We built a free Mac diagnostic app because we think Apple should tell you more about your Mac’s health.
I’m one of the developers at Micromat. We’ve been building diagnostic and repair tools for the Mac since 1989, including Techtool Pro, and we recently released a free version: Techtool Lite. We’d love feedback from the r/macapps community. https://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-lite/ Problem When your Mac starts acting strangely, it can be difficult to determine what the problem might be. We believe Mac users shouldn’t be limited to the diagnostic information Apple chooses to provide (or hide in some cases). You should have access to meaningful information about your Mac’s health so you can make informed decisions to decide if a repair is needed, or simply understand how your Mac's hardware is performing. We built Techtool Lite to make it easy to: Run a one-click health check Test memory Check SSD/HDD SMART health and volume structures Monitor battery health Reset system caches and rebuild important macOS databases View devices and active ports on your local network Our goal is to help you identify real problems before they become bigger ones. Comparison Compared with DriveDx or Disk Utility, which specialize in drive health, Techtool Lite offers a broader picture of your Mac’s overall health by including memory testing, battery monitoring, maintenance tools, and additional system checks in addition to drive testing. Techtool Lite is powered by the same diagnostic technology we’ve developed for Techtool Pro over decades, but packaged as a free app focused on the tools most Mac users need. Plus, it's a free way to experience how Techtool Pro works as they share an interface. Pricing Free https://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-lite/ Activation: Techtool Lite requires a free activation using your email address. That email is also added to our mailing list so we can send product news and updates. You can unsubscribe at any time, but we wanted to be upfront about that so there are no surprises. Thanks for taking a look! We’d genuinely appreciate your feedback. Whether it’s about the diagnostics we include, features you’d like to see, or anything else that would make Techtool Lite more useful for Mac users, we'd be happy to hear it. TOS: https://www.micromat.com/terms-of-service/ Privacy Policy: https://www.micromat.com/privacy-policy/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/micromat/
Collected discussion
For someone with a newer Mac that seems to be working fine, where do you see this being the most useful? Is it mostly for catching issues early, like SSD/battery/memory problems before macOS warns you, or is it more valuable once something already feels wrong?
We're proponents of being proactive, and you can usually do more to mitigate problems when you catch them early.
That email is also added to our mailing list so we can send product news and updates. You can unsubscribe at any time, but we wanted to be upfront about that so there are no surprises. Thank you for the honestly and being upfront, OP and team! This goes a long way. Shall check this out today.
Transparency is great and I wish more companies were this upfront. But honesty and GDPR compliance aren’t the same thing. Requiring newsletter sign-up to activate the software is the part that raises eyebrows. A separate optin would solve that nicely imho.
Fixed in the latest update!
This is pretty cool! I’ve used the pro version many many times and it was always good for when I need to sell a Mac to show the hardware is working properly.
A company shipping Mac diagnostic tools since 1989 has survived the 68k, PowerPC, Intel and Apple Silicon transitions. That track record alone earns the download. The battery view is the part I appreciate most, Apple gives you one percentage and a vibe and hides everything else.
Thank you!!
Love this. I name my first born after you Micromat.
Hahahaha!
Do I need to disable SIP?
No, but it will prompt you to grant Full Disk Access and permission to run in the background (granted in System Settings -> Login Items.
Nice app! I always wanted to know more about my macbook, especially figuring out the reason for any slow downs. (usually memory leak haha) As a new app developer - curious how do you decide which features to include in lite vs pro? I am learning to design an app with a freemium model myself. Also, why distributing independently vs the App Store?
The functionality of the app requires independent distribution, as it cannot be sandboxed and perform almost any of its functionality. As for which features are lite/pro - lots of internal discussion. 😉
How does this compare to the free onyx?
Neither your privacy policy nor your terms of service document clearly state what information your app collects and sends back to Micromat. Normally, with such ‘free’ products, the information you collect and how you use it is the main compensation for your effort in developing, marketing and distributing your product/service. What information about our systems and from our systems does your app collect and send to Micromat?
Love the UI!
The battery quality feature is pretty cool, I’m going to check this out for sure. Hope mines is at least “Good”!
I like that there are more alternatives to all the predatory mac cleaning apps now, nice work
This is similiar to iStat Menus? Although I purchased iStat, I think Micromat wins because it's free. Have you had a chance to test it and iStat?
how does this comply with apples' native telemetry?
Thanks for the posting. Apple's built in telemetry and Techtool Lite, and Techtool Pro for that matter, serve different purposes, so they complement each other rather than overlap completely. macOS continuously monitors many aspects of your Mac's hardware, such as temperatures, battery health, storage, and SMART data where available. Techtool Lite reads much of that same information, but it also performs its own hardware diagnostics and verification tests. For example, Techtool Lite can actively test components like memory and storage rather than simply reporting the current status that macOS provides. Think of Apple's telemetry as monitoring the health of your Mac in the background, while Techtool Lite is designed to verify that the hardware is actually functioning correctly. If a component begins behaving unexpectedly, Techtool Lite can often help confirm whether it's an isolated reading or an indication of an underlying hardware issue. The two aren't in conflict, they simply approach system health from different angles. We hope this information is helpful in answering your inquiry.
Love the design of the app. You can tell that it's made by an experienced software engineering and not some vibe coder. 👍🏻
Some of the code in Techtool Pro/Lite predates LLMs by several years. 😉
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