Best Mac Apps for Developers in 2024

Mac is a highly favored platform for supporting all the necessary OS X developer tools, making it indispensable for developers creating apps for iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, or Apple Watches.

With the Apple App Store boasting a staggering 2.23 million iPhone apps and the numbers continually rising, there’s a growing demand for iOS programmers.

Developers are often in search of applications and software that can maximize their productivity and provide better results.

Given the plethora of Mac solutions available today, selecting the right one can be quite daunting. If you find yourself grappling with this decision, then this article is tailor-made for you. Following extensive forums and doing thorough research, we’ve curated this list of the top Mac applications that can significantly boost your development workflow and productivity.

List of Best Mac Apps for Developers in 2024

Xcode

Xcode is Apple’s integrated development environment (IDE) primarily designed for developing software applications for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It’s an essential tool for developers who want to create apps for Apple’s ecosystem.

It is available for free on the Mac App Store, and it’s the go-to tool for iOS and macOS app development. It offers a comprehensive set of features and resources to help developers create high-quality applications for Apple’s platforms.

Xcode Features

• Syntax highlighting, code completion, and code folding.
• Visual UI design with Auto Layout support.
• Test on iOS and watchOS simulators.
• Integrated debugger with LLDB.
• Git and Subversion integration.
• Unit and UI testing.
• Instruments for profiling.
• App Store deployment and code signing.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a popular and highly versatile code editor developed by Microsoft. It’s known for its lightweight yet feature-rich nature, extensive extension marketplace, and cross-platform compatibility. A highly customizable and popular code editor developed by Microsoft, known for its extensive extensions and support for various programming languages.

It is a versatile and widely adopted code editor that can be adapted to various programming tasks, from web development to data science. Its rich feature set, extension support, and active community make it a robust choice for developers across different domains.

Visual Studio Code Features

• Available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• A vast marketplace of extensions for customizing and extending functionality.
• Includes a built-in terminal for command-line operations.
• Seamlessly integrates with Git for version control.
• Provides intelligent code completion and suggestions.
• Highly customizable with themes, settings, and keyboard shortcuts.
• Backed by an active developer community.
• VS Code is free to use and open source.

Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a popular code editor known for its speed, simplicity, and extensive customization options. It’s widely used by developers for various programming tasks. A lightweight, fast, and feature-rich code editor with a devoted user base and a wide range of plugins and themes.

Sublime Text’s combination of speed, simplicity, and powerful features has made it a popular choice among developers for a wide range of programming tasks. Its extensive customization options and active community support further enhance its appeal.

Sublime Text Features

• Known for its fast startup and responsiveness.
• Supports numerous programming languages.
• Allows easy installation of plugins and extensions.
• Highly customizable with themes and settings.
• Supports multiple cursors for simultaneous editing.
• Powerful search and replace functionality.
• Features a clean and minimalistic user interface.
• Supported by an active user community.

PyCharm

PyCharm is an integrated development environment (IDE) specifically designed for Python development. Developed by JetBrains, PyCharm provides a wide range of features and tools tailored to the Python programming language.

Its focus on Python development and its wide range of Python-specific tools and features make it a top choice for Python developers, whether they are working on web applications, data science projects, or other Python-related tasks.

PyCharm Features

• Designed specifically for Python development.
• Offers intelligent code completion and suggestions.
• Simplifies code navigation with “Go to Definition” and more.
• Provides tools for improving code structure and readability.
• Includes a built-in debugger for Python code.
• Seamless integration with Git, Mercurial, and Subversion.
• Supports database interactions with SQL and code completion.
• Offers both free and paid editions.

Postman

Postman is a popular collaboration platform for designing, building, and testing application programming interfaces (APIs). It provides a range of features and tools for developers and teams working with APIs. A popular API development environment that simplifies the process of developing APIs and testing endpoints.

Overall, Postman is a powerful tool for developers and teams to streamline API development, testing, and collaboration, making it an essential part of modern software development workflows.

Postman Features

• Create and run REST, SOAP, and GraphQL queries 
• Supports various authentication methods like No auth, Basic Auth, OAuth, and Bearer Token 
• Create multiple team workspaces for collaborating on API collections, environments, and flows
• Allows you to suggest changes by adding comments and tagging team members using @mention
• Choose to monitor team workspaces to get notified whenever a team member makes changes
• Integrates with popular tools like Dropbox, Slack, Azure DevOps, Github, Gitlab, and Bitbucket

Homebrew

Homebrew is a popular package manager for macOS and Linux operating systems. It simplifies the process of installing, updating, and managing software packages and libraries on your computer. A package manager for macOS that makes it easy to install and manage software packages and libraries.

It is a powerful and flexible package manager that simplifies the installation and management of software packages on macOS and Linux systems. It is particularly useful for developers and system administrators who want an efficient way to maintain their software stack.

Homebrew Features

• Install, update, and manage software packages.
• Automatically handles package dependencies.
• Create custom formulas for unique packages.
• Active community for updates and bug fixes.
• Install macOS applications and binaries.
• Easily remove packages and clean up old versions.
• Often used for setting up development environments.

SourceTree

SourceTree is a free and popular graphical user interface (GUI) client for managing Git and Mercurial repositories. It simplifies the process of working with version control systems by providing an intuitive and visual interface for common Git and Mercurial tasks.

It is especially useful for developers who prefer a visual interface for version control operations, whether they are working with Git or Mercurial. It simplifies complex tasks and provides a user-friendly experience for managing repositories.

SourceTree Features

• Has a clean and intuitive UI that is easy to navigate
• You can execute complex Git commands with just a few clicks
• Supports popular Git and Mercurial hosting platforms like Bitbucket, GitHub, and GitLab 
• Get a visual representation of a project’s commit history and branch structure
• Organize your commit history by combining, deleting, or reordering commits
• Search through your local Git logs with a robust search functionality

ClickUp

ClickUp is a popular project management and productivity tool that is designed to help teams and individuals organize tasks, collaborate, and manage work efficiently. It offers a wide range of features and capabilities.

It is a versatile tool suitable for various industries and team sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. Its customizable nature and extensive feature set make it a powerful solution for project and task management, collaboration, and productivity enhancement.

ClickUp Features

• Effortlessly navigate through ClickUp’s user-friendly interface.
• Access ClickUp on the web, desktop, and mobile platforms for seamless task management.
• Tailor your task details and visualize progress by customizing fields, views, and dashboards.
• Receive timely notifications to stay on track with deadlines.
• Estimate task durations and monitor actual work hours efficiently.
• Integrate with over 100 tools like GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Figma.
• Utilize ready-made templates for backlog and sprint management, bug tracking, and agile scrum.

Slack

Slack is a popular messaging and collaboration platform that facilitates communication and teamwork within organizations. Team communication and collaboration, are especially important for remote or distributed development teams. Slack is used in big enterprises due to the availability of numerous integrations. These integrations make Slack a go-to app for developers.

It is a great choice for teams that need a simple, easy-to-use, and collaborative chat application. It is secure and affordable, and it offers a free plan for individuals and small teams. However, it can be overwhelming for some users, and it is not as powerful as some other collaboration tools.

Overall, Slack is designed to enhance team communication and productivity, making it a valuable tool for businesses and organizations of all sizes.

Slack Features

• Organize conversations by topic or project.
• Send private messages to individuals or groups.
• Receive real-time alerts for mentions and messages.
• Connect with third-party apps and services.
• Robust search function for finding past messages and files.
• Personalize Slack with custom settings and integrations.
• Create automated processes and notifications.
• Hold virtual meetings and collaborate via calls.

iTerm2

iTerm2 is a popular terminal emulator for macOS, known for its advanced features and customization options. iTerm2 is a free and open-source terminal emulator for macOS, licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later. It was derived from and has mostly supplanted the earlier “iTerm” application.

Overall, iTerm2 is a feature-rich terminal emulator that caters to both casual and power users, offering a highly customizable and efficient terminal experience on macOS.

iTerm2 Features

• Easily split your terminal window into multiple panes for multitasking.
• Powerful search functionality with support for regular expressions and highlighting.
• Intelligent auto-completion suggestions as you type.
• Built-in support for various shells like Bash.
• Ability to automate tasks with AppleScript and shell integration.
• Save and restore your terminal sessions.
• Full mouse support for selecting and interacting with text.
• Securely store and autofill passwords.

FAQs

Final words

If you want to become a successful iOS developer, you have to follow the right path and tools. Using the industry’s best applications can give you a quick start to becoming a developer.

The apps we shared in this article are the most used ones. But definitely, there are many Mac apps in the market today that can benefit iOS developers. If you find the applications useful, please share it with your colleague developers.