app development software for mac

Mac is one of the most loved platforms when it comes to supporting all the OS X developer tools. It is essential to have a proper set of tools to build all sorts of apps for iPhones, iPad, Apple TVs, or Apple Watch.

Today, with so many Mac solutions available out there, it may be challenging to pick one. If you are also in such a dilemma, then this article is for you. Here, we have listed the 12 best mac apps for developers to enhance workflow while being more productive. Let's get started!

Contents

Introduction
List of Top Mac Apps for Developers
12 Best Mac Apps for Developers
1. Transporter App
2. Postman
3. Bitbucket
4. Appium
5. Homebrew
6. iTerm2
7. Sublime Text
8. Xcode
9. Tower
10. SourceTree
11. FlexiHub
12. Sequel Pro
How to Select a Mac App for Your Project?
1. Check on Your Requirements
2. Read Descriptions and Customer Reviews
3. Go Through the Screenshots
4. Must be Easy to Download and Use
FAQs
1. What are the best tools for macOS and iOS development?
2. What are the top mac tools for web development?
Conclusion

Introduction

Recently, we had a quick discussion with one of our Sr. iOS developers and found out that Mac OS X is one of the best choices for programmers. Even, it is clearly evident from the 2020 Developer Survey report.

Now, let's check the some of the best mac apps which our professional iOS developers use.

List of Best Mac Apps for Developers

We have compared the best macOS apps for developers based on their price, features, and reviews taken from their official website and G2, a top reviewing website.

You must have got the gist of all these 12 top Mac applications. Now, let's get started.

12 Best Mac Apps for Developers

Transporter App

As the name suggests, Transporter helps to upload app on iTunes Connect. This includes sending apps, shows, or distributing books on Apple products, such as App Store. It is one of the best mac applications for developers.

Source: Transporter App

Just drag and drop the content into Transporter to start. This speeds up the process of delivery, and upload multiple files simultaneously.

Check the delivery progress, errors, and warnings, and quick fixes all the issues in real-time.
Postman

Postman is undoubtedly a powerful GUI platform and one of the best mac apps for programmers that simplifies each step of API development. This makes it faster and easier and helps with testing, documentation, & sharing.

Source: Postman

Streamline collaboration to create better and faster APIs. Automated testing and developer onboarding are the use cases of Postman. It provides support for all APIs and schemas.
Bitbucket

Bitbucket is the Git solution and helps in code management. It allows teams to plan projects, collaborate on code, test, and deploy.

Source: Bitbucket

Get the benefit from configuration as code and fast feedback loops. This is also best-in-class Jira & Trello integration and often used for code review.
Appium

Appium is an open-source test automation framework and one of the top Mac apps for developers, used for native, hybrid, and mobile web apps. It also ensures the drives of iOS and Android apps using the WebDriver protocol.

Source: Appium

Appium ensures the test of native apps without the requirement of an SDK or recompiling the app. It automates any mobile app from any language or a test framework, having full access to back-end APIs and DBs from test code.
Homebrew

Homebrew is a free and open-source package manager that helps install UNIX tools, Mac terminal utilities, and graphical apps on Apple's macOS. In short, Homebrew helps to include all the Homebrew Formulae exclusively for macOS. One of the advantages of using Homebrew is, it won't install 3rd party prefix files, you have the flexibility to place the homebrew installation whenever you want to.

Source: Homebrew

You can quickly download or install them and compile them from the source. Homebrew is highly recommended for its features, such as open-source, and integrate into the command line.

Have an App Idea?

Want to validate your app idea from an expert?

iTerm2

iTerm2 is best known for the Apple terminal's replacement, and it's also a successor to iTerm. It can be used easily on Macs with macOS 10.14 or newer.

Source: iTerm2

Additionally, it's free and helps to manage work tirelessly. This Mac OSX developer tool is highly customizable to support various features of the operating system.

The list includes window transparency, full-screen mode, ExposéTabs, Growl notifications, and standard keyboard shortcuts.
Sublime Text

This is the right choice for the app developers to look for a fast and feature-packed text editor and development editor. Sublime Text is one of the best text editors for code, markup, and prose.

Source: Sublime Text

It is easy to write or edit in multiple places in a document simultaneously. It is swift to reach the editor's functionality via the keyboard.

Also, get the highlighting syntax and code snippets for the various languages, including Javascript, PHP, HTML, Python, XML, and C++.
Xcode

Xcode is a set of tools that makes it easy for the developer to build apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

Source: Xcode

Xcode is an integrated development environment, supports various programming languages and provides a unified workflow for graphic user interface design, coding, testing, and debugging. With the help of Swift programming language, Xcode makes it easy to create apps. This includes the Xcode IDE, Swift, and C/C++/Objective-C compilers.
Tower

Tower makes it easy to use Git client for Mac and pushes code to GitHub. This is easy to integrate with many other Mac OS developer tools.

Source: Tower

If you want to access Planio repositories via an intuitive GUI, it's the most effective indispensable macOS developer tool.

Its features include single line staging, submodule support, and file history. There is no room for mistakes, as it is easy to undo and create new branches via drag and drop or roll back to previous revisions.
SourceTree

SourceTree is a free Git client, helpful for Mac and Windows. This desktop app simplifies the interaction with Git repositories and allows to focus on coding.

Source: SourceTree

The best feature of this Mac developer tool is that it's a simple Git GUI, which helps the developers to visualize and manage hosted and local repositories.

Apart from this, the features of SourceTree include creating, cloning, committing, pushing, pulling, & merging with a single click and also works well with Git & Mercurial.
FlexiHub

FlexiHub is a very common choice for developers who want to build software solutions for iOS devices. It is easy to share data from iPhones and iPads over the network and access from any remote machine.

Source: FlexiHub

A developer can easily connect to an iOS device without physically attached to the Mac. FlexiHub is one of the best choices for iOS app testing and debugging.

This works fairly well with Ethernet, LAN, WiFi, the Internet, or any other network. It provides advanced traffic encryption to protect each connection.
Sequel Pro

There are multiple benefits of using Sequel Pro; from its fast delivery to ease of using a Mac database management application that works really well with MySQL databases.

Source: Sequel Pro

You are able to access MySQL Databases directly on local and remote servers. You can easily streamline the workflow with a native Mac OSX application.

The installation is also easy. You just simply need to download and connect to your database.

Now, you must be thinking about how to select one such Mac application that fits your mobile app development project. Right? We have mentioned those points here. Let's check.

Want to Build an App?

Validate your app idea from an expert.

How to Select a Mac App For Your Project?

How to Select a Mac App for Your Project

Check on Your Requirements

Your project requirement may demand you to select a particular developer tool. Therefore, ensure that you know all the requirements and have ample knowledge of the project.
Read Descriptions and Customer Reviews

Follow the best practices used by other app developers to read the descriptions and customer reviews. Ensure you have checked everything and you are satisfied with the information.
Go Through the Screenshots

You will find a few screenshots on their official webpage regarding their features or essential information. Must check all the features and ensure they all fit in your requirement list.
Must be Easy to Download and Use

To ensure it's easy to download and use, get the trial offer. Be sure while choosing the right Mac app for your project.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best tools for macOS and iOS development?

Xcode
Appium
Tower
Postman

What are the top mac tools for web development?

Homebrew
iTerm2
Sequel Pro

Conclusion

We hope now you will find the best Mac app for your project. You can also get in touch with our experts if you want to build an iOS app. Our developers are highly experienced in using Mac applications, and they know which Mac application will perfectly fit your business requirements.

Hitesh Trivedi

Hitesh Trivedi

Designation: iOS Team Lead

Hitesh Trivedi is an iOS Team Lead at Space-O Technologies. He has over 10 years of experience in iOS app development. He has guided to develop over 100 iPhone apps with unique features and functionalities. He has special expertise in Swift and Objective-C.