We can look back on a successful appletips year full of informative tips, manuals and news items. Last year we published more than 1080 messages and tips, an enrichment for our website. Just before New Year’s Eve, we listed the most read Mac tips of 2024 for you.
This way you can discover what the most read tips are this year and which topics appealed to our readers the most. Good to know, the list below only contains tips published in 2024. Click below the description to read the full tip or save it as a favorite in the appletips app.
Top 10 Mac tips of 2024
10: Use full-screen tiles to quickly organize your screen
In macOS Sequoia, Apple has once again added a new feature for managing windows. In addition to Stage Manager and Mission Control, a ‘Full Screen Tiles’ feature is now available where windows can be automatically placed into boxes on the screen.
The new feature is similar to Aero Snap that has been available for PC since Windows 7. Before macOS, you had to rely on third-party apps like Magnet or Rectangle for similar functionality. But with the arrival of macOS 15, this is no longer necessary.
9: Add a message to a Mac login screen
Did you know that it is possible to have a message appear in the login window of your Mac? The lock message is easy to set through the System Settings or using Terminal. The message can consist of any text and appears at the bottom of the login screen, above the ‘Power off’, ‘Restart’ and ‘Snooze’ buttons or the login field since macOS Sonoma.
The reasons for adding text to the login window can be different. For example, you can enter the name of your company or association, a personal message or your telephone number so that a possible finder can reach you if you lose your precious Mac. To take advantage of the lock message, you must have at least OS X 10.7 installed on your Mac.
3: Easily connect multiple displays to a Mac
If one screen is not enough, you can always choose to connect multiple screens to your Mac. This expands the desktop and allows you to perform multiple tasks. This is especially useful when editing videos or photos. But also very productive in the office, for working from home or playing games.
By default you can connect one extra screen to your Mac, but some models can accommodate more. For example, a 16-inch MacBook Pro can control 2 screens and the Mac Pro can even control 6. Connecting a screen is very easy, you can use it as an extra screen or synchronously to display the same content on your Mac.
2: Using Passwords App on a Mac
iOS 18, iPadOS 18, visionOS 2 and macOS Sequoia include a new Passwords app, making password management on Apple devices easier than ever.
In previous versions of iOS and iPadOS, password management was part of the Settings app. On a Mac you could find the login details in system settings, but also hidden in the settings for Safari and the keychain app was also used. All this functionality is now housed in the new Passwords app.
1: Completely remove apps from your Mac
The most read Mac tip of 2023! It goes without saying that you will install programs on a Mac yourself. These can be standard Apple applications such as iMovie or Pages, but also third-party apps. Eventually you may want to delete one or more apps.
Removing Mac App Store apps is simple and is easiest to do via Launchpad. If you have installed third-party apps, it is a different story. By default, you cannot simply delete these like Mac App Store apps, as ‘junk’ often remains behind.
This junk can include residual cache or log files created by the app in deeply hidden system folders. In addition, an app may also use special background processes that are started automatically after you restart your Mac.
