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Five Mac Apps Worth Checking Out - September 2019

Wednesday September 4, 2019 2:03 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apps designed for the Mac don't often receive as much attention as apps made for iPhones and iPads, so we have a series here at MacRumors designed to highlight useful and interesting Mac apps worth checking out.

This month's picks include apps for revamping your dock, discovering new music, making GIFs, annotating and managing screenshots, and more.

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  • Plug (Free) - Plug is a macOS player for The Hype Machine, a website that's designed to help you discover interesting new music. The Hype Machine curates content from up and coming artists highlighted by various websites on the internet, which can result in a nice mix of fresh music. You can choose to see what's popular, view remixes, see what friends are listening to, and more.


  • Active Dock ($19.99) - Active Dock is a dock replacement app for the Mac that offers features you don't get with the standard dock. You can group documents and apps together for quicker switching between what's open, and you can hover over an app on the dock to see all of the open windows. You can get to options like system preferences and frequently accessed documents, plus there are tons of customization options to work with for changing the look of the dock, icons, and more. Active Dock costs $19.99, but there's a free trial.


  • GIFSKI (Free) - GIFSKI is a fun little app that's designed to allow you to create custom GIFs from video clips. Just drag and drop a video file into the app, adjust the start and end points, and you have a GIF. The app supports multiple video formats, it has a clean interface, and it's simple to use.


  • In Your Face ($1.99) - In Your Face is a notification app that takes over the entire screen, so if there's something that you really need to remember to do, this is the app to use. The app is located in the menu bar and it interrupts whatever you're doing when it's time for something like an important meeting. It's a good idea if you typically dismiss reminders and calendar events without paying attention, because it's impossible to miss the In Your Face popups.


  • Xnip (Free) - Xnip is a screenshot and annotation app that adds a few capabilities not possible with Apple's built-in screenshotting tools. You can capture a full-page screenshot in an app like Safari where all of the content might not be visible, and you can capture multiple windows together. A color picker tool lets you pick a color of a pixel to make a capture, there's an option to measure objects on the screen, and there are other tools like pixelation for hiding details and numbered annotation options. Removing watermarks from screenshots requires a $4.99 per year subscription.

If you have a favorite must-have Mac app that we haven't highlighted yet, let us know in the comments, and we might feature it in a future video. For more of our Mac app picks, make sure to check out our Mac app archives.

Tag: Essential Mac Apps
[ 25 comments ]

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dwfaust
7 weeks ago
Just what we need... a subscription app for annotating screen prints... just freaking stop the madness...
Rating: 15 Votes
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sw1tcher
7 weeks ago

In Your Face is a notification app that takes over the entire screen, so if there's something that you really need to remember to do, this is the app to use.


Now I need an app to remind me to put a reminder in this reminder app
Rating: 4 Votes
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sydneysider88
7 weeks ago

I would be interested in “In Your Face” type app for iOS.

It’s called iOS 6.
Rating: 4 Votes
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dwfaust
7 weeks ago
I like the idea of Plug... checking it out now.
Rating: 3 Votes
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dwfaust
7 weeks ago

I'm surprised that Apple allows Active Dock app.


macOS is not the walled garden that iOS is... MAS apps have to be sandboxed, but non-MAS apps don't necessarily need be.
Rating: 2 Votes
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BasicGreatGuy
7 weeks ago
I would be interested in “In Your Face” type app for iOS.
Rating: 1 Votes
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mrgraff
7 weeks ago

Nice desktop background in the video, anyone know what it is?

http://c2.peakpx.com/wallpaper/996/482/540/2k-mountain-reflection-shadow-snow-wallpaper.jpg
Rating: 1 Votes
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alphaod
7 weeks ago
I have never used the Dock on my Mac. Open programs and stuff through Quicksilver. To see what I have open F9/F10 (this why we need physical Function buttons).
Rating: 1 Votes
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steve333
7 weeks ago
Onyx has been the most useful for me. Runs maintenance and scripts and my Mac runs better afterwards
Rating: 1 Votes
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vadimdemedes
7 weeks ago
I'm a long-term user of Gifski, been using it since the very first version, works beautifully all the time. As for Xnip, I'm surprised it's in the list, but CleanShot (https://getcleanshot.com ('https://getcleanshot.com/')) is not. Great design and gets the job done.

Unrelated to Gifski's purpose, but the same developer recently published a new app called Dato - it's a replacement for a menu bar clock with cool features like built-in calendar and different timezones. You can check it out here https://sindresorhus.com/dato. Funnily enough, he even built an app to replace battery indicator too :D
Rating: 1 Votes

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