Digital Photo Frame App Brings Make Old Hardware Useful Again

I love it when I find an app that solves a problem I didn't know I had. I am always reluctant to get rid of any Apple hardware that still has any life left in it. Sometimes finding a practical use for an aging iPad or Intel Mac can be challenging. But now that I've discovered what I think is the best in its class app for displaying digital photography, I think Aura Photo Frames are great gadgets, but they are expensive and have limitations. Macs and iPads generally have better displays. They have network connectivity built in, and using one of them with the right software gives you a huge variety of photo sources. You can even use the app on an Apple TV to do things you can't do natively with the built-in app.

When I have company coming over, I make slide shows featuring my guests and set them to play. Anyone who needs a display for a trade show or presentation can use this app a lot more easily than setting up a rotating PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. I also like to make slideshows of trips I go on to keep the memories alive after I return home.

I use Digital Photo Frame and Slideshow, a universal app that works on the last six versions of macOS (Catalina-Sequoia) and iOS/iPadOS (iOS12-iOS26). The app has over 1K App Store reviews and a 4.8 rating. It's been featured by Apple in "Apps We Love." You can read plenty of testimonials and get support at the developer's website.. I contacted him while working on this review. Based on my interaction and his reputation among users, you should have no problem getting help should you need it or getting a response if you have a feature request. I asked about adding support for WebDAV cloud services and he let me know he's working on adding that support (and for other services available through the Files app). Digital Photo Frame is updated frequently.

# Photo Sources and Display Controls

Include: local photo roll, albums, and smart albums
Can also use iCloud photos and shared albums
Syncing services like Google Photos & Flickr
Supports Unsplash
Displays live photos and videos
Photos can be shuffled or displayed in a fixed order
Multiple transition styles, including the Ken Burns effect
Photos can be in portrait or landscape mode

# Information Overlays

Current date and time
Current weather
UV index and air quality reports

Digital Photo Frame and Slideshow includes timers to start and stop slideshows automatically. The Apple Photos slideshow feature lacks audio continuity and detailed timing controls.

# Recent Updates

If you've used the app in the past and moved on to other options, you should take a look at some of the recent developments. Version 6 introduced:

Offline slideshow support that allows you to cache photos so you can run without network connectivity
The Apple TV app
Improved shuffle behavior and album sorting
More localized language support

# My Favorite Features

So easy to use that my youngest grandchildren can design their own slideshows
I can keep music playing in the background (unlike with the native Apple app)
The whole family can add photos to slideshows by contributing to shared albums

# Affordable, But Not Cheap

There's a lifetime purchase option and a subnoscription option. You can try out the app on all your compatible devices for as little as $2.99 for a month. A yearly subnoscription is currently $29.99, although, according to AppRaven, there have been sales for as low as $12.99 a year. If you just want to buy the app outright, knowing that you should be able to use it for years to come on multiple devices, it's $69.99.

If you have hardware that's so old you can't run a compatible version of a Mac operating system on it, try Digikam, a FOSS photo management app. I use it on two 2009 iMacs. One runs Debian and the other Xubuntu,

but you can run older versions of Digikam on vintage Mac operating systems.

https://redd.it/1pqvfa6
@macappsbackup

Clipboard apps that always stay on screen even after pasting

I am looking for a Mac paste app that optionally stays on the screen always, I have tried so many apps so far but the UI goes away after the paste is done

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

Is there a consensus on Launchpad replacement yet?

So I installed a couple of new apps today, and I tried typing them into the native Tahoe Apps view, but Spotlight was just fucking refusing to index them. I even gave it some time. In frustration, I restarted my search for a Launchpad replacement. I know many people hated Launchpad, but some people (like me) really prefer organizing apps spatially and are primarily trackpad/mouse-centric users.

I am trialing LaunchOS right now as it seemed to have a lot of polish and positive reception. However, as usual, I am stuck in analysis paralysis looking at the pages for the other replacements. However, I can only try one app at a time, and frankly, I don't want to try 15 apps before making a decision. I was hoping the wonderful people of this subreddit that have undoubtedly tried some (or many) of the others would be willing to chime in on the other options and whether those would suit my use case better.

Personal preferences: It should be smooth/fast (obviously) and feel native without hogging resources. The trackpad gesture is very important to me. App-hiding is useful. I like the full-screen option. I like having drag-and-drop folder organization. Having my old config imported was really nice. No widget bloat. I am partial to F/OSS but I am willing to pay a bit for a consistent, polished experience ($5 seems reasonable if LaunchOS resolved my few gripes) -- but not willing to pay a subnoscription.

Since I am trying LaunchOS, I'll give my first impression here:

PROS: trackpad gesture, fast/smooth, imported my old config, full-screen, drag-and-drop, feels "right" overall
CONS: I miss the native "Show Desktop" gesture that I had to disable to enable the LaunchOS gesture (wish there was a way to have my cake and eat it too), sometimes on gesture invoke it randomly scrolls to another page or opens a folder

Here are all the other options I'm stuck staring at and trying to parse out the differences:

\- Launchie (Free w/ $15 Pro Upgrade)

\- Launchy (FOSS)

\- LaunchNext (FOSS)

\- AppGrid (Free w/ $15/yr or $40 pro upgrade)

\- AppPad (Free)

\- AppHub ($10)

\- AppDeck (Free)

Anyways, I hope LaunchOS works out its kinks and I don't have to do any more searching. Looking forward to hearing everyone's experiences and input. Thanks!

https://redd.it/1pr0d2o
@macappsbackup

Tired of data transfer troubles and pains, I created Zynk to fix them all

Hi!

I'm sure many of you have faced frustrations, pains and annoyances when transferring data between your own devices, and between yourselves and others. I've spent years building Zynk to put all of that to rest.

Zynk allows for easy, unlimited size file/folder transfers that are fast, secure and private. Data flows in real time between devices and users, peer to peer, always end to end encrypted. It runs on any device/OS, works seamlessly cross ecosystems and doesn't degrade the quality of transferred media. Transfers between devices on the same network happen at network speed.

Among its many built in capabilities it includes an image viewer, video player, it allows to message between devices/users for efficient collaboration, and will let you share content with users who don't have Zynk via quickly generated web links. You can also create drop links to receive data from others. Lots of small surprises will delight you during use.


I'm launching it here today. It's free, and ad free. Users who need a lot more can opt for paid plans if they like how it works.

Hope you like this Christmas gift! I'm very much looking forward to questions, comments and suggestions for improvement. I consider software to never be done, and plan to improve it for many years to come.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zynk-easiest-data-transfer/id1665078215?platform=mac

https://redd.it/1pr3hit
@macappsbackup

Spokenly new iOS keyboard

Hey guys, recently spokenly just updated and integrated a new version of their iOS keyboard. Other than the fact that it looks smoother and better aesthetics, is there any improvement on functionality or accuracy or anything for that matter?

https://redd.it/1pr6ol2
@macappsbackup

Best terminal emulator

The ones I’m seeing used the most are, Iterm2, Kitty, Ghostty, and warp, which is the best option?

https://redd.it/1pr84uf
@macappsbackup

Need support! After 6 months of building, I launched my macOS AI assistant on Product Hunt today

Hey r/macapps



Today's the day - I finally launched Ahsk on Product Hunt and I'm both excited and terrified 😅



The Problem I Solved

I was constantly switching between apps to use AI tools. Copy text → Open ChatGPT → Paste → Copy result → Go back. It was driving me crazy.



The Solution:

Ahsk is an AI assistant that lives in your Mac's system. Select any text anywhere, and Ahsk appears. No app switching, no copy-pasting.



Key Features:

\- ⌥⇧A: Instant AI search (think Spotlight but with AI)

\- Text selection: Translate, rewrite, summarize, or custom prompts

\- ⌥⇧S: Analyze screenshots with AI vision

\- ⌥⇧D: Download videos from any platform

\- Works everywhere: Safari, Mail, VSCode, Notes, PDFs, you name it



Current Status:

\- 100% free to start (100 credits on signup) + Referral Bonus

\- macOS only (for now)

\- Built with Swift for native performance



Would absolutely love your feedback, feature requests, or even criticism. Been a solo journey and want to make sure I'm building something people actually want.



Links:

\- Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/ahsk?launch=ahsk

\- App

Thanks for reading! Happy to answer any questions 🙏

https://reddit.com/link/1pra5di/video/5acm1tqprb8g1/player



https://redd.it/1pra5di
@macappsbackup

BetterAudio - a better way to manage your audio on macOS
https://redd.it/1prcdx0
@macappsbackup

Did Tahoe kill EMacs in Terminal?

Greetings!

Yesterday I tried to launch Eliza (a.k.a. Doctor) in Terminal but was unable to launch EMacs. Has anyone else had such trouble?

Many thanks in advance!

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

What are the Top 3 Mac apps you discovered in 2025?



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

Screen recording with video + mac app + mic - cleanshot failed

Hello,

I really want to find a mac app that can record a video with audio (mic + mac os audio) that is reliable and record audio track. Cleanshot tool failed and I'm super mad because of that piece of crap and lost a very important meeting recording.

Please give me options, happy to pay for the app, so pls do not focus on free options only.

Thanks

https://redd.it/1prh8ib
@macappsbackup

Apps for organizing scanned documents?

I just bought a ScanSnap scanner because I wanted to digitize everything. The scanner is fantastic, but right now I just have everything going into a Dropbox folder.

It attempts to give them a relevant name based on their OCR data, but it’s hit or miss. I’d really love an app that can pull out details from these scans and do some automatic organization.

I tried using Hazel, but struggled to get it to do what I wanted. It didn’t seem to be able to search the OCR data for details or do much of anything that would be useful for this.

DEVONthink seems promising and they have AI integration now, but the learning curve feels pretty steep.

Are there other apps I should check out that might be good for this?

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

How to Use Topgrade Silently and Automatically for Multiple Update Protocols (Free)

Topgrade

In a recent thread on the effectiveness of available macOS app updaters, several people lamented that the FOSS command line tool Topgrade requires too much user intervention to be run with cron or launchd. In its default state, it can repeatedly prompt for the admin password, and in the event of an error with one of your services, it throws Quit or Retry queries that are showstoppers for unattended usage.

Topgrade checks all of your Homebrew and Mac App Store apps for updates, and if there are any available, it installs them. It also checks for updates for a long list of command line tools including Python, Node, Bun, and others. Now that it is possible to convert your existing apps to Homebrew-upgradable apps, you can conceivably handle the majority of your updates with a single free tool, which is important since MacUpdater will cease to function in less than two weeks.

After spending some time buried in the Topgrade documentation and doing some experimenting, I'm happy to share that it is possible to get it to work without password prompts or interruptions caused by service failures. Once you set it up, you can use cron, Keyboard Maestro, Shortcuts, or some other automation tool to run Topgrade on a schedule and keep your stack up to date with very little friction.

# Step 1: Set up passwordless sudo

Note: This is safe to do if your Mac is a single-user device that you own. Don't do it on enterprise machines, and don't do it if you have others in your house who aren't trusted admins using your Mac.

1. At the command prompt, enter sudo visudo. This opens VIM, a Unix file manager that you have to use to edit this file. Don't try it with Text Edit or even nano.
2. Once the file loads, type just the letter "i" to enter insert mode. Use the cursor to navigate to the end of the file and enter <USERNAME> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL, and press return.
3. On the next line, enter Defaults:<USERNAME> timestamp_timeout=-1.
4. After you do that, press the Esc key to exit insert mode.
5. Type :wq and press enter to write and quit the file.

# Step 2: Edit topgrade.toml

You can edit the Topgrade config file with nano or with a real IDE. Don't use Text Edit. The path is usually at the root of your home folder at \~/.config/topgrade.toml.

Near the top of the file is a [misc\] section. You need to enter these lines in that section and save the file: assume_yes = true no_retry = true cleanup = true

Once you've completed those steps, you can run topgrade --dry-run to test things out. If you don't encounter any issues, you're ready to use a suitable automation tool to schedule your upgrades in the future.

Note: If Topgrade updates services you don't really use or that you prefer to update separately, you can disable them. In my case, I don't use Bun, and I prefer to update my Docker containers myself. To disable a service, add another line under the same [misc\] section where you entered the other information, and use this format for the services you want to turn off: disable = ["containers", "docker", "bun"]

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

Shortcuts for Pioneer: My Eight Apps

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