Mac/iCloud Users: Make 'Backing up Apple photos library' your first New Year's resolution.

If you diligently follow the 3-2-1 backup rule for your Photos library, you’re good. If not, a reminder that your digital memories are at risk. iCloud Photos is not a backup. You need an offline copy of your photos. Make it a New Year’s resolution to do this.

Here's a quick primer to make it easy:

**Choose external storage**: Either an external hard drive (Mac OS Extended / Journaled) or an SSD (APFS). The Apple Photos library must not be stored on a NAS, but it's OK to export photos into regular folders and store those on a NAS. Ensure the drive has free storage at least 1.5x your current Photos library size.

**For originals stored locally:** If you don’t use iCloud Photos, or use it with “Download Originals to this Mac”, you can use Time Machine, or periodically copy your Photos Library file to an external drive (drag and drop). No sweat.

**When using Optimize Mac Storage:** Since this stores your full-resolution originals in iCloud, Time Machine and direct copy methods can’t be used. Three options:

*  **Apple’s native method:** Create a new Photos library on external drive > Set it as the system photo library > Turn on iCloud Photos and select Download Originals. This downloads your entire library to (can take hours or days). Afterwards, switch back to your original library and re-sync everything. Tedious but doable.
* **Apple Privacy portal method**: Log in to [privacy.apple.com](http://privacy.apple.com) \> select "Get a copy of your data" > select iCloud Photos. After a few days, Apple will send you download links to several zip files containing your photos. Download, merge and organize.
* **Photos Takeout** **method** (Disclosure: Our macOS app): Exports your Photos library to EHD, SSD or NAS as folders by year, month, or album. Preserves image resolution, formats and metadata. Supports incremental exports, making repeat backups very fast. [Website](http://www.photostakeout.com). Mac [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1500714691) (One-month: $8.99, One-time: $49.99)

Whichever method you choose, do back up. It's a very worthwhile (and very achievable) New Year Resolution.

Happy New Year! 🥳

https://redd.it/1pymzx3
@macappsbackup

I built an app that lets AI assistants control native Mac apps

A few months ago, I launched Macuse, an app that connects AI assistants to your native Mac apps. After months of feedback, bug fixes, and new features, we just shipped v1.0.

If you missed the original post: Macuse lets Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI read and control your Mac's built-in apps.

The video below shows Raycast connecting to Macuse to summarize emails in Mail.

https://reddit.com/link/1pynalk/video/imm0bfm3i5ag1/player

# What can it do?

You talk to Claude (or Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI), and it can:

Read and search your emails: "Show me unread emails from the past week and summarize anything urgent"
Manage your calendar: "What's on my schedule tomorrow? Block 2 hours for deep work"
Handle reminders and notes: "Add a reminder to call mom on Sunday"
Check messages and contacts: "What did John message me about last week?"
Get directions and travel times: "How long will it take to drive to the airport?"
Control any app: Through UI automation, your AI can click buttons, fill forms, navigate menus

The magic is when you combine these: "Check my calendar for tomorrow, find any related emails, and draft a summary note", all in one request.

# Authorization

This was a big focus for v1.0. Most tools in this space give connected AI clients full access to everything, no questions asked. That felt wrong to me.

Macuse implements OAuth 2.1 following the official MCP authorization spec. When an AI client connects, you'll see a consent screen showing exactly what it wants to access. You approve, deny, or revoke access anytime.

It might sound like overkill for a local app, but as we connect more AI tools to our personal data, proper permission control matters.

# Privacy

Everything stays on your Mac. Your emails, calendar, messages never leave your computer. When Claude asks to read your emails, Macuse fetches that data locally and sends it directly to your AI client. We never see, store, or upload your personal content.

# Pricing

Free: 100 tool calls/day, all features
Lifetime: $29 one-time (Earlybird), unlimited everything, forever

No subnoscriptions. I hate them too.

# Giveaway

As a thank you to this community, I'm giving away 10 free lifetime licenses to r/macapps members.

Just head to macuse.app/pricing and enter the code MACAPPS at checkout. First 10 to use it get a free license key.

Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or feature requests. What would make this more useful for you?

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

SupaSidebar - Arc-like sidebar for all browsers (New Year giveaway)
https://redd.it/1pypxnm
@macappsbackup

Is anyone else getting constant ads when they start Parallels?
https://redd.it/1pyqckt
@macappsbackup

Three best Apps

You can recommend three apps, and only three apps. Difficulty: they must be regularly updated.

UpNote cross platform notes with great markdown support and community.

iA Writer the gold standard markdown word processing tool.

Things personal task management. The best option for reminders.

What are your best three?

https://redd.it/1pyrc65
@macappsbackup

Need a Mail alternative

I am having significant problems with the mail app. I use gmail workspace for my business and the lag is ridiculous. Mac support on the phone blamed gmail.



Is this something that can be fixed or is there a better app to use for email?

https://redd.it/1pyt4uf
@macappsbackup

DockFlow wrapping up 2025. A developer's story + Surprise 🙀
https://redd.it/1pywniu
@macappsbackup

5 useful apps not many people know about 2025

Fabric.so 📁

Fabric is like a second brain that can store basically anything on the internet. It can connect to other apps like google drive and ask the Fabric AI questions about your saved info.

Granola 👂

Granola is an AI meeting + notes application on steroids. It has the most accurate meeting trannoscriptions without an annoying bot that joins. It turns your trannoscriptions and jot downs into clean notes that also look good.

Martin AI 🤖

Martin is a personal productivity agent that can connect to all your calendars, emails, etc. It can call or text you reminders and emails and claims to be the closest thing real life Jarvis.

Akiflow ✅

Save time having your calendar and to do list in the same app with a personal agent. Akiflow is a pricier daily planner app but works well with great UI.

Origin 💵

Origin is a finacial planning and tracking app where you can safely connect all your accounts. The AI can then give you suggestions and help with budgeting, credit score, and even networth.

If you want to find more useful tools and stay up to date check out toolclarity.co





https://redd.it/1pyynw4
@macappsbackup

I built ExtraBar to give my menu bar superpowers - deep links to Zoom, Slack, Code Projects, Figma Designs - all available using a simple bar, fully keyboard controlled, and customized to my needs. After using it for weeks now, it is officially launched 🤩
https://redd.it/1pyzd40
@macappsbackup

This is how I use Apple Calendar

The image is displayed in a rough manner in the text, but if you click on it you will see a clearer image.

I use Apple Calendar every day.

I use it in day view, moving the app to the right edge of the desktop so that only schedule is visible. I like this because it allows me to check schedule at all times and saves space. Also, since the window size doesn't change, I don't have to resize it when I switch to month view, so it's hassle-free.

Well, it does take some effort to move it to the edge of the desktop and then move it back to its original position, but I'm happy with it.

https://redd.it/1pz3wfw
@macappsbackup

Bought 2 App & Planning to purchase another 1

Hey everyone,

This is an amazing community where I got couple of tools for myself.

I just bought 2 app:

1. Lookaway

2. Monocle

This will help me to be more productive.

Looking for another app for my mac. I want to uninstall software with all the source file.

Is there any quality app for that? Though I am using Clean my Mac but feel like this app is not working perfectly.

Thanks in Advance 🙌

https://redd.it/1pz4cla
@macappsbackup

Version history in Notes (shared)

New to using Notes on Mac and was told by several friends (and most of Google search) that there is no version history. Afaict this is true for non-shared notes, but for shared notes, there is 'Activity' which is full version history. Toggle on/off with \^⌘K. Screenshots below.

View Menu:

https://preview.redd.it/fp5nog13y9ag1.png?width=620&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ce095c729c83fde329ed89efd85c7cb33eab86e

https://preview.redd.it/5ttfbjcpx9ag1.png?width=1028&format=png&auto=webp&s=33b106787e3ebcdb63051fc59fe944cfc98af934



https://redd.it/1pz9buo
@macappsbackup

Made a free EQ app for macOS, would love some feedback

I built a simple 10-band equalizer that sits in the menu bar.

https://preview.redd.it/e8ww0xu87aag1.png?width=453&format=png&auto=webp&s=83dd77f59c8b25d90cb4dea088d798f5972980c1

Nothing fancy, just wanted something free that remembers my EQ settings when I switch between headphones and speakers.

It also has a volume slider for HDMI outputs (since macOS doesn't give you one) and some built-in AutoEQ profiles if you want to correct your headphones.

Requires BlackHole for audio routing. Still in beta so probably has bugs.

https://github.com/snap-sites/SoundMax

https://snap-sites.github.io/SoundMax/

Happy to hear what you think or if something breaks.

https://redd.it/1pza8ol
@macappsbackup

how do i bypass/remove this in yt on my mac?
https://redd.it/1pzbhi1
@macappsbackup

Feedback wanted: local-first macOS trannoscription app (offline + live dictation)

I’ve been working on a macOS trannoscription app called **Murmur**, mainly as a side project to explore local-first trannoscription and live dictation on the Mac.

My goal was to build something that:

* Works offline
* Handles both live microphone input and audio files
* Makes the trade-offs between latency, accuracy, and model size explicit instead of hidden

Right now it supports:

* Live microphone trannoscription
* Trannoscription of audio files
* Multiple trannoscription engines:
* Local Whisper-based models (offline)
* A couple of alternative local engines for experimentation
* Apple Speech as a lightweight option if you don’t want to manage models
* Optional post-processing (punctuation, casing, basic cleanup)
* Speaker diarization where supported, with basic segment editing
* A global hotkey for dictation across apps
* Export to TXT, SRT, and VTT

Most of the work so far has gone into making streaming trannoscription feel reliable on macOS like handling partial results, keeping latency low enough for dictation, and not over-engineering the UI.

It’s still very much an MVP, and I’m mainly trying to sanity-check the direction before going further. I’d love feedback from people here on:

* What matters most in a Mac trannoscription app: accuracy, latency, or simplicity
* Which export formats or metadata you actually use
* Things other macOS trannoscription apps get wrong or feel brittle
* Features you’d avoid or don’t want at all

Not trying to sell anything here but mostly looking to learn from folks who care about well-designed Mac apps. Happy to answer questions or go deeper on implementation if helpful.

Thanks!

https://redd.it/1pzd5kv
@macappsbackup