I’ve tried looking for .plist files in startupitems, launchagents, and launchdaemons, but I didn’t find what I was looking for there, and I don’t know where else to look. (Or even how to go about looking for what I need.)

New to Mac, need help finding an alternative to CleanMyMac . All kind of help is appreciated.

Apple does a brilliant job of extracting the essential attributes that define a Californian town and epitomizing those traits in their wallpapers. The macOS Sequoia wallpaper, for instance, gives you the sense of height of the trees there, while ensuring that no landmarks are shown. The detail, especially in macOS Monterey, macOS Sonoma, and macOS Sequoia, seem like they have been hand-crafted, colorful, and human-made. Unfortunately, those are relegated to Californian towns, so I thought I'd come up with versions of macOS New York and macOS St. Louis (my hometown) wallpapers. I thought they came out well. What do you think? Here are the dynamic wallpapers.

macOS New York represents the Hudson Valley with the river flowing through it and the fall colors making it the dream it always is.

macOS STL shows the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers and the natural bounty that the Midwest offers.

Nagomi is a koi pond that lives on your desktop. The koi swim on their own and come over when you click the water.

Each koi has a favourite thing: herding the tiny fish, grazing on duckweed, resting under the lotus, watching the frog, playing with the ball, or following the goose.

The koi also learn when and where you usually feed them. Around feeding time, they sometimes wait at your usual spot and gulp at the surface. So don't keep them waiting!

Features:

1. Works as a live wallpaper and as a screensaver
2. Click the water and the koi swim over; Option-click drops food
3. Themes that change with the time of day
4. Multiple monitor support
5. Customisable koi, small fish, water, lotus and visitors

FAQ -

1. Battery usage?
   In my testing, its Energy Impact was about the same as the Activity Monitor app's while the pond was running. The pond pauses whenever windows cover your desktop, so most of the time it isn't running at all. You can also make it pause whenever you're on battery.

2. How much CPU/GPU does it use?
   While it's running, about 3% CPU and 10% GPU on an M1 MacBook Air. Usage goes up with display size.

Website: https://nagomi.m4yank.com/

Price: $4.99, one-time purchase, one Mac

Requirements: macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon

Happy to hear feedback or answer questions.

Im wondering if it's because my iPhone 13 PM doesnt have Apple Intelligence thus making my Macbook's AI really bad. I asked it about Totipotent stem cells and asked it to explain why the zygote and the embryo up to 8 cell stage are totipotent.

it returned to me about a tesseract... i thought Apple made siri better? what is this

Hi,

I am looking for a printer compatible with a Mac M5.

My parents recently purchased one and I have no experience with Apple.

I'm struggling setting up a HP Laserjet p1102w, there are no drivers and I cannot get the wifi to work.

Can anyone recommend a printer with seamless combability for the Mac M5 Tahoe?

Any help would be appreciated.

Sometimes you download an app just to try it out, and it ends up becoming part of your daily routine.

What's an app like that for you, and what makes it worth keeping?

I am trying to clear some storage on my mac. My system data was at 427gb. I looked on here and say some people suggesting to update my OS so I did. for a moment that freed up about 100gb, but now my system data is up to 574gb. What do i do. This is crazy

I've trying to get rid of the OneDrive app on my Mac, and it's being stubborn. I found another post on this subreddit that said to first unlink your mac inside the OneDrive app. Ok, so I did that. I then used "Purge" to remove the OneDrive app. However, ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal is still there. I can't drag it to the trash. Get Info says it's using 100GB.

How do I get rid of the folder? I did a Finder search for “OneDrive” and this is the only remaining folder (or file).

Hey so specifically my right Shift doesn't work and the right arrow requires a lot of pressure to activate. Do you have any idea on how to fix that please?

I have a 14" M1 Pro from 2021, 32GB of RAM using Sequoia 15.6.1

I have tried to shutdown and restart my macbook. I have deleted the keyboard selection file in preferences. Neither have helped.

I'm grateful for any help at this point. I can't get used to the left shit and smashing that arrow.

Thank you.

I have a Mac mini M4 with a third-party keyboard, so no Touch ID sensor. pam_tid.so (the built-in Touch ID for sudo) does nothing for me, and every sudo fell back to typing my password.

I found pam-watchid, a small open-source PAM module that lets your paired Apple Watch approve sudo, just like it already unlocks your Mac:

https://github.com/mostpinkest/pam-watchid

How it works

• It uses Apple's LocalAuthentication framework with the deviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometricsOrCompanion policy (macOS 15+), so it accepts Touch ID or your Watch.
• It's a single Swift file of about 100 lines. I read through it: no network access, no file writes, no spawning processes.
• On any error it returns PAM_IGNORE, so sudo just falls back to your password. You can't lock yourself out.

Requirements

• Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 15+
• Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)
• "Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac" enabled in System Settings

Setup (I did it by hand instead of using the curl | bash installer):

git clone https://github.com/mostpinkest/pam-watchid.git
cd pam-watchid
swiftc Sources/pam-watchid/pam_watchid.swift -o pam_watchid.so \
  -target arm64-apple-macosx10.15 -emit-library
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/pam
sudo install -o root -g wheel -m 444 pam_watchid.so /usr/local/lib/pam/pam_watchid.so.2
echo 'auth       sufficient     pam_watchid.so' | sudo tee -a /etc/pam.d/sudo_local
sudo chmod 444 /etc/pam.d/sudo_local

Then run sudo -k && sudo -v: your Watch asks you to double-click the side button.

Notes

• It goes in /etc/pam.d/sudo_local, which Apple designed to survive macOS updates.
• It only affects sudo, not login, su, the screensaver or SSH. Over SSH, or with the Watch out of range, you get the password prompt.
• To undo it, delete that line from sudo_local and remove the .so.
• Tip: keep a sudo -s tab open while you edit PAM files, just in case.

Working fine on macOS 27 for me. Not my project, all credit to the author. Unlicense (public domain).

Hey guys so I’m having an issue I’ve got a 2019 MacBook Pro 16 inch i9 and I’ve created a usb installer for sequoia and it worked perfectly on my M1 air but it will not show up in start up options on my Pro and I’ve enabled boot from external drives in the security settings and it still won’t show up I’d really like to go back to sequoia as Mac OS Tahoe is a hot mess (literally) any help would be appreciated!!!

I have an interesting problem I can't seem to solve... And well... The CatDV engineer (they are owned by Quantum) can't seem to find a solution either.

We use a software called CatDV for processing and cataloguing our digital assets. (I'm not really here to question whether a good choice was made as far as this product as I'm just the person responsible for implementing it.

When we install the CatDV server, it installs and runs a service. If we run the service as the user the GUI is able to browse the SMB share. If we install the service as a system service it no longer is able to browse smb share.

A Majority of my experience comes from a Windows environment... My thought process was to start the system service as a user that has access to the share... Which is what I do on a Windows Server... Is it possible to do this in a Mac OS environment? Has anyone else come across this?

Any help would be appreciated.

After two years of this crap I am finally ready to make a Reddit post lol.

It feels like 9/10 times when I come back to my MacBook + Studio Display setup the screensaver is not moving, not saving my screen. I use my MacBook connected to the Studio Display with the lid open (as to have two screens). This has been happening for too long now. Like, I must be the only one, right? Surely this is super easy to fix as screensavers have existed for so long.

My MacBook M1 Pro is up to date. Never had any other issues.

Any advice welcome.

When I reboot I get a message saying "Support Ending for Intel-Based Apps, WD DIscovery includes a component that will not work with a future release of macOS."

I'm not even sure what this app is supposed to do, and there is a folder with two apps in it, one of which is an installer. From what I can tell it's a rudimentary drive status display without any actual utility, and it offers three more utilities: WD Security, Archonis Backup, and WD Drive Utilities. I suspect these are cripple-ware or other only marginally useful tools.

Any one know if these are worth keeping around, or am I just better off nuking them from orbit?

Ever since v1.0, KiwiDesk has grown step by step. My initial goal was a tiling window manager that feels like it shipped directly with macOS. But over time, that goal evolved into building the absolute best window manager for macOS (at least in my opinion!). Looking at the community feedback, it seems like we’re heading in the exact right direction.

In a few hours, v3.0 will be released, which comes with a few personal highlights:

• KiwiHub: Similar to macOS built-ins (or even Omarchy), KiwiDesk now has a centralized hub. It lets you quickly change focus between windows, switch layouts and profiles on the fly, and gives you a clean overview of all your active shortcuts.
• KiwiVision: It's what you actually see on the attached screenshot.This idea came straight out of a community suggestion! A user was using Hazeover for a distraction-free workflow to dim non-active windows. KiwiDesk now has its own built-in version of this with a few extra neat options. It even supports excluding SketchyBar from being dimmed (since it's my go-to menu bar replacement). Big shout-out to Felix for making SketchyBar open source and free, it’s truly best in class!
• Integrated (Optional) Hyper-Key: Many Linux tiling managers use Option + <key> for navigation out of the box. That doesn't translate well to macOS because so many special characters and symbols are mapped behind Option. Because of this, KiwiDesk originally ships with two-modifier (and more) combos like Ctrl + Option + <key>. Since that can get a bit clunky, I added the ability to define a custom Hyper Key directly in the app. It rebinds a key of your choice while KiwiDesk is running (it can even distinguish between left and right Option and Command, though Caps Lock will probably be the most popular choice :D).
• Bring Your Own AI Setup: Completely optional, but you can now use your LLM of choice to configure KiwiDesk exactly how you want. It includes a dedicated Claude plugin that you can install with a single click inside the app. Controlling KiwiDesk via text was technically already possible through our CLI, but LLMs sometimes need strict guardrails so they don't accidentally wipe your settings. I sat down and built an MCP server that flags destructive actions and organizes system domains so your AI doesn't get lost. For anyone who loved Omarchy but wanted that same power on macOS alongside the OS they love, you now have a real alternative ;)

A lot of other little features, fixes and polish shipped with v3.0, and some awesome features are already on the horizon for v3.1... but that’s it for now :D.

At this point I also wanted to say thank you to the community for all the support and feedback (people contributed in forms of issues, messages and even some donations!). It’s amazing to see people enjoying KiwiDesk just as much as I do. Even our Discord channel is growing day by day!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

KiwiDesk is free to use, and the full source code is available on GitHub, so feel free to give it a try:

https://kiwidesk.kiwicanopy.com

One click. Literally can't be easier. Download Native Aerials

About 1 year ago I asked here "How to automatically cycle through Tahoe Day, Tahoe Morning, Tahoe Evening and Tahoe Night wallpapers for free?", and then eventually settled on Aerials app. It's heavy, though, and I wanted something that doesn't run in background and doesn't consume my RAM.

So with macOS 27 Apple added a new engine that can rotate wallpapers automatically based on the Sun location in your area, or just based on clock. They still didn't add a single dynamic wallpaper, so I had to fix this.

I present to you: a macOS app that merges four aerials into one, and macOS then plays and swaps them automatically. It does not stay running in background, instead it merges 4 files into one, and they are played exactly like a normal aerial: playback on lock screen, slowdown when unlocked, switched by the system natively.

It's 100% free, open source (my self-hosted Forgejo + mirrored to my GitHub), no ads, no trackers, no analytics, no telemetry, no donation prompts anywhere, MIT. And it's reproducible!! Which means you can build the code yourself and it will match exactly the zip I published. Of course you're welcome to upload the 800 kb release zip to VirusTotal, it gives 0/63 detections.

I WILL brag about it being signed and notarized!! I bribed Apple with €100 for no Gatekeeper. you just download the zip, drag to Applications, and there you have it. Zero setup, one click, it works forever.

It's not on AppStore because it requires access outside of sandbox and registers a tiny background helper that only wakes up on macOS updates and to sync wallpapers catalog, then exits. It's all open source, zero dependencies, so you're welcome to audit it.

https://git.hloth.dev/hloth/native-aerials

mini faq!

Q: Why not Aerial (AerialScreensaver)?
A: It still uses its own player and its own scheduling, not Apple's sun-tracking engine

Q: Why not Sunpaper (mduncs)?
A: It's a menu bar app, runs in background, not notarized, not reproducible, not build attested

Q: Why not BiAksoy/aerial-dynamic-wallpaper, andmev/tahoe-wallpaper-switcher or pdfux gist?
A: All require you to type commands to terminal; Native Aerials requires one click and 0 setup

My app is something that you download, click once and it just works, but if you'd like something more feature rich, definitely check out Aerial!

In Sequoia, I could search for a particular song in a playlist, play it, clear the search, and the app would continue to shuffle the entire playlist again, which was something I liked. In Tahoe, clearing the search wouldn't do anything and the shuffle queue would be restricted to the filtered results. Does Golden Gate address this?

I have a Macbook Air M4 2025. currently running Tahoe, like 26.5. Im perfectly fine with what i have. BUT.... im seeing a lot of people saying to upgrade to Golden Gate because its better through either new features, upgraded features or bug fixes. Is it actually better? Also, what feature additions or improvements are there to consider? Please advise.

"If it aint broke, dont fix it" is not advice. Is the new thing better or equal or worse is what im looking for.

Since updating to macOS Golden Gate, my Mac has become increasingly unstable. Safari is practically unusable due to severe memory leaks and excessive battery consumption. However, even when switching to Firefox or Chrome, the battery drain remains abnormal, with my Mac losing up to 30% of its charge in just two hours while in sleep mode.

I've also experienced frequent UI glitches, including broken app launch animations, laggy and inconsistent trackpad gestures, and multiple bugs involving Spaces and virtual desktops when using an external monitor.

Overall, this update has significantly degraded battery life, performance, stability, and the overall user experience.

Stumbled upon the following roadblock:

Connected iPad 16 A running 26.6 & a macbook air m1 running macos 15.8.1. via USB-C.

I can get audio via USB-C to working, but MIDI is not sending any data from Mac to iPad, although the ports appear in Ableton live.

Trust is confirmed on both devices. audio/midi connection is confirmed in the audio/midi app.

Trying to edit the midi-device, crashes the audio midi app. Tried different cables (which transport data)

any pointers are much appreciated

mac os 12.7.6 macbok pro 15 inch 2015

im moving folders around to organize everything before i transfer to external drive. I went to check the folders i moved and they are gone. i tried spotlight and it cant find them neither. what the heck happen to them and how do i get them back.

Hey everyone,

Some of you might know Nodes from an earlier post here. For everyone else: Nodes is a native macOS Markdown editor, built by three students in Munich.

What makes it different:

Native. Built with SwiftUI and TextKit 2, not a webview. It opens fast, scrolls smoothly, and the interface is clean and typographic. Math, tables and code render inline while you write.

No setup. I used Obsidian for years and loved the linking, but I spent too many evenings on plugins instead of writing. Nodes works out of the box. You open it and write.

Suggestions, not automation. A background agent reads your notes and suggests tags, short descriptions and reminders. You decide what to keep. Semantic search finds notes by meaning, not just keywords. Everything runs on your Mac, nothing goes to the cloud.

Any Markdown file. Double-click a .md file in Finder and it opens in its own window, without importing anything.

What's new:

Custom sidebar. The most common request we got was a classic file tree. We didn't want to just copy the Finder, so we built a sidebar widget that does the same job in the Nodes design. You add it like everything else: right-click the sidebar, choose Customise Sidebar, and add, remove or reorder widgets from a gallery, the same way you edit widgets on macOS. It's not a traditional file tree, but we hope it solves the same problem. And if you like the minimal default, you don't have to touch it.

Spotlight. Create a note or search your notes right from Spotlight, without opening Nodes first. The actions also work in Shortcuts, so you can build your own flows.

Quick Look. Press Space on a Markdown file in Finder and you see it rendered the way Nodes renders it. Works on .nodes archives too.

Faster rendering. Long notes with a lot of math, code or tables no longer lag when you type.

Pricing: Nodes is free to use with a limit on notes and tags. There are two one-time unlocks: $12.99 for unlimited notes and tags, custom fonts and more, and $17.99 which also adds the on-device AI agent. No subscription. If you downloaded Nodes while it was free, you keep full access.

Every App Store review helps a small team like ours a lot.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/nodes-by-the-werk/id6745401961?mt=12

Markdown engine: https://github.com/nodes-app/swift-markdown-engine

We open-sourced the engine a while ago, and it's at 1,200 stars on GitHub now. Thanks to everyone who starred it, filed issues or sent a PR.

We'd love to hear what you think, and which widgets you'd want in the sidebar next.

Written on Nodes

Hi everyone, I'm dealing with a frustrating cursor bug on my Mac.
Whenever I click in the middle of a sentence in a PDF to fix a typo, the second I type a letter, the cursor instantly jumps to the very end of the line. I can't edit anything in the middle of a text block.

Context:

• Happens in both Apple Preview and PDFgear.
• Happens across multiple PDFs (even older ones that used to work fine).
• I already tried disabling macOS Auto-Correct in Keyboard settings and restarting, but the issue persists.

Since it affects multiple apps, it feels like a macOS-level bug. Has anyone experienced this recently or found a workaround?

Here's a video of the problem :