity: Screen Recording and Sharing Made Easy
Zappy
Screen capture on a Mac is a bit annoying. You save the files to your desktop, therefore if you want to share it with someone else, you need to physically drag it to your other app. Recording the screen is even worse: for this, you’ll be using QuickTime, and the files are just as annoying for sharing as they are too big.
It is here that screen recording software comes in. They allow you to easily perform screenshotting or screen recording and further send them to other people. For me, the best Mac tool is Zappier Inc owned Zapier’s own Zappy.
Is it unreasonable for me to suggest a Zapier tool in the same Zapier article? A little. But this is something Zapier did as an internal development because they couldn’t find any tool that worked for them. Up to now, I haven’t found a better solution and this is why I am grateful to external people. Using this, you can instantly take a screenshot or screen recording and (if you are a paying Zapier customer) straightaway share a link with others. That link is direct: not even one growth hacking is injected.
If Zappy does not work as per your wish, then I suggest that you look into Dropbox Capture, which is pretty similar but saves all files into your Dropbox folder. And from there you can invite someone by sharing a direct download link—just one click and the job is done.
Zappy pricing: Free
Top Choice for Mac Productivity: Organizing To-Do Lists Made Simple
Things
On the other hand, sometimes you do things. Of course, the hard part is remembering everything you have to do. And the worst place to keep such thoughts is in your mind so they can prance around and obstruct you from acting upon them.
A to-do list app will help you organize your tasks and make it easy for you to decide the due dates. And, surely, the best to-do list app for Mac is called appropriately: Things, which heads Zapier’s compilation of the best Mac to-do list apps. This eye-catching app seems easy to use at first glance, but the deeper you go, the more power you’ll see. And last, but not least, it evolves into a Mac platform.
If you don’t like Things, there are many others on the Mac that can help you that are also Mac-exclusive, like the power-user tool OmniFocus. Or, if this is too intricate, there is always More Documents & Notes that automatically syncs with your iPhone and already is on your Mac.
Things pricing: The MacOS version is priced at $49.99 but you can unlock the first 15 days for free on the Things website; the iPad version is $19.99, and the iPhone version is $9.99.
Leading Mac Productivity App: Effortlessly Stay Focused
SelfControl
I am going to complete this piece.I do. Although there are YouTube videos of people playing video games that I need to view. At least I would have done this if my best distraction-blocking apps had not been invented, these apps can block YouTube and other potentially distracting sites.
The ultimate thing for the job may be the SelfControl app, which helps you to list your most distracting URLs and to set a block of time without distractions. But even if you restart your machine, it will be impossible for you to reach those distracting URLs before the timer goes off. It’s really powerful.
Focus is a closer alternative to Freedom if you need a little bit of customizability, which offers a menu bar icon and the ability to block apps in addition to domains.
SelfControl pricing: Free
Top Choice for Mac Productivity: Save Articles to Read Later
And the other annoying thing about the internet is the abundance of interesting articles to read. In this article you’re reading right now, for example: the reason for productivity is at the same time a thing to do that is not working. Wait…don’t leave! Sure, but only make sure that you will return and make up for what you didn’t finish.
It is here that the best read-it-later apps are at their best. Mac users should probably start with Pocket because it has a real Mac application available. With Pocket, you can read all of your saved articles on the web, offline, or online, and you can use browser extensions to save some articles.
None of the read-later apps comes with Mac-specific alternatives, whereas Instapaper works nicely in the browser if you – for some reason – don’t like Pocket.
Pocket pricing: Free or $4.99/month for Pocket Premium which allows a permanent personal backup of the articles you’ve saved, suggested tags, and full-text search.
The Premier Tool for Organizing Your Passwords and Boosting Productivity
iCloud Keychain
Data loss is more prevalent than you imagine. Password managers are essential in defending you from forgery as well as hackers-related attacks — and it keep all your details private.
Regarding the top password manager apps, iCloud Keychain is highly secure, easy to use, and has all the key features most people require. Furthermore, it just comes preloaded on Macs, iPhones, and iPads, and makes it seamless to sync your passwords and credit card details across all your Apple devices. What is curious is that it doesn’t work with Google Chrome on a Mac.
Sure, if you are up to the task of managing your passwords or developing a better way of sharing passwords with others, you need something like 1Password or Bitwarden. And also if you care about strengthening your cyber security remember to use passkeys too.
iCloud Keychain pricing: It’s free with an Apple ID; iCloud+ starts at $0.99 a month with 50GB of storage and Hide My Email.
Boost Your Productivity on Mac with the Finest Calendar App!
Fantastical
Time is a resource and each week (again, as I understand it. But I am a non-physicist) you have only so much of it. This is where calendars come in: they sequence time so we know when meetings or doctor appointments happen. This is particularly important for organizing your working week and generally just being a person.
A Mac calendar app that is designed for use by both professionals. And personal users allow you to combine all your work. And personal appointments in one place and getting notifications will make sure that you don’t miss any reminders. The Fantastical does all of the above flawlessly being the best-designed calendar app for macOS. This is one of the reasons it was number one in Zapier’s list of the best calendar apps for Mac. Besides this, Fantastical gives you the possibility to add a new appointment. And also to see everything in a day, week, month, or even quarterly view.
Or you can try the Calendar app, which is a built-in feature on Mac. It doesn’t have all the nice features of Fantastical as one might expect but it is free…and almost everything else. Or, you can get a little calendar in your menu bar with Itsycal which connects to the default Mac calendar app.
Fantastical Pricing: $4.75/month (billed annually) per user for individuals and $4.75/user/month (billed annually) for teams.
The Top App For Mac to Help You With Pomodoro Timers
Be Focused Pro
There are many of the apps that are included in this post have all kinds of whistles and bells. Maybe you like that – bells more, please. Or maybe you want an app that doesn’t need training even without a tutorial. You know what to click and when.
The Pro Focus is the best Pomodoro app that offers simplicity (but is rather outdated). It’s a tiny app that sits on your Mac menu bar. Just tap on the button, set the timer, and specify the task you are dealing with. It does not replace a to-do list app but could be a good addition to the track of what you are working on and how many Pomodoros it takes.
If you use many Apple products, Be Focused Pro transfers your data from one device to another device. Even the live timers. Thus you can run the same Pomodoro timer on your Mac, iPhone, and even your Watch.
If Be Focused doesn’t do it for you, there are many other Apple-exclusive Pomodoro timers out there. Two to take a closer look at our FocusList, if you want a to-do list set daily. And Flow, if you want apps that are distracting to be auto-blocked.
Be Focused Pricing: Free (with ads) for Mac and iOS; $9.99 for Be Focused Pro on Mac; $9.99 for Be Focused Pro on iOS (that adds cross-device syncing functionality).
Elevate Your Productivity on Mac with this Fantastic Note-Taking App
Apple Notes
The best notebook, just like the best camera, is the one that is in your possession. There’s no time to waste when this happens, as you should be able to open it at a moment’s notice. This is the reason Apple Notes is the very best Mac note-taking app for most people. It’s already on the device; it syncs with your iPhone and iPad. And it has recently added support for features like tagging and attachments.
In the early times of 2010, Evernote used to be a clear winner as their Mac interface was gorgeous and fast. That’s different since I don’t recommend that version anymore. But if you are craving the old Evernote, you should try Notebooks which is the closest app that you can find. Or, if you wish the most versatile note-taking tool you can get on earth, examine Obsidian. That’s what I’m using, and a better person I have become because of it.
Apple Notes Pricing: Comes with 5GB of iCloud storage for free; paid plans start at $0.99/month for 50GB of iCloud storage.
Other Important Mac Productivity Apps
I could talk about Mac apps all day without a problem. But the set of these apps is a good one to start with for actually doing things. However, if you want to go a little deeper into the topic of productivity apps for Mac, continue reading.
- Application Launchers are a great way to open apps with just a few keystrokes. And therefore can do all sorts of things. I believe that Raycast is at the top of the Mac apps that have this capability now.
- RSS Readers help to escape the notifications and the dopamine-driven social networks. For the best RSS readers for Mac, I recommend Reeder, a beautiful. And functional one syncing with all the RSS services you can think of.
- Email Clients enable you to organize your inbox in a much more stress-free manner. Among the best email clients for Mac, Apple Mail is the one I would prefer the most to use. It is shipped with your Operating System, it can prevent marketers from tracking you, and, in general, it operates well.
- Amphetamine is a little app for Mac that helps you to keep your Mac awake, during your presentations.
- Numi is an ideal substitute for the conventional calculator.
- BarTender App, one of the top Mac productivity tools, helps keep your menu bar from being cluttered by hiding icons.