Hey everyone…I recently switched to a MacBook Air after using Windows for the past 6 years, so this is my first real time experience with macOS…
I have been exploring through videos and articles…but I feel like the real game changing features are the ones you only discover over time while using the system. So I wanted to ask, what are some hidden or underrated macOS features that actually improved your workflow? it could be anything like:- Keyboard shortcuts you use daily, Built-in tools people often overlook,Settings that made a noticeable difference, Small tricks that save time but arent obvious. I am especially interested in things that helped with productivity, multitasking, or just making everyday use smoother. Would love to hear those “I wish I knew this earlier” tips from you guys…
. Thanks in advance!
OSS Tools I find helpful:
- Brew, install software and update it
- Swiftbar, create your own tray icons / menus, e.g. for brew
- Ice menubar, tidy up you menubar space
- mac-stats, get better battery stats
- iTerm2, better terminal
- Karabiner-Elements, define you own shortcuts per device (mice included)
- Gifski, use the screenshot app to create a screen recording and use gifski to convert it to a high quality but relatively small gif.
- MonitorControl to control brightness of external displays
- Keka, extract ANY archive
Other stuff:
- Use spotlight but deactivate the internet search
- Add Spacers in the macOS Dock
- Learn about macOS
launchd/launchctlto automate stuff - I use
cmd+tabfor switching applications and mappedoption+tabfor switching of windows of an application, if you don’t like that checkout alt-tab - Use
cmd+clickto drag around menu bar tray icons - Use
option+clickon the wifi symbol to openWireless Diagnosticsstart a scan and afterwards click on monitor.
Afterwards you can access a bunch of tools to monitor your wifi connection. Came in really handy lately to adjust the power levels of my access points so they just barely overlap. You can also use this to go around your house and check where you might need to place a 2nd AP or repeater etc. - Create multiple virtual Desktops switch between them with
control+Arrow Keys
Those are really good suggestions that @mietzen gave.
I like simplicity and do not use the dock so I rather hide it, you can still spawn the dock if you need it by the F3 key:
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 1000
defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool TRUE
If you don’t like it being hidden and do use the dock, you can revert it:
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool false && killall Dock
defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay && killall Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool FALSE && killall Dock
@Mietzen also said “Use spotlight but deactivate the internet search”. You can disable that by going into System Settings > Spotlight, turn off “Show Related Content”.
I also for the longest time use AppCleaner. Enabled SmartDelete in settings. Once I delete an application to the Recycle Bin it searches for files that become remnants as soon as the app is not longer there. You can find that here: AppCleaner.
It’s a quite a different approach even if the differences (outside far more limited if not absent ads) aren’t all that drastic.
even simpler than the above -
cmd+space - search for a thing, e.g.
iphone mirror
mirror screen to an ipad
just play music on the internal speaker (essentially, this is witchcraft).
& not that I’d recommend this to an average user but considering this is level1techs and not tier 1 mac support, homebrew, for a pretty good selection of open source software (install applite, in particular for an open source/non-apple app store).
What i’ll suggest, though - is don’t ask it to do things, or work too much out outside of the apple-ey way. Disabling SIP (acronym deliberately unexpanded), is just not the way to not be doing things Apple don’t expect, so I’m not saying don’t, but if you want that so much, maybe what you wanted was Linux.
But if you really did buy the wrong OS, then power is available for you to command -
Also even if I like VLC, the best video player is IINA.
Kind Regards
The most important one for me was the app UnnaturalScrollWheels to make the computer usable with a Mouse.
If you enjoy yourself a good rabbit hole you should also checkout some of the videos Snazzy Labs has done on applications for mac. I find them to be the best.
The free UTM app for creating virtual machine on your Mac!
This seams like a rather nice application. Although, to me it feel strange that I have to grant screen recording permissions to the application. To my unknowledgeable eyes that seems like security risk waiting to happen. What made you comfortable using the application?
That it is open source and that they document why they need it, also macOS will show you when it’s used and it’s rarely.
Alt-Tab and any program that will modify the appearance of macOS will need this permission since all of them are basically overlays. If you would want to really change the DE you would need to disable SIP.
I would argue running curl | sudo sh or auto updating brew casks is a greater risk than having max 2 screenshots take per day that are only processed in memory. But if we are talking about that level of security I would argue that one shouldn’t install brew at all, especially casks.
Objektiv for quickly changing default browser (great if you work in web dev or use different browsers for different purposes)
Three finger drag in Accessibility settings makes moving things with the trackpad exponentially easier
Dozer for cleaning up the menu bar
BetterDisplay for fractional scaling
LuLu for seeing which apps try to phone home
RansomWhere monitors the creation of encrypted files by suspicious processes
PowerPhotos for managing multiple photo libraries (I only keep the current year synced to iCloud, put the best ones of the past year into a shared album - massive savings in iCloud fees)
People should really stop recommending brew.
For security reasons primarily (you don’t know whom you’re recommending it to, do you?).
Speaking of which, i do wonder just how many of the people recommening it to others understand how it functions; and what glaring a security hole you open up for yourself by using it. I’m a literal caveman, yet it took me less than a month to learn how to use rust, xcode, how to .git or curl.
A young man? Probably, what, hours? What are you “experts” “”“teaching”“” people? And why?
But anyway 
Since the title is features, not apps!
- You must learn to use shortcuts. Nothing made me feel my age more accutely than learning how easier, how much more practical, my PC usage could have been; a must.
(extra hint: shortcuts are a good way of indirectly integrating non-native software to your Mac’s ecosystem) - Automation is naturally the next one up, on its own or combined with shortcuts. I have almost entirely stopped using a keyboard due to these two.
- Focus is awesome. Alone or combined with automation and shortcuts, you can really stretch the definition of “owning 1 terminal”.
- You should next get yourself an iPhone. If all you own is a Mac and think yourself satisfied, you’ve no idea; it gets even better. The way their devices pair with one another, the extra stuff that becomes available to you? It’s really something ^^
(haven’t forgotten your title [features], not at all.. your Mac just has features you won’t see until you buy an iPhone. Yes, customer milking, sure. But beneficial customer milking)
Edit: If next you made a thread asking what are the negatives of owning a Mac, i’d post there too, plenty of those as well! But for someone that:
- Doesn’t know; and
- Isn’t willing to learn?
MacOS over Windows any time.
(if one wants to learn? Nothing beats Linux)
So this is probably a bit over the top for someone new to macos from windows, but for any more linuxy oriented people who find themselves on macos I would highly suggest using nix instead of brew. nix keeps itself nicely contained in a separate volume, brew will unapologetically vomit over your system.