Made a simple OCR tool for Mac(LudyLens) - giving away 100 free licenses

https://reddit.com/link/1qx1q1r/video/pb2uu4b5irhg1/player



Hey everyone,

I've been working on a small utility called LudyLens(Formerlly called TextGlance). It's basically a screen text grabber - hit a keyboard shortcut, drag a box around any text on your screen, and it copies it to your clipboard and show up in pin-able window. That's it.

I built it because I got tired of retyping text from images, PDFs that won't let you select text, or random screenshots. The OCR runs locally on your Mac using Apple's Vision framework, so nothing leaves your machine (i know there is some tools already, but i'm indie dev, making tools make me happy) .

Some things it does:

\- Global hotkey to capture any region

\- Supports 20 languages including CJK

\- Keeps a history of your captures

\- QR code / barcode reader

\- OCR from your phone

It requires macOS 15+ and runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon.



You can grab it at **ludy.app/ludylens**

I have 100 free lifetime licenses to give away. Just DM me if you want one.

If you find it useful, an upvote would help get the word out. And I'd genuinely appreciate any feedback - still actively working on this and want to make it better.






https://redd.it/1qx1q1r
@macappsbackup

[OS] Introducing Glimpse - Yet another WisprFlow / SuperWhisper alternative

https://redd.it/1qx3gjw
@macappsbackup

Automate Your Homebrew Backups and Easily Reinstall your Mac Apps

A Section of my Homebrew Brewfile

The number of Mac apps you can install through the free package manager Homebrew keeps growing by the day. Tools like Cork, Taphouse, and Updatest can even convert apps you originally installed through other methods into versions that Homebrew can manage and update for you. Homebrew also includes a built-in backup feature that creates what it calls a Brewfile--basically a plain-text noscript listing everything Homebrew has installed on your system. That file can later be used to reinstall your entire app catalog in one shot, which is incredibly useful if you're setting up a new Mac or rebuilding your current one from scratch. If you're the kind of user who regularly tweaks your setup, experiments with new apps, and keeps everything updated, then your Brewfile needs regular backups to stay relevant. Otherwise, it quickly turns into an outdated snapshot of a system you no longer have. The noscript below automates that process. It generates a fresh Brewfile on demand, places it inside a date-stamped folder, and saves it wherever you want--ideally somewhere that syncs to the cloud or another machine. You can run it manually, schedule it with cron, or trigger it through a Keyboard Maestro macro at a set time each day. In short, it turns "I should really back up my Homebrew setup more often" into something that just happens automatically. Important note: This noscript assumes you're running an Apple Silicon Mac. If you're on an Intel machine, you'll need to adjust the Homebrew path, since it lives in a different location on those systems.

/usr/bin/osanoscript <<'APPLESCRIPT'
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do noscript "/bin/zsh -lc 'export PATH=\"/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH\"; \
set -e; \
# Ensure Homebrew + Bundle are available
if ! command -v brew >/dev/null; then echo \"Homebrew not found in PATH\"; exit 1; fi; \
brew bundle --help >/dev/null 2>&1 || brew tap homebrew/bundle; \
# Create dated folder inside an archive location
STAMP_DATE=$(date +%F); \
STAMP_TIME=$(date +%H-%M-%S); \
DEST=\"<PATH TO ARCHIVE LOCATION HERE>$STAMP_DATE\"; \
kdir -p \"$DEST\"; \
# Filename: Brewfile-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS
OUTFILE=\"$DEST/Brewfile-${STAMP_DATE}_${STAMP_TIME}\"; \
# Dump Brewfile there
brew bundle dump --file=\"$OUTFILE\" --force; \
echo; echo \"Brewfile saved to: $OUTFILE\"; \
# Reveal it in Finder
open -R \"$OUTFILE\"; \
echo; echo \"✅ Done.\"; \
# Keep the Terminal session open
exec $SHELL'"
end tell
APPLESCRIPT

How to use this If you've never automated a Brewfile backup before, here's the simple, practical way to put this to work: Save the noscript somewhere logical. Drop it in a folder you already use for utilities or personal noscripts--something like \~/Scripts or \~/bin. Decide where you want backups to live. The best location is a folder that automatically syncs--iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Koofr, etc. That way you always have off-machine copies. Run it once manually. Open Terminal, execute the noscript, and confirm that it creates a dated folder containing a Brewfile exactly where you expect. Automate it. Keyboard Maestro: Create a simple macro with a "Time of Day" trigger that runs the noscript every night. cron/launchd: Schedule it to run daily or weekly if you prefer a pure system-level approach. Test a restore someday. Run the noscript manually The real value of a Brewfile is being able to reinstall everything with a single command. On a fresh Mac, you can just run: brew bundle --file=YourSavedBrewfile

This whole process takes about ten minutes to set up and pays for itself the first time you migrate to a new Mac or need to rebuild your system. If you live in Homebrew--and a lot of us do--having automated, versioned Brewfile backups is one of those small, boring habits that quietly saves

a huge amount of time.

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

Local LLM that runs on Apple MLX AND has web search capabilities?

I'm wanting a local LLM that runs on Apple MLX with web search functionality built-in. Ideally runs on iOS too.

https://redd.it/1qx33w2
@macappsbackup

Meva — A lightweight native markdown viewer with live file watching

https://reddit.com/link/1qx7lqk/video/r4i40gsoxshg1/player

Hello everyone - Wanted to share something I've been working on.

I built a markdown viewer specifically for people who work with AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor.

The problem I was trying to solve:

I kept generating markdown files — code explanations, technical design and architecture docs, api specs — and had no good way to read them. VS Code's preview pane fights for screen space. Most markdown apps want to be full editors when I just want to read. And none of them update live when an AI tool is streaming output to a file.

What Meva does:

Native app — blazingly fast and lightweight < 15MB
Live file watching — point it at a file and it updates in real-time as content changes
Renders LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, syntax-highlighted code blocks
Folder navigation — open a directory and browse all your .md files in one place
Keyboard-first — quick open, navigation shortcuts, minimal mouse required

Privacy-first by design:

100% offline after download
No accounts required
No cloud sync
No analytics or telemetry
Your files never leave your device

What it doesn't do:

No editing. It's a viewer, not an editor. I wanted it to do one thing well.

Free to try, one-time purchase for full version. No subnoscription.

Would love feedback from the community — what's missing? What would make this more useful for your workflow?

Check it out at : usemeva.com

https://preview.redd.it/fuf0rp0pwshg1.jpg?width=1704&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1c7ca006cd4d607814d3f50b6059a3dbccbcfec3

https://redd.it/1qx7lqk
@macappsbackup

It's time to cancel my Setapp subnoscription.

New apps are mostly AI slop since their policy turned to only accept apps with AI features.
I’m done paying this pointless tax and only pay for those high quality apps individually.

https://redd.it/1qx82gm
@macappsbackup

Built a native macOS trading journal focused on risk + monthly review

https://redd.it/1qx7za9
@macappsbackup

task list app with drag and drop calendar block scheduling

I use PKMS (specifically Affine), but it’s not really cutting it as a daily/weekly task manager. I’ve tried a bunch of apps like TickTick, Godspeed, etc but nothing has really stuck yet. Ideally I want a todo app where I can drag and drop tasks from my list into a day’s block planner, and also show up in the menubar so i can quickly check whats the next block of time/task throughout the day.

So far I haven’t found a single app that pulls all of these features together — they all seem scattered across different tools. Does anyone know of one that actually does all of this?

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

OS I made a free grid-based window tiler for macOS (inspired by gTile on Linux)

Hey everyone,



I've been missing gTile from my Linux days — the GNOME extension that lets you snap windows to a customizable grid. Nothing on macOS quite scratched that itch for me, so I built my own.



https://github.com/averatec1337/GridTile is a lightweight menu bar app that gives you a visual grid overlay for tiling windows. Hit a hotkey (Ctrl+Opt+G by default), and you get an overlay where you pick exactly

where your window goes on a grid.



What it does:



\- Pop up a grid overlay on any screen, select a region with keyboard or mouse, and your focused window snaps to it

\- Arrow keys to move the selection, Shift+arrows to resize it, Enter to apply

\- Mouse drag also works — click and drag across cells, release to tile

\- Multiple grid sizes (4x4, 6x4, 8x6 — or add your own)

\- Space to cycle between grid presets on the fly

\- Save placement presets (like "Left Half", "Top-Right quarter") and recall them instantly

\- Assign global hotkeys to individual placements for one-key tiling without even opening the overlay

\- Live preview mode that moves the window in real-time as you adjust

\- Fully customizable hotkey



It lives in the menu bar, no dock icon. Built natively in Swift/SwiftUI so it's fast and lightweight.



GitHub: https://github.com/averatec1337/GridTile



If you've used gTile on GNOME and wished macOS had something similar, this might be for you. I built it mostly for myself but figured others might find it useful too.



Happy to hear feedback or feature ideas.

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

AI Council app - all the AIs round a table!

https://preview.redd.it/h0ktrebh0whg1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=d7baeda6f527c9ebcddc245e130cc370c1d5caa7

I came across a genuinely clever AI tool today.

I am NOT the Dev, but I did work with him about 15 years ago. No other affiliation. No financial benefit to me.

AI Council

Instead of asking one model a question and hoping for the best, this app sends the same prompt to multiple AI models at the same time. Then the interesting bit happens. The models effectively review each other’s responses, compare points of agreement and disagreement, and produce a combined final answer along with a confidence score. You can even switch modes so they behave like a debate panel, an expert council, or a devil’s-advocate review depending on the kind of thinking you want.

Works with your own API keys, conversations are stored locally and encrypted, according to the website. Local models are supported.

It's designed to tackle the “single-model certainty problem”. Seeing multiple models compare notes and then converge on a shared response, with an indication of confidence, is quite something.

If you’ve ever wished ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. could sit around the same table and argue something out before replying, this is basically that idea turned into an app.

Probably should've hit him up for a code, but I bought it.

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

One Year Into Switching to Koofr, an EU Cloud Storage Provider

https://preview.redd.it/ay5qyyps4whg1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=c28406f40177ab8318ef41b8f4dbd1107a2871c3

I

t's a given that we all need a safe place to store or back up our digital lives--somewhere our data will survive if a laptop gets stolen or a house burns down. Beyond simple protection, there's the everyday convenience of being able to reach your files from any device, anywhere with an internet connection. For most of us, that means choosing a cloud service that fits our needs. The usual suspects are U.S.-based: iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and plenty of others.

In 2025, I decided to rethink that default. For privacy reasons, I wanted to reduce my reliance on U.S.-based cloud providers and move toward services located in countries with stronger data-protection laws. One of the companies I landed on was Koofr, which is based in Slovenia and operates under EU privacy regulations. After more than a decade of paying monthly fees to Google and Dropbox, I found a lifetime deal for 1 TB of Koofr storage on StackSocial (still available) and bought it immediately.

Koofr's privacy story is refreshingly straightforward. Files are protected with strong encryption, there's no ad tracking, no content scanning, and no behind-the-scenes data harvesting. Because Koofr operates under EU data-protection standards--currently some of the strictest in the world--your personal data is treated as exactly that: yours.

Koofr has a long feature list, and I covered it in detail when I first migrated. If you want the full breakdown, you can read that here. The short version:

You can connect multiple cloud accounts (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) and search across all of them from a single interface.
It includes in-browser Office support for editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
File sharing is flexible, with expiring or permanent links, public receive links, and no hard restrictions on file size or type.
It works everywhere: web, desktop apps, mobile apps, and even through WebDAV or rclone if you want to integrate it with other tools.

Moving my data over was painless. From the Koofr web interface, you can mount other major cloud services and simply drag files from one to another. If you prefer command-line tools, those work just as well.

There are several ways to access Koofr from a Mac. You don't technically need any special software--macOS Finder can mount WebDAV drives, and Koofr supports that natively. Apps like QSpace Pro can maintain a persistent connection and automatically mount Koofr at startup. For my own workflow, though, I prefer the official Koofr desktop app. It's faster than plain WebDAV and adds useful features I rely on.

One feature I didn't expect to love is Koofr's local shared folders. You can create shared spaces between computers on your home network where the data never leaves your LAN. It has quietly become my favorite way to move files between my Macs.

In the ten months I've been using Koofr, I haven't experienced a single outage that affected me. Just as important, they don't bombard me with upsell attempts or marketing emails--something that feels almost unheard of in the tech space these days.

At this point I'm syncing a lot of my digital life to Koofr: my personal music library, ebook and audiobook collections, software archives, important documents, and roughly 75,000 photos. I even managed to accidentally delete a large batch of files through the web interface. Thanks to Koofr's restore tools, I recovered everything without having to re-upload a thing.

The main criticism you'll see online is speed--specifically that Koofr can feel slower than the big U.S. providers. I can't really speak to that. For my needs, performance has been perfectly fine, and I've never found myself waiting around wishing it were faster. I'm not a

heavy user of the iOS app, but some people do wish it were as polished and feature-rich as the Dropbox or Google Drive mobile apps.

# Who Koofr Is (and Isn't) For

If your top priorities are privacy, straightforward pricing, and reliable cross-platform file storage, Koofr is an excellent choice. It's especially appealing if you like having multiple ways to access your data--native apps, WebDAV, rclone, or even direct browser access--without being locked into a single ecosystem.

It's also a great fit for people who want to break free from the endless subnoscription treadmill. The lifetime plans make financial sense if you plan to keep your data around for years, and Koofr has been around long enough to feel stable and mature rather than fly-by-night.

On the other hand, Koofr probably isn't ideal if you live entirely inside Apple's ecosystem and depend heavily on deep iCloud integrations, or if you need ultra-fast collaboration features on par with Google Workspace. Power users who rely on tightly integrated mobile apps with every bell and whistle might find Koofr's apps a bit more utilitarian.

For everyone else--especially Mac users who care more about control and privacy than about shiny extras--Koofr hits a practical sweet spot. It's not flashy, but it's dependable, reasonably priced, and refreshingly respectful of your data. For my workflow, that matters a lot more than another animated onboarding screen.

https://redd.it/1qxk8hc
@macappsbackup

PSA: App devs, think about how you can make your app fit into automation workflows

I create quite a few automation workflows for myself regularly, so I run into all kinds of hurdles which present opportunities for apps to be improved in regard to automation.

Unfortunately many apps only provide the possibility of keyboard shortcuts as a way to partially automate them, the drawback there is that it's a lot more work to have to find a shortcut that isn't assigned and keep track of it in the future. A keyboard shortcut is really only meant to be triggered by the human, not as a way for automation between two programs; unfortunately it is the best option to do automation if the app doesn't provide other options.

Sometimes apps come with Shortcuts actions, which are nice for the less technically inclined, but unsuited for more serious automation workflows due to the high latency involved with execution a Shortcut and the fact that they can only run in the foreground (visibly).

Other means are:

\- Deeplinks, which are particularily well suited for opening specific parts of your app (e.g. a specific view, or some specific data, etc.) or triggering some action, if the app should be in foreground for that. So they are suited for example for triggering a screenshot, which then brings up the edit window; that's how Shottr does it for example. They are not ideal for any kind of query where data needs to be returned, unless the app needs to be in foreground for that (e.g. because the user needs to enter something first), or any kind of action where the app doesn't have to be in the foreground. I wouldn't want to have my bookmark manager automatically coming to the foreground simply because I'm saving a link via an automation.

A key issue with keyboard shortcuts, Shortcuts and deeplinks is also that you can't call them from anywhere. The calling program needs to specifically support calling these, which makes workflows significantly more complicated if they don't. Then you have to use some other tool in between for example.

\- CLI; CLIs are probably the best kind since they are usable from almost anywhere, you can even just use them from the terminal (obviously). They can be incredibly flexible and be used for almost anything. You can respond to queries for data, or let them trigger an action, all that in the background, or optionally you can still choose to bring the app to the foreground if you wish so. They are extremely suited to be integrated into any kind of workflow, from the simple ones to the most complicated and can remain very flexible at the same time.

\- AppleScript. AppleScript is fine, it's old and has complicated syntax, it doesn't really have any benefits over CLI and only makes it harder to learn how to do automate your app, but at least its almost as compatible with other tools as the CLI since you can just execute it from the CLI.

My recommendations:

\- Prefer CLIs; but also, in addition, provide deeplinks to access/open specific content in your app, or to trigger specific actions where it makes sense for the app to be in the foreground.

\- Offer (insofar possible) broad functionality via the CLI. Allow querying the app data (broadly or specifically), performing operations on that data, or triggering actions. Ideally make it as detailled as the app's UI, so your users can use automation to do everything they can do in the UI via the CLI. That specifically also includes data like your app's settings and actions like setting those settings.

\- Offer the most important parts of that additionally via Shortcuts, so that regular users can create simple automation workflows for themselves. If you have an iPad or iOS app, the benefit is additionally that those actions can then also be used on those devices. (And Apple Intelligence could possibly in the future be able to use those actions too.)

\- You can also offer some or all functionality via AppleScript, but a well-made CLI can reach a larger group of users and their needs.

\- Keyboard shortcuts are here to stay of course, but they are really mainly suited

for being used by humans. The big benefit of automation via CLI, for example, is that even if you don't provide an option to set a keyboard shortcut for everything, the user will be able to trigger that action by binding their own shortcut to it.

Apps like aerospace and FlashSpace are very well made in that regard. You can control them via the CLI, and all you have left to do is use something like skhd to bind your keyboard shortcuts to CLI commands; or you can make those actions a part of a whole automation workflow of course.

Bonus points: for those developers who use a configuration file for their app's settings or configuration (or at least make it an option!). There really is no easier way to let users use the identical setup on multiple machines and/or integrate it into a nix-darwin project.

https://redd.it/1qxk0j2
@macappsbackup

OS Son of Simon — natural language assistant for Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Safari via AppleScript

What it does: Connects an LLM to your native Apple apps through AppleScript. Talk to it in plain English and it acts on Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, and Safari directly.

- "Send John the meeting notes from yesterday" → Mail.app
- "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" → Calendar.app
- "Remind me to call the dentist Friday" → Reminders.app

How it's different from OpenClaw: OpenClaw is powerful but general-purpose — it connects to everything through browser flows and a gateway. If you're on macOS with Office 365 or iCloud accounts already set up in Mail/Calendar, that means re-authenticating and exposing a new surface area.

Son of Simon skips all of that:

- No re-auth. It talks to the apps macOS already authenticated via Keychain.
- No gateway. Nothing exposed to the internet. No open ports.
- No credential storage. Your passwords stay in Keychain where they belong.
- macOS-native by design, not by afterthought. AppleScript is the entire integration layer.
- Support for AgentSkill skills from ClawHub and other sources

It's narrower than OpenClaw on purpose. If your stuff lives in Apple apps, you don't need a general-purpose agent framework — you need something that talks to the apps you already use.

Telegram integration for remote access. Learns your preferences over time (stored locally, deletable). Requires macOS 14+ and Apple Silicon.

Early stage — looking for testers. Run doctor after onboarding to check your setup.

https://github.com/spamsch/son-of-simon

Happy to take blunt feedback.

https://redd.it/1qxm68e
@macappsbackup

At Ottex we believe voice will become the primary method of interacting with the computer. Our goal is to make it free and accessible to everyone. February update!



I've been working on Ottex for a while now and wanted to share what we shipped this month.

# What's new?

# Per-app AI models and custom instructions

Ottex now lets you assign different AI models to different apps and websites. I use a fast local model for Claude Code where I need instant dictation, and Gemini 3 Flash for Gmail where I want the AI to format a proper email from my stream of consciousness. You set it once per app and forget about it - the right setup kicks in depending on where you're typing.

Сustom instructions and models per application.

A custom mode for Obsidian that outputs clean markdown when I dictate:

https://i.redd.it/ae66q0ia2xhg1.gif

# Meeting trannoscription with speaker detection

Diarized trannoscription with speaker labels - export as a text file or copy in one click.

Drop an audio or video file, get a full trannoscript with speaker labels - who said what, when. All of this works completely free on a local model on your Mac, or through any provider by plugging in your API keys.

# Local models

https://preview.redd.it/usaybgf7mwhg1.png?width=2234&format=png&auto=webp&s=3bb71a4426e9341fcc623b0cd57efdbda2ebc81e

Last time I posted here many people said they're happy with Parakeet or a local Whisper setup and don't need another app. Fair enough. Done. Now with Ottex you can use local models... for Free. No subnoscriptions, no one time payments.

# Ottex on Easy Mode

For people who don't want to deal with API keys or model setup, we added an Ottex Cloud provider - login and everything works out of the box. Free credits included, no credit card required to try.

If you're comfortable with BYOK or local models, nothing changes - same app, same features, no limits, no cost. My bill as a heavy user is about $2/month with Parakeet V3 and Gemini 3 Flash via OpenRouter.


\---

I think voice input should be free for personal use. I plan to make money on team features down the road. Local models and BYOK will cost nothing, always.

If you know a voice-to-text app that gives you better value for what you pay - genuinely curious, tell me in the comments.

Download: https://ottex.ai

https://redd.it/1qxpn6k
@macappsbackup