Free Software Menu

This page provides a list of currently supported free software available here, all 44 apps and command tools. Links provided take you to the Product Page of each app or command tool, where you can read more details and download the app. Some Product Pages also list older apps that work with older versions of macOS, but are no longer in active development. A full listing of Product Pages and other pages of this blog appears at the foot of every page as well.

Apple software updates & security

Skint: daily check on key security systems, Monterey or later.
SilentKnight: automatic checks of firmware and security systems, El Capitan or later.
silnite: command tool equivalent of SilentKnight, El Capitan or later.
LockRattler: manual checks of firmware and security systems, El Capitan or later.
SysHist: lists full system and security update installation history, El Capitan or later.
➜ Update utilities

Security

XProCheck: checks on XProtect Remediator scans completed and reported in the log, Catalina or later.
➜ Log utilities

Taccy: troubleshoots signature and privacy problems, Sierra or later.
➜ File utilities

ArchiChect: checks any app, bundle or file for 64-bit compatibility, signatures, notarization, and quarantine, Sierra or later.
➜ File utilities

Scrub: cleans folders and volumes of potentially leaking sensitive data, El Capitan or later.
➜ Update utilities

Time Machine

T2M2: quick but thorough check of Time Machine backing up, Sierra or later.
➜ Log utilities

Text

Nalaprop: multilingual natural language parsing, Mojave or later.
Dystextia: encodes and decodes Unicode Latin text using unconventional code points, Sierra or later.
Apfelstrudel: checks the normalisation of Unicode text, to spot potential problems with file systems other than HFS+, Sierra or later.
unorml: command tool to normalise a string to any of the four Unicode forms, Sierra or later.
➜ Text utilities

Rich Text

DelightEd: Rich Text (RTF) editor with special Dark Mode features and support for interlinear text, Sierra or later.
➜ RTF & PDF

PDF

Podofyllin: lightweight PDF viewer and analysis, High Sierra or later.
➜ RTF & PDF

Extended attributes & metadata

xattred: full-featured extended attribute editor, can also add quarantine xattrs, El Capitan or later.
cmpxat: command tool to compare all extended attributes between two files, reporting differences, El Capitan or later.
Metamer: accessible metadata editor for 16 Spotlight keys, El Capitan or later.
Spotcord: builds vocabularies of Spotlight keywords, Big Sur or later.
SearchKey: adds metadata to any file to aid Spotlight search, El Capitan or later.
SearchKeyLite: lightweight tool to add metadata to documents to aid Spotlight search, El Capitan or later.
➜ Extended attributes, metadata

File integrity

Dintch: checks the integrity of your files (for folders and larger quantities), El Capitan or later.
Fintch: drag and drop integrity management (for individual files), El Capitan or later.
cintch: command tool to check file integrity, El Capitan or later.
➜ File integrity

iCloud

Cirrus: takes control of iCloud, investigates and diagnoses its problems, El Capitan or later.
➜ Cirrus

Mints: custom log extracts, including iCloud, extensive system info and more, Sierra or later.
➜ Mints

Version system

Versatility: archives and unarchives saved versions to protect and preserve them, Big Sur or later.
Revisionist: opens up the full power of the macOS versioning system, El Capitan or later.
DeepTools: three quick and simple utilities to preserve versions associated with documents when copying or moving them, El Capitan to Catalina.
➜ Version utilities

General utilities

Spundle: creates, resizes and compacts sparse bundles, Sierra or later.
Cormorant: compresses and decompresses using LZFSE in AppleArchive, Big Sur or later.
Stibium: runs and analyses performance benchmarks on disk storage, High Sierra or later.
➜ General utilities

Mints: custom log extracts, tests of Visual Look Up and Spotlight, extensive system info and more, Sierra or later.
➜ Mints

Precize: looks deep into files, bundles and folders to show their full size including extended attributes, provides macOS Bookmarks and volfs paths as enduring file references, and detailed information contained in Bookmarks and Aliases, El Capitan or later.
Alifix: refreshes Aliases and identifies broken Aliases, Sierra or later.
alisma: command tool to create Finder aliases, and to resolve them to full paths, El Capitan or later.
UTIutility: UTI scanning and conversion utility, El Capitan or later.
Sparsity: creates and finds APFS sparse files, Big Sur or later.
➜ File utilities

PermissionScanner: searches folders for files which are either not writable or not readable, requires Sierra or later.
➜ Permissions

Virtualisation (VMs) on Apple Silicon Macs

Viable: creates and runs macOS VMs on Apple silicon Macs, Monterey or later.
ViableS: sandboxed and locked-down version, ideal for research, Monterey or later.
Vimy: double-click to run macOS VMs on Apple silicon Macs, runtime companion to Viable, Monterey or later.
Liviable: creates and runs Linux VMs on Apple silicon Macs, Ventura or later.
➜ Virtualisation on Apple silicon

Logs