10 Essential iPhone Apps That You Should Try On Your MacBook

There are many essential apps for the iPhone across all sorts of categories, including health and wellness, productivity, and e-commerce. However, there are certain reasons why you’d want to switch to using some of these apps on a MacBook. In fact, they may even work better for you on your computer instead of on your phone.

For this roundup, we’ve selected 10 essential iPhone apps that you should try on your MacBook. This list includes an app to gather and organize your ideas, a collection of quick activities to keep you moving over the course of your workday, and a source of discounts that are automatically applied while you’re shopping online.

The apps that we’ve featured are popular among iPhone owners, with at least 5,000 ratings and a solid average review score on Apple’s App Store, but they’re also available for MacBooks. Some of them are synchronized across all platforms, and some will require a monthly subscription to access the features that make them worth downloading to your laptop.

With an average score of 4.7 stars after about 35,000 reviews from iPhone owners, WaterMinder (iOS, macOS) is among the highest-rated water tracking apps on the platform. It issues drink reminders throughout the day so that you don’t forget to hydrate yourself, which can happen when you’re too busy. However, it might make more sense to install the app on your MacBook for alerts that you can see while you’re working on the laptop. This is especially true if you’re the type who needs to hide their iPhone to focus on your tasks for the day.

With WaterMinder on your MacBook, not only will you receive alerts to drink water, but you’ll also be able to track all your liquid intake as you try to achieve the hydration goals that you set for yourself. To unlock all the features of the app, which include custom reminders and detailed statistics, you can sign up for a subscription at $2.99 per month, $14.99 per year, or $29.99 for a lifetime. Your daily progress will synchronize across all your Apple devices, so once you’ve logged off your MacBook, you’ll still continue to receive reminders and be able to record the water that you drink on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

If there are flights that you want to track, such as loved ones arriving for a visit or colleagues who are going on a business trip, Flighty (iOS, macOS) is the app to download. The iPhone version has an average score of 4.8 stars after about 158,000 ratings, but it’s also available for the MacBook if you spend more time on the laptop and you don’t want to keep switching devices to monitor the real-time location of planes and to check for any delays. The app covers every single flight across all airlines, for round-the-clock global coverage.

With Flighty, there’s no limit to the number of flights you can track, and you’ll be able to check details such as flight routes and weather conditions. However, if you subscribe to the Flighty Pro plan at $9.99 per month, $59.99 per year, or $299 for a lifetime, you’ll also receive quick alerts and predictions for delays, as well as forecasts for arrival times. You’ll be able to enjoy all the benefits of Flighty Pro on the first flight that you track with the app for free, so that you’ll be able to try its capabilities before committing to a subscription.

Goodnotes (iOS, macOS) is one of our featured iPhone widgets that can actually help you get more done. With an average score of 4.7 stars after 464,000 ratings for its iOS version and 4.8 stars after 131,000 ratings for its macOS version, the productivity app becomes even better if you use it across more than one Apple device. For example, you can input ideas into the app on your iPhone, show it to colleagues on your iPad for suggestions, then complete the project on your MacBook.

On Goodnotes, you’ll be able to create notebooks, text documents, and whiteboards with various layouts and templates for text, images, and audio. There’s a free tier that will let you save three files at a time and 20 minutes of audio recordings, and it also provides access to the app’s note-taking tools, including audio transcriptions and handwriting-to-text conversion. Upgrading to the Essential plan for $11.99 per year allows unlimited files and audio recordings, while the Pro plan for $35.99 per year unlocks real-time collaboration, cross-platform synchronization, cloud storage integration, and AI capabilities such as image generation and live summaries of meetings. 

Todoist (iOS, macOS), with an average score of 4.8 stars following 130,000 ratings for its iPhone version, is included in our list of essential apps for every remote worker, and its forte is simplifying task management. The app has a simple and clean interface that separates your professional activities and personal to-do list, and it clearly shows what needs to be done each day. However, if you’re mostly working on your projects and collaborating with your teammates on your MacBook, it will make more sense to install Todoist on your laptop. 

You can start using Todoist for free with the Beginner plan, which will allow you to create five projects and receive reminders for upcoming deadlines. You’ll be able to use the Smart Quick Add feature, which automatically transforms notes you write in your natural language into tasks that are added to the app, as well as the Ramble feature, which does the same thing but using your voice instead of typed text. If you upgrade to the Pro plan that starts at $7 per month, you can create up to 300 projects, build customized task reminders, and access 150 custom filters to further streamline your work, among other benefits.

Adobe Lightroom (iOS, macOS) is a popular AI-assisted photo editor among iPhone owners, who have given it an average score of 4.8 stars after 337,000 ratings. It helps that there’s a free version of the app for iPhones that offers presets and basic editing tools for touching up your pictures before posting them on social media. To unlock all of its features, though, you’ll need to sign up for a subscription. If you do, you’ll also be able to use Lightroom on your MacBook for a larger screen when editing images, as well as access to a keyboard and mouse for easier controls.

You can try all of the features of Adobe Lightroom in a seven-day trial, after which you’ll have to pay $11.99 per month. The app is packed with AI-powered features for fine-tuning, upscaling, and adding effects to your photos. You’ll also be able to easily remove elements, such as a random passerby, and work on your files from anywhere thanks to a terabyte of cloud storage. Adobe also recently launched Prompt to Edit for desktop versions of the app. There are suggested prompts for general adjustments to your photos, but you’ll also be able to create your own prompts for more specific changes to your pictures.

As the top choice in our ranking of major VPN services, Proton VPN (iOS, macOS) has earned an average score of 4.6 stars after 122,000 ratings from iPhone owners. An active VPN hides your IP address and encrypts your connection to protect your phone from potential attackers, especially when you’re on public Wi-Fi networks. There are other clever ways you can use a VPN, but this primary purpose is already more than enough to use one on your MacBook too, and Proton VPN can help keep all of your gadgets safe.

Proton VPN has a free tier that only protects one device at a time and randomly connects to servers in 10 countries. Premium VPNs are often worth the price, though, and you can upgrade to Proton’s VPN Plus plan for as low as $3.49 per month if you sign up for a two-year subscription. This will let you use the VPN on up to 10 devices at a time, with your choice among 20,000 servers across 140 countries. The paid version of the app also unlocks NetShield, which blocks ads, malware, and website trackers. This feature can also result in faster browsing because your MacBook won’t have to load unnecessary data when you visit websites.

Wakeout (iOS, macOS) offers a variety of quick activities and games that you can do over the course of your workday, helping you avoid a sedentary lifestyle and stay alert. The iPhone version of the app uses the phone’s camera for 10 games that you play using nothing but your body in one- or two-minute rounds. You’ll also be able to select between various routines for different purposes, such as relieving pain and renewing your focus. If you’re in front of your MacBook much more than on your iPhone, downloading the app to your laptop adds a timer in your menu bar that will remind you to do a Wakeout game or routine. You can set the alerts to go off anywhere from once every five minutes to once every two hours.

You can try Wakeout for free in a seven-day trial. Afterwards, you’ll have to pay for a subscription that costs $4.99 per week, $12.99 per month, or $69.99 per year. Signing up unlocks more than 3,000 exercises that you can access on all of your Apple devices, and with Apple Family Sharing, everyone in your family will be able to use the full version of the app. Everyone can set their own daily goals for the app, with streaks and trophies that you can share (and brag about) to each other.

The Pomodoro technique is one approach to fixing a loss of focus throughout the day, which ranks high among common home office problems and is a typical issue for students, too. The method suggests working for 25 minutes, then resting or doing anything else for five minutes, and continuing with these bursts of productivity and rest until your task is finished. FocusPomo (iOS, macOS) is one of several apps that can help with the countdown, with its iPhone version securing a high score of 4.8 stars after 7,900 ratings on the App Store. However, if you think having the timer on your phone may cause distractions, you can keep your eyes on one screen by downloading the app to your MacBook.

FocusPomo features a simple timer that you can control right on the MacBook’s menu bar, so there’s no need to launch the app every single time you want to use it. The app will also track statistics of your focus sessions, including a calendar timeline that shows the distribution of your bursts over the course of several days. All of this is optimized for the larger screen of a MacBook compared to an iPhone. FocusPomo is free to download, but if you sign up for the FocusPomo Plus plan at $3.99 per month, $17.99 per year, or $29.99 for a lifetime, you’ll unlock extra features, including an app blocker to reduce distractions and the ability to create widgets.

If you find the sights and sounds of nature relaxing, you might want to try Portal (iOS, macOS), which has been rated 10,000 times by iPhone owners for an average score of 4.8 stars. The app has an Open Access program that’s completely free, with no ads or usage limits. You’ll be able to choose among a rotating selection of portals, which are recreations of natural scenes with video and audio, and you’ll have access to features like meditation timers and breathing exercises. However, if you want to maximize the visuals and acoustics of the app, you should try using it on your MacBook, with its bigger screen and better speakers.

By signing up for Portal Premium, which costs $2.99 per month, $29.99 per year, or $99.99 for a lifetime, you unlock its entire library of more than 80 portals from all over the world. You’ll also experience enhanced quality, with up to 12K resolution, and with compatible AirPods, you’ll get dynamic spatial audio that anchors the soundscape even as you move your head. The paid version of the Portal app for Mac also adds smart lighting support, synchronizing the portals with your installed smart lights and enabling its virtual sunrise alarm.

For fans of online shopping, Coupert (iOS, macOS) is a highly rated iPhone app that can help you save hundreds of dollars per year. It will automatically apply coupons to your purchases, seek out cashback deals, and compare prices across different retailers. Coupert claims that it has more than eight million users who save an average of $600 per year, and consumers certainly seem to be happy with the app, as the iOS version has earned a score of 4.8 stars on Apple’s App Store after 25,000 ratings. However, for those who are more comfortable doing their shopping on their MacBook, Coupert is also available for macOS.

Instead of an app that you launch on your MacBook, Coupert’s macOS version functions as an extension to the Safari browser. Once you download it and sign up for an account, Coupert will run in the background and pop up with an offer once there’s an opportunity for you to enjoy some savings during your online shopping. Unlike the other apps in this roundup, Coupert is completely free, so you’ll be able to use it without having to sign up for a monthly or annual subscription.

All of the apps in this roundup are designed for both iOS and macOS, and they’re all available on Apple’s App Store. The iPhone versions of these apps have received an average score of at least 4.5 stars (out of five) from a minimum of 5,000 users, while the MacBook versions are designed for Apple’s computers and not just resized from their iPhone or iPad versions.

To explain why we selected these iPhone apps for you to try on your MacBook, we showcased their features and how you can benefit from them. Then we went a step further to highlight reasons why you’d want to use them on your laptop instead of on your phone (or on both devices).