About a month ago, I started building MacNative, a curated directory of Mac apps.
The idea was pretty simple: make good Mac software easier to find, and give the indie developers behind it another place to be discovered.
I care about the little things in Mac apps. A useful menu bar tool. A keyboard shortcut that saves a few clicks. An app that does its job and stays out of the way. I wanted to build a home for more of those.
So, here’s my first monthly update: where the project is, what I’ve been building, and what I’m still figuring out. 👋
MacNative today: apps to explore, new launches, and a newsletter.
📊 Where things stand
As of October 27, MacNative has:
- 203 published Mac apps across nine categories.
- 380 newsletter subscribers on Substack.
- 263 registered accounts, excluding my admin account.
Over the last 30 days, Google Analytics recorded 3,328 users and 4,959 sessions.
It’s early, but seeing people sign up and explore something I’m building feels good. If you’ve visited, subscribed, or submitted an app: thank you.
A quick note on the numbers: traffic covers September 27–October 26, 2026, and includes my admin activity. App, account, and subscriber counts are current totals as of October 27, rather than new additions during those 30 days. Newsletter readers and registered users can overlap.
🛠️ Making the directory easier to use
Getting to 203 apps gives people plenty to explore. It also creates a new problem: where should someone start?
If you’re looking for a database client, you probably don’t want to scroll past calendar apps and video editors to find one.
That’s where collections come in. The Mac apps for developers collection brings together editors, terminals, database clients, and debugging tools, with use cases and pricing side by side.
An easier starting point when you’re putting together your Mac development setup.
This is something I want to keep improving. Adding apps is useful; helping someone choose one is the part that makes the directory worth coming back to.
🧩 Giving open-source Mac apps their own space
MacNative also has an open-source Mac apps board, with app screenshots, repository links, and a ranking based on GitHub stars.
You’ll find familiar names like Zed, Ghostty, and IINA alongside smaller projects.
The open-source board. The projects and rankings change as the list is updated.
I like that discovering an app here can lead straight to its source code. You can check how it’s maintained, report an issue, or support the person working on it.
Stars are just one way to browse, of course. A tiny project can be exactly the tool you need.
🚀 A place for new Mac app launches
I’m also building a reason to check back for something new.
The weekly Mac app launches board lets people discover new apps and vote for their favorites. Each week’s top three get a winner’s badge, a shoutout on X, and a newsletter feature.
As an indie developer, I know shipping the app is only part of the work. You still have to help people find it. I want MacNative to be useful on that side of the process, too.
It’s still early, so I’m interested in what happens beyond the votes: whether people visit the developer’s site and come back to explore another launch.
🌱 Where people are finding it
A few numbers from the same 30-day window:
| Source | Reported sessions |
|---|---|
| Referral | 947 |
| Organic social | 426 |
| Organic search | 278 |
| AI Assistant | 81 |
Referral traffic is ahead of search so far. Organic search is starting to contribute, but it’s still a small part of the picture.
There’s plenty I can’t explain yet. A lot of traffic is marked Direct or Unassigned, so I don’t have a neat “this one channel worked” story to share.
For content, I’m focusing on decisions Mac users actually have to make. The Raycast, Tinycast, Vicinae, and SuperCMD comparison is one example: what each launcher does well, what you might miss when switching, and what to check for your own workflow.
I want to write more useful comparisons like that. It’s too early to say which articles will bring lasting search traffic.
🔜 What’s next
My priorities for the next month are straightforward:
- Keep adding useful Mac apps and improving the existing listings.
- Make collections more helpful for specific workflows.
- Keep the newsletter going with finds worth opening an email for.
- Get better at measuring which pages help people discover an app.
I’m also learning to be realistic about what one person can review and maintain. More listings mean more screenshots, pricing details, and links to keep current. That work matters as much as adding the next feature.
If you like finding good Mac software, you can join the MacNative newsletter. And if you’ve already been following along, I’d love to know what would make the site more useful to you.
What’s one Mac app you use every day that deserves more attention?
— Mohsen
Top comments (0)