How to quickly download and install multiple applications at the same time on a Mac

When setting up a new Mac, you may want to quickly download and install all your favorite apps. As usual, you'll have to download and then install each app manually. This is clearly a tedious and time-consuming process. However, thanks to a free service called Macapps.link, it's easy to automatically download and install multiple apps at once on macOS. Here's how to do it.

Macapps.link

If you 'migrate' from Windows to Mac, you probably come across a utility called Ninite. This is basically a simple command-line-based installer that allows you to download multiple applications at the same time with a single command. Although Ninite is not available for Mac, there is a similar workaround called Macapps.link.

To get started, open the Macapps.link website in any browser on your Mac. You will see a list of all the applications that you can install using this website. These include popular browsers, messaging apps, work assistant software, and more.

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Just select one or more apps you want to download by clicking on them. Each application will be highlighted after you choose it.

Once you've selected the apps to download, click the 'Install Apps' button at the top of the page.

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Next, you will see a pop-up containing a link to download the application package of your choice. Just highlight and copy this link using the keyboard shortcut Command + C.

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Now, open Terminal on your Mac. There are many ways for you to open Terminal, but the fastest is to press Command + Space on your keyboard to bring up the search bar, type 'Terminal' and when you see it in the list of results, press the Return key.

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When the Terminal window opens, click once inside the window, then press Command + V to paste the link just copied above, and press the Return key.

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Now all you have to do is wait for the installer to do its job. In the Terminal window, you'll see live up-to-date information about which apps are being downloaded and installed in real time.

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Depending on how many apps you have selected, this might take a few minutes. When the process is complete, you will see a message saying "Thank you for using macapps.link" at the bottom of the screen.

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You can now exit the Terminal app using the menu bar at the top of the screen (Terminal> Quit Terminal).

You can check installed apps using Launchpad. From the Dock, click the Launchpad icon. Navigate to the last page and you'll see your newly downloaded app icons.

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Kareem Winters

Update 11 May 2021