Introducing MacPip

Hi, I'm Justinas. I make small Mac apps, like Clacky, and I built MacPip because I kept wishing it existed.

What MacPip is

MacPip is a free directory and daily launch site for Mac apps. It looks like a 1984 Macintosh on purpose: cream paper, ink outlines, chunky pixel type, and a little Mac called Pip who reacts when you vote or copy something. I wanted it to feel like switching on an old Mac, not like scrolling a feed.

It only lists apps that run on macOS. No web apps, and no iPhone-only apps.

Why I built it

When I finished my first Mac app, I went looking for places to show it. Most launch sites are made for web startups, and a small Mac utility sinks there in an hour. The Mac directories I found were either quiet, charged to skip a queue, or only gave you a followed link if you linked back to them first.

I wanted the opposite. A place where a good little app gets a fair day. Where people looking for Mac apps can trust what they see. And where the rules fit on one page, so here they are: our rules.

How it works

1. Paste a link. Your website, a Mac App Store link or a GitHub repo. MacPip reads it and fills in the form: name, one line, icon, screenshots and price. You fix whatever it got wrong.
2. It gets scanned. An automatic scan reads the app's public pages. A clean one goes live as Check pending after about five minutes, and anything doubtful waits for a person. The scan doesn't download or run your app, which is why it never gives a tick.
3. Launch, or just list. Pick a launch day and your app gets the front page for that day, with live votes. Votes set the order, a tie goes to whoever submitted first, and results lock at midnight UTC. Or skip launch day and go straight into the directory.
4. Get a free followed link. Every approved listing links to your site with a normal link, no nofollow on it. No badge needed, no vote target, no fee.

If you'd rather not fill in forms at all, your coding agent can do it. Every maker can get a private MCP link on Your apps, and there are prompts for your agent that draft the listing from your own code first.

Friends of MacPip and MacPip Tuesday

Two things are there for makers who want a bit more.

Friends of MacPip is for makers who put our small badge on their site. It's optional, and it never changes your link or your votes. Friends get a rainbow tick, a spot on a shelf that turns every day, a live badge that shows their votes, a row in the weekly email and a free week on the home page. Everything a Friend gets.

MacPip Tuesday is one short email every Tuesday, with last week's launches and the most voted apps. Every week also gets its own page, counted from real launches and never written by hand. Past issues.

What's honest about it

• A blue tick means a person tried the app, on the date shown. It isn't a safety guarantee, and the report says what was looked at.
• An app without one says Check pending. Right now that's a lot of them, and every page says so.
• Nobody can buy a place in the order. Sponsors get labeled Featured spots, marked sponsored for search engines, and those never change votes, rank or the tick.
• The numbers are public. Visitors, clicks, votes and submissions are on our numbers page, live, small as they are.

The real numbers so far

MacPip started counting on October 30, 2026. This is where it stood on November 3, read straight from the live numbers:

• 49 apps live
• 28 of them with a blue tick
• 57 apps submitted by makers
• 1,980 visitors, each counted once
• 80 votes
• 37 clicks to makers' sites

Small, because it's new. I'd rather show you that than a big round number. The live page will have moved on by the time you read this.

What's next

More apps tried by a person, a MacPip Tuesday every week, and a post here only when something is worth saying. If you make a Mac app, list it, it's free. Getting ready for launch? The free tools and where to launch a Mac app might save you an evening. If you have an idea or found a bug, tell me. I read everything.

Sources

• MacPip: Our rules
• MacPip: Our numbers, live
• MacPip: About and how checking works
• MacPip: Friends of MacPip

Keep reading

• Touchscreen Macs ship on November 6. Here is what I would check in my Mac appApple's first touch Macs arrive November 6. What changed, what Apple tells developers to do, and a short list of things to test in your own Mac app.
• How to launch a Mac app: a checklist that fits on one pageWhat to do before, on and after launch day for a Mac app: signing, your page, directories, Product Hunt, Show HN and what to measure.
• How to write a one-line description that says what your Mac app doesA plain way to write the one line under your Mac app's name: name the job, cut the hype, and test it on someone who has never seen the app.
• Signing and notarization, in plain words, for people making their first Mac appWhat code signing, notarization and stapling each do, in what order, what your users see without them, and how to check your own build.
• What a dofollow link is honestly worth, from a site that offers oneWhat dofollow means, what Google says about links, why a link from a new directory is worth little today, and what to do instead of buying links.

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