Best apps for Freelance Designers in 2020

Here’s my rundown of the Top 10 Best Mac Apps for Designers, Freelancers, Creatives & Agencies – a mix of tools you might not be aware exist, haven’t unlocked to there full potential or don’t use enough.

Droplr Pro

Although I use Dropbox for all our shared-folder needs – with its application shortcuts, cheap cloud capacity & multitude of features – Droplr encouraged me to switch to it’s Droplr Pro setup for my day-to-day sharing tasks. Coupled with my short url http://willhow.es/ I quickly share screengrabs, files, notes & html code with a swift tap of Alt+D … not to mention it’s short url service with full analytics & link tracking to rival the likes of https://bitly.com/

• Shortcut driven sharing of Screenshots, Files, Links, Notes & Code

• Custom short-url setup with statistics & analytics

• Upload files up to 1GB and receive 100GB of storage

• Password protected sharing

Dropbox Pro

On the subject of sharing we’re still proud users of Dropbox Pro – for collaboration & shared folders with clients & colleagues there’s no better solution & we prefer it over it’s Google & Creative Cloud rivals. A one-month history of work with undelete options, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption doesn’t hurt either.

• Shared folders that work offline

• 1 month file history & un-delete 

• iPhone & iPad apps

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption

Snap Converter

For all our batch image conversion needs we use snap converter – with it’s wide image support, simple drag and drop interface and the ability to add watermarks or work with Camera RAW files.

• Convert images as well as Mac and Windows icon files

• Batch convert hundreds or thousands of images 

• Apply text and image watermarks to your conversions

• Bulk rename files in batch mode

• A simple, intuitive drag and drop interface

Tyme 2

A time tracking app that‘s simple, good looking and easy to use. Tyme helps with your time management by keeping your project times and work statistics synchronized on your Mac, iPhone, iPad and Watch.

• Productivity Statistics

• Exporting & Calendar Integration

• Easy Access & Autostarting

• Password protected sharing

Trello

This isn’t an app, it simply doesn’t belong here, yet we can’t help but put it in the mix as it’s become an integral part of our project workflow – we feel like it’s a part of our Desktop every time we click its favicon. Trello simplifies the project management process with an intuitive drag & drop card interface & board/list structure that easily allows you to allocate, discuss, manage & attach-images-to project tasks.

• Intuitive drag & drop card interface

• Allocate cards, attach images, comment, discuss, poll & vote within groups and lists

• Setup notifications on tasks

• Ability to Share, Print, or Export boards

1Password

Client data is of the utmost importance to us & we use 1Password to give us a thorough, secure, encrypted & accessible cloud database of client logins & notes driven by their secure notes features. This – coupled with Dropbox syncing, iPhone & iPad apps, cross-browser extensions & the endless tagging & sorting facilities – makes 1Password one of the Mac apps we (and our clients data) depend on most day-to-day.

• Secure notes driven by tags & folders

• Cross-device syncing over Dropbox

• Intuitive iPhone & iPad apps

• Browser extensions & integration

• In-app/browser strong password generator