Apple's Interface Guideline for the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro says that it is intended to be used as an input device, not a secondary display.
Nov 25, 2016 While not every app works with Touch Bar just yet developers (including Apple) are working to enable this in most of the key apps you rely on. How to Customize Touch Bar System. You can also customize Touch Bar on your Mac in System PreferencesKeyboard. Inside the Keyboard pane you can choose what the Touch Bar shows and the behavior of the Fn. Jul 13, 2020 Samplr Might Be The Best App Yet For The MacBook Touch Bar The free Samplr app turns your MacBook Pro's Touch Bar into a brilliant sound sampler. Dec 13, 2016 The addition of the Touch Bar gives this Apple Design Award-winning app new powers, including the option to scratch and slice songs by sliding your fingers on the soundwaves. Wanna-beproducers can.
Mac Touch Bar On Windows
The Touch Bar shouldn't display alerts, messages, scrolling content, static content, or anything else that commands the user's attention or distracts from their work on the main screen.
That hasn't stopped some developers from creating uniquely useless apps that are fun, if not functional. You won't find these apps in the App Store because Apple wouldn't approve them, but you can download and install them directly and make your Touch Bar sparkle.
Note: Apps on this list might not be from identified developers and haven't been security checked by app review staff. That means they could have bugs, malware, spyware, or other problems. Please take this into consideration before downloading apps from unidentified developers and always backup your Mac.
Here are the best Touch Bar apps you won't find in the App Store!
Touch Bar Nyancat
It's Nyan Cat in your Touch Bar – complete with music! Sometimes I trigger Nyan Cat just to make me smile. Nothing beats a rainbow Pop Tart cart running across your Touch Bar!
Knight TouchBar 2000
If you want to make your Space Gray MacBook Pro look really cool, grab this funny little tool and see Kit's light runner in your Touch Bar. Hum along to the Knight Rider soundtrack while you ask Siri to look something up for you. Seriously, you'll feel like a rock star.
Touchbar Santa
When the weather starts to get frightful, but the fire feels so delightful, invite Santa to rock your Touch Bar for a while. Sip hot cocoa while a remix of Jingle Bells is sung by Ol' Blue Eyes (that's Frank Sinatra for you youngsters). Just like most thing around the holidays, you'll get sick of this pretty quick.
TouchBarBar
If you are longing for a nice, refreshing beverage, but have to wait until quittin' time, you can scratch that itch with this funny little gag. It puts four alcoholic beverage emojis on your Touch Bar. When you tap one, you'll hear the sound of the selected beverage being poured. Refreshing!
Touch Bar Dino
Here is one of the first mini-games you can play on the Touch Bar. Its a game called Dino and it's based on the hidden Easter egg dinosaur game in Google Chrome. Tap the screen to jump over the cacti. Simple, fun, and makes great use of your Touch Bar (considering it's completely useless).
Touch Bar Space Flight
This is another one of the first mini-games for the MacBook Pro. You actually use keys to maneuver. Use the up and down arrows to avoid getting hit by incoming baddies and use the space bar to wipe them off the map with your laser fire. Talk about a time waster. Best of all, your boss will think you're just typing away like a good little worker!
SL on Touch Bar
This is just a silly little joke for the Touch Bar. It's based on a coding joke about a steam locomotive showing up on your screen when you accidentally type 'ls' into a command line. What makes it special, though, is that you can change the look of the little locomotive if you know what you're doing. Your steam engine can become a bullet train!
TouchSwitcher for Touch Bar
This has quickly become one of my favorite Touch Bar tools and I'm betting it will show up in the App Store eventually. Its an app switcher for all apps that you have open on your MacBook Pro. Every app that you have open will appear in the Touch Bar. Then, you can simply tap one and go directly to it. Normally, you'd have to press Command and Tab on your keyboard to access the app switcher. Sure, some of us remember the keyboard shortcut, but for those that don't, TouchSwitcher is a gem. Plus, you can see what apps are open without having to cover your screen with that big icon list. This is a winner in my book.
Your favorites?
Do you have any favorite Touch Bar apps that aren't available in the Mac App Store? Put them in the comments!
Updated July 2019: Updated for the latest MacBooks with Touch Bars.
MacBook Pro
Main
DowncordDiscord and others are down worldwide due to issues with Cloudfare
Discord appears to be down worldwide due to some kind of outage. The team at Discord has acknowledged the issue, and promises that a fix is on the way.
The MacBook Pro features a totally new touch bar that can be compared to the refined retina display. The touch bar is the feature that defines the new MacBook pro, both in the 13 and 15-inch display. It umbrellas the functionality of the arrow keys, spiced up with a multi touch ability. This makes it efficient in performing a good range of functions depending on the application that you would prefer to use.
According to apple, its functionality encompasses a good number of functions that were not readily available to the user. In addition, the touch pad enables custom ability. There is a smooth interaction comprised of swipes, taps, and multi touch gestures of up to a maximum of ten fingers at a time.
From a novelty to a frequent usability, a number of applications have been developed to support the new MacBook Pro touch pad, for example spark, glimpses, Omni plan, touch switcher and many others which we have for you. We have gone out of our way to compile you not only the mentioned applications. We have brought to youthe 12 best applications that would ensure a full utilization of the new MacBook Pro touch pad, both with convenience and efficiency.
Spark for Email
Spark is an email app that simplifies and makes your inbox more useful and sensible in terms of content. It features a smart and collective inbox that categorizes your mails automatically. Processing becomes easier with this grouping. You can have more than one email account and still synchronize is with not fail. Spark is compatible with the new touch bar feature. Well, personally I am a spark user. I installed it in my MacBook Air. Immediately after installing it preliminarily synchronized with the touch bar on the MacBook.
On synchronization, spark lets you to easily mark or unmark emails. You can mark as read or unread, Reply or reply all and Forward mails right from the touch bar. You can make commands such as Snooze, move to folder or Pin including other significant changes in just a touch.
Best Touch Bar Apps
Coda 2
Web developers are not left out in the touch pad benefits. Coda being a powerful app that is functionally for editing, with an integrated file browser, a fully equipped text editor, a complete set of references and in built terminals, is one of the top notch apps for serious web developers. Coda 2 enables you to automatically indent and close tabs including other features. Nevertheless, Coda 2 previews your work, showing you what you should expect on your webpage.
Using coda 2 allows you to 'Air Preview' your web pages. That is on your Mac, iPhone or iPad. The touch pad enables you to make changes to the indentations, switch in between the editor and have a look at the changes you make, add comments in one tap in the website code, 'go to line number' and make quick searches all on the touch pad.
PDF Expert
Among the most renowned pdf readers, I highly recommend it from my experience with it. Readdle has non-hesitantly upgraded to support the touch bar in the pdf reader cum editor app. It works very well on my MacBook by making work easier and faster.
PDF expert works perfectly with the touch bar allowing you the access of annotating your pdf, erasing, redacting sensitive information, inserting texts, links and images among other useful features. The touch pad conveniently lets you to also select, underline, insert, strikethrough, and comment on texts.
Djay Pro
Touch pad is not only being talked about by office workers, but also the entertainment gurus. Deejays have a convenient scratch help on board. During the launch, Djay Pro was one of the featured apps that support the New MacBook touch pad.
Touch pad lets you work live and access simplified options such as scratching through the track, performing other deejay effects such as gates, echo, applying various filters etc. Djay pro is one amongst the most enjoyable ways to use the new MacBook touch pad.
Outline
Outline is basically an electronic notebook. With this app it is possible to make and manage notes in your MacBook. Like OneNote, Outline allows you to have notebooks, pages, sections and organize your notes. You can create, store or even edit your note, thus reflecting a paper notebook.
Outline supports the touch bar, thereby spicing up the functionality. Formatting texts, adding bullets and numbering, including changing the alignment can positively be executed on the touch of the respective command on the touch bar.
Omniplan
Omniplan is nearly the same as a to do list. It is an application that enables you to plan yourself. Omniplan allows you to lay out a plan that you would use as the day unfolds. It features a color-based categorization of activities in order to have differentiation. Moreover, you can also make changes to the timelines and may be have very prior to the least prior. It lets you also get a forecast and preview, allocate resources, put your tasks up to date and the best of all, readily access your toolbar buttons in one sight and not leaving the key board! How convenient?
OmniPlan has a pro version that providesmore advanced tool collectively in a full beginning to end of a project management plan. Omni plan has been updated to be more efficient.
On the new MacBook Pro, features get even more accessible for you. The touch bar avails quick options to mark texts as complete, change their colors, move others which might be outdated to future dates and so on. The touch bar gives you an all-round visualization of all the tasks that you might have on board.
Touch Switcher
Like the name suggests, it lets you switch applications on your Mac. It makes it easy to navigate and juggle around applications that are on use. You can quickly switch throughyour recent applications using the touch switcher application. Touch switcher make things easier for all mac users. You do not have to combine keys to get commands executed.
Normally, pressing command + tab enables you to switch between apps. Things gets even easier on new MacBook. The touch switcher icon displays on the touch bar. To use it, you simply touch the icon on the touch bar, and there you are! Switching between your background applications so conveniently.
Glimpses
Glimpses is a video creation application that helps you put together all your pictures to make a video. It brings your memories to a glimpse, enabling you to view them all together in one video. Creating an adjustable display time for each image is a great feature of glimpses. You can also add a preferred sound in the background.
Glimpses is among the upgraded applications that support the touch bar. On the touch bar, you get options like importing images from a disk, Instagram or Flickr. In addition, configuring settings and adding sound track to your videos is possible right on the touch bar. When you are all set you can finish up the whole memory creation right on the touch bar, by touching 'create'.
Better Touch Tool
This is the most commonly used touch tool on Mac. It is a third-party app. It extensively conducts a large number of functions on Mac, allowing you to continuously customize and automate. From remotely controlling your Mac to changing the sizes of windows.
It supports touch bar. Thus, enables one to make custom buttons on the touch bar. These buttons let you make desirablechanges depending on how you will have set them to do. it allows you to as well create options on touch bar so that you can launch websites even faster and maybe run a few scripts.
Touch Bar Piano
Apart from the Djay functionality, there is another way to have fun using the touch bar on your new MacBook pro. Touch bar piano is perfectly blended on the touch bar. When you launch the application, the piano keys appear on the touch bar. As you touch the keys the Mac makes sounds respectively. From the application interface, thereare a total of one hundred and twenty-eight varying instruments at your disposal. It is as well very much possible to alterthe octave of each one of them. This enables you to achieve a variety if sounds altogether.
Touch Bar Space Fight
Gamers have their needs addressed in the new MacBook touch bar. Touch bar space fight is a game which surely requires you to have touch bar accessibility. You need to download the game and run it on your MacBook. As you run it, pay attention on your touch bar.
The arrow keys enable you to move your player in different directions. The space key lets you fire at the enemy. The main goal is to protect yourself from being hit by the enemies. Interestingly, you should economically use your shots to destroy as many enemies.
PacBar
Touch Bar Chicago
Another game on board. PacBar has a similar concept like Pac-Man. The nostalgia arisen while playing this game on a new MacBook. This is because of the exciting experience on the touch bar. PacBar poses an easy and little Pac-Manright on the touch bar.
Despite the lack of a tally between the levels and the number of opponents in the game, it is still so much fun to play it altogether. You can download it for free.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe photoshop performs a variety of operations. From graphic designing, photo editing, 3 D art, video editing and arising a real-life painting. From designing awesome web sites, posters, packaging, attractive icons, logos to even basic banners, adobe photo shop keep the world of designers on the move. It supports the touch bar functionality. Adobe photoshop perfectly blends in with the new touch bar technology to give you the access to tools, layers, including other actions right on the touch bar.
Quick Res
QuickRes is simple Mac applications that can by-pass, the limits put in place by Apple. It supports one click action, custom profiles and key board shortcuts. Quick Res displays resolutions such as retina display or HiDPI.
Quick Res lets you alter the original screen resolution of your MacBook Pro. It gives you options to alter the resolutionpreferably. QuickRes can be a very useful tool for graphic designers. It lets them have a distinct look of designs at different resolutions, thus having a real time idea of what different people will access using their devices.
Touch Bar Dino
Touch bar Dino makes it possible for the classic Google Chrome game to appear on the New MacBook Pro touch bar. Tapping on the touch bar lets the dinoto move, thereby overcoming obstacles. You may play this game when maybe passing time
Mac Touch Bar Apps
Wrap up
Mac Touch Bar Not Showing
This touch bar improvement has significantly eased up things from work based, school based and not leaving out entertainment. Various business applications can now save time by simply touching on a functionality displaying on the touch bar and move on. Inaddition, students in school can now type and make necessary changeson their researches, thesis and even assignments. From the entertainment perspective, deejays and gamers can now have an experience with even more fun.
From business, school, to entertainment we have delivered the best of touch bar applications, without biasness. You are now prompted to make a trial on your new MacBook Pro. Get to explore the new technology brought on board by apple as a company.
Well, have you had an opportunity to use any of the mentioned touch bar applications at any point in time? Do not hesitate to leave your views and thoughts below. In addition, you are so much allowed to include any touch bar application that has not been featured in this article, and really deserves to be present. Feel free to make use of the comment section.
