Download Anchor here! folivora.ai - Great Tools for your Mac!
Anchor is a complete Touch Bar replacement that solves the problem of tools jumping around when you need them. It offers persistent tools and glanceable information that only go away when you tell it to, allowing you to build muscle memory.
(It looks much better on a Touch Bar)
First off, there are no visible brightness and volume controls. Brightness & volume are controlled with two and three finger swipes respectively. I had persistent sliders at first, but gestures are significantly better. It only took a few hours to getting used to them and now it's the #1 feature that I will miss most when I upgrade and lose the Touch Bar.
On the left, you'll find persistent tools:
New Finder Window creates a new Finder window from anywhere in the OS
Mail & Messages both of these icons support badges! Tap either to open their respective app.
Calendar Tap to open the Calendar widget, long-press to open Calendar.app
Emoji Tap once to open Recently Used, which also displays a category folder of commonly used emoji for easier navigation.
Eject All ejects all mounted volumes at once from anywhere.
On the right, you'll find glanceable information:
Media takes you to a small menu with play/pause, forward/backward, and a volume slider. the Now Playing widget next to it allows for an instant play/pause from anywhere (Music & Safari tested), and always shows the last audio played so you never accidentally start replaying that Reddit video you just watched instead of toggling on your music.
Battery Remaining Widget
Weather Widget with dynamic icons, it shows the current temperature in your area. Tapping takes you to a Weather menu with the forecast.
Date & Time this is glanceable. I work almost exclusively in fullscreen apps so I appreciate having the date & time visible without having to bring down the Menu bar.
Some apps have their own menus that appear when the app is active. For example, when Photos is active, the icon appears on the left:
And tapping on the icon opens the app's menu:
But for the most part, the root of Anchor is the main screen. It's visible at all times unless you deliberately click away from it, anchoring your tools where you expect to find them.
Modifier Keys:
Holding Option toggles BTT off so you can use Apple's built-in functions. Extremely useful for Keychain autofilling.
Holding Control brings up the App Switcher Widget.
Holding FN = fn keys
I've been casually tinkering since I got BTT with the first tMBP and really enjoy the current setup. It finally felt ready to be shared, so I hope you love it as much as I do!