instead.

# Similar Apps and Solutions

You can achieve some of what Airspace does with a [Hammerspoon](https://www.hammerspoon.org/) script or a [Keyboard Maestro](https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/) macro. There are also direct competitors like [Spaceman](https://www.jaysce.dev/projects/spaceman) and [Contexts](https://contexts.co).

[Aerospace](https://www.josean.com/posts/how-to-setup-aerospace-tiling-window-manager), a tiling window manager beloved by people who like to fiddle, offers virtual workspace emulation that is similar in spirit, but it is not a true Spaces replacement.

# Details

* Developer's website: [https://hazels.garden/airspace](https://hazels.garden/airspace)
* Privacy policy: [https://hazels.garden/privacy](https://hazels.garden/privacy)
* Price: $9.99

# Bottom Line

Airspace is not trying to reinvent window management on the Mac. It's not a window manager at all.It is trying to make Apple's existing Spaces feature more usable, more readable, and faster to navigate. That is a narrow job, but it is a real one.

At $9.99, the price feels fair to me, especially if you already rely on Spaces as part of your daily workflow. If you only use one or two desktops, this probably will not change your life. But if you live across several named work contexts, Airspace turns a vague row of numbered desktops into something much closer to an actual workspace system.

https://redd.it/1td95l0
@macappsbackup

[OS] Ice: The unmanaged menu bar manager that is still outperforming the competition

Hey everyone, for this week’s **Silicon Thread** feature, I took a deep dive into the menu bar ecosystem.

There are a lot of new apps out there, but I wanted to talk about **Ice**. I know the community is aware that it’s no longer actively managed, but after extensive testing on macOS 26.4, it is still the slickest, most minimal option available.

**Here is the technical breakdown:**

* **The Good:** The handling is incredibly easy, and the native macOS aesthetic is unmatched. Most importantly, the menu bar stability is flawless.
* **The Glitches:** You might experience a few minor app-level glitches when configuring settings, but the actual menu bar functionality never breaks.
* **The Successor:** I know a lot of people have moved to the actively managed fork, **Thaw**. I currently have Thaw in the testing lab and will be doing a full comparison soon, but I want to give Ice its flowers for remaining rock-solid despite the lack of updates.

**Transparency Note:** I am an independent explorer. I have no affiliation with any developers and do not do paid promotions. My goal is just to document the real user experience.

If you want to read my full breakdown of Ice (and see the community ratings), I’ve got the full review posted here: [Silicon Thread Ice Review](https://siliconthread.civicease.systems/reviews/ice)
Ice Github Link: [Ice Github](https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice)

Otherwise, let me know below—are you still running the original Ice, or have you already migrated to Thaw? or any other menu bar app?

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

Mac menu bar app that watches any part of your screen and alerts you when something changes

Hi everyone!

Today I'm introducing **ScreenAlert** — a tiny Mac menu bar app I built to stop myself from babysitting my screen all day. It watches any region you pick, reads text out loud, and alerts you the moment something changes. I'd love to share it with you and hear what you think.


**Problem**

I kept getting stuck staring at my Mac. Waiting for a stock price to hit a target. Refreshing a build dashboard to see if it turned green. Watching a live score because the site had no notifications. If the info was on screen but the app didn't push a notification, I had to keep looking.

So I built ScreenAlert. You drag a box around any part of your screen and you can:

* Have it **read the text out loud** so you can listen instead of looking (works on any app, even ones with no TTS support)
* Set a condition ("number greater than 100", "text changed", "image changed") and get pinged when it happens
* Fire a macOS Shortcut on alert — webhooks, notifications, automations, anything

It uses Apple's Vision OCR, so it reads text from literally any app. Everything runs locally. No accounts, no cloud, no telemetry. The text on your screen never leaves your Mac.

**Comparison**

* **TextSniper** is great for one-shot OCR grabs, but it stops there. No monitoring, no conditions, no read-aloud, no alerts. ScreenAlert does the OCR part *and* speaks it *and* keeps watching the region for you.
* **CleanShot X** has OCR baked in too, but it's a screenshot tool first. It won't read selected text aloud or tell you "ping me when this number goes above X". ScreenAlert is built for the watching and listening part — conditions, sounds, voice readouts, Shortcuts triggers, window tracking that follows a window even when it moves behind others.

Basically, if the other tools are "read this once", ScreenAlert is "keep an eye on this for me, and read it to me while you're at it".

**Pricing**

One-time $4.99 on the Mac App Store. No subscription. No IAP. Buy it once, it's yours.

Link: [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenalert/id6761373715?mt=12](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenalert/id6761373715?mt=12)

Happy to answer questions or take feature requests. Built it because I needed it, so feedback is welcome.

https://preview.redd.it/u8rg13jwx91h1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=54bf42b0544a95987275c2f87654c55d0821a465

https://preview.redd.it/3ruvuuqxx91h1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd7949d6346b62f6e58554a6aefa8e28f02cf44c



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

I made an app to manage running tons of terminal windows at once. Plus improving the terminal experience.

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

ReTab 3.0 — I rebuilt my Safari tab switcher to feel like macOS Cmd+Tab

2 years ago I shipped ReTab — a Safari extension that flips between

your two most recent tabs with Cmd+E (customizable). The most common

request I got back: "make it behave like Cmd+Tab — tap to switch,

hold to cycle through history."

3.0 is that rebuild. One shortcut, two gestures:

\- Tap Cmd+E → instantly hop between your two most recent tabs.

\- Hold Cmd+E → a Cmd+Tab-style picker fades in over the page

showing your recent tabs and favicons. Tap E to walk the highlight

forward; hold Shift to walk it backwards; release the modifier to

switch.

https://reddit.com/link/1te363h/video/mil69q3b3c1h1/player



Works on Mac, iPad, and iPhone — one purchase covers all three.

Most Safari tab utilities are Mac-only; ReTab is the only Cmd+Tab-style

cycle picker I know of that runs across the full Apple lineup. Built

on Manifest V3 with a service-worker background, so it idles to zero

memory and zero battery until the moment you press the shortcut.



What's new in 3.0:

\- Customize the shortcut in Safari Settings → Extensions on Safari 26+

(no Karabiner needed).

\- Click the toolbar icon for the same instant hop, no keyboard required.

\- Closing a tab returns you to your most recently active tab, not

whatever neighbor Safari picks. Toggleable.

\- Keep track of up to 9 tabs history.



Privacy: Everything stays on your device. Safari shows the

boilerplate "can read webpages / see browsing history" warning at

install — script access only draws the picker on your current tab,

and tab access only reads titles and icons for the list. No analytics,

no remote calls, no tracking.



Pricing: $1.99 one-time, universal — one buy unlocks Mac, iPad,

and iPhone. Existing customers get 3.0 free as a normal App Store

update.



App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/retab-safari-tab-switcher/id6736950080



Built solo. Happy to chat about UX decisions, the MV3 service-worker

rewrite, edge cases (Safari's modifier-release detection is a fun

rabbit hole), or what y'all want next - 3.1 is being reviewed by App Store right now and already addressed users' suggestions (https://www.reddit.com/r/Safari/comments/1tbdwca/comment/olof6m7 & https://www.reddit.com/r/Safari/comments/1g6rzb4/comment/olu8pvl) to make arrow key & mouse selections work, as well as supporting multiple windows ;)

https://redd.it/1te363h
@macappsbackup

Raybeam - A better way to screen share on macOS

https://redd.it/1te6mki
@macappsbackup

Sidebar Calendar, 1 Year and 70 Updates Later

Hey r/MacApps, my name is Gabe and I'm the developer of Sidebar Calendar: an app I made to help myself stay on schedule. But this post isn't for promotion (I mean if you are interested please check it out!!). This post is mainly for my fellow app devs.


I've been working on Sidebar Calendar since May of 2025. I've pushed 70 updates to the App Store so that's roughly 1.3 per week for a year straight. I want to write (rant?) a bit about my experience.



I know this is an unfathomably dead horse at this point, but LLMs have been a paradigm shift for app dev. On one hand it empowers people to create the app they've always wanted without needing the perquisite programming skills. But that's also the very thing that can stink about it.



If you downloaded an app back in 2020 it was probably created by someone genuinely interested in development. They learned a programming language to create it, they spent hours focusing on the finer details, there was just a uniqueness to their creation (a warmth maybe?). There were definitely a fair share of stinkers back then too, but for the most part if someone put in the effort to publish an app it was worth taking a look at.



But we are now living in a different world. Most apps stink now.



I woke up one day and found that my app Sidebar Calendar was slop-cloned. I'm not going to go into the details of who the developer is or what the app name is, because I'm not interested in calling them out like that publicly. Needless to say, they found my app and used an LLM to clone it. It's blatant. It's perhaps the most unapologetic instance of plagiarism that I have ever seen.



Looking at the screenshots of their app, it makes me think a lot about the future of app development. It's a cheap clone and reeks of LLM generated slop. But it exists! It's on the App Store! And LLMs are only getting better...



I don't know. Not sure where we go from here. Wishing you all the best,

Gabe

https://redd.it/1te7q2d
@macappsbackup

Upgrading the Mac version of Sapling, our 3D scanning/photogrammetry app

https://redd.it/1teg39s
@macappsbackup

[OS] AndroidFileSync: Free macOS app to transfer files between your Mac and Android wirelessly/USB — open source, no cloud

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

Linear Algebra Visualizer

https://redd.it/1teo33o
@macappsbackup

Logi Options mouse replacement update

After Logi Options Offline version stopped updating, I ended up trying Steermouse. I tried to go without a replacement for a long time but some things are just helpful - like Mission Control with the thumb button. This sub was helpful - there's fake or duplicate steer mouse websites so after perusing here I knew to use plentycom's website.

Dev is still responsive even though it's an older app. I ended up purchasing after using the whole trial period. Why this app is useful for me: I can set up per app settings. Right click might do something different in each app. You can also set up mouse combos - like pressing two buttons at the same time to do something else. From what I understand, there's still no mouse button + drag. Reverse natural scroll is simple but helpful (probs not unique to this app!). I'm not a coder or whiz but I'm on the computer a lot at work and home, and have some quality of life settings that I like.

I think the best part is when I entered my license to activate the app, there was a celebratory jingle haha. I haven't seen/heard something like that in a very long time.

Anyways, there's a ton of other options. I think most people like bettermouse, and that has a slick interface, but I had a single, minor but sour interaction with the dev and I didn't really feel like supporting them financially. Really slick app and very useful.

Shout out to the mods who do a good job even with the onslaught of AI focused apps on this subreddit. There's also this resource and maybe it would benefit to have a mouse app comparison sheet too https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1j56vvb/mac\_app\_comparisons\_2025\_update/ but if you're on a desktop its behind the 'Community guide link' so its kind of hidden.

Over the years, I got a lot of use out of that comparison sheet. Notenik, CleanshotX, Moom, etc.

https://redd.it/1terq70
@macappsbackup

A Google Tasks macOS client

https://redd.it/1tev8c9
@macappsbackup