After launching a new Mac or installing a clean MacOS on your device, you can save a lot of time by automating the application installation and updating process. If you’ve used Ninite on Windows, here is how to use the Ninite replacement on your Mac.
Fast app installs for most people: macapps.link
To speed up your app installation, visit macaapps.link. Works like Ninite on Windows. You can view the list of programs, select the programs you want and then click the “Install” button above. The website creates an icon that you can copy and paste into your Mac terminal application. When you run the command, all the programs you selected will be downloaded and installed one by one. When you open the paid app that you just installed, you don’t need to do anything except paste the license key.
The Macapps.link website has a long list of apps, but it doesn’t contain all the apps you need, so you’ll have to download and install them manually. This service has also never received any reports of malicious activity, but works by running “curl | bash”. This is an unsafe way to download apps and links from the Internet. If you want to be 100% sure, consider the following alternatives.
A more secure alternative: Homebrew
If you’re used to installing apps using Terminal on your Mac, Homebrew makes things easier. The only technical knowledge you need is the ability to go to the Homebrew website, copy some commands and paste them into your terminal.
Homebrew is a secure way to install both command-line tools and GUI-based applications that everyone uses. Go to the Homebrew website and copy the command under InstallHomebrew. It’s here:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSLhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Open Terminal on your Mac, paste this command and press Enter. This will start installing Homebrew on your computer. When the process is complete, you can install and uninstall apps with simple commands.
If you want to install command-line tools that include useful stuff like YouTube Downloader, visit the Homebrew Formulas page. You can click on the name of the tool you need and copy the code next to the install command. Run this command in a terminal to start installing the tools.
Similarly, you can find the apps you use the most on the Homebrew Casks page and install your favorite apps by following the same steps. Installation instructions are as follows:
brew install yt-dlp
This will install the YouTube downloader on your Mac. You can replace yt-dlp with the name of the application you want to install. To remove these apps, use the following command (just replace the app name with the name you want to remove):
brew uninstall yt-dlp
Both installing and removing apps can be done directly from the Terminal.
Keep your apps updated easily
If you do not use the Mac App Store for your apps, manually updating each one can be tedious. However, if you used Homebrew to install all your applications, there is a simple command to update all of them simultaneously. First install the brew-cask-upgrade command line tool to access the update command. After installing Homebrew, open a terminal on your Mac and place the following command in it.
brew tap buo/cask-upgrade
Then run this command to update all apps at the same time:
brew cu -af
This will automatically check for updates for all apps installed through Homebrew and install those updates one at a time. Run the command about once a week from now on to check for updates regularly.
If you don’t like using Homebrew, or if you can’t install your app using Homebrew, consider trying MacUpdater. It automatically scans your Mac for installed apps and helps you download and install updates easily. You can make your app handle app updates by scanning all apps for free and paying a one-time fee of $15.