Happy 9th Anniversary to Setapp! To celebrate nearly a decade of simplifying your Mac & iPhone experience, we went straight to the source: our team.
We asked everyone from Engineering to Design to pick the one app they would “take to a desert island” (as long as that island has Wi-Fi). The result is a curated list of 9 essentials that define how we work, create, and solve problems every day.
1. CleanShot X: The “anti-meeting” tool
Vitalii, our Marketing Designer, uses screenshots to kill 15-minute syncs. Instead of hopping on a call to explain a UI bug, Anton uses CleanShot X to record a quick GIF with on-screen annotations and a blurred-out background.
He uses the “Pin to Screen” feature to keep the feedback visible while he works on the fix in another window.
2. SideNotes: The “parking lot” for stray thoughts
Olena, our Content Lead, keeps her focus by “parking” her distractions. Whenever Olena has a great idea for a blog post while she’s working on a report, she doesn’t start a new doc. She just swipes from the side of her screen to open SideNotes.
She jots down the thought, colors-codes it, and swipes it away. It’s her digital scratchpad, which helps keep her main workspace tidy until she’s ready to dive in.
3. TextSniper: The “copy-paste cheat code”
During technical demos, Oleksii, our QA, often needs to grab error codes or URLs from shared screens or non-interactive slides. Since he can’t highlight text in a video, he uses TextSniper.
With a quick Command + Shift + 2, he “snips” the text directly from the video frame and pastes it into his bug report. It’s a 2-second shortcut that saves him minutes of manual typing.
4. ClearVPN: The “virtual office bodyguard”
Khrystia says her productivity secret is... working in the loudest cafes. As our Social Media Manager, she thrives on the buzz of a busy coffee shop, but managing high-stakes brand accounts on public Wi-Fi is a security nightmare. Her ritual? The second she sits down with her latte, she opens ClearVPN.
By using the “Secure Browsing” shortcut, Khrystia creates an encrypted tunnel that shields her from the risks of open networks.
5. CleanMyMac: The “Monday morning reset”
Pavlo, our Software Engineer, starts every week with a digital deep-clean. Before he opens a single line of code on Monday morning, Pavlo runs the “Performance” optimization tasks in CleanMyMac.
He treats it like clearing his physical desk. By flushing DNS caches and freeing up RAM, he ensures his machine is as fresh as his mindset.
6. TypingMind: The “blank page cure”
When our Content Writer Olha is stuck on a headline, she doesn’t just stare at the screen. She uses TypingMind to jumpstart her creativity.
By setting up a “Creative Partner” persona, she throws out half-baked ideas and lets the AI challenge her logic or offer a fresh angle.
7. Craft: The “internal Wiki” that looks like art
Marlies, our Brand Marketing Manager, uses aesthetics to boost engagement. She noticed that people actually read her project briefs when they look good.
She uses Craft to take boring data and turn it into nice, organized documents with sub-pages and nested cards.
8. MindNode Next: The “visual logic”
As an Email Marketing Specialist, Anastasia’s job is to map out how a user goes from “just looking” to “buying.” Instead of starting in a complex email builder, she spends her time in MindNode Next.
She uses it to visualize the entire path: if a user opens the first email, they go left; if they don’t, they go right. By seeing the whole campaign as a giant tree of choices, she can spot “dead ends” where a customer might get stuck.
9. Nitro PDF Pro: The “paperwork shortcut”
As an HR Specialist, Vira deals with dozens of new hire documents every week. She uses Nitro PDF Pro to merge offer letters, contracts, and handbooks into one neat file.
Her favorite trick is turning flat forms into interactive ones so new employees can just type their info directly.
Hope this how-to will help you solve tasks faster, and enjoy solving them, too! Check out more how-tos picked for you below.
