Apps I use every day as an indie maker — Episode I
A walk through the macOS apps that I use the most
Hey, listen!
I had this idea in my backlog since I started this newsletter.
I’ve just became a Setapp partner the other day.
Thus, today is the perfect timing to write about my most used apps—as an iOS solopreneur.
🎁 I’m giving away an Annual Subscription for Setapp’s Mac Plan.
Participate in this tweet. It’s worth $108!
Well, there are some pretty obvious ones in which I am not going to stop by.
As an iOS developer of course I use Xcode, Figma for designs and Visual Studio Code for web-related stuff.
My web browser of choice is Safari, and for notes, I just use the native Notes app.
I will comment in this issue the ones that aren’t not that obvious.
Paste
I just can’t imagine working without this app.
After trying it for the first time, I thought, ‘What the hell have I been doing with my life before?’
Paste is an excellent clipboard manager that boosts your productivity by a thousandfold.
It’s so powerful that a lot of times I don’t even use the notes app. I just copy things to the clipboard like a madman 🙃
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
Sourcetree
This is my git client of choice for more than 6 years.
Simple, powerful and it’s free.
Works on Windows and macOS.
Website here.
Timing
Simply the best time tracker for projects that I’ve ever tried.
You can use it for your job our your side projects.
It tracks everything automatically. I love that it even tracks how many time you expend on each of your projects’ files.
It’s a must.
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
CleanShot X
Probably the most popular screenshot editor right now.
Just super simple to use. A bunch of features to edit, combine, add text, add backgrounds, etc.
It’s a must for sharing catchy content in social media.
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
Magnet
A window manager for macOS.
This has been essential for me for about a decade.
Finally, we will have a proper window management in the next macOS Sequoia. Let’s see if it is good enough to get rid of Magnet…
App’s Website here.
Spark
This is my preferred email client.
I use it on macOS and iOS.
Love the AI integrations that they added recently, e.g. summarize emails or reply in different tones.
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
CleanMyMac X
The most famous app for managing all macOS performance-related stuff.
This app grew over the years and now it does almost everything related to the macOS system.
I mostly use it for uninstalling apps and cleaning all the trash they left, updating apps in batch and cleaning developer junk that Xcode generates
I’ve just run the System Junk scanner for this issue, and it found 284GB for cleaning 🤯
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
ChatGPT
Nothing much to say here.
I pay the ChatGPT Premium subscription and using the macOS app is super pleasant.
I use it every day, for everything.
Proxyman
The most complete and easy-to-use app you’ll find for debugging network requests.
It’s super helpful when you’re coding apps that make HTTP requests to APIs. Specially when things are going wrong 😬
And it’s made by an indie maker!
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
Astro
This is a tool for managing App Store Optimization (ASO) in a simple and easy way.
It’s a must having a tool like this if you have apps published on the App Store.
It’s made by Matteo Spada, a fellow indie maker that builds in public on Twitter.
App’s Website here.
Trello
Simple app for managing projects with the kanban system, and it’s free!
I create a kanban for every project I have with 4 columns: backlog, to do, doing and completed.
Take a look to this nice easter egg 😜
App’s Website here.
iTerm 2
One of the most popular Terminal alternatives. It’s free!
It’s super customizable and you cand add lots of extensions like autocompletion, syntax highlighting, etc…
I did a quick tutorial of how to have a terminal window available everywhere. Check it out here
App’s Website here.
Hand Mirror
This is a super nice vitamine app to have.
Have a little camera window always available at one click.
Super useful to quick look if you are pretty enough to attend a video-call.
I love how you can hide it behind the MacBook’s notch, so if you click there a little window pops out showing your camera view.
And it is crafted by an indie developer!
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
DevUtils
Another essential app for devs, and also made by a fellow indie. Awesome!
It’s a handy collection of useful utility tools for developers, all in one place.
Color format converter, regexp checker, base64 encoder, time format converter, JWT debugger, JSON parser and a large etcetera…
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
Permute
I just use this to quick convert the format of any media file: image, video and audio.
It supports almost any format.
You can resize videos, extract audio, change format, compress, etc…
Super, super powerful and quick to use.
Just drop a file and convert.
Included in Setapp. App’s Website here.
New acquisitions…
I recently purchased Helm for managing all the App Store Connect stuff and RocketSim for adding super powers to the iOS Simulator.
I haven’t been using them for long time enough to already recommend it, but they are looking very, very good so far.
What are you using in a daily basis? I’d like to know your most used/loved apps! 👀
I read very few email blasts. I read this one. Glad I did, solid list!!!