A lot of great software isn’t in the Mac App Store, meaning you need to download and install them manually. Applite is a free Mac application that acts as an unofficial app store for all such software.
Power users know that the easiest way to install Mac software and keep it up-to-date is via Homebrew, a text-driven package manager for macOS; Applite is basically a graphical user interface for Homebrew’s cask, which is the part of that tool that allows you to download and install applications that aren’t command-line driven.
If you don’t know what the previous paragraph means, don’t worry—you mostly don’t need to. Just install Applite and launch the application. You will be told to provide the “Brew Exectuable Path.” If you’re already a Homebrew user, select the appropriate option; if not, select “Applite’s installation.”
After this, you will be able to use Applite. If you’re already a Homebrew user, you will notice that your applications showed up as installed, which is a nice touch. You can basically use this as you would any other app store, browsing and installing anything that looks interesting or useful.
Credit: Justin Pot
The applications organized into categories are just a small, curated list of the applications offered, so if you can’t find something, be sure to use the search bar—it has access to the complete list of applications available in Homebrew’s cask, which you can browse here to get an idea of what’s available.
Credit: Justin Pot
Applite can also be used to manage the applications you’ve installed, including updates. You can uninstall applications, if you want, or update your applications. It’s a great way to get all the best parts of using Homebrew without having to touch the command line or even really know what Homebrew is, so check it out.
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