The move to macOS Tahoe brought with it a slew of upgrades to major Mac systems. Spotlight in particular received some notable improvements, such as: B. support for custom shortcuts and an improved AI-powered search system. However, LaunchPad’s disappearance proved to be a controversial change.
Apple also didn’t pay attention to deeper cross-app integrations that have made apps like RayCast a hot favorite in the user community. The new Spotlight aims to be the focus of your core activities on the Mac, but not without a lot of clutter and a few major omissions.
And let’s not forget that the dock has remained virtually unchanged over the past few generations. This is where apps like Loopty come into play. And after using it, I wonder why Apple hasn’t developed a utility like this in the first place.
What is Loopty?
At the most basic level, Loopty is an app switcher, or more specifically, an app launcher. But it can do a lot more than your average Mac app switcher app.
At the heart of Loopty are loops or rings, similar to the activity rings you see on the Apple Watch. What makes this app stand out, especially when you already have options like Dory?
Well, Loopty is not just a hub for apps. On the contrary, you can use the launcher interface for folders, one-tap website shortcuts, and even custom menus.
Speaking of clutter: well, there isn’t any. It can be used solely as a menu bar utility, and you can bring up the toggle rings using a custom keyboard or mouse shortcut.
The best part? It’s completely free. There are no subscription restrictions or a one-time fee. You also don’t see any ads and it also runs completely offline.
How did it work for me?
My workflow is spread across half a dozen apps and as many websites that I constantly have to run in the background. As a result, my Dock is always full of icons and utilities.
But it’s not just the chaotic dock that’s a nuisance. Some productivity services — I’m looking at you, Trello — simply offer a poor experience with a native app. Therefore I need to run it as an app instance.
Of course, running it as a native app places further strain on system resources, so I limit it to the same browser that hosts the rest of my web-based work.
Regardless of how you handle these services, they take up valuable dock space and it’s not possible for me to accommodate them all. But I don’t want to see the dock at all because it just takes up valuable screen space.
Yes, I can hide it, but it still appears in response to edge cursor activity. And you can’t just bring it up anywhere on the screen. With Loopty’s app wheels, I don’t even have to move the cursor.
With a keyboard or mouse trigger, all of my frequently used apps and utilities appear exactly where the cursor is. However, if this seems a bit strange to you, you can anchor the wheel to either edge of the screen or open it directly in the middle.
I also like to keep my things organized so I can easily find them and take necessary action. In Loopty, I place my core apps in the inner circle, my system utilities in the second ring, and web shortcuts in the outermost ring with progressively smaller icons for easier identification.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, all apps work well with the tint and theme options available in macOS Tahoe. In fact, Loopty gives you even more controls to adjust the edge, background, and ring color.
The devil is in the details
Loopty is one of the best-designed apps of its kind that I have used to date. But more importantly, it’s the sheer level of detail that comes as a pleasant surprise. Let’s start with the basics.
You can set the default screen position, select the startup protocol, reverse the app scrolling direction, allow only active apps to open, and save the last active session. In addition to keyboard and mouse triggers, you can also set the special scroll key.
The real magic happens when you start customizing the ring. By default you get a single ring, but you can add more concentric circles to host more apps. You can customize the number of rings displayed in each ring, adjust the icon size, customize the ring background, and even play with the startup animation.
Loopty also lets you decide how densely the icons are packed, set colored background circles for better visibility, and even add focus rings to each active app icon so you can easily see the selected icon while scrolling.
All you need is a simple drag-and-drop gesture to put any system folder, app, or website shortcut onto a ring. Similarly, when you set up a website shortcut, the app automatically gets its icon.
Some sites are not high-resolution packages, but the developer behind Loopty has promised to also allow users to add their own custom icons. There is also a nice time machine option built into the app.
I wish Apple had made something like Loopty
Designing a multi-ring layout in Loopty takes its own time, especially when it comes to the scale and size of the rings as well as app and shortcut selection. Luckily, Loopty allows you to save the current configuration as a local file with a single keystroke. And it’s easy to export one too.
The one key flaw I noticed with Loopty was the lack of custom shortcuts as a separate category alongside apps, folders, and websites. Now, shortcuts aren’t nearly as popular in the Mac community as they are in iPhone user circles, but I still have a few that I use every day.
Another small disadvantage is the lack of app clusters. Additionally, it would have been amazing if the app allowed users to set trigger shortcuts for each ring, especially if you only set a specific type of item in each ring.
Overall, though, Loopty is a fantastic replacement for the Mac dock and handling app switching. And the fact that it goes beyond native apps to include folders and websites in the mix is a functional icing on the cake.
For me it has completely replaced the dock. And if you’re someone who doesn’t like the look of it and the screen issues it causes, you should definitely try Loopty on your Mac.
Download Loopty from the official website.
