Welcome back productivity nerds. This is part two of a gripping trilogy on software highlights from 2017. In part one, I catalogued some of my favourite iPad apps from last year. The meat between the iOS device sandwich, is of course the Mac. So here we go again.
- Mac Pro 2017
- Apps For Mac
- Best Mac Apps 2017 Free Version
- 2017 Mac Desktop
- Best Free Mac Apps
- Best Free Apps For Macbook
Before we begin, if you’re interested a number of the apps on this list come with Setapp. That is something I’ve written enough about recently, so if you'd like to read more about Setapp, you can do so here. The apps in question are clearly marked with the appropriate links. Remember, these are just the highlights.
Back to the Mac
The barometer I use for organisational tools is how much time it takes to manage them. That I spend very little time in the app itself, is a good indication Things is doing what it’s supposed to. The way Things handles the inbox is better than any other task manager I have used. I don't feel like I am double handling tasks. I thought I might miss the automation of Todoist, but so far I haven't really, the email to Things feature is enough.
I still haven’t found the time to write this up properly, but I did give it a cursory post. While you can get lightweight versions of some features, there still nothing like Scrivener. This new version is a long way from the early skeuomorphic days. Now that the interface is so crisp, and clean, it looks every bit the modern Mac app. Further to the visual touches, a long list of new features have improved an already powerful piece of software. If you do any kind of serious long-form writing, and you’re still using a traditional word processor, I’m sorry but you’re mad. 1
Ulysses also makes the charts across both platforms. I use Scrivener a little more on macOS. But as I mentioned in the iPad post, all other project based, long-form writing, and content for this blog is created in Ulysses. I now also use it for posting directly to WordPress, and I couldn’t be happier with how well that works. Setapp takes care of my Ulysses subscription on macOS, and iOS.
In researching the best free apps for the Mac, I started by using Apple's category list. This makes it easier to cover the wide variety of content available. If an app is on the Mac App Store, it is in one of the 21 categories that Apple has listed. The 15 Best Mac Apps to Make Everyday Life Easier Apple's macOS is a good operating system, but it's missing some key ingredients. Try these programs to get the most out of your Mac.
It’s still the best VOIP app for conducting a low-latency conversation with someone who is thousands of miles away, but I’m not a fan of its UI or the direction it took in 2017. It’s a sentiment that’s shared by many podcasters, but we’re all still using it, so unless and until something better comes along, I’ll continue to rely on. The Best Disc Burning App for Mac. Platform: Mac OS X Price: Free Download Page. ($80) is one of the longest-standing disc burning apps for Mac OS X. It can handle discs of any.
Most of my reading, annotating, and editing of PDFs happens on the iPad now. I’m so used to doing that work with an Apple Pencil that marking up PDFs on a Mac can be frustrating. Despite that, there are occasions that demand more screen space, and sometime I need to extract a lot of text from a PDF. Highlights can extract highlighted text, and annotations in Markdown, which is something I cannot do on iOS — defintely not in markdown. 2 Now that DEVONthink handles all of my OCR needs, this is the only other PDF app I need on the Mac.
While coverage has focused on the iOS version, 2017 was also the year I went all in with DEVONthink on macOS. I once shared the superficial concerns of some prospective users, but even if i’d like to see the interface overhauled, I’m glad I got over myself. 3 DEVONthink is a heavyweight application, so getting the most from it takes time. 3d sketch app mac desktop. The depth of functionality is perfectly suited to the archive, search, and retrieve workflows required of serious research, so that time is worth investing. I no longer have any trouble finding important documents. My records are organised with some sanity, and I know how, and where to find research I have spent considerable time gathering.
I have known about TaskPaper for a long time, but never really used it properly. That changed last year. With TaskPaper’s plain text super powers, I have cobbled together something resembling a system for planning and tracking my reading, among other things. It might seem like overkill to be employing a form of task management on top of a dedicated task manager, but it helps my scattered mind no end to seperate the finer details. Setapp
https://gvdvlrs.weebly.com/blog/cute-diary-app-mac. Anyone working with text should have this in their kit. No matter what that work entails. Marked is a kind of Swiss army knife for writers. If you are relentlessly obsessive about what you do with words, you will recognise a fellow traveller in this app. It even includes features to improve your writing. Anything I write about Marked risks underselling it. It’s worth a hell of a lot more than what it will cost you. Setapp
I archive a lot of data in DEVONthink, but I don’t use it for bookmarks. Instead I use the perennial wonder machine, Pinboard.in for archiving web pages. Spillo is easily my favourite macOS client for pinboard. Minimal, and opinionated with just the right amount of nerdiness. It’s fully scriptable, and even has its own plugin SDK. Since setting up an Alfred workflow with Spillo, I get more use out of Pinboard than ever.
Being and Nerdiness
Until last year, I hadn’t done any programming for a long time. I still don’t, but I can at least lay claim to vandalising code in my attempts to learn how to. For my humble use of git as it is, Tower is more than I need. Then again, using such a wonderfully designed piece of software can only be helpful if I’m to learn things the right way. Working Copy on iOS is currently my favourite Git client on any platform, but this is a pretty close second. Things could change any day now.
I agonised over choosing a text editor for learning development skills. With growing support out there for Visual Studio, I gave it a test run. If easier to configure, ultimately I didn’t like working in it. Mail app not working with new mac update latest. I tried Atom, and liked the general feel, but I can’t yet benefit from its configurability — honestly it felt kind of slow. In the end, true to form, I landed where I started. Now that I have it set up properly, Sublime text has become one of my favourite applications. As for extensibility, the Sublime SFTP package is the best thirty bucks I have spent in some time.
Another of the technical tools I require, this one has a lot of tricks. To call Forklift the best FTP client I know of would undersell it4. With a slick designed dual pane file browser, file syncing, drive mounting, keyboard kung fu, and all round excellence, these days it is always open on my Mac. Setapp
The most deceptively simple looking app I own. Super Duper overcame a momentary rough patch to deliver an unbelievable improvement to an already excellent utility. With the advent of APFS, it now creates bootable snapshots. The scheduler works so efficiently, I hardly even notice. I can’t begin to express the peace of mind.
The Digital Cage
There was an intense time-tracking trend among a sub-section of nerds last year. Trust me, that’s not happening here. I find the idea of tracking every aspect of your life disturbing. I use this app in a much less pervasive way, for tracking writing projects. I gather data on how long it takes me to write certain things, so I can better understand deadlines. Whether self-imposed, or not. Timing makes this easy, as it can automatically capture time spent in particular applications. Setapp
A contacts app is not something that would ordinarily interest me, I have only humble contact management needs. Since contact syncing started to work properly, I have been happy to use the native contacts app and forget about it. I felt much the same way about calendars until I tried Fantastical. The Flexibits natural language engine is like magic, and sure enough they have put it to good use in Cardhop.
Utilities
Spotlight can only take you so far. For keyboard warriors, an application launcher is mandatory. Beyond a long list of built in features, Alfred is an endlessly extensible, powerful automation tool. An active, and generous user community means there are workflows for just about anything, and help at hand if you want to hack together your own.
This is one of those utilities I never knew I needed. It’s common knowledge iTunes is a mess. Apple’s answer is to remove things without replacing them. Whenever it seems I can no longer do something with an iOS device, the answer is iMazing. Setapp
I could have put this on the iOS list too. I published a post recently on how I use 1Blocker to keep me sane while using the internet. Whether you want to block ads or not, the web is often a shady place. Stopping yourself from being tracked might be a hopeless pursuit, but you can at least make it difficult. I’m happy knowing my computing resources aren’t being filched for crypto-mining. I’m also a control freak, so I’ll let through what I please thank you very much.
For much the same reason as above. I prefer to know what’s dialling home. While incredibly powerful, Little Snitch is too noisy for my liking. Radio Silence is much more simple, and yet it still gives me the control I want. In short, this little firewall rules.
Without this little utility, my menu bar would look insane. Version 3 was released a few months back. Instead of dropping beneath, the menu bar now toggles between your main utilities and whatever you choose to hide. A subtle, but worthwhile change. It works so well it will probably be sherlocked.
Making and Breaking
This is an aspirational app at the moment, it’s probably overkill. My image editing needs a fairly simple, and most of it is done on the iPad. Especially now, with Affinity Photo on iPad Pro. However, Pixelmator has always been an app that I could grok easier than other image editors, so I picked this up in the hope that I could develop some chops. What little I have done with it so far, has been a pleasure.
Another project yet to see the light of day led me to this audio marvel. If you have any cause for routing, or capturing audio on your Mac, this is how you do it. The modular, drag and drop, visual workflow, makes sense out of confusing audio chains. Along with all the built in audio processing, it even supports Audio Unit plugins.
- The idea of long-form writing seems to have taken on new meaning recently. To be clear, I’m referring to books, theses, and so on. For long blog posts, it might be overkill. ↩
- Unless somebody knows an app that can do this? ↩
- It could probably lose a few features ↩
- Yes, yes SFTP. Of course. ↩
Related
If you are wondering how do I extract data from an iPhone backup, then reading this post is a right choice. This Top 6 iPhone Backup Extractor Software review will help you choose the best one and tell you the detailed steps of how to extract the iPhone/iTunes backup.
iPhone Backup Tips
Backup iPhone Data
iPhone Backup Locations
iPhone Backup Tips
Apple encourages everyone to have a regular backup for an iPhone, iPad, and iPod. This way, you’ll have a backup copy of your information in case your device is ever lost, damaged, and replaced. What if the “misfortune” really happens someday? Do you have to buy another iPhone just for extracting your photos or text messages from the iTunes/iCloud backup? Before the iPhone Backup Extractor software comes to life, it seems impossible to recover your data from your iPhone backup.
Is iPhone Backup Extractor free? There are both free and paid iPhone backup extract tools and you can choose according to your needs. Next, we will show you some of them.
Can you extract photos from an iPhone backup? https://gvdvlrs.weebly.com/blog/app-not-open-message-on-mac. Here we list some top iPhone backup extractor tools you can have a try.
1. PhoneRescue for iOS
As a professional iPhone backup extractor, PhoneRescue – iOS data recovery is the best one you should try if you do want to extract your data from your backups. Also, if you’re facing a severe iOS data deletion or corruption disaster, it can solve the issue efficiently.
- PhoneRescue for iOS is fully capable of extracting different types of files from iTunes/iCloud backup without connecting to the iPhone, like photos, contacts, messages, notes, etc.
- You can preview and selectively choose certain data types you want with PhoneRescue, and import them directly to iPhone apps, or to the computer while you are unable to view iTunes/iCloud backup content before you restore.
- In addition, PhoneRescue for iOS can recover data from iPhone, such as photos, contacts, call history, messages, safari history, app data, voicemail, voice memo, and so on.
- The iOS Repair Tool feature of PhoneRescue also allows you to fix iOS system issues when your iPhone is stuck or freeze.
You can now download PhoneRescue for iOS free trial on your computer to have a try:
Free Download * 100% Clean & Safe
Mac Pro 2017
Top iPhone Backup Extractor – PhoneRescue
Advantages:
- Extract lost/deleted iPhone data from iCloud/iTunes Backup, even it is an encrypted one.
- Exported iOS files can be saved in your wanted formats, such as HTML/ V-Card/VCF/Text.
- Preview data before extracting, which means you can select and extract only your wanted items.
- [NEW] Integrated iOS Repairing Tools – PhoneRescue has expanded the recovering power from specific data to the whole iOS system. When an iOS device runs into a system crash,it can be fully fixed within a single click.
- [NEW] Phone to Phone Recovery – Directly extract data from iPhone/ iTunes/iCloud backup and import the data to a new iPhone on the fly.
Disadvantages:
- Free to scan and preview, but you need to pay for it if you want to extract some files from iTunes or iCloud backup to computer or iDevice. Check out the price plan of PhoneRescue for iOS.
Step 1. Run PhoneRescue for iOS on a computer.
Download PhoneRescue for iOS on a computer and launch it once you installed it successfully. You can connect your iPhone iPad iPod to the computer or not. And then you can choose a backup to extract. The Recover from Backup option and Recover from iCloud tab are here for you to click.
Step 2. Choose the backup.
Now you can choose one backup to download. The software was default to download all the content the backup owned. You can unselect all contents and get the exact one. Like the messages, click on Messages and tap the OK to go on.
Choose Messages to Export
Step 3. Preview the data and export them.
Once the tool finishes the download and scanning process, you will see all these data are listed on the screen. You can click on the To Computer button to get them from backup to your computer, or (if you connected your iPhone to the computer) you can click on the To iPhone to extract these data to your device.
Well, you can also use PhoneRescue for iOS to extract your backup data from iCloud as easy as from iTunes backup. As a professional data recovery tool, you can retrieve the exact ones as you want with PhoneRescue for iOS while the iTunes/iCloud won’t provide a choice, no matter you got a device besides you or not, no matter the device is broken or works great. Just give it a try and make things easier.
Free Download * 100% Clean & Safe
2. AnyTrans
AnyTrans is acknowledged as a must-have iPhone data manager. How do I extract data from an iPhone backup? AnyTrans also does a great job of backing up & extracting your iPhone/iCloud backup.
- With it, you can make a regular backup of your iPhone without iTunes, after that, you can also freely view and extract the iPhone backup you made with AnyTrans.
- You can also use the iCloud Manager feature to log in with multiple iCloud accounts to view, download, and extract data from iCloud backup to the computer.
- It allows you to view and download files from the backup including photos, contacts, messages, call logs, calendars, etc.
- You can use it to manually backup your iPhone or just use the Air Backup feature to backup over the air.
- AnyTrans also does you a big favor on data transferring, it’s quite easy to transfer data from one iPhone to another, or from android to iPhone, or from iPhone to computer, and vice versa.
Here you can free download AnyTrans on both your Windows and Mac to have a try:
Free Download * 100% Clean & Safe
iPhone Backup Extractor & Manager – AnyTrans
Advantages:
Apps For Mac
- It is a full-way iPhone manager, cannot only extract your iPhone backup but also backup and transfer your data;
- The simple and clear design brings everything into focus, extracting your iPhone backup data in a few clicks;
- Fully compatible with all iPhone/iPad/iPod models and iOS versions;
- It also lets you transfer data among iDevice, computer, iTunes, and iCloud.
Disadvantages:
- Free to scan and preview backup files, and you have items limits for export so you need to upgrade to the pro version if you want to extract more files from backup. Check the price plan of AnyTrans here: Buy AnyTrans >
3. iPhone Backup Extractor
This software is named as “iPhone Backup Extractor“, which is compatible with all the iDevices and available on both Mac/PC operation systems. With it, you can easily get your iTunes backup information and extract data from iTunes backup on computer.
Advantages:
- Available on Mac/PC operation systems.
- Can extract data from iPhone backup or iCloud backup.
- With expert mode to extract iPhone backup.
Disadvantages:
- It’s paid software too.
4. iBackup Extractor
iBackup Extractor can find all iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad backups on your computer and lets you recover your files with ease. With iBackup Extractor, you can extract iMessages, call logs, bookmarks, calendars, and other data from iTunes backup.
Advantages:
- Can extract files from any iTunes Backup of iOS devices.
- Available on Mac and Windows computers.
- Free trial to extract 50 items and can retrieve deleted iPhone data.
Disadvantages:
- Cannot extract data from iCloud backup.
- Cannot fully scan iTunes backup.
- With few Export-formats available.
5. iSkysoft Toolbox – Data Recovery (iOS)
iSkysoft Toolbox – Data Recovery (iOS) is similar to PhoneRescue for iOS, it cal recover data from iPhone and extract data from iPhone backups. It supports the iPhone iPad, iPod touch and works on PC and Mac.
iSkysoft Toolbox – Recover (iOS)
Advantages:
- Scan your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch directly to recover lost data.
- Extract data from the iTunes Backup for you to recover selected files.
- Extract data from iCloud Backup to retrieve selected files.
Disadvantages:
- You need to pay if you want to extract files from the backup.
- It doesn’t support encrypted iTunes backup files.
6. iBackup Viewer [FREE]
iMacTools iPhone Backup Viewer (iBackup Viewer) supports extracting almost all kinds of data from iPhone backup, including contacts, call history, messages, internet, photos and App data. With iBackup Viewer, you can easily scan and view data on your iTunes backup on the computer.
Advantages:
Best Mac Apps 2017 Free Version
- Can find all of the iPhone backups on the computer.
- Can Browse and extract data from iTunes backup.
- Simple interface and easy-to-use.
Disadvantages:
- Not freeware, you have to pay for it.
- Can’t recover the data that has been overwritten (not only PhoneRescue but also other iPhone backup extractor tools can’t).
FAQs: iPhone Backup Extractor Related Questions
First thing first. What is iPhone backup?
iPhone backup refers to the copying and archiving of iPhone data with iTunes/iCloud, so it can be used to restore an iPhone from the original after a data loss or iPhone upgrade event. iPhone backup usually has two purposes. One is to recover iPhone data after an iOS data disaster, be it for rescuing from iOS data deletion. The other is to set up an iPhone with the data from an earlier backup (how to transfer data from an old iPhone to a new iPhone).
Then, what is iPhone Backup Extractor?
Whenever an iPhone backs up to your computer or to the iCloud server, iTunes/iCloud keeps nearly all of your device’s data and settings, like the messages, notes, bookmarks, app settings, and so forth. Regarding the iTunes backup on a Mac, files synced from your iPhone are stored in a backup folder in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Three common file types are:
- Info.plist file in each folder tells you which folder corresponds to which device.
- Manifest.plist contains an encoded manifest, a list of those files backed up by iTunes along with info like their digital signature, size, permissions, and so forth.
- Several backup files using my backup extension contains semi-encrypted versions of all the backed up files.
What an iPhone backup extractor software does is, it locates/downloads your iTunes/iCloud backup folders, reads the Info.plist and Manifest.plist files so as to let you extract files based on a variety of file types. Usually, an iPhone backup software is capable of extracting data on your computer, but rare ones let you transfer the extracted files directly onto a new device.
Last, the criteria of a good Backup Extractor?
The criteria of the best iPhone backup extractor vary from users’ specific demands. Here are some key factors to consider when you need to extract your iOS backups.
#1. Compatibility
As Apple keeps rolling out a new version of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, compatibility is one of the key criteria for choosing a suitable iPhone backup extractor. You’d better check the model and iOS of your device to see if it is listed on the developer’s product specification page.
2017 Mac Desktop
#2. Design & Easy-to-use
Best Free Mac Apps
No one can bear the resident apps on his or her computer is ugly or hard to use. That’s why the design and usability of a Backup Extractor are also one of the key criteria.
#3 . Cost
It’s our failure that we hardly deliver you all the BEST yet FREE iPhone/iTunes Backup Extractor solutions. As recovering your important personal information is crucial to your life, we believe commercial software products with expert support would bring the best result. Therefore, almost all the products we will review are paid software.
Best Free Apps For Macbook
The Bottom Line
The basic principle of choosing the best iPhone backup extractor tools is to find data on your iPhone backup and transfer them directly to your iPhone, instead of saving on the computer. So if you want to transfer files like pictures, voice memos, or contacts to your iPhone, it’s recommended to use AnyTrans for iOS. Otherwise, if the content you need has been deleted before, PhoneRescue offers you the pro-level iOS data recovery solution. Go Get AnyTrans or PhoneRescue for iOS to Get Started.
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