Mac

Mac Quick-ish tip – comparing apps on your Macs #MacOS #Apple

Andrew Woodward

I have two Macs, a M4 Mac Mini at home and a M5 MacBook Pro for on the go. Recently I found I forgot to install an app on the MacBook and had to do so on the go. It wasn’t a big deal but it led me to think, what’s on both machines.

Some Gemini-Fu revealed a simple Terminal line that I ran on both Macs:

Open terminal and run:

ls /Applications > ~/Desktop/apps-list.txt

It then places a list of apps on your desktop in a txt file. 

Source:StackExchange via Gemini

Instructions for using Terminal on Mac to create a text file listing main applications.

I then went to Claude and asked it to the following:

Please take these two files and put the list in each into columns on an Excel spreadsheet to allow comparison between the two computers.

I then dropped both files into the input box.

Seconds later, an Excel spreadsheet, with colour coding showing what’s the same and what’s missing. 

Table comparing software applications compatible with MacBook Pro M5 and Mac Mini M4, showing check marks for supported applications.
A comparison table showing various applications and their compatibility with MacBook Pro M5 and Mac Mini M4, with check marks indicating supported software.
Comparison table of applications compatible with MacBook Pro M5 and Mac Mini M4, including checkmarks to indicate compatibility.

Very cool! My apps list in PDF is here.

18 September 2026