5 apps I install on every new Mac right away

Summary

Spotify offers a vast selection of music and podcasts with a user-friendly interface.
Capcut for Mac provides entry-level video editing tools for social media content creation.
Slack is essential for workplace communication with customizable notification settings.

Purchasing a new Mac product is an exciting time, just like driving a car off the lot. A brand-new shiny device to start toying with ample amounts of possibilities ahead. With each new Mac, Apple continues to offer a stunning array of apps and software that’ll help you with your day-to-day use of the device. However, your usage of the MacBook, iMac, etc., shouldn’t solely rely on stock Apple apps.

If you venture out just a little from what Apple includes out of the box, you may be surprised by what’s available on Mac products. There is no shortage of productivity, social media, and entertainment apps you can look towards to improve your experience on a Mac device. I’ve pulled just a few of my favorite apps available on Mac that I’d recommend installing as soon as you unbox your new device.

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1 Spotify

No disrespect to Apple Music, but Spotify has my heart

My day isn’t complete without listening to a podcast or an album as I work. While the most obvious music streaming app within the Apple ecosystem is Apple Music, I can’t get away from Spotify. Not only is the catalog of albums and artists impressively robust, but Spotify also hosts an endless amount of podcast content.

On top of gaining access to everything my ears could ever need, the Spotify app has a really clean and user-friendly interface. I find it’s quite simple to look for what I want and add albums or podcast feeds to my library. Spotify also has one of the more advanced algorithms, so discovering new music is all a part of the fun while engaging with the app.

Here’s how Spotify knows what music you want to listen to next

Nail your song suggestions by fine-tuning your Taste Profile.

2 Capcut for Mac

Edit and render your videos easily using CapCut

I’m no video editing savant so I’ve found that the suite of services Capcut for Mac provides is streamlined enough that I can feel proficient when cutting together a video for social feeds. Capcut, which is owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, is a relatively entry-level editing software where you can edit videos, images, and audio. The app also integrates a ton of keyframe animations, smoothing options, and even allows for animated text to appear on screen.

CapCut may not be as well adopted or used as perhaps Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, but the tools granted for the $9.99 monthly subscription of CapCut Pro are quite attractive. If you’re looking to put together quite a few TikTok videos or Instagram Reels and aren’t quite experienced in video editing, CapCut is a great entry-level option to consider.

CapCut for beginners: What is it and how does it work?

Here’s everything you need to know about the easy-to-use video editing platform, CapCut, which you might’ve seen all over TikTok.

3 Slack

If you’re using your Mac for productivity and work, chances are you may need Slack

Slack / Salesforce / Pocket-lint

While it may not sound like the most exciting addition to your Mac app library, Slack is a quintessential app for me. The user interface allows me to connect with workplaces as well as passive chat groups all in one place. Slack systematically makes it easy to organize group-wide chats as well as one-on-one threads with other members of the workplace/community.

Slack has features to disable notifications unless a message is directed towards you.

What Slack handles very well is its notification customization options, as you can minimize disruptions quite nicely. Unlike other communication apps — whether they’re Messages, Discord, or DMs — Slack has features to disable notifications unless a message is directed towards you. You can also set do-not-disturb times so you can walk away from your desk at 4PM and not be bothered by coworkers.

You can also mute entire channels if you wish to.

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4 Dropbox

The battle between Dropbox and iCloud all comes down to personal preference

Over the years, I’ve migrated myself over from iCloud to Dropbox. Apple’s iCloud works fairly well and competently if you’re very invested in the Apple ecosystem, but if you work on a Mac as well as other non-Apple devices, iCloud is a chore to navigate. Dropbox offers much more synergy between macOS, iOS, PC, and Android, making it much easier to access files, photos, videos, and more across your devices when you need them most.

With the free version of Dropbox, I gain access to 2GB of data. However, the $10 monthly subscription offers 2TB of cloud storage. With this tier, you also get Smart Sync perks as well as document recovery access to previous versions of files you’ve worked on in the past 30 days.

Dropbox also has more safeguards in place in case you accidentally delete a file.

Which cloud storage service is right for you? iCloud vs Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox

To help you optimise your mix-and-match approach, or better understand the pros and cons of each service, Pocket-lint has answered all your questions.

5 Amphetamine

This app is a must for any content consumer out there

If you use your MacBook or Mac to stream content or watch videos, you’ve probably faced the infuriating auto-dim function of the device. Apple bakes in some automatic functions to put your device into sleep mode or transition to a screensaver. These can be great tools at times, but not when you’re binge-watching Love is Blind. Amphetamine is an app that prevents this snag in your screentime.

Once installed, you can enable Amphetamine to override all sleep mode settings, screensavers, and auto-dim functionality. This way, you can watch your content without having to always hit your keyboard or mouse to keep the screen active. Amphetamine also lets you curate the amount of time you want to override these settings or do so indefinitely.