One finds any screenshot by what’s in it. One types what you say. The other three fix things you’ve just learned to live with.
A friend sends me a video. It’s a .mkv. I double-click it.
QuickTime says it can’t open it.
Fine. I need to reply anyway, so I go looking for the screenshot of the price list he asked about last week. I open the Desktop. It’s a wall of Screenshot 2026-11-… files. I press space on the first one, then the next, then the next.
Twenty minutes later I’ve found the screenshot, converted the video in some sketchy website, and typed a long reply with two fingers because I was tired.
None of this is hard. It’s just annoying. And a Mac is supposed to be the computer where the annoying stuff is already handled.
It isn’t, not all of it. So over the last year I’ve collected a small set of apps that each kill one of these annoyances. These are the five I’d install first on a new Mac, and the exact problem each one fixes for me.
The one rule I used: would I notice by lunch?
There are thousands of “must-have Mac apps” lists. Most of them are full of apps you install, open twice, and forget.
So I used one test for this list: if the app disappeared tomorrow morning, would I notice before lunch?
Not “is it cool”. Not “is it popular”. Would I feel it missing in the first few hours of a normal day?
Browsers, code editors and chat apps don’t count here. Everyone already has those. Every app below fixes a specific problem that macOS leaves you to deal with yourself.
1. Photsy: find any screenshot or photo by what’s in it
The problem: I take screenshots to remember things. Prices, chats, error messages, tickets, a tweet I want to reply to later. Then I can never find them again.
Here’s why. Finder and Spotlight search file names. A screenshot’s name is just the date and time it was taken. The Photos app only knows about photos you imported into it, so the screenshots on your Desktop and the random images in Downloads aren’t even in there.
So the thing you actually remember, “it was the screenshot with the flight price”, is the one thing your Mac can’t search.
What fixed it: Photsy. It looks through every screenshot, photo and video on the Mac and lets you search by what’s in them. Type “boarding pass”, “error”, “receipt” or “dog on the beach”, and you get the image, not a list of file names.
What I like most:
- It reads the text in screenshots. So if I remember one word from a screenshot (“refund”, “invoice”, a person’s name), I can find it.
- It understands what’s in a photo even when there’s no text, like “sunset”, “pizza” or “mountains”.
- It all runs on the Mac. Nothing gets uploaded to a server to be searched, which matters when half your screenshots are bank pages and private chats.
- It also does the small chores I used to do on websites: HEIC to JPG or PNG, MOV to MP4, and turning a bunch of images into a PDF. It also groups your screenshots and duplicates, so you can see how much junk you’re carrying around.
Price: a one-time license, no subscription. It’s $9 for one Mac at the launch price (for the first 50 users), and $29 after that.
Where it falls short: it’s Mac only, and the first scan of a big library takes a while because everything is done on your machine. You let it run once and after that it keeps up on its own.
This is the one I’d notice missing first. Most of my “where is that thing” moments are a screenshot.
2. Wispr Flow: talk instead of type, in any app
The problem: I type a lot of long text. Replies, notes, and these days long prompts to AI tools. My best explanation of a bug comes out when I say it, not when I type it.
macOS has dictation built in, but it writes exactly what you say, including every “um”, every restart and every “no wait, I mean”. You end up fixing it by hand.
What fixed it: Wispr Flow. You hold a key, talk, let go, and clean text shows up wherever your cursor is: Slack, email, a notes app, a terminal, a prompt box. The fillers are gone and the false starts are cleaned up, so it reads like you typed it on a good day.
Where it really shines for me is long prompts. I talk through the whole problem for a minute, the way I’d explain it to a friend, and get a detailed prompt I’d never have bothered to type.
Price: there’s a free plan with a weekly word limit. Pro removes the limit and costs $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly.
Where it falls short: your voice is processed in the cloud, so it isn’t for anything you can’t say out loud to a server. And it feels awkward in an open office, where talking to your laptop gets you looks.
3. Cap: record your screen and share it, without Loom
The problem: half the time, a 40-second screen recording explains a bug or a feature better than three paragraphs. But the built-in screen recorder gives you a big .mov file and nothing else. No link, no easy edit, no camera bubble.
What fixed it: Cap. It’s an open-source screen recorder that feels a lot like Loom. You pick the whole screen, one window or an area, and you can add your camera and mic.
It has two modes, and that’s the part I like:
- Instant Mode uploads while you record, so you get a shareable link the moment you stop.
- Studio Mode keeps the recording on your Mac and opens it in a proper editor with backgrounds, zooms and cuts, then exports up to 4K at 60fps.
Price: free for personal use. That includes Studio Mode and 25 shareable links a month of up to 5 minutes each. If you need more, Cap Pro is $12 a month ($8.16 a month billed yearly), or there’s a desktop-only license for $58 once.
Where it falls short: the 5-minute cap on free links is real. Long walkthroughs need Pro, or Studio Mode plus your own way of sharing the file.
4. OmniPlayer: play the video files QuickTime won’t
The problem: the .mkv from the start of this post. QuickTime handles the Apple-friendly formats and gives up on a lot of others: MKV, some AVI files, odd subtitle tracks, some audio codecs. You notice it at the worst time, when someone sends you a file and you just want to watch it.
What fixed it: OmniPlayer, from the Mac App Store. You drag a file in and it plays. MKV, AVI and most of the other formats people send around, plus subtitles.
I made a quick test file for this post, an .mkv with an Opus audio track, and it opened straight away.
Price: free for normal playback, with a paid VIP upgrade for the extra features.
Where it falls short: the free version keeps nudging you toward VIP. If that bothers you, IINA and VLC are both free and open source and play almost anything. I keep OmniPlayer because it’s in the App Store and gets out of my way, but any of the three fixes the problem.
5. VN: a free video editor with no watermark
The problem: sometimes you need a real edit. Cut a few clips together, add text, put music under it. iMovie is fine but slow for this. Final Cut is $299. And most free editors put their watermark on your video.
What fixed it: VN Video Editor. It’s a free editor with a proper multi-track timeline, text, transitions, music and keyframes, and no watermark on your export.
The last thing I made in it was a 3:37 video from 15 clips. I did the whole edit without paying and without a logo stamped in the corner.
Price: free. VN Pro is a paid subscription that adds credits for its AI features. You don’t need it for normal editing.
Where it falls short: it started as a phone app, and on the Mac it still feels a bit like one. The home screen pushes its AI templates and credits harder than the editor itself. For straight edits, though, it does the job.
Which one should you install first?
It depends on what annoys you most:
- If you take lots of screenshots and can’t find them later, get Photsy.
- If you write long messages or AI prompts all day, get Wispr Flow.
- If you explain things to people (bugs, designs, how-tos), get Cap.
- If people send you video files that won’t open, get OmniPlayer, or IINA if you want free and open source.
- If you need to cut a quick video without paying or adding a watermark, get VN.
But honestly, don’t install all five because a list told you to. Install the one that fixes the thing that annoyed you this week. Then see if you notice it missing by lunch.
As for me, I found the price-list screenshot in about five seconds the next time. I searched “price”.
Quick answers
What are the best Mac apps to install first in 2026?
The ones that fix a problem you hit every day. For most people that’s finding screenshots and files (Photsy), typing less (Wispr Flow) and recording the screen (Cap).
How do I find an old screenshot on my Mac?
Finder and Spotlight only search the file name, which for a screenshot is just a date. To search by what’s in the screenshot, you need an app that reads the text and contents of your images, like Photsy.
Why won’t my Mac play MKV files?
QuickTime doesn’t support MKV. Use a player that does, such as OmniPlayer, IINA or VLC.
Is there a free video editor for Mac without a watermark?
Yes. VN is free and doesn’t add a watermark. iMovie is also free and watermark-free, but it’s slower for quick edits.
Disclosure: The five apps aren’t mine, and nobody paid to be on this list.
Originally published on Medium.
