7 Essential Mac Software Every Mac User Should Have (macOS Sonoma Compatible)

As a Mac user, you know that the macOS operating system is powerful and feature-rich. But to make the most of your Mac experience, you need to have some essential apps installed. The choice of must-have software for your Mac depends on your specific needs and preferences. However, in this article, we share some popular and highly recommended apps that you will find definitely useful on your Mac.

Top For editing PDF files

#1 Mac Software: UPDF

You can download this Mac software via the below button.

Price: Free Trial, US$39.99 yearly subscription

UPDF is a complete PDF solution to meet all your PDF requirements across Mac. It also supports Windows, iOS, and Android platforms. It is a versatile tool with features such as editing, annotations, converting, and page organizing, and more exciting features will be added with each new version.

With UPDF, you can convert any PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Image, HTML, Text, CSV, XML, PDF/A, etc with OCR without losing formats. You can delete, rearrange, rotate, insert, split, crop, extract, and replace pages in PDF quickly. You can even flatten PDF files.

Need to add a signature? No problem! Just sign your PDFs on a Mac with a trackpad, mouse, or keyboard.

UPDF is integrated with AI-powered OCR technology which can recognize over 30 languages. 

Top features of UPDF:

• Robust annotation tools that make your documents more readable
• Multiple reading modes give you the best reading experience
• Page management tools that let you reorder, rotate, split, crop, replace, extract, and delete pages
• PDF Editing
• PDF Conversion
• PDF Protection
• OCR scanned documents into searchable and editable PDFs.
• Fill out PDF forms
• Combine PDF and image files into a single PDF.
• Insert a PDF into multiple PDF files in a batch.
• Optimize and reduce PDF file size.
• Save a PDF as flatten.
• Save PDF as PDF/A.

Why not download UPDF to check all its features? Or if you like, you can read this review article or watch the below video to learn more about it.

For optimizing Mac performance

#2 Mac Software: MacCleaner Pro

Price: Free trial for 2 days, then $29.95 per year

Over time, caches and other junk accumulate on your Mac and may take up huge space on the Mac. With MacCleaner Pro from Nektony, you can optimize and clean up your Mac from this unwanted content. MacCleaner Pro is a suite of tools to help you free up disk space, remove junk files, uninstall unwanted applications, manage startup items, and more.

Top features and tools of MacCleaner Pro:

1. Disk cleaning: This feature helps find and remove junk files, such as old caches, log files, temporary files, and leftovers of removed apps.
2. Duplicate File Finder: This tool scans the user's computer and identifies duplicate files, which can be safely removed to free up space.
3. App Cleaner & Uninstaller: This tool allows users to completely remove unwanted applications and their associated files from their Mac.
4. Disk Space Analyzer: This tool helps you identify what’s taking the most space on your Mac and identify old unneeded bulky content.
5. Memory Cleaner: This tool helps users free up RAM by closing unnecessary background processes and applications.
6. Hidden Files Manager: This tool allows you to find hidden files, hide any files on your Mac, and find the files that Spotlight never shows. 

MacCleaner Pro is a comprehensive tool for optimizing and cleaning up your Mac, helping to free up space on your hard drive. 

For managing email inboxes more efficiently

#3 Mac Software: Spark

Price: free with limited features, the full version costs $59.99 per year

Apple provides a default Mail application. However, with a third-party application like Spark, working with emails will be much easier and more enjoyable.

Spark is an email application developed by Readdle Inc. that is designed for individuals and teams to manage their email inboxes efficiently. It is available for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices.

Spark offers a range of features that help you manage your email inboxes effectively. These include:

• Smart Inbox: Spark's Smart Inbox automatically categorizes emails into personal, notifications, and newsletters, so you can quickly focus on the emails that matter.
• Quick Replies: Spark offers a range of pre-written quick replies that can be used to respond to emails quickly and efficiently.
• Email Snooze: This feature allows you to temporarily remove emails from your inbox and set a reminder to revisit them later.
• Email scheduling: With Spark, you can schedule emails to be sent at a later time or date.
• Integration with third-party apps: Spark integrates with a range of third-party applications, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Trello, to make it easier for you to share files and manage your workflows.

For passwords security

#4 Mac Software: 1Password

Price: free trial for 14 days, then $19.95 per month

1Password is a password management application designed for macOS and other platforms that helps you securely store and manage your passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data.

1Password offers the following features:

• Password storage: You can securely store and manage your passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data.
• Password generator: 1Password can generate strong and unique passwords that are difficult to crack.
• Autofill: 1Password can autofill login credentials, credit card details, and other personal information on websites and applications.
• Secure sharing: 1Password allows you to securely share passwords and other sensitive data with trusted family members, friends, or colleagues.
• Two-factor authentication: 1Password supports two-factor authentication to add an additional layer of security to your accounts.
• Watchtower: 1Password's Watchtower feature checks if any of the user's stored passwords have been compromised in a data breach.

For listening to music

#5 Mac Software: Spotify

Price: free, $9.99 per month for a Premium account

Spotify is a music streaming service that provides access to millions of songs and podcasts from around the world. It is available as an application for macOS devices, as well as other platforms including iOS, Android, and Windows.

Spotify for Mac offers the following features:

• Music streaming
• Personalized playlists: Spotify's algorithms create personalized playlists based on the user's listening habits, which can be accessed directly within the app.
• Social sharing: You can share your favorite songs, playlists, and podcasts with friends and family via social media platforms.
• Offline playback: Spotify allows you to download your favorite songs and podcasts for offline playback, which can be useful when internet connectivity is limited or unavailable.
• Podcasts: Spotify has a large selection of podcasts, covering a wide range of topics, including news, sports, and entertainment.
• Cross-platform syncing: Spotify allows syncing your playlists and other preferences across multiple devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other platforms.

For better writing experience

#6 Mac Software: Evernote

Price: free, from $4.99 per month for additional features

Evernote is an app that allows you to create, organize, and share notes across multiple devices. It is available for macOS, as well as other platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows.

Evernote for Mac offers the following features:

• Note creation: You can create notes that include text, images, audio recordings, and files, which can be easily organized and accessed later.
• Note organization: Evernote provides a range of tools to help you organize your notes, including notebooks, tags, and search functionality.
• Note sharing: You can share notes with others, allowing them to collaborate on projects, share ideas, and provide feedback.
• Web clipping: Evernote's web clipping tool allows you to save articles, web pages, and other online content directly to your Evernote account for later reference.
• Third-party integration: Evernote integrates with a range of third-party applications, including Slack, Google Drive, and Microsoft Office.

For getting rid of unwanted apps

#7 Mac Software: App Cleaner & Uninstaller

Price: free trial for 2 days, then $14.95 per year

When trying numerous applications, you may need to uninstall them after using the trial. It’s important to uninstall apps from Mac correctly with no leftovers left behind. You can do this with App Cleaner & Uninstaller. This app allows you to completely remove unwanted applications and their associated files from your system with a few clicks.

App Cleaner & Uninstaller offers the following features:

• Uninstall applications: Remove applications and their associated files from Mac quickly and easily.
• Reset applications: This feature allows you to reset an application to its default settings, removing any custom preferences or data.
• Manage startup items: You can manage the applications and services that start up automatically when a Mac boots up, improving its performance.
• Remove system extensions: App Cleaner & Uninstaller can remove system extensions, which are software components that run in the background of macOS.
• Clean up remaining files: App Cleaner & Uninstaller scans the user's system for leftover files and preferences associated with an uninstalled application, helping to keep the system clean and optimized.

Conclusion

We've compiled a list of the top must-have applications for every Mac user, so you can make sure your device is equipped with all the necessary tools and features to maximize efficiency and productivity. From Mac cleaning tools to PDF editors, these apps will help you stay productive, organized, and secure while using your Mac. Click the button below to download UPDF.