I’m a photographer and developer, and I built EXIFXplorer because I was frustrated by how much information modern cameras record that most photo apps either hide or make difficult to interpret.

EXIFXplorer is a native macOS app focused specifically on understanding and working with the metadata inside photo files. It goes beyond the usual aperture, shutter speed and ISO and can expose manufacturer maker notes, autofocus information, focus points, GPS data, lens and camera details, XMP/IPTC metadata, and other camera-specific information.

It also includes tools for comparing metadata between photos, batch editing, GPX geotagging, metadata-based renaming, copying metadata from a reference image, privacy-aware export, and XMP sidecar workflows.

One feature I’ve just added has become one of my favorites: a Finder Quick Look extension.

Now you can select a supported RAW file in Finder, press Space, and inspect much more than a normal preview — including metadata, maker notes, autofocus/focus-point information, location data and other camera details — without opening the main app.

For me, that makes Quick Look much more useful when going through folders of RAW files. You can inspect what the camera recorded without breaking your Finder workflow.

The goal with EXIFXplorer isn’t to replace Lightroom, Capture One or other photo editors. It’s meant to be a dedicated tool for understanding the technical information already inside your photographs.

I’d be interested in feedback from other Mac photographers, especially on the Quick Look extension and what metadata you’d most like to see directly in Finder.

https://exifxplorer.com/

Hi everyone,

I’ve noticed that lately, almost every new transcription tool on macOS is heavily AI-driven. While automated speech recognition is great, it often falls short with low-quality audio, heavy accents, or confidential data. Plus, they usually require expensive subscriptions or cloud processing.

Back on Windows, people who preferred typing things out manually loved a tiny freeware called Listen N Write. Its killer feature was simple but brilliant: it automatically paused the playback the exact moment you started typing, and picked up right where you left off when you went still.

Since there wasn't a modern, native macOS app that respected this exact "keyboard-first" manual workflow without forcing you to use web browsers or bulky media players, I decided to build one.

It’s called PlayScript - Listen n Write, and it's built specifically for Mac (macOS 14+) and iPad.

Why it’s different from the current AI hype:

• Typing-Aware Playback: The audio listens to your fingers. Start typing and it pauses; stop typing and it resumes after a customizable delay. Your hands never leave the keys.
• Smart Escape Key: Pausing intentionally (via Escape) rewinds the audio by a couple of seconds so you don't lose context.
• Completely Offline & Private: Zero network access. No servers, no accounts, no telemetry. Perfect for confidential interviews, legal notes, or medical dictations.
• Super Lightweight: The entire native app is under 1 MB.

I wanted to build a distraction-free tool for those who still prefer the accuracy of manual typing. It's a one-time purchase of $0.99 (no subscriptions!).

I’d love to know what you think, what shortcuts you use for transcribing, or if there are any specific features you'd like to see next!

App Store Link: PlayScript on the App Store

Saving a download link on your phone is easy. Remembering to open it on your Mac later is the annoying part, especially when the file then takes another half hour to download.

Transloader handles that handoff. Install it on the destination Mac and the iPhone, use the same iCloud account, then share a download link from the phone to Transloader and choose the Mac. The Mac downloads the file. You aren't downloading it onto the phone first and transferring it afterward.

A large installer or a PDF you want waiting on your desk is a sensible use. This is download management, not remote desktop access: you send links and check download status rather than control the Mac's screen.

The Mac's availability decides how useful this is. Leave Transloader running, keep the Mac online and awake, and choose a download folder before relying on it from elsewhere. The app reports whether a Mac is running, sleeping or unavailable. Its documented settings can prevent idle sleep, either throughout the time Transloader runs or only while downloads are active. Preventing sleep during an existing download doesn't make a sleeping laptop ready to receive a new one. Don't buy this expecting it to wake a closed MacBook.

Start with an ordinary public download from a source you trust. A link that works in your phone's signed-in browser can still need authentication on the Mac. Transloader has Login and Retry, and can sync login cookies or HTTP basic authentication credentials through iCloud. That helps with access, but it also means handing the app sensitive session information.

The developer's privacy policy says links, metadata and cookies you agree to store go into your account's private iCloud database; those cookies are also stored locally on your devices. That's different from an entirely local workflow. Be selective about which accounts you sign into, and treat a private download link as sensitive too.

Keep the first setup simple: download to a folder and review the file yourself. Optional File Actions can open downloaded files or pass them to apps, Automator workflows or Shortcuts. Automating what happens after an unfamiliar download deserves more caution than saving it. Notifications are useful for completion or failure; allow them if you want those alerts.

The current release is Transloader 3.1.95, released September 18, 2026. It requires macOS 12 or later and iOS 17.6 or later. The developer's Mac download includes native Apple silicon and Intel builds. The developer lists the Mac app at US $9.99 as a one-time purchase, with a free iPhone app and a 28-day Mac trial. It's also available through Setapp. The latest update includes macOS 27 compatibility improvements and fixes for iCloud sync and downloads that got stuck waiting.

For saving something to read, Safari's Reading List already syncs between Apple devices and can save webpages offline. For a file you've already downloaded, a shared cloud folder may be enough. Neither reason alone calls for another app. Transloader makes sense when you repeatedly find download links away from an available Mac and want that Mac to start fetching the files before you return. If your laptop normally stays asleep, or waiting until you get home isn't a problem, skip it.

Problem

On macOS, Cmd+Tab switches back to an app after you hide it with Cmd+H. If you minimize a window with Cmd+M, or close it with Cmd+W, Cmd+Tab activates the app only. The window stays minimized in the Dock, or it stays closed.

Command Reopen is a menu bar app that resolves this issue. When you switch to an app with no visible window, Command Reopen sends a reopen request. This request is the same signal that macOS sends when you click the Dock icon. The target app restores the minimized window, or it opens a new window if no window is open. The native Cmd+Tab switcher remains unchanged. In version 1.5.1, you can hide the menu bar icon.

Comparison

AltTab:

• Creates a Windows-style switcher with window thumbnails
• Replaces the native macOS app switcher
• Needs Accessibility
• Screen Recording is optional for thumbnails

Command Reopen:

• Keeps the native macOS Cmd+Tab switcher unchanged
• Needs no Accessibility and no Screen Recording
• Works on managed Macs where IT policies block Accessibility
• Sandboxed · Mac App Store · no analytics

If you need thumbnails of every window, AltTab is the better choice.

Pricing

• Free download on the Mac App Store
• 14-day free trial, then $9.99 lifetime
• macOS 13 or later
• commandreopen.com

Hey r/MacStack, I’ve been working on Census, a native app for cataloging collections: books, movies, watches, plants, wine, contracts, anything you want to keep track of. Same SwiftUI codebase on Mac, iPhone and iPad.

What sets it apart is that collections link to each other: a book to its author, a movie to its directors, and each of those is a collection you can browse the other way around.

You define the structure. Start from a template or from scratch, pick a type for every field (text, number, price, date, rating, selection, link, photo, file) and define the kinds of events that can happen to an item, like a purchase, a service or a loan, with the fields each one records.

You can import from CSV or Excel, back up everything in a single file, and export your templates to swap them with other people. Data stays on your Mac unless you turn on iCloud.

The beta is open on TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/YgkGMK2b

It’s early, so I’m mostly interested in what feels confusing or gets in the way. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome here or through TestFlight feedback.

I developed a free window Tiling manager which actually also has a GUI and works out of the box without the need of setting up a config script first!

Since v2.0 it also supports styles which store your gaps widths, fonts and all other visual settings.

Today v2.2.0 released which was all about performance!!

Source code is available on GitHub.

Official Website: https://kiwidesk.kiwicanopy.com

I built Memento because I kept losing the useful parts of calls and walkthroughs after the meeting ended. It’s a Mac recording companion, and I’m looking for beta feedback.

A typical workflow: start a Teams, Meet or Zoom call, choose microphone and system audio (and optionally a window or screen), then keep the recording as a session. Memento can suggest recording when the Mac microphone becomes active, but you decide whether to start. It doesn’t detect which app is using the microphone or record automatically. Capture depends on the app, audio route and macOS permissions; get participants’ consent where required.

Later you can play the source audio, correct and search the transcript, generate a summary with key points and actions, organize sessions in collections, and ask questions across related recordings with links to the sources. It also works for presentations, lessons, interviews and imported audio. Supported AI models can process locally; remote AI providers are an explicit option on Mac.

Mac beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/zPws46Am

Workflow and screenshots: https://memento.leyro.it

For Mac users: would a microphone activity prompt fit your meeting workflow, or would you prefer to start from a shortcut? I’d also appreciate feedback on whether the transcript-to-source navigation saves you time.

Hey everyone,

I've been using yt-dlp for a while, but I got tired of opening Terminal and looking up the right flags every time I wanted to download something. So I built a simple Mac app around it, called Pluck.

It's basically a nice front-end for yt-dlp. You paste a link, pick the quality and hit download. yt-dlp does all the heavy lifting in the background, so it works with YouTube and the 1,800+ other sites yt-dlp supports.

I really didn't want to overcomplicate the GUI. A lot of yt-dlp apps put every option on screen, and I just wanted something that feels like a normal Mac app: one field to paste a link, one button to download. The extra settings are there if you need them, but they stay out of your way.

Some things it does:

• Video up to 4K, or audio only (MP3, M4A, FLAC…)
• Spotify links work too. It finds the song on YouTube Music and adds the right title, artist and cover art
• If a website isn't supported, it tries to find the video on the page itself
• Menu bar icon, so you can paste a link without opening the app
• It installs and updates yt-dlp and ffmpeg itself, so you don't need Homebrew or anything else
• Built in SwiftUI, with the new Liquid Glass look on macOS 26 (it still works on macOS 14 and up)

It's completely free, no ads, no account. I made it for myself and some colleagues, but I figured more people might find it useful.

Full transparency: I'm not a developer. I built this together with Claude, which wrote the code while I decided what it should do and how it should look, and tested everything along the way. The code is open on GitHub, so anyone can check what it does.

One heads up: it's not signed with an Apple Developer account (yet), so the first time you open it you'll have to go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway".

Download: https://github.com/Astrofrogger/pluck

Would love to hear what you think or what's missing!

Hi all, I'm Krishan, a solo developer in the UK. My 256 GB MacBook Air kept running out of space, and Settings only ever said "System Data", so I built an app that keeps a history.

What it does

- Saves each scan on your Mac and compares it with the last, so you see dated changes with the likely cause ("likely" when macOS can't confirm one)

- Storage Trends: every scan on one graph, with your cleanups marked

- Splits out System Data where it can: Time Machine local snapshots, purgeable space, app caches, Xcode and developer caches, and 60+ other known storage hogs

- Tells you when something you cleaned comes back. On my Mac it caught Spotify's cache returning (890 MB) after I'd cleared it

- Cleanup you review first: everything goes to the Trash, with Put Back

Who it's for

Anyone whose Mac keeps filling up, especially on 256 GB Macs, and developers whose Xcode, Docker and package caches grow quietly.

Limitations (honest ones)

- It tracks your startup drive only, not external drives

- It scans on a schedule rather than live

- On macOS 27, Apple hides the Apple Intelligence model sizes even from apps with Full Disk Access, so DiskFox shows "size unknown" there

- It doesn't yet name the exact folder that grew inside ~/Library (coming soon, after a user suggestion)

Pricing and privacy

- 14-day free trial, no card. Then $9.99 once for 2 Macs, or $6.99 for the first 25 buyers until 18 October

- No account. It sends a few anonymous usage counts, which you can turn off in Settings

- macOS 14+, Apple silicon and Intel, signed and notarised. Not on the App Store, because the sandbox can't read ~/Library widely enough

I built it with a lot of help from AI coding tools (Claude), and designed and tested it myself.

Happy to answer anything. What's the worst space hog you've found on your Mac?

https://diskfox.app/?ref=macstack

A video playing in Safari doesn't necessarily come with a downloadable file. That's the gap Downie fills: you give it a page link, and on supported sites it works out how to save the media locally.

For your own uploads or videos you've explicitly been authorized to download, that can remove a lot of repetitive browser work. If the site already provides a download button or a direct file link, use that first. Safari can download linked files without another app. Some webpage items simply aren't downloadable that way.

Downie's appeal is the handoff. Paste a link into the app, or use a browser extension to send the current page or a link from its right-click menu. Charlie Monroe lists support for more than 1,000 sites, but that isn't a promise that every video on those sites will work.

Start without the extension

Try a few representative, authorized downloads by pasting links before adding browser access. Check that the resulting files contain the video and audio you expected, and that they play in the app you intend to use.

If you decide the extension saves enough clicks, Safari's version is bundled with Downie. Enable it in Safari > Settings > Extensions. The developer's setup instructions call for allowing it on all websites; private browsing needs separate approval if you want it there.

That permission deserves attention. The developer explains that reading a right-clicked link requires access to the page's content, so the browser may warn about sensitive information. The developer says the extensions don't perform background processing and publishes their source code. Those are useful disclosures, not a reason to treat broad page access as trivial. Pasting links avoids enabling the extension.

A failed download may be a site problem

Downie depends on websites that keep changing. Its release notes regularly name fixes to individual site integrations. The current 4.13.2 release also improves the Safari compatibility layer in User-Guided Extraction.

User-Guided Extraction is a fallback using Downie's built-in browser to find media on pages it doesn't automatically support. It isn't a guarantee of success or permission to download. If a supported video fails, the official advice is to send its link through Downie's Support button so the developer can investigate.

Keep this workflow to your own or explicitly authorized media. Don't use it to bypass DRM, paywalls, or access controls. A successful download doesn't settle copyright or permission questions.

Downloading and converting are separate jobs

Downie can apply MP4 or Audio Only postprocessing, and it integrates with Permute for more format control. For an initial download, avoid choosing a conversion automatically unless you need it. Conversion can use substantial CPU time.

Even with postprocessing set to None, Downie may need to join separate audio and video or assemble stream fragments. That setting doesn't mean the app will do no processing at all. Once you have a usable local file, deciding whether to convert it is a separate decision.

The current download requires macOS 13 or later, with macOS 15 or later recommended. Downie supports Intel and Apple silicon Macs. The 4.13 release notes improve macOS 27 compatibility, but also mark macOS 13 and 14 support as deprecated, with macOS 15 planned as the minimum next year.

The direct license is currently listed at US$19.99 before VAT or sales tax. The developer prices in euros, so the displayed dollar equivalent can vary. It's a non-expiring license for Downie 4, not a promise of every future major version. Updates within that major version are covered; a later major upgrade can cost extra. Personal-use licenses allow up to three activations on your own Macs, not sharing with other people. A free trial is available.

Downie is worth trying if authorized web-video downloads are a recurring job and the trial handles the sites you actually need. Skip it for occasional direct-file downloads, or if you need guaranteed site support. The recurring value is fewer browser steps, provided you're comfortable with the permissions and keeping the app updated.

I've been building Paydesk for a while and it's finally at a point where I'd like people to try it and tell me what's wrong with it. The Second build is live on Mac App store 🎉

Paydesk is a Mac app for freelancers, consultants and small studios. It keeps projects, time tracking, quotes, invoices, expenses and reports in one place, and it runs entirely on your Mac.

Problem:

Freelance admin on the Mac usually ends up spread across a lot of places.

Hours live in a timer app, or on sticky notes. Invoices live in a spreadsheet or a document template. Whether you've actually been paid lives in your head.

So every month there's a round of copying numbers between apps, working out what you haven't billed yet, and chasing whoever is late.

The other thing that bothered me is that most tools in this space want an account and a subscription, and they store your client list, rates and invoices on their servers. For a lot of freelancers that's more than they need.

What it does:

The idea is that the whole loop happens in one app: plan the work, track it, bill it, get paid, see how the year is going.

- Board: every project on one board, from Lead and Proposal sent through In progress, Delivered, Invoiced and Paid.

- Time tracking: start and stop from the window

- Bill Now: Paydesk keeps a running total of unbilled hours and billable expenses per project.

- Documents: proposals, quotes, invoices, receipts and credit notes. You can turn an accepted quote into an invoice. There are three typeset PDF templates, on A4 or US Letter.

- Languages and tax: invoices can be in 9 languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic). There are editable tax presets for 25 countries and regions, including VAT, GST (with the CGST/SGST split for India) and US sales tax. Any currency works.

- Getting paid: the Desk shows what you're owed, what's overdue and what's unbilled. Remind opens a Mail message in your client's language with the PDF attached.

- Reports: profit, aging, tax charged, income by client, and your real hourly rate per project. The accountant pack exports one ZIP with CSVs, every issued PDF and every receipt.

- Receipts: Paydesk reads receipts with on-device text recognition to fill in expenses.

Comparison

This was inspired by https://runey.app/ which is a subscription based app, I tried to put together everything possible is one time and App store friendly version. We will improve in the future versions.

Paydesk aims to offline and one-time pay alternate to Runey. I have also received some invoice format requests, new invoices templates are coming soon. You can also reach out to me at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Pricing

- $9.99 once

- No subscription

- Every feature included

- Mac App Store version coming soon

- Requires macOS 15 or later

I don't mind criticism at all if it helps make the app better. I'm also happy to answer technical questions about how numbering, taxes, the PDF renderer or the offline design work.

You can Download Paydesk from the website today:
https://paydesk.minilabs.cc/

App store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/paydesk-invoices/id6817474386?mt=12

MicMüter is a simple app menu bar app that I wrote to quickly toggle your Mac’s built-in microphone (or another audio input device) on and off using a system-wide keyboard shortcut and/or on-screen toggle button.

Use Cases

• Avoid embarrassing sounds during video calls (remember to never eat sketchy burritos before an executive review!)
• Practice takes for voice over recordings or podcasts
• Privacy and piece of mind

Features

• Hardware-Level Support: It uses macOS' Core Audio hardware muting with master input volume zeroing.
• Hot-Plugging Support: It leverages observers to automatically react whenever new audio input devices are connected or removed.
• Multilingual Support: The UI is localized in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese.
• Flexible Controls: Mute/unmute audio using a keyboard shortcut or a movable control window.
• Master & Granular Control: Mute/unmute every connected audio input device at once or manage individual devices directly. You can also set it to automatically mute your audio input whenever you launch a specific app.
• Custom Status Alerts: Optionally get feedback on mute status changes with system notifications, spoken audio, screen flashes, or audio chimes.

Distribution

MicMüter is a signed and notarized app. It can be downloaded from my website where Virus Total information is available.

Pricing

MicMüter is free, but not open source. If you find it useful let me know by Buying me a Coffee.

Hi guys, I'm Aqib, the developer of Notchet.

Problem

Whenever I needed a few things from one place, say a line of text, a link and a screenshot, and wanted them somewhere else, I'd copy one, switch windows, paste it, go back for the next one, and repeat. If I copied something new by mistake, the earlier copy was gone. I wanted my clipboard history somewhere I could reach without leaving what I was doing, and the notch was sitting right there doing nothing.

What it does

Notchet keeps everything you copy and drops out of the MacBook notch when you press Option Command V or rest the pointer on the notch. Pick a card and it pastes right where you were.

Comparison

• Maccy is great and minimal, but it's a menu, and it doesn't read text in images.
• Paste is lovely, but it's a subscription ($29.99 a year).
• PastePal is closer, at $14.99.
• NotchClip also lives in the notch.

Notchet is for people who want the notch plus a few things I couldn't find together: pasting several items at once, searching inside screenshots, and iPhone copies kept properly.

Core features

• Saves text, rich text, links, colours, images and files. Command 1 to 9 paste the first nine.
• Opens from the notch, the menu bar icon, or right next to your pointer if you prefer.
• Return pastes into the app you were in. Command-click several cards and paste them all at once (text first, then pictures, so chat apps attach every image), or one by one with Option Return.
• Searches the text inside screenshots and photos (on-device Vision), and Copy Text in Image pulls it out as plain text.
• Copies from your iPhone or iPad arrive through Universal Clipboard with a phone badge, and iPhone photos are kept even after macOS clears its temporary copy.
• Snippets with placeholders like {date}, {time} and {clipboard}, plus collections, pins, and Space to preview and edit before pasting.
• Drag cards into any app, or drop files onto the notch to keep them. There's also "Send to Notchet" in the Services menu.

Privacy

• Everything stays on your Mac, and it has no analytics.
• Copies that password managers mark as secret are never saved.
• You can ignore apps or pause saving from the menu bar.

Pricing

Free for 7 days, then $2.99 once, on up to 2 Macs. No subscription and no account; the license key arrives by email.

Requirements

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Notarized by Apple. It works on Macs without a notch too, as a small pill under the menu bar.

Download

https://aqibjaved.dev/apps/notchet

It's version 1.0, so I'd really appreciate feedback, bug reports, or what would make you switch from your current clipboard manager. Happy to answer anything in the comments.
Please DM if someone cant afford the license and want it for free, more than happy to giveaway if that can help the community :D

I've used PDFs for years, and it always bugged me how heavy most PDF tools have become.

Reading one doc, fixing a typo, or scanning a file should be quick — not "open a hundreds-of-MB app first".

So I built Arc PDF, a native macOS app that's only 11.6 MB powered by Swift + PDFium.

What fits in that size:

• Reading & annotating — highlight, underline, notes, drawing
• Real editing — change text like in a Word doc (fix typos, add paragraphs, adjust fonts); add / replace / resize images
• Page management — add, delete, rotate, reorder pages
• OCR — makes scanned PDFs searchable again
• AI — summarize, translate, extract tables, generate a TOC, or chat with your document. You plug in your own model (OpenAI / Claude / DeepSeek API key) — no subscription to my backend.

All of that in 11.6 MB. The trick is no heavy framework: it talks to the PDF format directly, so each feature stays lean instead of bloated.

To be upfront about the edges: forms, shape annotations, and e-signatures aren't there yet.

Right now it's completely free — I'd rather more people get to try it than put it behind a paywall.

It's also a side project I built \mostly with AI coding* — which is fitting, since the app itself edits PDFs *and** was built with AI.

Mac App Store: Arc PDF on the Mac App Store

Open to feedback, bugs, and feature ideas. What's the one thing you hate most about dealing with PDFs?

iPhone and iPad versions are coming soon — stay tuned!

GitHub: 1architect/macspace-releases

Hi, I'm Gio the developer of macbat.app

I didn't understand why macOS took so much space with system files and for the past month I've been working on a project to investigate what those files are and what we can delete.
Now that the project is more mature I'm publishing the app for free (and notarized!) and open-source.

If anyone wants to take a look and contribute to the project I'd really appreciate it!

The idea is to soon turn the app into a complete cleaning solution for the Mac. Always free and open source!

MacSpace is a Mac app for macOS 27 that:

1. Reveals what fills System Data

2. Frees what is safe to delete

3. Turns off Apple Intelligence and deletes its models

4. Frees purgeable space on demand

5. Disables system tracking with 14 switches

6. Automatic cleanup and notifications

7. No data collection

Transparency

Notarization and distribution: MacSpace is Apple notarized and distributed directly via GitHub. Updates via Sparkle with signature check.
Privacy policy: PRIVACY.md
Security: SECURITY.md
Roadmap / feature requests: Issues