I love apps and I love finding a good deal. When those two things intersect, I can hardly resist.
Here’s a quick roundup of my favorite apps that are on sale for Black Friday first for iOS, then for the Mac.
iOS
Due (an alert wizard with natural language input)
For tasks that have to be done at a certain time (putting out trash cans for weekly pick up, reminding someone of something at a certain date or time) and recurring reminders, there’s nothing better or simpler than Due.
I’ve spent a whole blog post convincing you of how amazing this app is, and with a 40% discount, it’s irresistible.
Universal app for iPhone and iPad, normally $4.99 on sale for $2.99.
Drafts (pushing anything you type wherever you want it to go)
One of my most used apps and so beloved that it resides in the dock of my iPhone. I use this app multiple times every single day, and the magic you can perform with text through this app is unreal.
I called it the point guard of my iPhone, and I can’t imagine not having this little Kyrie Irving on hand.
This isn’t a Black Friday deal, but the price has been lowered from $9.99 to $4.99 and is a universal app for iPhone and iPad.
LongScreen (the extended screenshot tool you need for iOS)
Have you ever wanted to screenshot an entire webpage but ended up snapping a dozen different photos and creating a mess on your iOS device?
LongScreen is here to save the day. It enables saving an entire webpage as a screenshot, all stitched together, panorama style.
I don’t use it often, but whenever I need it, I’m glad it’s there.
Normally $2.99, on sale for $0.99 as a universal app for iPhone and iPad.
Paprika (an amazing recipe manager)
I’m married to true kitchen maestro, and she saves all of our family favorite recipes in Paprika. If you ever cook (really, ever) and want to save recipes, this is the place where your best Pinterest finds belong. Tags, search, favoriting, rating and more comes along with this recipe manager.
We use the grocery feature daily, which syncs perfectly and quickly across devices, so when my wife adds to the list, it shows up on my phone. You can even choose a recipe and have it add whatever ingredients you’re missing to your list automagically.
I highly recommend the iPhone and iPad versions, but the Mac version is killer too [footnote]I just don’t like ingredients finding their way into the innards of my computer in the kitchen.[/footnote].
iPhone version normally $4.99, on sale for $2.99, iPad version normally $4.99, on sale for $2.99 and the Mac version normally $19.99 on sale for $9.99.
PDF Expert (a PDF wrangling extraordinaire)
If you ever do anything with PDFs, you can’t go wrong with PDF Expert. You can highlight, reorder, sign, organize, sync to Dropbox and other cloud services and edit PDFs in a way iBooks simply can’t.
If you need a better way to organize and edit PDFs, this app is a lifesaver.
Universal app for iPhone and iPad, normally $9.99, on sale for $4.99.
Mac
DaisyDisk (the prettiest way to see what’s taking up your precious hard drive space)
Ever wonder what exactly is hogging all that space on your Mac? DaisyDisk is the app you’ve been searching for.
DaisyDisk scans your hard drive and tells you exactly what is sucking up space and where you need to go to remove it.
It’s beautifully designed and incredibly helpful, especially if you’ve got a tiny drive to manage.
Normally $9.99 on sale for $4.99 on the Mac App Store.
TextExpander (the fastest way to type a little and get a lot)
I’ve gushed about my love of text expanders in general in the past, and TextExpander (proper) is my favorite app of the bunch. It allows you to sync across devices and has, to date, saved me from typing over 120,000 characters and five hours of typing time. That makes my fingers very happy.
I’m not a fan of the subscription model, but you can snag 20% off a full license without subscription with the code MDM20.
TripMode (a tethering data saver)
If you ever use the hotspot on your phone to connect your computer to the internet, TripMode is absolutely clutch. It allows you to pick the apps that can connect to the internet so you’re not burning through your limited tethering data by backing up with Backblaze or syncing massive files to Dropbox.
Right now it’s 33% off with the code SAVEDATA. The $5.27 you’ll spend is nothing compared to an overpriced data charge on from your wireless provider.
Blockbuster Kit 2017
I snagged the precursor to this kit in 2016, and I can’t recommend these four apps highly enough. $60 is a chunk of change, but for these apps alone you’re saving $40 off of sticker price, and a few other apps are tossed in as well.
Beamer 3
If you want to stream movies from your Mac to your AppleTV, using Airplay leaves you with laggy videos and out-of-sync audio.
I don’t know how it works, but Beamer is able to send perfectly synced videos across your Apple devices.
Should an app like this be necessary? Absolutely not. But it’s a beauty when it just works.
Let’s hope and pray Apple buys this app and integrates it into future versions of macOS.
Boom 2
If the sound coming out of your Mac speakers has disappointed you, Boom is the app you need.
Boom does some voodoo magic and allows your speakers to pump out significantly more sound. Be careful, because there’s a possibility of doing damage to your speakers if you crank them too high, but for increased sound, you Boom brings the noise.
WALTR 2
If you think iTunes on your Mac is more of a bloated mess than your stomach after Thanksgiving dinner, WALTR is the solution you’re looking for.
WALTR allows you to sync songs, music, PDFs and more wirelessly to your iPhone or iPad. It works so simply it’s unbelievable. And it loads instantly, so you’re not waiting for iTunes to boot up and then tell you an update is available.
If you ever wrestled with iTunes and lost, WALTR is the teammate you want to tag in.
YouTube Converter
Want to snag a YouTube video to use during a presentation? Want to save a video for on the go (and with the wonders of WALTR sling it into your iOS device)?
YouTube Converter beats the socks off any online option out there. I’m not advocating for stealing videos, but when you need to save videos for future Internet-lacking areas, this is the tool you should turn to.