Top 3 Apps I Enjoy Using Every Day On MacOS Monterey — A Honest Review

Hello and thanks for stopping by :)

I do not like long introductions and will not write them (and I always skip them), also be warned that I have included a lot of screenshots in this article. Also, please note that I will also show any bugs I found in these apps. Let us go!

Alive Wallpaper v1.3

Alive Wallpaper makes my desktop look astonishing.

Man, Alive Wallpaper looks so brilliant, I can not get enough of it. Just check out this 3-minute YouTube review I created specifically for this article, which shows off majority of video wallpapers available in the current version of the app.

Alive Wallpaper is beautiful app, however version 1.3 has some bugs, at least on Monterey.

However, Alive Wallpaper has some issues. It works fine if you only use one (retina) screen. But I have an extra 30' monitor and when I open the lid of my laptop, the video wallpaper will not align on the larger screen.
Reboots do not help. Also, the weather widget never shows its data (just “null”). The paid app should fix this somehow, so I have already reported this to the author. Hopefully the problem will be fixed soon!
If the lid is closed, then the app works fine even with multiple desktops (you just have to right-click on the app’s icon and select Options / All Desktops to see it everywhere). The CPU usage is a stable 20% on the 13' Mackbook Pro 2020 Edition with Monterey OS and 5 desktops running the app.

Most wallpaper videos are better than more expensive concurrent apps (I should have reviewed this app before spending about $10 on them).
Normally this app would get 3 stars from me, but because some of the videos are so entertaining (I love macros), I give it 4/5.

App Tamer v2.6.4

App Tamer is another must-have app for me. As an experienced software developer and macOS power user, I just know that I need a stable development environment. Therefore, I need to keep track of what is taking up my CPU time. With App Tamer, this information is always just a click away. Even more, you can tell the app to slow down and/or change the priority of certain processes just because you do not want them to consume so much CPU.

Just click on the process and App Tamer will allow you to make it more/less important and CPU consuming. Here is an example of an antivirus software that crippled my Mac every time I installed an NPM project (along with Intellij’s indexing tool, which ran unnoticed in the background:D).

If you want, you can drag’n drop App Tamer’s main window to keep it permanently open.

iStat Menu v6.60

I could write a separate article just about iStat Menu, but I’ll limit myself to a few more screenshots :D. You have probably heard or read somewhere about this app, which is growing in popularity. iStat Menu is so useful to me (and I have been using it since at least the release of Catalina) that I just had to include it here.

iStat Menu can show you detailed weather forecasts.

Anything from your calendar(s) and weather to your OS performance and all the hardware stats available, iStat Menu is there to help you — with just one click.

iStat Menu can also show you what’s in your calendars, along with different time zones.

Do you need a battery level information? For Mac, Bluetooth keyboard, or earbuds? iStat Menu has it all!

iStat Menu will also show you notifications for a wide variety of events.

However, iStat Menu will require you to spend some time getting familiar with its advanced interface and learn how to set everything up to your liking. Once that’s done, this app will serve you well in your everyday life.

What information do you want to display in your macOS status bar? Just drag ‘n drop them and iStat Menu will display them!

I hope you found something helpful, or maybe there’s something missing that you think should be in this article too? Or would you share your top 3 apps with everyone? Please do so in the comments below. I promise to respond to each and every one of you.
Cheers.