These are the best Mac apps that’ll help you through all kinds of work — writing, graphic design, video editing — with a few simple (must-have) utilities that everyone can make use of.
Finding good apps can be hard, especially if you’re new to the Mac. Luckily, we’ve put together a list of the very best.
Keep reading or watch our video guide instead.
You can change the name of your Apple devices, whether you have an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, AirPods or Apple TV. By default, it’s just “[your name]’s iPhone.” But you can give your iPhone its own unique name, like Kit-Kat or Magic Rectangle.
Also by default, when you set up a new iPhone, the name is transferred. This can get confusing if you keep old phones around because you’ll see “John’s iPhone,” “John’s iPhone (2),” maybe even “John’s iPhone (3)” and more. The same is true for Apple Watch, Mac, iPad and AirPods.
The name of your device shows up among a bunch of Apple features like AirDrop, Find My, Personal Hotspot, AirPlay and more. If you use these features often, giving it a unique name will make it easier to identify.
Here’s how to fix this mess on all your Apple devices. Keep reading or watch our video.
It’s possible to remove an Apple ID from your iPhone without a password using UnlockGo.
You can unlock iCloud Activation Lock without a password or the previous owner, remove a forgotten Screen Time passcode without data loss, bypass MDM locks and more. It’s a really powerful app and it’s available for both Mac and PC.
If you get a second-hand iPhone but find out the seller didn’t fully reset it beforehand, UnlockGo will fix it. Here’s how it works.
If you don’t have your phone on silent, you may as well have a fun, custom iPhone ringtone. After all, custom Home Screens and Lock Screens are all the rage — you can create a ringtone that matches your aesthetic.
Between wearing an Apple Watch and leaving my phone muted, I almost never hear my ringtone, but needs and preferences vary. If you don’t wear an Apple Watch and you carry your phone in a bag or purse, a ringtone is the only way you’ll hear a call coming in.
It’s not super straightforward, but here’s how you can make a custom iPhone ringtone out of an MP3 using just your phone. Keep reading below or watch our video.
If you want a game emulator on iPhone, the Delta app is now available on the App Store to play games for Nintendo DS, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, NES, SNES and N64.
That means you can play classic Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Zelda, Castlevania, and many, many more.
Download it for free on the App Store or from AltStore PAL in the EU. Playing classic Nintendo games on iPhone has never been easier. You don’t need to jailbreak, sideload through a computer or compile the emulator from source code anymore. And it’s legal-ish.
Here’s how to use Delta. Keep reading below or watch our latest video.
Recover and undelete lost photos from an SD card with Stellar Photo Recovery Premium, a versatile tool that can rescue your work from corrupt files and formatting.
The worst nightmare of every content creator is getting back to your Mac, plugging in your SD card, only to find all your work from a photo shoot is missing.
Stellar Photo Recovery can save the heartache. This tool for Mac and PC can restore photos and videos that have been deleted or corrupted from all kinds of storage media and all major cameras.
It’s available from Stellar’s website with a free trial. The Premium version typically costs $69.99, but Cult of Mac readers get an extra $10 discount.
If your Mac is running slow, there are a few things you can do to speed it up and better understand what’s slowing it down.
It’s not just that your Mac is old — although that is an important factor. It could be that you don’t have enough memory, especially if you like to use Google Chrome. You may have a bunch of apps running in the background. There also might be dust in the vents, keeping your Mac from running nice and cool.
Check out our latest video or keep reading to learn why your Mac is slow and how to speed it up.
After Apple’s thunderous launch of the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips a few months ago, these chips likely will roll out as spec bumps in the MacStudio, Mac Pro, and Mac mini later this year. Additionally, Apple enthusiasts are eager to see how the m3 ultra chip will further enhance Mac performance in upcoming releases.
An M4 MacBook Pro remains a possibility for this fall. (I suspect M4 will be the first “must-have” Mac upgrade for anyone still on an M1-series chip.)
There are lots of questions about how to take solar eclipse photos with your iPhone. Firstly, can a solar eclipse harm your iPhone’s camera or lenses? Won’t the sun’s rays damage the camera?
Not according to Apple. Cupertino says it’s safe to photograph a total solar eclipse with your iPhone; but be sure to protect your eyes.
However, photographing the solar eclipse is hard without the right tools. To get a good picture of the solar eclipse with your iPhone, you’re going to need a 12-18x telephoto lens attachment, a solar filter and a tripod. Make sure you have everything you need before the big event on Monday.
Here’s how you can get prepared. Watch our new video or keep reading below.
★★★★☆
The SwitchEasy Orbit Universal Magnetic Stand is an incredibly handy little stand that’s sturdy and easy to use. It’s seamlessly blended into my daily iPhone habits — and unlike most products I review, everyone I show it to instantly wants one.
The handy stand props up your iPhone on a table, desk or kitchen counter. Its puck shape allows you to orient your phone vertically or horizontally. It collapses and folds flat, so you can carry it around.
You can also stick on double-sided tape and attach it to the back of your monitor as a camera mount for your iPhone.
I’ve been using it for a few months now at my desk and around the house. Here’s why I recommend it.
★★★★☆
If you’re looking for a hardy velcro EDC watch band for your Apple Watch, Mifa has you covered. Mifa’s Nylon Sports Leather Apple Watch Band is sturdy, the velcro is strong and the stitched leather is high-quality.
It’s a nice band for daily wear.
It comes in five different styles. The gray-on-black NASA-inspired design is my favorite. Two other designs in brown and black emphasize “EDC-34 Essential Series” with the Mifa name. And two new versions (in green and orange) sport NASA’s classic “meatball” insignia.
Comparing the Apple TV vs. Roku vs. other smart TV products, there are a lot of good reasons to stick with Apple’s offering — even though it’s more expensive.
Roku is the more popular product, selling plug-in devices for as little as $30. And if you buy a new TV today, it’s probably running Roku or Google TV software. Although the latest Apple TV 4K is a pricey $129, it offers better privacy protection, it’s easily controlled with your iPhone and Apple Watch, makes FaceTime calls, plays better games and runs faster.
Check out our latest video or keep reading.
WWDC24, this year’s big Apple developer conference, will start with a live-streamed event on June 10, the company said Tuesday. During the keynote, Apple undoubtedly will reveal its plans for iOS and its other computing platforms, with a rumored focus on AI.
After the keynote, set to stream for free at 10 a.m. Pacific on June 10, the rest of the week will be filled with prerecorded online sessions that will help developers implement the new features and APIs in their apps.
The conference will take the same format of the mixed online/in-person event Apple utilized the last two years.
Should your next Mac be a portable or a desktop? More than 90% of Macs sold are laptops, and it’s easy to see why — MacBooks are light while offering best-in-class performance and battery life. Still, the “iMac vs. MacBook” quandary remains.
In fact, there are some compelling reasons to stick to the iMac (or other desktop Macs like the Mac mini or Mac Studio). You save money and also wind up with a more reliable machine.
Check out our latest video or keep reading below to help you decide.
In iOS 17, the iPhone got a built-in text-to-speech feature called Live Speech. You can even use Live Speech with a digital version of your own voice called Personal Voice.
Apple devised Personal Voice for users “at risk of losing their ability to speak — such as those with a recent diagnosis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or other conditions that can progressively impact speaking ability.” It was the subject of a touching and heartfelt video Apple made called “The Lost Voice.”
Here’s how to set up and use Live Speech.
★★★★☆
CleanMyPhone is a new app that will tidy up your photo library. Developed by MacPaw, maker of CleanMyMac X, the new app can do a thorough scan of images on your iPhone to clear out years of screenshots, saved TikToks and unusably blurry shots. It’s a simple way to clean up photos on your iPhone.
It also uses artificial intelligence to sort your photos into handy categories. Plus, it makes it simple to periodically look at the last week or month of your photos to sort things into albums and stay organized. As a bonus, the app comes with an internet speed test — good for checking if your connection is solid enough to take an important video call.
The CleanMyPhone app is available today from the App Store, with a free three-day trial. An annual subscription costs $24.99.
The 2024 MacBook Air lineup launched Monday by Apple runs on the company’s M3 chip, bringing a significant performance boost to the laptop. It also benefits from Wi-Fi that’s up to twice as fast. Plus, the new MacBook Air can support two external displays. This all comes in the same thin design, with the same two display sizes and four colors.
Apple’s press release says that “with a faster and more efficient Neural Engine in M3, MacBook Air continues to be the world’s best consumer laptop for AI.”
The M3 MacBook Air starts at the same $1,099 price as the outgoing M2 model, which remains on sale starting at $999. You can order the new MacBook Air now from the Apple Online Store and it will be available this Friday.
Even as a big car enthusiast (and a bigger AI pessimist), I see Apple’s cancellation of its electric car project in favor of tackling AI as nothing but good news.
Apple pulled the plug Tuesday on the doomed Project Titan, its decade-long attempt at building a self-driving electric car. The company reportedly will reassign software engineers from the autonomous vehicle project to work on generative AI.
Some of my colleagues here at Cult of Mac find the Apple car cancellation depressing and sad. And, yes, it was always fun imagining what an Apple car would be like. However, Apple’s now-abandoned car strategy is already being executed at the peak of what’s possible by every other automaker. And whereas OpenAI, Google and Facebook clearly aren’t remotely interested in waiting for an ethical solution to their many, many problems, I think Apple has the best chance of bringing about positive change in this field.
If you want to get work done on your Vision Pro, you’ll really want a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad for precision input and pointing. And for gaming, you can connect a controller, too. The Vision Pro officially supports Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch controllers, with support for some other Bluetooth models as well.
Follow these instructions to pair a Bluetooth device with Vision Pro.
The best Vision Pro apps, games, demos and experiences showcase the AR capabilities of Apple’s headset.
If you own a Vision Pro and don’t know where to start, I put together a list of apps and games to try out first. Alternatively, if you can’t afford a headset (or if you live outside the United States), you can live vicariously through me as I show you all of the most interesting Vision Pro apps I’ve found.
I highly recommend you check out the companion video to this article to see these apps in action. Alternatively, you can continue reading below.
I’ve had a lot of fun playing Void-X, a modern arcade shooter game. If you’ve ever emptied a whole pocketful of quarters into Galaga or Zaxxon, then you’ll love playing it, too. And you’ll like it even more if you play Void-X on Vision Pro. (You can play the tame on iPhone and iPad, too.)
The two-week return window for my Vision Pro is fast approaching, so I need to make my keep it/toss it decision in a matter of days. And I desperately want to keep it.
Many publications (including Cult of Mac) are reporting on the mass of people selling their Vision Pros after the two-week return window. A lot of it, I think, is for the drama — Apple is taking a big swing on a brand-new product, people aren’t keeping it, instant controversy. (I bet a lot of these people bought their headsets to produce content on the buzzy device and never planned on keeping it, no matter how good it was.)
Well, here’s the other side of the coin. My Vision Pro has fit into my life perfectly. I use it for hours every day. But justifying the purpose is a financial stretch.
Control Center in Vision Pro works very differently than on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. But as with Apple’s other platforms, you can customize the Vision Pro Control Center to make it far more useful.
The first few days after I got my Vision Pro, I found Control Center to be intensely irritating. It constantly appeared in my field of view, bugging me like a hair in my mouth or a piece of popcorn in my teeth.
Luckily, with just a few changes, you can make Control Center way less annoying.
If you get a Vision Pro, you’ll soon need to learn how to charge up that battery. Apple only promises two hours of battery life on its revolutionary headset. Although real-world usage is pushing closer to three, if you want your spatial computing to be untethered, you’ll need to charge the Vision Pro battery often.
Here’s how to do it — along with some tips that will keep you (and your data) safe.
The Vision Pro’s virtual, floating-in-the-air keyboard has been nearly universally condemned. There’s no way around it: Typing on Vision Pro sucks.
But people said the same thing about the original iPhone, which ditched a physical keyboard compared to the BlackBerry. And these days, physical keyboards for your iPhone are more of a novelty than a standard accessory that everybody buys.
So to get to the bottom of exactly how bad the Vision Pro keyboard is, I took a bunch of different typing tests across a bunch of different keyboards. And the results I found were incredibly surprising. I accidentally discovered the best way to input text in Vision Pro.
Check out our latest YouTube video or keep reading to see what happened.