Five Essential Apps for Your Mac

Apps designed for the Mac often don't get as much attention as apps for iOS, even though there are dozens of super useful, must-have Mac apps out there.

In our latest YouTube video, we took a look at five of the most useful Mac apps that may have gone under your radar. If you don't already own these apps for organizing and sharing files, they're well-worth checking out.


All of the Mac apps featured in our video are listed below, with prices and links.

Unclutter ($9.99) - As the name suggests, Unclutter is designed to clean up your desktop. It's an app that's designed to store notes, files, and everything copied to your clipboard. You can drag everything that's on your desktop into Unclutter for a neat, organized desktop that still offers easy access to all the temporary files and information you need.

DeskCover (Free) - If you often work with multiple windows open but dislike distraction, DeskCover is an app worth looking at. It automatically highlights the active app window while dimming everything else in the background, plus it allows you to hide everything stored on your desktop with a single mouse click.

Dropzone 3 ($9.99) - Dropzone makes it easier to copy, move, and share files with unique, customizable actions that let you organize your data with simple drag and drop gestures. Drag a file into an application listed in Dropzone and you can copy it, share it to a social network, AirDrop it, and do tons more.

Bartender 3 ($15) - Bartender 3 is a super popular Mac app that lets you rearrange and hide icons on the menu bar of your Mac. With Bartender, you can put the menu bar items you use most often front and center, while hiding all the rest behind the Bartender icon for a much more streamlined menu bar. Bartender 3 is the only app on our list that you'll need to download outside of the Mac App Store.

Magnet ($0.99) - Magnet is designed to let you rearrange all of your open app windows into an orderly layout for a clean, organized desktop. It's called Magnet because your app windows will snap right into place.

Do you have favorite must-have Mac apps that aren't in our video? Let us know what they are in the comments and we might feature them in a future video.

Popular Stories

Apple Announces Special Event in New York Feature 1

Apple Reportedly Plans to Unveil at Least Five New Products Next Week

Sunday February 22, 2026 9:48 am PST by
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple will have a three-day stretch of product announcements from Monday, March 2 through Wednesday, March 4. In total, he expects Apple to introduce "at least five products." Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A week ago, Apple invited selected journalists and content creators to an "Apple Experience" in...
tim cook data privacy day

Tim Cook Warned by CIA That China Could Move on Taiwan by 2027

Tuesday February 24, 2026 4:03 am PST by
Apple CEO Tim Cook was among a handful of top tech executives who attended a classified CIA briefing warning that China could attack Taiwan by 2027, according to a sweeping investigative report by The New York Times ($). The previously unreported briefing was apparently held in a secure room in Silicon Valley in July 2023. The meeting is said to have been arranged at the request of the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3.1 Update for iPhones Coming Soon as 'Apple Experience' Nears

Sunday February 22, 2026 5:29 pm PST by
Apple's software engineers are testing iOS 26.3.1, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.3.1 should be a minor update that fixes bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, and it will likely be released within the next two weeks. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.2.1 with bug fixes and support for the second-generation...

Top Rated Comments

105 months ago
Non one of these apps is essential. I've been us Macs since 1985, and I've never used any of these apps. I'm sure they are very helpful, if a user needs one. That said, not one is "essential"; which mean "absolutely necessary" or even "extremely important".

The only "essential" Mac program is an alternative browser to Safari, since some sites will not work with Safari.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
105 months ago
1Password. It’s available on other platforms but for what it does it is irreplaceable.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iPhysicist Avatar
105 months ago
HOW can you not name Better Touch Tool ??? This is one of - if not - THE best app for Macs!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dan9700 Avatar
105 months ago
Magnet is terrible never gets an update and is slow, BetterSnapTool is million times better
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
105 months ago
Password Managers store probably some of the most important information you are going to store on a computer. I'd rather pay money and go with a well established company like Agilebits than with a 'free' piece of software written by 'who knows what?'. Some things are worth spending money on. JMHI ;-)
Keychain is free and from an established company :D
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RoelJuun Avatar
105 months ago
PopClip, by far. That little application would keep me on macOS alone.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)