About Formac
A Mac app directory you can read in one sitting
Formac lists apps made for macOS, each one installed and tried by a person before it goes up. It is small on purpose.
Why it exists
Most lists of Mac apps are long, old and full of things nobody tried. Formac is the opposite: a short list, every entry checked, and nothing listed that is not a real Mac app.
How a listing works
A developer submits an app with one form and no account. A person installs it, reads the page it was submitted with, and lists it or writes back with the reason it was not. A free listing is paid for with our badge on the developer's site, which is checked when the app is submitted and about once a week after.
Who runs it
Formac is run by one person who builds Mac apps and uses them all day. The two first listings were our own apps; the directory is open to every developer of a Mac app that works.
How review works
What happens to an app after you submit it
Four steps, each done by a person. You get an email at the end, whichever way it goes.
- Step 1
Received
The form arrives with the app's page, icon and screenshots. For a free listing the server also looks for our badge on the site.
- Step 2
Installed and tried
The app is downloaded from the developer's site and opened on a current Mac. It has to work and do what its page says.
- Step 3
Listed, or declined with a reason
A listing that passes goes up with its own page. One that does not gets an email that says why, and can be sent again once it is fixed.
- Step 4
Checked again
The badge of a free listing is looked for about once a week. A listing whose site or app disappears comes down.
Not yet, or not ever
What Formac does not do
So you know what you are reading.
- No ratings or reviewsThere is no star rating and no user review on any listing. If that changes, it will be real ones, collected here.
- No downloadsNothing is hosted or repackaged. Every button goes to the developer's own site or the Mac App Store.
- No paid placement in the listThe order of the list is the order apps were approved. Paid listings, when they open, skip the queue; they do not buy a place above a free one in search.
- No account neededBrowsing and submitting need no sign-up. An account exists only so a developer can see the numbers of their own listings.
Contact
Say hello
A listing that is out of date, an app you think belongs here, or a question about the directory: one address, read by a person.
For developers
Built a Mac app? Put it on the list.
Free with our badge on your site. One form, no account, and a person reviews it.