Five Apps You Should Install If You Use Multiple Mac Monitors
Is your setup incomplete without multiple monitors? Whether it’s a MacBook connected to a display or a Mac Studio with two monitors, there are several apps that can improve your workflow. Some of these apps will help you optimize your display; others allow you to adjust settings on each individual display.
HiDock
HiDock is a free application that allows you to create custom dock configurations for each monitor in your setup. You can place the dock on the left side of a taller display, leaving it at the bottom of your laptop screen. The app also allows you to set your own dock size on each monitor. If you want a bigger dock on a bigger screen and a smaller dock on a smaller screen, that’s easy to do.
Lunar
Lunar is ideal for detailed control of each display in your installation. You can use this app to automatically turn off your MacBook screen and only use the external display if you want. At the same time, you can use the hardware keys on your MacBook to control the brightness and volume of external displays, giving you the best of both worlds.
Lunar is the best app to control external displays through your Mac , and its free tier comes with a lot of features, however, at $23, the pro features are worth the asking price in my opinion.
sound source
We’ve already covered SoundSource because it’s one of the best volume control apps for your Mac . It allows you to route audio from specific apps to specific speakers, headphones, or other audio devices. The app even lets you set your own volume level for each app you use.
In a multi-monitor configuration, you can use SoundSource to route audio to any of the external displays. It helps if your monitor has a decent set of speakers, or if it’s connected to a better audio device like headphones or a soundbar. SoundSource can help you play music or movies from the best audio devices by sending other alerts to your MacBook’s speakers.
SoundSource has a time-limited free trial; full license $39
wave
Swish is a window manager app for your Mac that supports multiple display setups and makes it easy to send some apps to the display of your choice while leaving the rest on another screen. You can use this feature to send videos to a larger display while you work with other apps on a smaller screen.
This app is ideal for those using a MacBook in their multi-monitor configurations as it is optimized for trackpad gestures. If you’re using Magic Trackpad with a desktop Mac, of course, you’ll also be able to use the same gestures. The app has a free trial and costs $16 per license.
Clean Shot X
If you take a lot of screenshots or screen recordings, you should give Cleanshot X a try. It has almost every screenshot-related feature you could possibly need , including scrollable screenshots of entire web pages, proper Retina screenshot scaling, and the ability to store multiple screenshots as a neat on-screen overlay.
This overlay lets you quickly access your screenshot history and saves you a lot of trouble if you’re constantly sending multiple screenshots to multiple people. The Cleanshot X overlay automatically switches to the active display and you can take screenshots of all displays in a multi-monitor configuration.