I recently got my first-ever Mac, the M4 Mac Mini, after being a lifelong Windows user. I've always enjoyed and loved Windows, and what drew me to the Mac Mini was mostly the hardware, because macOS in itself was never very appealing.
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However, since I was stuck using a Mac Mini for at least a couple of weeks, I had to find ways to make the experience as familiar and comfortable as possible. And, thanks to a few apps, I did exactly that. Using macOS has become so much easier for me, and I want to share what I've done to make that transition smoother. Maybe if you're thinking about making the switch yourself, this article will help you overcome some of the challenges that I had.
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Cross-platform apps
First things first, it's worth mentioning that many popular apps on Windows 11 are actually cross-platform, so transitioning to macOS becomes a lot easier when you take that into consideration.
A big one is the web browser, seeing as the majority of browsers are cross-platform, and you don't have to stick with Apple's Safari on macOS. My favorite browser has been Vivaldi for some time, and using it an macOS feels just as good as I'd expect it to. Everything works like before, so it's perfect.
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Similarly, Beeper is my messaging app of choice, and it bridges all my messaging services into one app. It's also a cross-platform app, and arguably it runs and looks better on macOS than it does on Windows, so that was great news too.
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Finally, some work tools like Slack and the Adobe Creative Cloud are also cross-platform and function pretty much the same everywhere, so I had no issues there. With that out of the way, let's get into the apps you might not know you needed.
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5 AutoRaise
An imperfect solution to a stupid problem
One of the most frustrating things about macOS so far has been the fact that, when you have multiple windows side by side, you can't click an element of an inactive window directly. You first click the window to set the focus to it, and then click the element you want. Windows lets me work much more quickly by clicking directly on what I want to interact with, even if the app isn't in focus.
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AutoRaise is a tool that aims to circumvent this by automatically setting focus to a window when you hover the mouse cursor over it. In fact, you have two options here, you can choose to raise the app above others, or simply set focus to it without changing the order of the open windows, which I prefer. You can also set delays for this to happen so the focus doesn't switch too quickly when you're moving your mouse.
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This has helped in some cases, though it's not perfect. I set the shortest non-zero delay possible, but at times I still find myself having to click twice to interact with a window element, and other times the focus changes too quickly when I'm trying to access the menu bar. You can hold the Control key (or choose a different one) to prevent focus changes, but at that point, you could also hold Control while clicking to click through to an unfocused window. This app may not be useful for everyone, but it's trying to make the best out of a bad situation, and I appreciate that.
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4 MonitorControl
Control external monitors easily
It was only recently that i had learned of Windows apps like Monitorian or ClickMonitorDDC that allowed me to change the brightness of external monitors on Windows easily. For some reason, I expected macOS to be better about this, but to my dismay, the Mac Mini did not let me change the brightness of my monitor.
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Enter MonitorControl, an app that does exactly what the name suggests. With this tool, which lives in the macOS menu bar, you can easily change the brightness of an external monitor. It's actually even better than something like Monitorian because it has a cool option where it blends software and hardware dimming. This means that if you reach the lower limit of your monitor's brightness setting, you can continue to dim it even further to make sure you're that much more comfortable. I legitimately love that.
What's more, since my monitor has built-in speakers, MonitorControl can change the volume, too. I have to say, it's a fantastic app.
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3 Diffraction
Cropping an image requires an app, apparently
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This one caught me a bit off guard. Much like Windows, macOS has a built-in screenshot tool, and it works fairly well. When you open a screenshot in Preview, you have the option to make all kinds of edits that are honestly generally better than what Windows offers with the Snipping Tool. But one big thing is missing, and that's the ability to properly crop a photo to a specific aspect ratio (Snipping Tool doesn't have this either, but the Photos app in Windows 11 does).
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Since I can't open screenshots in the macOS Photos app, I decided to resort to Diffraction. This is a photo editing tool that's available on the app store and has all sorts of options, including support for layers and whatnot. But really, I only use it for one thing, and that's cropping. We aim to have most of our images at XDA in a 3:2 aspect ratio, so this is very important to my workflow.
I suspect there may actually be a better tool for this that doesn't have all the extra stuff Diffraction has, but so far, it's been serving me well and making things that much easier for me.
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2 BentoBox
I couldn't live without this one
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If there's one thing that's basically essential to my workflow these days, it's the ability to easily have multiple apps side-by-side in a perfect arrangement. On Windows, I've been using FancyZones in PowerToys for a good while now, and with macOS window management being even worse, I desperately needed to find a solution. Thankfully, that's exactly what BentoBox is.
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On its official website, it's specifically said that BentoBox is inspired by FancyZones, and it shows. It really translates perfectly to macOS, so I can simply set the custom window areas I want, save the layout, and easily drag windows into their respective areas by just holding the Shift key. There was frankly next to no friction transitioning to macOS. You can create multiple layouts and set keyboard shortcuts to switch between them, too, though I really just need one.
BentoBox is as perfect as it gets for this purpose, and it's even nicer than PowerToys because it doesn't include a bunch of tools I don't need.
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1 Pasty
Bringing back the clipboard history
The clipboard history is genuinely one of the best features Windows 10 added, and it's very disappointing that all this time later, macOS doesn't have an equivalent. Thankfully, developers have stepped up to the plate to deliver what Apple won't, and Pasty is a very cool app.
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Essentially, Pasty is just what you'd expect: a clipboard history. With a keyboard shortcut, you can bring up the list of copied items in your history, which appears at the top of the screen with a UI that fits perfectly into the macOS style. You can change how long items should be kept, but you can go even further and create spaces to save specific snippets of text or copied items. Making full use of these spaces requires a paid subscription, but the base clipboard history is free, and it's all I really need.
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Surprisingly, it took me a while to even consider looking for something like this, but Pasty has already been super useful in the couple of days I've had it. I highly recommend it to just about anyone.
I almost don't miss Windows
These apps have been total game changers for me while using macOS. Or rather, I guess you could say they've been game "un-changers" since I can do a lot of things the same way I used to do them on Windows. No? Alright.
The point is, these are fantastic apps that have really made my transition to macOS much easier, and I love them as a result. To some extent, I recommend checking them all out.
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