Welcome to macOS

A friend of mine recently got a Mac for the first time and asked me to recommend applications. She’s a designer/developer and she wanted to feel right at home coming from Windows. After much taunting and inevitably quoting ‘once you go Mac, you never go back’, I found some apps that I think will make her arrival more hassle-free.

Xcode: Simple – every Mac owner who’s a developer should have Xcode. It is your gateway into the AppStore. Besides its humongous file size, it is a necessary IDE which feels right at home in the OS. Sure there are other IDEs you can install depending on what languages you write in and what environment you’re familiar with.

Firefox: Safari comes installed, and everybody loves Chrome. But Firefox is the unsung hero in their midst. This browser is plug-in heaven. It is my preferred choice when it come to extending the capability of the browser itself.

WhatsApp: After being in beta for the longest minute, the world’s most popular messenger is now a permanent resident on the Mac. Pretty much anything – except making calls – that can be done on mobile can be done on the desktop version.

TweetDeck: TweetDeck has come a long way from being the hardcore user’s favorite twitter client to a dumbed down annoying app with many many columns. Make no mistake, Twitter’s efforts in dumbing this app down after purchasing it only hurt a little. One can no longer post to 3rd party like Facebook and Google+ (yes, some people still post to Google+). That said, the columns, searches, scheduled tweets, and the ability to create collections in the app are some advance features that still make it a winner.

VLC: No need to talk much about this. Throw any video or audio format at it watch it just handle business.

Olive Tree Bible Study: This is my preferred Bible Study app on macOS. It replicates the mobile version in most, if not all ways. Side by side comparisons, multiple versions, an intuitive search and the ability to log in and have your purchases/books transferred.

Pocket: Fact – some people till this day don’t know what Pocket is and this is a damn shame. Not only is this the best way to procrastinate on reading your favorite articles, it’s a good way to actually save it for later and read when you can. The user can save links and articles with tags and read them later on any device either on the app on their device or the Pocket site.

FileZilla: A platform agnostic FTP client. If you are a dev or you just manage your own website, please hop on this. You’re welcome.

iBooks Author: While I’m yet to publish my first book, I recommend this to Mac owners because I believe it is a good application to begin learning authoring. The free app comes with very easy inviting features which make it easy to dive in and begin writing. This is recommended to anyone who’s every dreamed of writing a book.

iTunes Producer: After writing said book, how do you publish it? This is where Producer comes in. It is free as well and has resources online to guide you as you activate it and begin to attempt your publishing.

Google Keep: For many android users, this is the equivalent of the Notes app on iOS. Everything lives here. Luckily for you, the macOS app syncs effectively and lets you continue from where  you left off every time. This is just comfortable and makes many users who are heavily vested in Google for example have a respite if you may in switching between platforms.

GarageBand: This application has gone through the same revamp Final Cut Pro. It has also been dumbed down. That doesn’t stop it from being a powerful tool for recording and editing and even podcasting.

Are there any apps you’d recommend that are missing? You can add them in the comments below.