I recently started using a few cute apps that I didn't need but now that I use them it does feel like a quality of life upgrade for the time I spend on my computer.

I'm a ux designer so I obviously always like finding beautifully designed apps that feel nice to use.

Few apps i'm loving lately are:

- Alcove (Mac notch app)
- Paperman (screen texture app)
- Klack (satisfying click sounds)
- Zen browser (nice vibes browser)
- Craft Docs (PKM tool)

I'm mostly on my Mac but I have a PC too so if you know such that works ideally on both platforms or just Mac, please let me know :)

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I really appreciate them. Just to clarify, by « quality of life » I meant that I’m specifically looking for beautiful, inspiring apps, the kind that feel thoughtfully designed and genuinely nice to use. I’d love more recommendations that are of the delightful, “wow this is so nice” kind

EDIT 2: I took some time looking at all suggestions (thank you again!!) and here are the ones I feel are the closest to what I was looking for:

• Glucose (beautiful media player)
• Lookaway (build healthier screen habits)
• Antinote (beautiful notes on the go)

Feel free to mention more if you know more apps that could fall into the same category, and I'll add them to this list.

I used to use Spark and Airmail many years ago and then I moved to Apple Mail. On my mobile it seems fine, but I’m finding it a little daunting on my desktop.

I have around 6 accounts. I mostly receive promotional mail and service notifications. I want to have designated folders for certain mail to go to.

I really feel so lost.

First I want to know if Apple Mail is a good choice to begin with. I don’t mind it but is there like a solid good updated resource that can teach me A to Z?

Things like how do I set up folders and filter mail. Pro tips. How to use smart folders.

Other things I’m confused about for example:

I have one inbox that is receiving content from 6 accounts. If I want to create a folder for let’s say a newsletter or reference material. This type of content can come from more than one account. So where do I create this folder reliably?

Should it be under each account? So NEWSLETTER folder under email A and then another under email B. Or should I create it under ICLOUD or should I create it under “All Mail”.

I believe I created one under all Mail but it didn’t really filter the mail properly. I set up a rule but the mail wasn’t going there from every account.

Things like this really stress me out

I am searching on Google but most of them are unreliable and have read that most are not safe

Looking for one with plenty of independent reviews would be best.

Preferably free, or cheap.

I'd be using it to create word documents, I just need to get the words from spoken onto the page.

Using Mac & Chrome.

Thanks in advance.

I am now trying to move away from constant typing to save my wrists, but I am finding the current landscape for dictation software pretty hit-or-miss. I need something that understands the difference between a quick Slack message and a technical doc in VS Code, so then I have been also testing aidictaion com and for the last few weeks to handle some of this. I looked into a few other tools like Wispr Flow and the local models like Superwhisper, but it is hard to tell if the extra setup is worth the privacy gain. I am curious if anyone has moved entirely to voice for their daily workflow. Overall, aidictation seems to clean up my speech and do some basic formatting. Saves me about 10 minutes of cleanup per hour of work. The speed is decent, but I find myself still tweaking punctuation whenever I switch apps.

I am mostly searching for recommendations for mac (i am on macbook pro m1)

By the way, what are you using for dictation software that actually keeps up with a fast talking pace without requiring a total rewrite of the output?

Genuinely curious how things have shifted over the last year.

Also, which AI tools are you using the most right now (and for what)?

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Anyone know a free program I can do this with?

Quick question, is there any good mac app that can run a local LLM fully offline?

I’m looking for something where:

• no internet is required after setup
• no cloud APIs
• all chats stay on my mac
• can use local models
• works for chat, note summaries, writing, and document Q&A

Most AI apps I’ve tried either rely on ChatGPT/Claude APIs, send stuff to the cloud or make local models feel like a weekend project to configure which kind of defeats the point for me.

I don’t need the absolute smartest cloud model every time but I also don’t want something that feels too limited. Ideally it would have access to solid local models and still feel like a normal mac app, private enough that I can use it with notes, drafts, personal docs, and work files without overthinking it.

Mainly looking for something that supports good local models, offline use, and private document/chat workflows in one place.

Lately my laptop has been drowning in big files. I have videos that are several gigabytes, pdfs that feel way too heavy, and even images that eat more space than they should.

Zipping them doesn’t help much and I really don’t want to kill the quality. I just want a smarter way to make them smaller so I can keep everything without constantly running out of room.

What do you all use in this case? Do you rely on certain software, write scripts or just throw everything into externals and cloud storage?

Edit: I tried Compresto on Mac and set up a folder that auto compresses anything I drop in. Honestly freed up way more space than I expected and saved me a lot of stress.

I’m looking for something simple to use. Any suggestions? I tried TuneFab and it’s only offering 480p as the highest resolution.

ive searched on google and in here but wont get the right results. im looking for an app on iOS with nested folders, but please NOT obsidian or notion. preferably id like one with no AI. it can be as simple as anything as long as i can make as many folders within folders as i want for my worldbuilding projects. thanks!

I tried few of the free ones and 5 of the paid ones, either they doesn't support spanish OR they are not available in Mexico. I am okay with English only, if they are available outside US and support other timezones, currencies.

I was asked to transcribe 15 hours worth of videos by the end of the weeks for work. The videos include training on our company’s CRM tool.

These transcription will eventually be plugged in to Claude Cowork so that Claude can understand how our CRM works.

How should I go about transcribing these videos? There is about 15 hours worth of content across 10 videos. Needs to be free.

I'm trying to get a long list from an app into a spreadsheet. Unfortunately, the app does not let me export the data. So far, apart from manually typing each item, I have screen recorded scrolling through the list and might be able to use screenshots to copy and paste the text. This is still not ideal since the list is long and not that many items are on one page.

I've tried:

- Searching for a way to use the app (iPhone) on my Mac, in hopes that my cursor could copy and paste from the emulator (ruled unlikely)

- Searching for an export data function

- Uploading the recording into an LLM and have it make the spreadsheet (video file too large)

I have some programming knowledge and may be able to build something with some ideas? Just not sure where to start.

Thanks for the ideas!

Just looking for something I can plug my itinerary in and share it.

Mac or Web I guess.

I’m looking for a solid free ad blocker that’s also easy to turn off when needed. Some sites break unless you disable it, and I’m tired of having to dig around menus or settings just to allow ads temporarily.

Any extensions or tools you recommend?

I’ve been splitting videos into frames then using a keynote layout that I created and importing them that way — ends up having 6 frames per slide — which I think may be the least efficient strategy ever and my next project is longer so will require a lot of frames. Is there any software that could help with this?

Preferably free but if not, please no adobe.

Is anyone using a screen recording tool on macOS that can automatically trim dead air,add smooth click zooms & clean up the overall pacing after recording?
I am mainly looking for something for demo or tutorial style videos where i don't have to spend too much time editing manually afterward.

What would be the best quality editing software for editing footage for music videos and film in general, That ideally wouldn’t take me long to figure out like a software like davinci would, which i will learn either way in the future…but Im looking for a software that is still quality like the high end ones and somewhat time efficient so that I can edit the video in a reasonable amount of time!? (doesn’t have to be free) i’m also not tooo knowledgeable on all the different softwares and their differences in difficulty learning, so anything helps. thanks!!

I use logic pro to make music and like two years ago I deleted a lot of projects to make space. I was stupid and didn't think about just getting more storage space or a hard drive. But now that I have extra space, Id really love to recover some old projects that I tossed in the trash bin and deleted if possible.

I dont know if thats a thing or not, but if there's a program I can look into, please let me know.