3 Apps I use on Mac that you should too

There are some apps on my Mac that I use all too frequently to increase my productivity. Here are my top picks

Raycast: Spotlight on Steroids

I love using spotlight to launch apps, do quick currency conversions an even find files. But I didn't know how much I was missing out til I came across Raycast.

Photo credit: theVerge

Raycast takes the place of Spotlight for me and super charges it so that I can do so much more. Things like clipboard history or pulling up emojis for things. They also have an expansive list of plugins. Here are some that I use:

• Download Youtube Helps me quickly download YouTube videos in case I need to include a clip for commentary.
• Color Picker A color picker utility that lives on the to bar of my desktop by which I can color pick a value from anything. And it stores a history of previous colors too.
• Window Management I was a huge fan of using Spectacle and more recently Rectangle. But now splitting windows or making something full screen is right at my fingertips.

Photo credit: Rohan Bhangui

It's been a real powerhouse for me.

NotchNook: Dynamic Island on Mac

In a previous post I covered NotchNook , but thought it deserves more of the spotlight. I might be hoping on the hype train, but the hype is real.

Photo credit: TechHub Social

NotchNook is a utility that sits at the top center of your mac that shows you things like your music and upcoming calendar.

Photo credit: Life Hacker

It does it with this really Apple-like, satisfying animation when it opens.

In addition, there is a file shelf area so you can store files away and retrieve them way faster.

It's a paid app, but I feel it was worth what their asking given the rate of development and new features that come out.

Bartender: Take back your menu bar

Real estate on my menu bar has always been an issue.

I have a lot of things running, but I don't need all of them all the time.

The problem gets even worse when I'm using a Mac with a notch: some of the icons get hidden. Bartender to the rescue!

Photo credit: Mac Stories

Bartender is an app that collapses those pesky icons you don't want to see all the time and shows the ones you do need.

Photo credit: Rohan Bhangui

In addition it has a few other tricks up its sleeve, like collapsing the icon spacing so they are closer together and even making the bar of icons floating.

And when you need to you can expand the menu to reveal the other icons.