Discover hidden apps on your Mac drive: Brilliant macOS utilities

Most apps on the Apple Mac are in the Applications folder, but did you know that there are multiple Applications folders and that some apps are hidden? Here is how to access these tools.

Ever Mac user is aware that the Applications has a Utilities subfolder with some additional apps, but few people know that there are other Applications folders with even more apps.

Do you know where they are? For some reason, perhaps because they are rarely used, Apple has hidden some apps in a folder where most people will never find them. Under some circumstances they can be useful and occasionally essential. You need to know where this folder is and what apps it contains.

Find hidden Applications folders in macOS

Click Finder or the desktop and then select Go > Computer to access the root of the drive in the Mac. The Finder window lists the Mac's internal drive, Network and possibly Bootcamp if you have it installed. Double click the Mac drive whatever it is called. Mine is called Macintosh HD, but other common names include MacBook.

Immediately you will see the Applications folder and this is where most apps are installed. If an app is installed for all users, it is placed in this folder. However, if you install an app just for yourself, it is installed in another Applications folder inside your Home folder. When Applications is clicked in the Finder sidebar, you see a combined listing of apps taken from bot these folders.

It is actually a good idea to install apps to your personal Applications folder because if it causes problems, unlikely, but possible, you can log in with another account and it will not be installed or causing problems.

An alternative Applications folder

The open the System folder in the root of the Mac's drive (see the screenshot above), followed by Library, CoreServices, and then Applications. These are system apps and they do not appear in the normal Applications listing. They are hidden.

There are 11 apps here and you may recgnize some of them. For example, About This Mac.app is automatically run when you click the Apple logo in the menu bar and select About This Mac. In the About window, select the Storage tab and then click Manage button and the Storage Management.app is run from this hidden Applications folder.

Hidden Archive Utility settings

The Archive Utility.app is run when you select files, Ctrl+click them and choose Compress. Finder just does it. However, if you run Archive Utility.app from this hidden folder, there are some useful preferences that you might want to use. You might want to Ctrl+click this app and use the menu option to create an alias. Drag the alias to the Dock, desktop or wherever it is convenient. You can then easily access these hidden features.

Check the internet with Network Utility

Let’s take a look at Network Utility.app. Double click it to open it.

It provides a series of network and internet tools on tabs across the top. Select Ping. This tool is used to check that a computer or device on the internet is working. You can ping websites and you just enter the address in the box and click the Ping button.

Only four pings were sent in the screenshot above (don’t overload sites with an unlimited number) and the second line from the bottom in the results says 4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss. What this means is that your Mac's internet connection is working and the website is responding.

You could use ping if you are having problems accessing a website to check that it can actually be reached. A result of 100% packet loss would indicate a fault in the internet connection or the website. If other websites respond OK, but one doesn’t, it either means that the website is down or that it is configured not to respond to pings (some block them).

You can also ping devices on the local Wi-Fi network, such as a wireless printer, to check that it is working or simply switched on if it is located out of sight.

Another useful tool is on the Traceroute tab. If you are having problems accessing one or more websites and you contact technical support, they might ask you to run a traceroute and send them the results. Enter the website URL into the box, click Trace and when it has finished, select all the text with the mouse and press Command+C to copy it. Then switch to your email and press Command+V to paste it in.

Your computer is connected to a router, the router to another device on the internet, then that connects to another and another until eventually the website is reached. Traceroute lists all the devices you have to go through and how long it took. It may not make sense to you, but tech support people that deal with networking and the internet find it useful. You just need to know how to create a report and paste it in an email.

Wireless diagnostics utility

Wireless Diagnostics is another useful tool for checking that the Wi-Fi and internet connection are working correctly. If you are having problems with either of them, run this utility and follow the instructions. A report is displayed at the end that might indicate where a fault lies.

Summing up

There is more than one Applications folder on the Apple Mac. There is the global Applications folder, a personal Applications folder for each user, and a system Applications folder containing utilities. Some of the system utilities are aimed at technical experts, some appear when accessing other things in macOS, but a few are useful to everyone, like Archiver preferences.