With M1 Macs available to purchased and basking in glowing reviews, Apple has now published a new editorial on the Mac App Store highlighting some of the major apps that have been optimized for Apple silicon.
A story on the Mac App Store
The editorial, available on the Mac App Store, is basically a listicle of featured apps that have been optimized to run natively on M1 Macs instead of Rosetta emulation. A total of 56 apps are listed, divided into four categories: apps for the creative types, productivity software, apps aimed at developers, as well as essential apps and tools.
Apple-featured M1 apps
We’ve included Apple’s lists here for your convenience.
Apps for creating
- Pixelmator Pro — Pro image editing for everyone
- Affinity Publisher — Pro desktop publishing
- djay – DJ App & AI Mixer — Mix music and remix songs
- Vectornator: Design Software — Illustrations and UI design
- Ulysses — The ultimate writing app
- Affinity Designer — Graphics and design
- Highland 2 — A better way to write
- Capo — Learn more songs in less time
- Affinity Photo — Photo and video
- Darkroom: Photo & Video Editor — Video, portrait and RAW photos
- iA Writer — The Markdown writing app
- Claquette – GIF & Video Tool — Capture, edit and convert video
- Timebox 3D Collage Maker — Interactive 3D and AR collages
- Logoist 4 — Powerful vector design app
- forScore — Turbocharge your sheet music
- Fretello – Guitar Lessons — Learn. Practice. Play.
Apps for staying productive
- Fantastical – Calendar & Tasks — Plan your day perfectly
- Things 3 — Organize your life
- MindNode – Mind Map — Mindmapping and brainstorm ideas
- OmniGraffle 7 — Graphics and design
- Agenda. — Date-focused note taking
- OmniPlan 4 — Powerful project management
- Highlights – Export PDF Notes — PDF reader and editor for research
- OmniFocus 3 — Accomplish more every day
- Bear — Private markdown notes
- Planny 4 – Smart To Do List — Plan and complete your tasks
- OmniOutliner 5 — Think, write, do.
- Keep It — Productivity
- Noto – Elegant Note — Modern writing app
Apps for developing
- BBEdit — Legendary text and code editor
- Transmit 5 — Fast and easy file transfers
- Xcode — Developer Tools
- Universe — Website Builder — The easiest way to make a site
- Hype 4 — Create HTML5 animations
- xScope 4 — Measure, inspect and test
- Pastel —Beautiful color palettes
- MarsEdit 4 – Blog Editor — Publish to WordPress and more
- SubEthaEdit — Code, Write, Edit. Together.
- Codye — Present your code
- Cascadea — Customize any website
Essential apps and tools
- MacFamilyTree 9 — The best in genealogy
- Twitter — Chat about what’s happening
- Drafts — Where text starts
- Night Sky — Guide to the sky above
- Deliveries: a package tracker — Track your packages
- Magnet — Organize your workspace
- PCalc — The best calculator
- Expenses: Spending Tracker — Spend better, live better
- Instapaper — News
- Parcel – Delivery Tracking — Package tracker
- BetterSnapTool — Easy window resize and organize
- GoodLinks — Save links, read later.
- Yoink – Improved Drag and Drop — Your file and snippet shelf
- FastScripts — Organize and run your scripts
- Tot — Your tiny text companion
- Keka — The file archiver
Many of the aforementioned apps are your usual suspects — that is, longstanding pieces of software with established audiences that get regularly updated and are among the first to adopt new platform technologies. And now those apps run natively and take full advantage of Apple’s M1 chip in the new Mac mini, MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.