Upgrade your apps

Choosing alternatives to Apple's built-in apps and tools can take your Mac workflows to the next level. Whatever you're planning on doing, our pick of the best will help get your projects done

- Hollin Jones

Your Mac comes bundled with apps and tools to achieve all sorts of things from making music to conference calling and, while they’re great, there are plenty of alternatives on the market.

But why, if you have Apple’s apps already, you may ask? As well as providing different ways to do things, third-party apps often go beyond the capabilities of your Mac’s built-in tools, giving you expanded control over your files and folders in the Finder, for example, more powerful reminders and scheduling, or giving you access to more professional movie-making features.

In fact, for every one of the Mac’s built-in tools there’s at least a couple of alternatives, sometimes free and sometimes paid for, but always offering a different take on the task at hand. You might find, for example, that you want more sharing options or cross-platform compatibility in your cloud service than iCloud can offer, or a more advanced mail client than Apple’s own, for managing heavy email loads. It could be that Apple’s Photos app doesn’t cut it when it comes to your image-editing needs, and you want to try something like Luminar Neo or Adobe Lightroom to take your pics to the next level. Whatever your requirements for alternative apps for your Mac, our guide has you covered.

A faster Finder

Power up your files and folders with this app that's perfect for demanding users

Commander One

Free (Pro Pack £25.99)

FROM mac.eltima.com

FEATURES Dual panel view, expanded file and folder info and management, powerful cloud integration