techlifestyle

My favorite apps

This are my favorite apps and the script that use to download and install most of them automatically. Mac OS.

Favorite Apps

Productivity

  1. Arc Browser, My favorite browser, and essential tool.
  2. Discord, My communications hub.
  3. Bepper, Another communications hub
  4. Notion, My do it all tool. Cms, Database, and tracker. ⬇️ replaced with obsidian
  5. Obsidian, My do it all tool. Journal, Database, and tracker.
  6. Drafts, My favorite writing app. Where I write all my drafts of my blogs.
  7. Bitwarden, My Password manager (Open Source).
  8. Wireguard, VPN Service of choice. Not so user-friendly (Open Source).
  9. Raycast, super-powered spotlight replacement.
  10. Ollama, Llama based terminal tool to easily run models locally.

Quality of life

  1. Backtrack App that records the last two hours in the background and lets you save it as a voice memo, great for lectures ( what I used it for).
  2. Tiles, Windows management like windows on Mac.
  3. Rescue-time, Time tracking.
  4. Dozer, It hides the top menu icons automatically
  5. Grammarly, Fixes my typos...
  6. Cheatsheet, It tells me all the shortcuts.
  7. Latest, Update all my mac apps all at once.

Software Dev

  1. Github Desktop, Git as a UI.
  2. Cursor, Coding IDE.
  3. Docker
  4. Wireshark, Network and package scanning tool
  5. Visbug, UI and Visual design tool.
  6. Balena Etcher, SD cards flashing (Open Source).
  7. SSHX, SSH from anywhere and anything that has a browser.
  8. Gemini CLI
  9. Jules, Cloud based coding agent.

Utilities

  1. Veracrypt, Encryption tool (Open Source).
  2. Proton-VPN, VPN service of choice.
  3. Wireguard, VPN tool to roll my own VPN to my network.
  4. GrandPerspective, Check were all your storage is going.
  5. Tailscale, VPN with local access to your network made easy!
  6. Lulu, Firewall / security app by objective-see FOLLOW THEM
  7. Taskexplorer, Task explorer by objective-see
  8. TempBox, temporary email with inbox

Photography

  1. Film Lab, Turns negatives film scans into positives photos.
  2. Image Optim, Image optimizer.
  3. Capture one, Lightroom alternative
  4. Pixelmator Pro, Photoshop alternative
  5. Optyx 2, AI powered photo curl.
  6. Diffusion Bee,

Entertainment

  1. Dolphin, Nintendo emulator (Open Source).
  2. Flixxer, Netflix App for mac, no longer available.
  3. Retroarch,

Automation Script

Something else that is a great idea is to have a script that install and downloads all the tools, and software on your computer automatically. It would save a couple of hours from trying to remember what you need to download or if you forgot anything any time you buy or format your computer. Link to the Repo

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# This is heavily inspired by the amazing work that this guys did!
# https://github.com/craychee/loki-init
# https://github.com/lukewertz/gabriel-init
# https://github.com/froboy/durandal-init
# https://github.com/ibuys/mac-builder

function pause() {
  read -p "$*"
}

CWD=($PWD)

cd ~

# We can't get them directly, but just click this button :)
xcode-select --install

pause 'Press [Enter] once you have installed XCode and XCode Command Line Tools.'

# Just make sure...
sudo xcodebuild -license accept

# DANGER, DANGER Will Robinson! 🤖
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

# HOMEBREW
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Software Dev
brew update
brew install wget
brew install git
brew install node
brew install npm
brew install python
brew install python3
brew install mysql
brew install heroku
brew install --cask github
brew install --cask visual-studio-code

# MISC APPS
brew install --cask spotify
brew install --cask brave-browser
brew install --cask evernote
brew install --cask notion
brew install --cask bitwarden
brew install --cask calibre
brew install --cask veracrypt
brew install --cask wireshark
brew install --cask google-drive
brew install --cask imageoptim
brew install --cask protonvpn
brew install --cask virtualbox
brew install --cask virtualbox-extension-pack

# Communictations
brew install --cask whatsapp
brew install --cask zoom
brew install --cask discord

# Quality of Life
brew install zsh-autosuggestions
brew install zsh-syntax-highlighting
brew install --cask dozer
brew install --cask tiles
brew install --cask balenaetcher

# MAC CLI, Simplify command line
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/guarinogabriel/mac-cli/master/mac-cli/tools/install)"

brew install mas
mas signin ronnycoste@pm.me
mas install 803453959 # Slack
# mas install 1147396723 #Whatsapp
mas install 1477089520 # Backtrack
mas install 966085870 # TICKTICK
mas install 1435957248 # DRAFTS

brew install brew-cask

brew tap caskroom/cask
brew tap homebrew/dupes
brew tap homebrew/versions
brew tap homebrew/binary

brew cask install Transmit

# Setup Python, Virtualenv
# http://gmvault.org/
python3 -m venv ~/Unix/env/virtualenv
source ~/Unix/env/virtualenv
pip install virtualenv
virtualenv -p /usr/bin/python ~/Unix/env/py2env
deactivate

cd ~

# Do the Mac thing that you have to do but you shouldn't have to do
# This https://github.com/jirsbek/SSH-keys-in-macOS-Sierra-keychain
#curl -o ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ssh.add.a.plist https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jirsbek/SSH-keys-in-macOS-Sierra-keychain/master/ssh.add.a.plist
touch ~/.ssh/config
echo "Host *
   AddKeysToAgent yes
   UseKeychain yes" >> ~/.ssh/config

# Hold my own hand to make sure I finish configuring.
echo "Add your ssh keys (you put them in your secret hiding place)."
pause 'Press [Enter] when you have added your ssh key.'
chmod 400 ~/.ssh/*

# Get git things
#curl -o /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/git-prompt.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/git/git/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
#curl -o /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/git-completion.bash https://raw.githubusercontent.com/git/git/master/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash

echo "NICE!! But... This is only the Beggining."

Feel free to modify this script to your needs!

Updated on July 20, 2025

Discuss on Bluesky →