2026-05-22 00:07:11
Every now and then I run across of trove of free Mac software so large that I’m not sure what to do with it. They all appear to be eligible for thriftmac, but do I really want to download and test them all?
In this case, the trove in question is Jorvik Software. At last count, there are 23 free and open source apps on the site. They’re created by Jonathan Hollin, a back-end developer on the Isle of Man who builds native macOS in his spare time.
“That’s what this site is about — the things I make for the fun of making them,” he says on his About page.
The one that caught my eye, and drew me into the site, is RainbowApple, a utility that overlays the classic six-colour Apple logo on top of the black one that Apple now ships. Pretty simple, but looks like fun.
Also among the many utilities: CalendarUpcoming to alert you of upcoming events, CopyLens to pull the text from an image, MenuTidy to collapse menu bar icons behind a chevron, WindowPin to pin any window so that it is always on top.
The only one he considers to be a full-blown app is Jorvik Daily News, an RSS reader that lays out the news like a daily newspaper.
On top of that, there are three retro games and four screensavers that look cool.
Eventually some of these will make their way into the thriftmac collection, but don’t wait for me — explore on your own.
2026-05-20 02:57:21
A minimalist calculator for your menu bar that features history, percentages (such as sales tax), customization and the option of multiple calculators.
2026-05-20 02:48:09
Give your Mac a smack and it says “ow!” Also has sexy and Halo (yes, the game) modes. Or get it to play custom MP3s of your choice. You control the sensitivity.
2026-05-08 11:30:25
A code snippets manager that includes markdown notes, HTTP requests, calculations, and built-in developer tools. Integrates with VS Code and Raycast. Data stays on your computer.
2026-05-06 04:23:40
For those times when you have so many apps that you can’t remember what some of them do — an app that scans them and provides a descriptions of each.