- Date added
-
Oct. 21, 2024, 12:03 a.m.
- Description
- And Why I Think It’s Great Value
Setapp — which apps do you use? Many, us pay for SetApp yet don’t get all the value because we don’t know the full extent of all the shiny toys. This was last asked 4 yrs ago, so it feels relevant againWhat the hidden gems have I missed?
A while ago, someone, on the MPU Forums, asked the question above. And here’s my answer to this question.
I also got around to writing this, as many of My App Defaults are from Setapp, and because I recently read about the Setapp iOS store in the EU (which Norway, sadly, isn’t a part of).
I hope this post can be useful if you’re considering the service, and wonder if it’s worth it, or if you’re new to the service and would like some tips to get started. If you want to give it a try, I’d appreciate you doing so through my affiliate link to Setapp 🖇️. 🫶🏻
I've paid for the service for a couple of years, and keep paying for it. This post is me explaining why, and giving some tips. But I get it if some might find the use of an affiliate link to make me biased - so here's a regular link, if you'd rather use that.
I’ve sorted them into the following categories:
Always-running utilities,
new defaults,
useful tools,
and workflow staples.
I also have a couple of honorable mentions, that are (or seem like) good apps, but that I, personally, don’t use that much.
I’ve added the price outside Setapp as well.1 Setapp is €10-15/month, or €100-150/year. However, some things to keep in mind:
Many of the apps are one-time purchases (but often not with unlimited updates), so it’s difficult to compare with a single subscription.
Many of the apps I use, I wouldn’t pay for if it weren’t included in Setapp. I’d either use a free/cheaper alternative, or just not use something like that at all.
I still find it to be great value – and I like that I can use nice, paid apps like explained in the second point.
Always-running utilities
These are apps I have running in the background all the time.
Bartender (€21)
The grandad of menu bar organisation. Ice is an interesting free alternative, but I’m still pleased with Bartender – especially as I can have it automatically change layout when I connect my Studio Display.
BetterTouchTool (€22)
I mostly use this to set up trackpad shortcuts – which it does amazingly. But it can do much more as well.
Cleanshot X (€26)
Terrific tool for screenshots, annotations, and screen recordings. An alternative for the latter, called IShowU (€80 or €22/year) also just dropped on Setapp.
Default Folder X (€47)
This app powers up the open and save dialogues on your Mac – with things like recent folders and the ability to click on folders you have open in the background to save there.
Hookmark (€63)
This is an app for creating deep links between different documents and parts of apps (like specific emails).
iStat Menus (€13)
Recently updated, with a beautiful coat of paint, this highly customisable app lets you place what you want in the menu bar. I have RAM and CPU usage, and a weather widget.
My laptop mode menu bar, dictated by Bartender. If I hit the weather widget, iStat gives me a detailed forecast. And hitting the memory and CPU bars, gives me more details about those things.
Mission Control Plus (€10)
I only use this to allow me to close windows from Exposé. Worth it!
Paste (€27/year)
My favourite clipboard manager. Both pretty and powerful.
PixelSnap (€35)
Used for measuring things or your screen. I think xScope might be a more powerful version of this.
PopClip (€23)
App that mimics the menu you get when you select text on iOS – but you fill it with what you want. I’ve turned off mine coming up automatically, but I get this with a hotkey:
From the left:
The left one is a specific one for working with subtitles. It splits the selected line into two, down the middle.
This wraps text in <figcaption>, and is used for blog posts.
This wraps the text in a “callout div”, that I use to create callouts like the one about the affiliate link up top.
If I want to format text in image captions or callouts, I have to use HTML. This creates an HTML hyperlink,
this is italics, <em>
and this is bold. <strong>
The pen is some custom stuff for my band’s website.
The Last One Will Title Case the Selected Text.
New defaults
These are tools that do the same thing as built-in tools, but a bit nicer/and more in a more powerful way.
Archiver (€20)
Just a nice zip/unzip tool. The Unarchiver (free) is more or less just as nice!
Elmedia Player (€25)
And this is just a nice video player. But here Iina (free) is also just as nice.
BusyCal (€45)
It lacks some of the most powerful Fantastical features – but I also prefer some things about BusyCal. And seeing as it’s so much cheaper, this is a great alternative if you want something more powerful than Calendar.app, but don’t want to pay €60/year. It also has a nice menu bar widget (as seen in the screenshot above).
Nitro PDF Pro (€200 or €17/month)
I’ve no idea why this is so expensive! I guess it offers features some businesses just got to have. 🤷🏻♂️ But for me, it’s just a nice PDF reader/editor.
Useful tools
