Fast, native Mac file manager (filters, fuzzy find, 9 MB, no Electron)

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• Hacker News
• Just switched from windows to Mac and the rumors are true. Finder is terrible.
  by HeavyStorm
• it's only port install mc that keeps me from reviewing all alternative file managers for mac os :)
  by nottorp
• Feel like using the terminal CLI directly is better than Finder.
  by linzhangrun
• Slightly unrelated but do yourself a favour and download the Alt Tab app for MacOS. I haven't used a Windows machine daily for a long time but that window switching behaviour never went away for me, especially if I'm working on just the laptop screen.
  by walthamstow
• I really, really need a better Finder. I've been using Path Finder for many years, but it was always a so-so replacement and the company wasn't very interested in moving it forward (even fixing bugs took many years). I eventually gave up and stopped paying for it.

  I now use the Finder (column view) and it sucks.

  At a first glance, I like this app. The problem I have is that I tend to think about the long term: will this app be around in 5 years? There is a plethora of AI-coded apps (this in itself doesn't bother me) where the author loses interest after just a couple of weeks.

  And (here come the HN downvotes, because this is really unpopular on HN) the one-time pricing model doesn't lend itself to long-term sustainability, unfortunately. I know people hate to hear that, but ask anyone who tried to run a small or solo-founder business whether it's possible to make ends meet with one-time purchases.

  by jwr
• Try Bloom, I liked it dual pane manager
  by ApolloRising
• i have been searching and using all kinds of finder replacements and i actually tried and bought about 4 of them (qspace pro, forklift, marta, spacedrive, path finder, commander one, double commander and more)

  the one i am sticking with since quite a while and fits my requirements is bloom . It had some issues early on, but i had no problems with it since a long time.

  by rspoerri
• Would you mind elaborating on how the Finder isn’t your cup of tea?

  I’m curious, because at this point I’ve used everything from the spatial Classic Mac OS Finder to to every OS X Finder to every Windows Explorer version since to Windows 95 to Dolphin to the menagerie of Nautilus forks, and I don’t quite understand the discontent with the Finder for the most part. If anything I find the W11 Explorer overall more frustrating these days.

  by cosmic_cheese
• “Your Downloads folder has 847 files.” Oh no.. do I have a problem? +10k files
  by thenthenthen
• That's a great tool dude! I was looking for similar thing would give it a try
  by Z4cki
• First screenshot on the front page has a design issue: text of selected file is in black instead of white.
  by frizlab
• > First screenshot on the front page has a design issue: text of selected file is in black instead of white.

  Good catch. That's already fixed (selected-row text is white now, matching Finder). Just an old screenshot on the site. I'll get it updated. Thanks for flagging it.

  by whimbyte
• Why would anyone trust an app from an anonymous source access their whole filesystem with read/write access? Who are you hello@whimfiles.com and where are you from?
  by aagd
• nothing beside the lack of willing is stopping you from removing its internet access before giving it the file system permissions
  by 217
• Just add an Up Directory button and you’ll be infinitely better than Finder.
  by othmanosx
• I'm not familiar with .net on Mac, what binding did you use to make this? .NET MAUI? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/developer-tool...
  by kristianp
• Do you have any kind of public AI statement on the ways this product utilizes or is built with generative AI, if any?
  by seanclayton
• the point being? the battle of using agentic AI for software development being "stealing" has long been lost.
  by nubg
• I have a template if anyone wants it

  https://libls.org/ai-use.html

  by lionkor
• //confused noises//

  Wait, are you telling me that macOS has gotten so ensh---ified that many of its users feel the need to purchase a bespoke file manager, arguably one of the most fundamental functions of an operating system?

  Surely this is a very specific product for a very specific class of users? This can't be a widespread need, right? RIGHT?

  (Context: I haven't used modern macOS in roughly a decade and have no idea what it's like these days)

  by ninefathom
• During the days of my Powerbook G4 and 1st gen Intel Mac days, I used to use Path Finder [^1] over the native Finder, as it provided a richer and more comprehensive toolset. The base Finder wasn't bad, but Path Finder did more. Totally understand in today's era why you might jump to enshittification as the reason for this. Sometimes though, someone see the functionality a tool does, and goes "I wish it did this, but a little bit more".

  ^1: https://cocoatech.io/

  by belthesar
• Apple makes good hardware but their software is really sucky nowadays. Finder was always crap but today even Windows Explorer is crap so all the default OS file managers stand in the same shit pool.
  by lenkite
• Guess you have never used norton/windows/midnight commander either?
  by saithir
• (Context: similar to you)

  I suppose it's similar to how people used to buy things like Directory Opus. The point isn't so much that the default one doesn't work. A bunch of functions like those listed here, e.g. batch rename and easy image conversion, would be a great help to power users, and should be better than having to install a separate program for each one.

  I doubt it's aimed at everybody, but it shouldn't need to be. Software tailored to a specific group's needs is likely to be better for them than something too generic.

  by abanana
• It's not a widespread issue but it's hardly new. DiskTop was an add-in that's almost as old as the Mac itself, and PathFinder has had a business model for most of the life of OSX.

  Alternative file managers are arguably a healthy property; the alternative is the phone where you cannot compete meaningfully with the Files app. And Finder works for most basic needs, something which is not true of its mobile counterpart.

  by tl
• I think it's more people would rather built their own opinionated file manager than explore or understand how much Finder can really do. This app does a tiny fraction of what Finder can do and has been able to do for decades.
  by msephton
• Finder has always been crap. When Windows Vista came out, using Finder was like playing with a toy. IYKYK.[1]

  Sadly, it has received effectively zero updates since. The only amazing things about the Finder are column view and QuickLook, both of which we've had forever

  For reference, both Windows Vista and QuckLook came out nearly 20 years ago. TWENTY.

    [1]: One example: you could customize it to show fields from your MP3 files, including the artwork, and *edit* the files inline. Some goes for EXIF. macOS, today, won't even show you something as basic the image dimensions (not file size)

  by flyingshelf
• I had a gap of 5-6 years of not using macOS, now I'm kind of forced as I want my cross-platform native applications to also be available on macOS.

  The file manager definitely got a lot worse than it used to be. It doesn't even seem like you can properly move up/down the directory hierarchy anymore with just the keyboard, I think the sequence of holding down "CMD" then spamming "up arrow" no longer takes you to the root, as just one example of workflows they've broken since then.

  In comparison though, Windows' file browser is a completely dumpster-fire that sometimes takes 10-20 seconds to load for me, in a relatively barebones Windows 11 installation with 0 network drives. The only stuff that keeps being the same or slightly improving, is the various file managers on Unix/Linux systems, although Gnome's latest iteration took some time before it was as good as the previous versions, for whatever reason.

  by embedding-shape
• I used to have a greater need for a file manager in other jobs. I don’t have the same need anymore but Forklift (https://binarynights.com/) has always been great and I still use it from time to time.
  by cloin
• does this index the disk to do this ? So the filemanager is working with an index rather than the files ? It could be stale ?

  I haven't found a good file manager for mac since 15 years now. They all just about do the things I need but not good enough. I've never really done the dual pane thing, my favourite gui for file management was Windows XP. Every iteration of explorer since has gotten objectively worse.

  On mac I don't even bother trying to filemanage. I remote in to a windows machine.

  I need to be able to get paths and paste paths.

  for my downloads I just sort by type in list view and delete whatever by type. just do that a few times a year no big deal. I don't understand why we can't have an AI that sorts out the files they half baked 'stacks' onto the desktop, but all that happens is i now have dozens and dozens of stacks which contain dozens and dozens of files.

  by jaffa2