This MacBoard edge
The small jobs, done properly.
Four tools people usually install one by one: a switch that keeps the Mac awake, a tidy menu bar, a volume control for a single app, and a read of your Mac’s protections. Each is small, and each tells you exactly what it is doing.
- Keep Awake
- 7days
- The longest session. The shortest is one minute.
- App Volume
- 0 to 100%
- Per app. Temporary, and never recorded.
- Mac Care
- 0changes
- It reads your settings and changes none.
- Menu Bar
- ⌘ drag
- You place the icons. It hides and reveals them.
00This Mac5 sections
01Keep Awake1 of 5
Awake for as long as you say, and no longer
Choose a length from one minute to seven days, or until you turn it off. Decide whether the screen stays lit. Then flip the switch, from the window or from the sun in your menu bar.
This is how the app shows itKeep Awake
- 1It stops when it should. At a battery level you pick, or when the Mac gets too hot. And it tells you which.
- 2Need longer? Add 15 minutes or an hour without starting over.
- 3It changes nothing. Your sleep settings stay as they are, and closing the lid still sleeps the Mac.
03App Volume3 of 5
Turn one app down, not everything
A call that is too loud over your music. A game under a podcast. App Volume lists the apps that are playing right now and gives the one you choose its own slider.
This is how the app shows itApp Volume
- 1Reviewed first. You see which processes are included before control starts.
- 2Temporary by design. It ends when you restore it, when the Mac sleeps or when you quit.
- 3Nothing is recorded. Sound passes through to your speakers and nowhere else.
04Mac Care4 of 5
Is everything still switched on?
Gatekeeper, FileVault, the firewall and System Integrity Protection, read in one place, with what macOS itself says about each. Below them: what is set to start with your Mac, and your local Time Machine snapshots.
This is how the app shows itMac Care
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.harbor.vmnetd/Library/Application Support/Kite Browser/Update/KiteUpdateAgent/Applications/Northwind Sync.app/Contents/MacOS/NorthwindSyncAgent/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.northwind.sync.helper/Applications/Pixelroom.app/Contents/Helpers/ThumbnailAgent/Applications/Quill Notes.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/QuillReminders.app/Contents/MacOS/QuillReminders/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/RoundtableAudio.driver/Contents/MacOS/RoundtableAudioDaemon/Applications/Roundtable.app/Contents/Helpers/RoundtableLauncher/Applications/Tempo Player.app/Contents/Helpers/MediaKeysAgent/Library/Application Support/Tessel Design/FontSync/fontsyncd/Users/sam/Library/Application Support/Forge IDE/bin/forge-indexerProgram not named in the definition/Applications/Atlas Maps.app/Contents/Helpers/OfflineTiles/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/org.lumenedit.render.queue- 1Read-only. Mac Care changes nothing. Each row opens the right page of System Settings.
- 2Honest about what it is. A check of settings, not a virus scan.
05Settings5 of 5
Yours to tune
Light, dark or follow the system. Three text sizes. Motion that can be reduced. Three sampling modes, and a switch for every extra reading. One switch in the sidebar stops all measuring when you want quiet.
This is how the app shows itSettings · Monitoring
A middle ground between frequent updates and monitoring work. Brief changes have less detail than with one-second sampling.
Collect network traffic attributed to individual processes.
Collect available GPU counters attributed to individual processes.
Collect available power, frequency, Neural Engine activity and per-process Neural Engine memory.
Device GPU activity and battery readings stay on. Temperature and fan sensors share this schedule when enabled.
- 1Changes apply at once. There is no Save button.
- 2Search the settings. Type a word and the list narrows to the pages that mention it.
06By design
Small tools should not have side effects
Keep Awake starts off
Every time you open l/Activity. A session never outlives the app.
Volume returns to normal
Per-app levels are not saved. Quit, and everything is as it was.
Mac Care only reads
There is no button on that page that changes your Mac.
The organizer can be switched off
Turn it off and your menu bar is exactly as macOS arranges it.
07Guides
Do it step by step
- Start hereTune l/Activity to your Mac and your tasteChange how it looks, how often it measures, and what each page shows.
- This MacKeep your Mac awakeStop your Mac from going to sleep for as long as you choose, with a safety stop for battery and heat.
- This MacTidy your menu barTuck the icons you rarely use behind a divider, and bring them back with a click.
- This MacTurn the volume of one app downLower a single app, a call or a game for example, without touching the volume of everything else.
- This MacCheck your Mac's protectionsSee in one place whether the built-in protections of macOS are switched on, and what starts with your Mac.
Version 2.3411.9 MB
Get l/Activity
A native app for Apple silicon Macs. No account, nothing to set up.
macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon11.9 MB