Favorite OSX Apps

A buddy of mine, Gil Rutkowski (@flashingcursor), is in the process of switching over to OSX. Both to help him, and serve as a quick reference for myself, I compiled a quick list of my favorite OSX apps. Maybe it contains some hidden gems to you!

I left out apps that are no brainers – Apple Apps, MS Office, text editors (TextMate, Sublime Text 2, CSSEdit), Adobe products, etc. I’m sure some apps I use are not listed, this is just off the top of my head!

RC DefaultApp – easily control your default apps via the system preferences.

Growl – system-wide notifications.

Transmit – FTP, SFTP, mount as drive, etc (this can replace ExpanDrive). Best FTP client available.

1Password – manage all your passwords. Integrates into all browsers, apps for all devices, syncs with DropBox.

Alfred – preform quick searches on your computer and google. Time saving app and a must have.

PathFinder 5 – The ultimate Finder replacement. Apple should really buy them and integrate this. Once you use it you will never go back to the plain finder

Adium – OSX equivalent to Pidgin.

Burn – free powerful burning app.

Textual or Colloquy – IRC clients. Also look into xChat.

iTerm 2 – powerful terminal replacement.

Versions – if terminal-based SVN isn’t your thing

GitHub OSX client - ’nuff said.

Divy – resize and move windows to a grid, quickly.

Fluid App – wrap websites in an app (such as Google Calendar).

Mailplane – App for Gmail/Google Mail.

Dropbox – duh!

VLC 2 – duh!

FileShuttle – lets you upload files to s/ftp (screenshots, etc) instantly and creates short URL automatically.

LittleSnapper – Capture websites for inspiration, store in a library which can be sorted, rated, etc. Can be synced with Dropbox.

Notify – I use gMail for my client, but Notify is a great addition for alerts.

SuperDuper – create *bootable* backups. Must have.

TextExpander – stores snippets, great for canned email responses, chunks of code, etc. Can be synced with Dropbox.

iStats Menu – keep an eye on stats from the menu bar.

Transmission – speedy torrent client.

SequelPro – GUI client for MySQL

Chicken of the VNC – VNC client, works flawlessly.

coconutBattery – monitor batter health.

Disk Inventory X – monitor disk usage.

HandBrake – Rip DVDs to xvid/divxh264/etc.

MacTheRipper – DVD extractor.

UnRarX – easily handle .rar files.

MAMP – Both free and pro versions work well. Take your pick.

AppTrap – when you delete an application, logic says it should uninstall. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen by default, this fixes that problem.

Last updated: Feb 2012