Helping my kids memorize their multiplication tables

My father put together an Excel program that I (and my siblings) had to use each day that helped us gradually memorize up to 12x12. Fast forward a generation and I wanted to do something similar for my kids (albeit, without Excel).

My kids helped with a lot of the early usability concerns I had. They also revealed many issues I'd never have considered (as kids can do). MeteorMath makes what is essentially just a memorization process as enjoyable as possible, kid friendly, and certainly more visually interesting than Excel.

MeteorMath is developed as a native Mac app (and for the iPad as well). There's a demo video on the website and you can find it in the App Store.

With a "clean room" project like this, I went ahead and did Swift 6 + SwiftUI + SwiftData (pulling out all the stops). The learning curve was not quite as awful as I had anticipated. I still have mixed feelings on SwiftUI. It does an amazing job of some things....

My kids have happily been using MeteorMath most days, but I've actually been using it quite a bit as well -- I'm finally breaking out beyond my childhood 12x12 limitations (see my progress chart, below).

Hit me up with your thoughts (particularly if your kids get a chance to try it out).

https://preview.redd.it/91mh0jndsd5g1.png?width=1136&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e440258a61fc04872b89587a57450e67e11749c

https://preview.redd.it/q5u7zindsd5g1.png?width=1136&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f41936a349ebf77961dc69b876f454509019aeb

https://preview.redd.it/0fsjrjndsd5g1.png?width=1136&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b9f4f55997648a4faecbab01871d188290bf3f2



https://redd.it/1peu5nb
@macappsbackup

.env files made me nervous, so I built a local secret manager for developers

Hello,

I'm a solo developer, and I've always been concerned about .env file security.
After reading security research about how AI coding agents can be manipulated through prompt injection to leak credentials, I decided to build my own solution.

So I created LocalKeys — a local-based secret manager for Mac (and Windows).

Key Features:
- Stores API keys and secrets in an AES-256-GCM encrypted vault
- Works completely offline — secrets never leave your machine
- Requires user approval for any other process to access secrets
- Supports both GUI and CLI, works with any IDE

What sets it apart:
- No subnoscriptions, no cloud sync
- One-time purchase of $7.99, lifetime updates included
- Designed for indie developers and small teams, not big corporations

I'd love to get feedback from Mac users.
Feel free to ask any questions!

Website: https://localkeys.privatestater.com

https://redd.it/1peugp9
@macappsbackup

How long does the battery on Aldente Pro Sailing mode take to fall and rise?

I just installed Aldente Pro and my macbook is currently charged to its limit of 75% and has Sailing Mode enabled with 5% range setting. I have been using it like that for an hour but the battery stays at 75%. Is it working? Or is it taking so long because the laptop is pulling power from the adapter directly.

https://redd.it/1peu3lw
@macappsbackup

Share your FOSS apps that you use/have until now

As we‘re nearing the end of 2025, I am trying to collect free, open-source softwares (FOSS) to use in ‘26 and limit my subnoscriptions. I‘m not against one-time paid apps (I even bought few ones this Black Friday) if it brings value to you.

This topic is not quite new to our subreddit, here are the few posts around this topic:

[share your best oss(open source software) mac apps, that you can't, live without](https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1l1k8qw/share_your_best_ossopen_source_software_mac_apps/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Open Source Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

Even though after these discussions, I made this post just to include any recent, infamous apps that recently caught attention and love.

You can find the apps I found so far here. I will update the link with the suggested app from the discussion.

https://redd.it/1pezep0
@macappsbackup

Last Day To Get emClient at 50% off.

Their Black Friday deal ends today.

This is the link I got in my email:

https://www.emclient.com/pricing?campaign=318&newsletterid=ac3e5f7f-55dc-4197-8fc2-f2742199edaa&coupon=BLACKFRIDAY2025

emClient has an option for a yearly subnoscription, a one-time purchase, or a one-time purchase with lifetime upgrades. The subnoscription and one-time purchase is 50% off. It looks like the lifetime upgrade is only discounted $30 with this coupon.

Not affiliated with the company. Just informing everyone of the deal.

https://redd.it/1pf1ry1
@macappsbackup

A Deep Dive on EagleFiler

[EagleFiler](https://preview.redd.it/426fsrmkzf5g1.png?width=788&format=png&auto=webp&s=27d5672604ee1cfa0d3fef2e4e926ebeaaa6530c)

I've built what amounts to a database of my entire digital life stretching back to the early 90s, using the super powers of [EagleFiler from C-Command Software](https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/) and the highly respected, veteran developer, Michael Tsai. EagleFiler is the ultimate everything bucket for my needs. With it I can quickly locate any email, social media post, blog article or work document that I have ever created, plus more. EagleFiler is much faster than Spotlight at finding what I am looking for. It provides a very scalable way to organize, annotate and expand any project.

# What's in My EagleFiler

* Nearly 160K emails stretching back to 2005
* Web archives with the original link, and formatting for thousands of web pages imported from my bookmarks and added with convenient system wide tools over the past couple of years.
* I've been blogging off and on since the days of GeoCities, not just on software but a whole gamut of topics. Using tags, folders (including smart folders) and full text searches I can find just about anything I can remember creating. I can add current notes to clarify or highlight any document.
* I made my living as a technical writer and editor during the original dot com bubble and all of my professional work is appropriately tagged and organized in several different formats, including PDF, Word, PowerPoint and text files.
* When I quit using Facebook and Twitter, I got archives of all my posts from those services and imported them into EagleFiler. That's tens of thousands of entries.
* Themed collections of PDFs which include manuals for hardware and software and hundreds of converted ebooks from my various non-technical interests like baseball and US history.
* I was an avid Evernote user back when it was good. I imported every important note rinto EagleFiler, from software registration keys to recipes to accumulated notes on Mac OS X back to version 10.0.

# Adding to the Base I Built

EagleFiler isn't just a repository for historical data, it's a great app for organizing projects on an ongoing basis. Using hotkeys, it's easy to quickly add web archives or new blog posts and other documents. If using tags and folders isn't granular enough, you can have multiple libraries. More than one library can be open at the time and multiple pages can be open per library.

EagleFiler uses the finder for the documents you have. There is no duplication caused by importing the very same info into a different database. EagleFiler's own data consists of its index of what you've added, your tags and notes. If you use Finder tags, they remain with the original document. One benefits of using EagleFiler search s that you can skip folders and tags if you aren't inclined to use them and just search for the information you want.

Once you have data in EagleFiler, there's a three-pane interface where you can view and edit files directly, without having to open, close and save in separate apps. You can also quickly create new files of different types in the current folder or tag where you're working.

Exporting your emails from practically any client or service makes gives you a leaner daily driver and can speed up searches in Outlook, Gmail etc. I've encountered more than one person whose sole use of EagleFiler is for email archiving. Rob Griffiths (of the late, great OS X Hints website) said "Import from Mail is ridiculously easy--select a mailbox or a number of messages and press Option-F1 in Mail."

The list of apps that integrate with EagleFiler is long and comprehensive. It includes text editors like Bbedit, browsers including Arc, Brave (and Chrome and other Chromium based browsers), utilities like PopClip and Hookmark, just about the whole gamut of Microsoft and Apple productivity suites, task managers like Omnifocus and even RSS readers like NetNewsWire and Reeder.

# Is it Like DevonThink?

Yes and no. At a high level, both products are used

to store, search, sort etc. documents in a structured database format. I asked Michael Tsai to give me his stock answer to the inevitable comparison questions and he said "There are many features in common. I know that some people prefer DEVONthink because of one or another feature that it has and EagleFiler lacks. Customers who have used both generally tell me that they prefer EagleFiler because it's easier to use and faster and because of the way it handles e-mail archiving and integration with the Mac file system and other apps." EagleFiler is $69.99 and if you are the sole user of the app, you can install it on two computers. DevonThink pricing is complicated, but at the simplest level it is $99 for the standard version and $199 for the pro version that also includes the companion mobile app.

# What's New

The latest (free) update to EagleFiler was in October, 2025 includes the following enhancements:

* The [capture key](https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/help/capture-key) now works with [DEVONthink 4](https://www.devontechnologies.com/).
* The [share extension](https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/help/share-extension) can now import images with no associated file, e.g. from the Quick Look preview window after taking a screenshot.
* Fixed a bug where [tag searches](https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/help/searching) with [negative conditions](https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/help/search-query-syntax) sometimes didn't find any matches when **Match Partial Words** was unchecked.
* Worked around a Help Viewer bug on macOS 14.
* Updated the documentation for macOS Tahoe 26. The current version works with macOS 13 through Tahoe. Legacy versions of the app are available if you run an older operating system.

# The Road Ahead

When I asked Michael about his plans for the future of EagleFiler her gave me quite a list. "The top priority is making it fully Apple Silicon native and at the same time rewriting it in Swift. Another high priority is adding a widescreen view (i.e. with the preview pane on the side instead of the bottom). Lots more new features, optimizations, and refinements are planned. I love EagleFiler as is (and use it every day to run my life as well as to help develop the app itself), but I think there's so much potential to make it even better."

I asked about the Rosetta issue and he explained, "It's compatible with Apple Silicon Macs, but currently only part of the app (the indexer and web page fetcher) runs natively, so Rosetta is still required." This can be a deal breaker for some folks, so you've been warned.

https://redd.it/1pf57ll
@macappsbackup

Personal Database Apps (similar to Bento)??

Hey all,

I'm on the lookout for a nice little personal database app with a clean, intuitive UI.

Use case is nothing more complex than organizing collections, but I need something customizable - so existing database apps for books, recipes, comics, movies, etc... are not what I'm looking for.

I used to have an app called Bento, but I've come to understand this has been discontinued.

Any leads would be greatly appreciated, thanks.



https://redd.it/1pf68rf
@macappsbackup

I built a Mac copilot thing that reads your screen + your local files and can edit any text field. Not sure what to do with it - looking for ideas

https://reddit.com/link/1pf9r8v/video/4607b67cvg5g1/player

Title says it all. It's an overlay you can pull up anywhere, it reads what's on screen using AX APIs and indexes your files locally. Here's a little demo of me using it to apply to some startup program.

Been building this for a couple of months but honestly struggling to find the killer use case. If you have ideas for what you'd actually use this for, I'm all ears.

https://redd.it/1pf9r8v
@macappsbackup

Thoughts on an AI music-visualizer app for macOS?

I’ve been working on a macOS app that generates AI visuals based on the song you’re listening to (Apple Music, Spotify, MP3). I use it a lot myself, but I’m not sure how it reads to other Mac users.

Does this sound useful or just a fun side tool?

Open to any feedback.

https://redd.it/1pf8t3k
@macappsbackup

Looking for 'Finder' Alternative

Is there any good finder alternative that is easy to use. I tried Nimble Commander but it little weird and I find it difficult to use.

https://redd.it/1pfbymm
@macappsbackup

Best app… but too expensive

What is an app that you want to buy but feel like it’s just too expensive for what it does or there other programs that may not be as good but they fit in the budget.

Also post what your alternative is.

Mine would be PDF expert. I just really like the interface. I use UPDF instead. UPDF is great but I prefer the flow of PDF expert.

https://redd.it/1pfcb2b
@macappsbackup

Rewind alternative Screenmemory

Just read that with the Meta acquisition of the company, Rewind is going to be discontinued. Looking for alternatives and Screenmemory comes to mind

https://screenmemory.app/

When I had tried it a year ago the recording file size was waaaay larger than Rewind to make it practical to use. Has anyone been using the newer versions? I see the changelog has a new October build release but changes seem minimal so not sure how actively it’s being developed.

Thoughts? Any other viable alternatives?

https://redd.it/1pfgxor
@macappsbackup

I created a privacy-focused offline image converter.

https://preview.redd.it/tja7dbkanj5g1.jpg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11dabd7ae3c6c77ad3d38e94b980dbe6fb1419a1

I've been working on a macOS image converter called Transfigurator and wanted to share it here. The main thing that sets it apart is that everything happens locally on your Mac - no internet needed, no cloud uploads, nothing leaves your device.

I built this because I was frustrated with online converters that either required uploading sensitive images or had annoying limitations. So I made something that processes everything right on your Mac using native tools.

Here's what it does:

\- Converts between JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, HEIC, and TIFF formats

\- Handles batch processing - you can drop dozens or hundreds of images at once

\- Lets you create custom presets for your workflow (web optimization, mobile, print, etc.)

\- Includes flexible resizing options while maintaining aspect ratios

\- Has a floating drop zone so you can convert images from anywhere without opening the main window

The performance is pretty solid - it can process hundreds of images in seconds, and it's optimized for both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

One thing I'm particularly happy about is the privacy aspect. Since everything runs locally, your images never leave your device. No data transmission, no cloud storage, just your files on your Mac.

It's a one-time purchase with no subnoscriptions. I wanted to keep it simple - buy it once, use it forever, no limits.

If you work with images regularly (photography, design, web dev, content creation), this might be useful. It's especially handy when you need to optimize photos for websites, prepare images for social media, or convert files for archival purposes.

You can check it out on the App Store if you're interested. Happy to answer any questions!

https://redd.it/1pfk9wd
@macappsbackup

Turn any Cheap Mouse into a Smart Mouse – with my free app

I’ve been struggling with Logitech Options+ for a long time, so I ended up writing my own app to turn cheap mice into “smart” mice. 😅

With this app, you can assign gestures to your mouse buttons. For example, my current setup:

* **Middle mouse button**
* Hold and drag left/right → switch Desktops
* Hold and drag up → open Mission Control
* Hold and drag down → open Downloads
* **Lower side button**
* Click → open Mission Control
* Hold and drag left/right → switch Desktops
* Hold and drag up → open Applications
* Hold and drag down → open Downloads
* **Upper side button**
* Click → take a screenshot, automatically copy it to the clipboard, and open an editor so you can draw on it
* **Right mouse button**
* Hold and drag in 4 directions → scroll (ideal for apps with horizontal or free scrolling like Photoshop)
* **Keyboard**
* Assign actions to key combinations (e.g. custom shortcuts, opening apps, etc.)
* **Extra actions bound to gestures or keys**
* Open **clipboard history** at the mouse cursor
* Open the **emoji picker** at the mouse cursor
* Trigger a **custom keyboard shortcut**
* **Open an app or file**
* Change **mouse scroll direction independently** from the trackpad
* Add gestures for **horizontal scrolling**

All gestures are fully customizable, and—unlike Logitech Options+—they don’t “randomly stop working from time to time”. And the app is free.

Right now I’m using it with a cheap $10 mouse and I’m very happy with it.

Since I mainly built this app for myself, I also added a few “side features” that turned out to be quite useful:

* A simple **screenshot manager**
* A **clipboard manager**
* **Trackpad gestures**, so the trackpad can be smarter too

**Disclaimer:** I don’t hate Logitech as a company. I just built this app for my own use and I’m sharing it so others can use it too.

P/S: I built the website together quickly, so please forgive how rough it looks.

Download: [https://www.mousegic.com/](https://www.mousegic.com/)

https://redd.it/1pfmwrh
@macappsbackup

Comparison of Uninstaller Apps

### Introduction
For years now, my go-to for uninstalling apps on macOS has been TrashMe 3. You see, the tricky thing with macOS is that simply dragging an app to the Trash, the classic way, doesn't actually get rid of all its associated files. You can easily spot these lingering bits and bobs with tools like EasyFind, Find Any File, HoudahSpot, or ProFind after you've 'uninstalled' something. That's precisely why there are so many Mac apps out there designed to tackle this problem, offering a much cleaner uninstall experience by sniffing out and deleting those pesky leftover files.

TrashMe 3 has always been a solid performer for me, doing exactly what it's supposed to. In my experience, it consistently feels like it catches most of those leftover files during the uninstall process. I've dabbled with alternatives from time to time, but I always find myself coming back to TrashMe 3. I've even recommended it countless times in this sub when folks ask for the best option. But, let's be real, that was always more of a gut feeling than hard facts.

Lately, I've been experimenting with virtual machines, which sparked an idea: to create a consistent environment for testing applications. So, that’s when I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and find the actual best uninstaller tool out there. It won’t be perfect, but at least it will be better than what we currently have (to my knowledge).

### Method
To make sure this test is fair, I needed all the apps to be tested on the exact same disk image with the same applications installed. So, I whipped up a virtual disk image using the free and open-source tool virtualOS VM, loaded it up with macOS 26.1, and then installed ten popular, randomly chosen apps (more on those below) that would later be uninstalled and checked for leftovers. I also threw in three more tools for the test itself: Tiny Shield to block any unwanted internet connections from the apps being tested or uninstalled, Shottr for taking screenshots, and finally, Find Any File to hunt down any remaining files. The disk image was then cloned for each uninstaller tool I wanted to test. Each uninstaller app was installed on its dedicated disk image and given all the necessary permissions within macOS system settings.

Once everything was set up, I ran the uninstaller apps and used them to remove the predefined list of applications, which you'll find below.

#### Selection of Uninstaller Apps
Now, I'm not claiming to have covered every single option out there,I’m sure there are dozens of apps that can do this. But I did try to include the most popular ones that came to mind. I used all the options below in their premium mode, if applicable, just to make sure that any feature limitations of a free version wouldn't mess with the test results. It's also worth noting that uninstalling apps and removing leftovers isn't the main gig for all these tools; for some, it's just one feature among many. Tools like CleanMyMac or Sensei are packed with various features, while others like AppCleaner or Remove-It focus solely on this specific task. This can be seen as one explanation for the wide range of prices for these tools. Here's the list of the uninstaller apps I tested, sorted alphabetically:

| App | App Cleaner & Uninstaller | AppCleaner | AppZapper | BuhoCleaner | CCleaner | CleanMyMac | Hazel | MacKeeper | OnyX |

Pearcleaner | Remove-It | Sensei | System Toolkit Pro | TrashMe |
|---------------|:-----------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|
| Regular Price | $34.95 | Free | $19.95 | $39.99 | Freemium | $119.95 | $42.00 | $95.40 / year | Free | Free | €7.99 | $59.00 | $4.99 | $14.99 |
| Open Source | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - |
| Developer | Nektony LLC | FreeMacSoft | Austin Sarner & Brian Ball | Dr.Buho Inc | Gen Digital Inc | MacPaw Way Ltd. | Noodlesoft, LLC | Clario Tech DMCC | Titanium Software | Alin Lupascu | OSXBytes | Cindori AB | Sascha Simon | Jibapps |
| Version | 9.0.2 | 3.6.8 | 2.0.3 | 1.15.1 | 2.9.187 | 5.2.10 | 6.1.1 | 7.3 | 4.9.2 | 5.4.3 | 2.0.0 | 2.0 | 2.2.0 | 3.7.1 |
| Framework | SwiftUI | AppKit |

AppKit | AppKit | AppKit | SwiftUI | AppKit | AppKit | AppKit | SwiftUI | AppKit | SwiftUI | SwiftUI | AppKit |

#### Selection of apps to be removed
The apps I chose to uninstall were picked to represent a broad spectrum of popular Mac apps across different categories and using various tech stacks. I used AppDetective to figure out the framework each application used and Apparency to see if an app was sandboxed. Specifically, I picked and installed the following apps directly from their websites:

| App | Acorn | Bitwarden | BusyCal | Google Chrome | IINA | Microsoft Teams | Notion | PDF Expert | Raycast | Rectangle Pro |
|-------------|:--------------------------------------:|:--------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------:|:------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------:|:---------------------------------:|:------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------:|
| Developer | Flying Meat Inc. | Bitwarden Inc. | Beehive Innovations | Google LLC | Collider LI | Microsoft Corporation | Notion Labs, Inc. | Readlle Technologies Ltd. | Raycast Technologies Inc. | Ryan Hanson |
| Version | 8.3.2 | 2025.11.2 | 2025.4.2 | 142.0.744.176 | 1.4.1 | 25306.805.4102.7211 | 4.24.0 | 3.10.23 | 1.103.10 | 3.64 |
| Framework | AppKit | Electron | SwiftUI | AppKit | SwiftUI | SwiftUI | Electron | SwiftUI | SwiftUI | AppKit |
| App Sandbox | - | - | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - |

### Data Collection
After uninstalling all the chosen apps using each respective uninstaller application, I ran a leftover file search with Find Any File. To keep things fair and comparable, I used the exact same search parameters across all apps: the precise application name as listed in the first

column of the table below. For comparison, I also conducted a file search before any uninstallation by the tested tools (first column) and another search after uninstalling apps the classic Apple way – by dragging them from the Applications folder to the Trash (and then emptying it). The numbers in the cells tell you how many leftover files for a specific app were found after the uninstallation process.

| App | Files Detected Before Removal | Uninstall via Finder | App Cleaner & Uninstaller | AppCleaner | AppZapper | BuhoCleaner | CCleaner | CleanMyMac | Hazel | MacKeeper | OnyX | Pearcleaner | Remove-It | Sensei | System Toolkit Pro | TrashMe |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|:-----------------------------:|:--------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|
| Acorn | 46 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 4 |
| Bitwarden | 21 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| BusyCal | 53 | 38

| 4 | 16 | 38 | 25 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 6 |
| Google Chrome | 24 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| IINA | 26 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Microsoft Teams | 57 | 33 | 9 | 13 | 32 | 14 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 18 |
| Notion | 19 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1

| 4 | 8 | 2 |
| PDF Expert | 45 | 43 | 4 | 8 | 40 | 13 | 34 | 12 | 34 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 35 | 39 | 31 |
| Raycast | 45 | 28 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 4 |
| Rectangle Pro | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 341 | 201 | 33 | 58 | 175 | 93 | 75 | 70 | 85 | 83 | 35 | 23 | 19 | 80 | 125 | 71 |

### Result
So, what did we find? Remove-It really shined, proving to be the most efficient uninstaller tool in this test, clearing out about 94.4% of all the files Find Any File could locate. Pearcleaner wasn't far behind, hitting 93.3%. On the flip side, the least effective method was the classic Apple way of uninstalling, just dragging apps to the Trash. Among the third-party tools, AppZapper (48.7%) and System Toolkit Pro