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Five Interesting Mac Apps Worth Checking Out - March 2018

Friday March 30, 2018 1:24 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apps designed for the Mac don't often receive as much attention as apps for iOS, so we've launched a monthly series that highlights useful, interesting Mac apps that are worth checking out.

This month's app selection, outlined in the video and the post below, includes apps for cleaning up apps on your Mac, finding new wallpaper, reading the news, and more.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

  • OmniDiskSweeper (Free) - OmniDiskSweeper is a free app from the company behind OmniFocus. It's designed to show you all of the files that are installed on your Mac in size order, so you can find what's hogging space on your machine and delete it if so desired. OmniDiskSweeper doesn't discriminate against critical and non-critical files, though, so be careful when deleting stuff.

  • News Explorer ($9.99) - News Explorer is a simple newsreader app that supports RSS, JSON, Atom, and Twitter, with cloud-based synchronization available between your Mac and iOS devices. It offers a distraction-free interface with a built-in browser and a selection of themes for customization purposes. Offline news is supported, as are smart filters, reader view, built-in imaging viewing, and more. It's $9.99 in the Mac App Store, but you can get a free trial from the website.

  • Switchem ($9.99) - Switchem is designed to let you customize your workspace and manage your windows. You can group windows into different types, organize them into tiles and split-screen work views, and switch between open windows quickly.

  • Wallpaper Wizard 2 ($9.95) - Wallpaper Wizard 2 is, as the name suggests, an app where you can find wallpapers for your Mac. It offers a collection of more than 25,000 HD wallpapers in 4K quality that look great even on Apple's largest displays. New wallpapers are added on a monthly basis, and there's a feature that'll automatically switch your background if you want.

  • App Cleaner (Free) - App Cleaner is a minimal application that has one purpose -- it's designed to let you uninstall apps and all of their associated files. Just drag an app onto the App Cleaner interface and it'll find all of the hidden files so you can get rid of them.
Do you have favorite must-have Mac apps that we haven't highlighted yet? Let us know what they are in the comments and we might feature them in a future video. Many of this month's picks came from our forum members.

Make sure to also check out our February list, which covered apps like Unclutter, Dropzone 3, Bartender 3, and Magnet, and if you want some nifty iOS apps worth downloading, check out our separate iOS app list.

Tags: Mac App Store, Essential Mac Apps
[ 79 comments ]


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rubberfish
7 months ago
Not sure how a wallpaper app qualifies as interesting.
Rating: 19 Votes
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MacDawg
7 months ago

So how is this a rumor?


You've only been around since 2011 so you may not realize that the site discusses a wide variety of things other than just rumors
We talk about troubleshooting issues, buying recommendations, software bugs and oh yeah, interesting software we can use

Yes, the name is Macrumors, but we also talk about iPhones, HomePods, Apple Watches and other things too

It is a virtual cornucopia of Apple stuffs!
Oh, and there are even Forums for Android, Windows and other devices

Hard to believe I know, but rumors are only a small part of Macrumors
Rating: 16 Votes
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Spanky Deluxe
7 months ago
Instead of OmniDiskSweeper, I use Disk Inventory X ('http://www.derlien.com'), another free app that kind of does the same thing but in a *much* easier to see visual manner:


It's been around for *years* and hasn't really changed functionality in something like a decade, not that it needs to.
Rating: 12 Votes
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AngerDanger
7 months ago

…

Hard to believe I know, but rumors are only a small part of Macrumors


I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I can't actually buy any apples from Apple…
Rating: 11 Votes
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lpolarityl
7 months ago
I can't help but see "paid advertisement" when I see these application suggestions on MacRumors.
Rating: 7 Votes
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lec0rsaire
7 months ago
I appreciate these articles but most of these are just different implementations of software that most Mac users are already using. Much of the stuff on the Mac App Store just offers alternatives to the stock MacOS apps. Lots of calendar and note apps. While some offer extra functionality, I get by just fine with the stock mail, calendar and notes apps. They sync on all my devices and I have no compelling reason to try different solutions. Perhaps if there was a way to test them for a month before buying.

I’m only willing to pay for something that offers features that Apple doesn’t provide with the exception of Office 2016. While iWork keeps getting better, Office will always be the gold standard for productivity. A full featured photo and video editor is also needed whether you choose Photoshop or Pixelmator and Premiere or FCPX.
Rating: 6 Votes
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developer13245
7 months ago
Innovative 3rd Party Apps for Apple platforms are dead. Apple killed them by screwing small developers.
Rating: 6 Votes
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MacDawg
7 months ago

I would never install any of this malware ********. You have to be senile to buy into any of this crap. Sincerely, it looks like MacTumors is just in this for the bucks at the expense of its readers. SCAMWARE> STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!!!<<<<<


Not every reader of Macrumors is on the same level. Some are new to Macs, and some may have had a Mac a while but just not been a prolific user in the past. Articles/posts such as this can expose some readers to lesser known software that could be quite helpful or interesting. Sure, readers who have been here for years may find these posts to be trivial, but based on most of the comments, many find it helpful. It can even spark other recommendations not in the article that readers might consider. Our own knowledge and experience is not always indicative of the level of expertise or interests others have.

I will say that personally I don't get excited about all the offerings, but occasionally I will see something I haven't seen before or be reminded of software I haven't used in a while.

Of the 5 apps listed, 2 are free, so not all of them have to be bought, and many/most of the suggested apps in the thread are free as well.

To call the software discussed here "malware" and "scamware" leads me to believe you don't know the definition of either term.

Oh, and FYI, these posts aren't paid advertisements
https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201637503-Are-news-stories-really-advertising-in-disguise-
Rating: 5 Votes
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Aetles
7 months ago
You should mention that News Explorer has a 7-day free trial ('https://betamagic.nl/products/newsexplorer.html') on their homepage, so anyone can try before they buy. (This should of course be a feature of Mac App Store if Apple had any real ambition to make it great for users and developers, but alas, that is not the case.)
Rating: 5 Votes
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Atarikid
7 months ago
App Cleaner may be free but it only finds little and only obvious related files. iTrash is doing a way better job in general and always finds more linked files. Not free though.
Rating: 5 Votes

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