What are the 20 best creative apps for your MacBook Pro, iMac or MacBook Air?
Apple’s highly anticipated $6,000 Mac finally launched in December 2019. The 2019 Mac Pro is a major redesign over the previous model which is a throwback to the classic Mac Pro design. The massive handles on the top of the computer lift out of the body and spin, enabling owners to lift off the entire outer case thus exposing the expensive, powerful innards. Additionally, the new Mac Pro Display XDR – a super high-resolution display intended for use with the Mac Pro costs another $US1,000. Whether you own the new Mac Pro or MacBook Pro, iMac or MacBook Air here are the 20 best apps for your Mac. These apps are best or creative people like photo editors, music editors or writers.
Also note that these apps can be found at the Mac App Store, although some can be bought directly from their developer’s site. Mac App Store apps are straightforward to install, tied to your Apple ID, don’t require registration keys, and can be redownloaded at any time.
When you buy any app directly from the developer then they may cost a bit more, also ensure you buy from sites that are legit and reputable.
1. PIXELMATOR PRO
Most people don’t need full-fat Photoshop for improving their pics – but they want something a bit more powerful than Apple’s Photos. Pixelmator Pro brings some natty black threads to your Mac – and also Machine Learning. Like Pixelmator Photo for iPad, this Mac app attempts to fix any snap with a single button press – and it often succeeds. When you need to delve deeper, there’s a solid mix of adjustment sliders, drawing tools, and eye-popping visual effects.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $62.99
2. AFFINITY PHOTO
Faster, smoother and more powerful than ever, Affinity Photo continues to push the boundaries for professional photo editing software. With a huge toolset specifically engineered for creative and photography professionals, whether you are editing and retouching images, or creating full-blown multi-layered compositions, it has all the power and performance you will ever need.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $79.99
3. AFFINITY DESIGNER
Affinity Designer is the fastest, smoothest, most precise vector graphic design software available. Built from the ground up over a five-year period, every feature, tool, panel and function has been developed with the needs of creative professionals at its core. With continuous innovation and development, the result is a ground-breaking application that will revolutionise how you work.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $79.99
4. FINAL CUT PRO
Redesigned from the ground up, Final Cut Pro combines revolutionary video editing with powerful media organization and incredible performance to let you create at the speed of thought.
Revolutionary Video Editing app has the Magnetic Timeline that uses advanced metadata for faster, easier editing Enhanced Timeline Index lets you drag and drop audio roles to rearrange the layout of your timeline. You can edit multicamera projects with automatic syncing based on audio waveforms and support for up to 64 camera angles. Extend the capabilities of Final Cut Pro with third-party workflow extensions that open within the Final Cut Pro interface.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $499.99
5. KORG GADGET
The Mac incarnation perhaps brings across a bit too much of that version, ignoring some Mac conventions; but there’s no denying that it’s packed full of amazing synths and noises. The scene/loop-based workflow is pretty great as well, enabling you to crank out electronic masterpieces that’d make Aphex Twin, Daft Punk and Depeche Mode nod approvingly. As an added bonus, each synth is also provided as a plug-in for Logic Pro X. Click here to know more.
Buy Korg Gadget ($299, direct)
6. DJAY PRO 2
djay Pro 2 is the next generation of Algoriddim’s multiple award-winning DJ software with countless new features, a redesigned user interface, and advanced library management tools. djay Pro’s unique, modern interface is built around a sophisticated integration with iTunes and Spotify, giving you instant access to millions of songs. Pristine sound quality and a powerful set of features including high-definition waveforms, four decks, audio effects, video mixing and hardware integration give you endless creative flexibility to take your sets to new heights.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $79.99
7. CAPO 3
Whether you play for the world or yourself, all musicians need a good ear for harmony, melody, and rhythm. Using the songs in your music collection, Capo guesses the beats, chords, and key of songs to help you break them down to their individual parts. Capo’s unique technology helps you to learn your favorites quickly as you improve your ear along the way.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $49.99
8. LOGIC PRO X
Logic Pro X is the most advanced version of Logic ever. Sophisticated tools for professional songwriting, editing and mixing are built around a modern interface that’s designed to get creative results quickly and also deliver more power whenever it’s needed. Logic Pro X includes a massive collection of instruments, effects and loops, providing a complete toolkit to create amazing-sounding music.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $319.99
9. ROCK OUT: GARAGEBAND
GarageBand is the easiest way to create a great-sounding song on your Mac. Add realistic, impeccably produced and performed drum grooves to your song with Drummer. Easily shape the sound of any instrument in the Sound Library with Smart Controls. Crank up the bottom end with Bass Amp Designer, or mix and match electric guitar amps, cabinets, and pedals with Amp Designer and Pedalboard. Control GarageBand and play any software instrument wirelessly on your iPad using the Logic Remote app. Use iCloud to keep your GarageBand projects updated across multiple Mac computers, or even import GarageBand for iOS songs directly from iCloud.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost free
10. SCRIVENER 3
Typewriter. Corkboard. Scrapbook. Scrivener combines all the writing tools you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop. Tailor-made for creating long manuscripts, Scrivener lets you break up your writing into sections as small or large as you like. At its heart is a simple ring-binder metaphor—gather material and switch between writing, notes and research with ease.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $77.99
11. IA WRITER
Even if what you’re writing is a bit more straightforward, that doesn’t mean you should immediately fire up Word, Pages, or Google Docs. Instead, avoid distractions with iA Writer.
This app comes across like the designer snapped at seeing one too many buttons in the aforementioned apps, and then went full-on minimal. But this makes for a great environment when you want to just get on with writing while what you’re using gets out of your way – like a smart modern take on a typewriter.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $13.99
12. MINDNODE
Whether you’re planning a party or trying to get ideas for a vital project out of your head, mind-mapping is a great way to organise your thoughts. MindNode takes this approach into the digital realm, with a superb, flexible interface.
You can get started with a bulleted list, which with a single click explodes into a mind map that can be augmented with all manner of colour, imagery, stickers, and icons.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $62.99
13. SOULVER 3
Soulver is like a notepad that tots up sums as you go. As you craft your calculations, with inline words for added context, figures are intelligently extracted. Line endings (totals) can be added as live tokens to subsequent lines, making for something that’s part notepad, part spreadsheet, part ‘back of an envelope scribbles’, and all magic.
Buy Soulver 3 ($29.95, direct)
14. FANTASTICAL 2
Designed exclusively for macOS, Fantastical 2 includes powerful features such as an incredibly intuitive parsing engine, a full calendar window (with day, week, month, and year views), a quick access mini window, iCloud reminders support, time zone support, and much, much more.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $79. 99
15. CARDHOP
Until now, managing and interacting with your contacts has been a real frustration. Cardhop’s magical parsing engine is incredibly intuitive, letting you search, add, edit, and interact with your contacts using a simple sentence!
Just type in “John G” and John’s card will instantly appear. Or enter “Sarah Smith sarah@cardhopapp.com” and Cardhop will add a new contact to Sarah’s card.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $30. 99
16. REEDER 4
A news reader for the Mac with support for various sync services. Reeder 4 adds new features like the new Bionic Reading mode and an in-app Read Later service which syncs with iCloud
It helps you get Image previews in the articles list and comes with more layout options, including automatic layout depending on window size. Navigate the app using gestures for a great reading experience. Customize shortcuts and gestures to fine-tune the app to your needs.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $14. 99
17. PARALLELS DESKTOP
You might have left Windows behind for a shiny new Mac, or be a long term Mac user who comes out in hives at the very mention of the W word. But sometimes, Windows just can’t be avoided.
Parallels Desktop lets you quickly and easily create virtual PCs, which can run inside their own windows, or you can opt to have Windows apps run side-by-side with Mac ones. The app can run Linux VMs too, and even ones with older versions of macOS if Apple’s horribly killed an app you depended on.
Buy Parallels Desktop direct and costs $79.99
18. MOOM
This app offers a slew of window management choices. You can resize a window by dragging it to a screen edge, by drawing a box on the screen to say where you want it to go, or by way of a user-defined keyboard shortcut.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $14. 99
19. BETTERTOUCHTOOL
This app tries to be friendly, but may bewilder newcomers. Persevere, though, because BetterTouchTool can radically power up every one of your input devices.
It achieves this through you defining trigger/shortcut pairs. For example, you might launch Mail with Shift+Ctrl+M, add advanced four-finger gestures to your trackpad, power up the Touch Bar, or adjust how window buttons behave when clicked along with a modifier. This one needs you to invest time, then, but will pay you back with lashings of interest.
Buy BetterTouchTool ($21, direct)
20. GRANDPERSPECTIVE
GrandPerspective is a small utility application that graphically shows the disk usage within a file system. It can help you to manage your disk, as you can easily spot which files and folders take up the most space.
Disk usage is visualised using tree maps. Each file is shown as a rectangle with an area proportional to the file’s size. Files in the same folder appear together.
Click here to buy this app now. This app cost $2. 99