10 Mac utilities that should be built into macOS

1. ColorSlurp

I’m constantly grabbing colours from websites, reference images and photos, either to colour match something or pull out a few colours for inspiration. ColorSlurp lets me pick from anywhere on my screen and copy the result as a HEX code, RGB value or another format ready to paste into my work.

I also love the palette generator, a Pro feature. Drag an image into the app and it gives you a ready-made colour palette. It’s a lovely way to turn a reference photo into a starting point for a design.

And it makes a slurping sound when you pick a colour. Completely unnecessary, completely delightful. More utility apps should have a little whimsy.

2. Screen Studio

I’ve made a ton of videos with Screen Studio, including for my work at 1Password and Desert Ant Labs. Here’s one for Desert Ant Labs.

Even without picture-in-picture, it’s the quickest way I’ve found to record something and get it ready to share.

I’ve tried everything from basic screen recording and Zoom to OBS, ScreenFlow and Loom. For the work I need to do, they’ve either felt too limited or made the process too complicated. Screen Studio strikes the balance I want.

It’s opinionated in all the right places. The backgrounds, rounded corners and cursor defaults already look great. Automatic zooms follow your mouse clicks, so the first edit feels about 80% finished before you’ve touched the timeline. They’re pretty accurate, and even when they need adjusting, they’re a great starting point.

Picture-in-picture recording works beautifully, and the editor is simple and intuitive. I also enjoy following the founder building in public and seeing where the app is heading.

For more involved video editing, I still jump over to Premiere Pro.

3. CleanMyMac

I use it all the time for regular housekeeping. Video editing and AI coding tools can build up some hefty caches, so there’s usually something to clear out. It’s also a godsend when storage gets tight and I need to make room quickly.

I regularly use its malware scans and health checks too, but storage management is where I spend most of my time. Space Lens makes it easy to see the biggest files and where they live, helping me decide what to move back to Dropbox.

I love the 3D icons and animated loading screens. They make a fairly boring process feel more engaging, and the storage visualisations help me understand what’s taking up space without digging through folders myself.

The one feature I haven’t tried yet is Cloud Cleanup. My 16-year-old Dropbox account contains a backup of basically my whole life, and I’m not quite ready to let it loose on that.

4. CleanShot X

This is what the macOS screenshot tools should be.

CleanShot was one of those apps people recommended to me for years. I took far too long to pick it up, and now I couldn’t live without it.

Pixelation and blur are especially handy for hiding personal information in demo screenshots. When you’re showing how something works, there’s often an email address or another detail that needs covering up before you can share it.

Much like Screen Studio, it also makes presentation easy. I can put a window screenshot on a beautiful background and adjust the inset and padding without opening Photoshop. That alone saves me a lot of fiddling around.

5. HandBrake

HandBrake is a brilliant little app that’s saved me more times than I can count.

Usually, someone’s handed over a video in a format I can’t use, or I’ve downloaded stock footage for a Premiere Pro project I’m in the middle of and need to convert it before I can carry on.

The presets are great, but I do find myself adjusting the settings to make sure I get exactly what I need out the other side. There’s a huge amount of control available when you need it, whether you’re converting a file or optimising a large video.

It’s free, open source and the only video converter I’ve needed.

6. ImageOptim

ImageOptim is another utility I’ve installed on every Mac I’ve owned.

Blog screenshots, web assets: anything I’m preparing for the web usually goes through it. It’s become an automatic last step before uploading.

Drag the images into the window, let it work, and carry on. Being able to optimise a batch of files that easily is a lifesaver when you’re getting a post or a website ready to publish.

7. iA Writer

If I’m making a note, starting an article or writing a song, I open iA Writer.

I love the typography and its custom writing fonts. It just feels so good to use.

Markdown support is the most important feature for me. I write everything in it, and iA Writer makes that feel effortless.

I organise my files with #hashtags so I can find things through search, but I won’t pretend I have an immaculate filing system. iCloud support means my files are wherever I need them, and I can get straight back to writing.

8. Raycast

Raycast needs no introduction, but if you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically a supercharged Spotlight.

Raycast gives you app launching, file search, clipboard history, window management, text snippets and a calculator, then gets out of your way.

Clipboard history gets you back to the link you copied before accidentally copying something else. Window management puts your browser beside your writing app without dragging everything around.

There’s also a huge library of extensions for working with your favourite apps straight from the launcher. The free version includes the core tools and public extensions; paid plans add features including Raycast AI.

9. Thaw

Thaw is the newest app on this list for me, and developing Hermes Audio is what led me to it.

Hermes lives in the menu bar, so testing it means checking the icon, clicking it and opening the panel over and over. Except the icon kept getting pushed out of sight by all the other apps competing for space up there.

Eventually I found myself Googling “can you manage the order of menu bar icons on macOS?” That’s how I found Thaw.

It gives me control over which icons stay visible and which get tucked away. Quite a few of the ones I keep visible belong to apps in this list, including, finally, Hermes.

Another app that feels like it should just be part of macOS.

10. Hermes Audio

Full disclosure: Hermes Audio is our own app at Little Victories. I built it because my cheap earbuds were driving me mad.

My everyday headphones are a pair of Btootos A90 Pro earbuds from Amazon. I couldn’t believe how many clicks it took to disconnect them from one Mac and connect them to another.

The final straw was trying to use them with my phone in the evening, only to discover they were still connected to my closed Mac back in the office.

That’s why Hermes has one-click Take Over and the option to disconnect headphones when your Mac locks or sleeps. Install it on your Macs, link them with a shared code, and you can move your headphones to the Mac you’re using with a click. The disconnect option frees them up for your phone when you step away, too. If you lock your Mac while music is playing through your headphones, Hermes waits until it stops before disconnecting. If the Mac goes to sleep, it disconnects them straight away.

AirPods already offer automatic switching between supported Apple devices. I wanted a simpler way to switch the Bluetooth headphones I already owned, without replacing them.

Like Thaw and CleanShot, it feels like something macOS should handle. Until then, there’s Hermes.

For a closer look at connection controls and headphone sharing, see our comparison of five Bluetooth management apps for Mac.