Photoshop is the program that's become synonymous with photo editing—so much so that people use its name as a verb—but given the recent furor over the terms and conditions attached to Adobe's products, and how content you save to the cloud can be used to train AI, you might be looking for something else.

Adobe is now scrambling to clarify its approach to content ownership and AI training data, but even if you're happy with the company's policies, Photoshop is still going to cost you at least $9.99 a month. In an era when we're all already signed up to a ton of digital subscriptions, that's something else you might think twice about.

Here, then, are some of the best Photoshop alternatives to consider. These are all either free or less expensive than Adobe's flagship photo editor.

GIMP

GIMP comes packed with features. Credit: Lifehacker

GIMP—that's the GNU Image Manipulation Program—has been around since 1995, and you'll often find it at the top of Photoshop alternative lists. It's completely free and open source, and has an extensive array of features and plug-ins to play around with. If you can do something in Photoshop, you can often do it in GIMP as well, and typically in a similar way.

The program layout is Photoshop-esque too, from the colors to the floating panels, and that makes it a little easier for users of Adobe's package to switch. With support for layers and layer masks, advanced tools such as fuzzy select and gradient fill, it's a comprehensive image editor that has a busy community of loyal developers and users supporting it.

• GIMP, free on Windows and macOS

Photopea

Photopea works right inside a browser tab. Credit: Lifehacker

In recent years, web apps have developed to become almost as capable as their desktop counterparts, and in the image editing category Photopea is one of the best around. As well as a bunch of tools covering brushes, shapes, text, retouching and more, there's support for layers and layer masks, as well as a wealth of Photoshop-style filters.

Photopea has clearly used Photoshop as its inspiration in everything from the layout of the web app to the menu labels, and so those abandoning Adobe's products should feel at home. There's seamless support for PSD files and cloud storage services, and a $5 per month subscription removes the ads, gives you more undos, and adds AI imagery.

• Photopea, free with ads or $5 a month on the web

Paint.net

Paint.net is a well-established Windows image editor. Credit: Lifehacker

Like GIMP, Paint.net has been going for a long time, first appearing in 2004 as a computer science project. Since then it's been a dependable and capable free image editor for Windows users, with a lot of the features also available in Photoshop—think filters and effects, layer manipulations, and all the core drawing and editing tools you need.

While there is a lot you can do with Paint.net, it also manages to be straightforward to use and accessible to image editing beginners, with all the options you need—from colors to zoom levels to object alignment—popping up in obvious places when you need them. There's a lot you can do in terms of tailoring the interface to suit your own needs, as well.

• Paint.net, free for Windows

Pixlr Editor

Use Pixlr Editor anywhere you've got web access. Credit: Lifehacker

Another web-based photo editing package, Pixlr Editor runs speedily in a browser tab, bringing with it Photoshop mainstays like layer management, advanced selections, image healing and retouching, and a bunch of filters—from glows and color washes, to shadows and mosaics. The online app is capable of some seriously advanced photo editing tricks.

The interface works really well, letting you undo changes you don't like at any point, and giving you easy access to all the key tools you'll need. Premium subscriptions are available, from $0.99 a month, if you want to remove the adverts and get features like AI image generation. There's also a simpler Pixlr Express web app that may suit you better.

• Pixlr Editor, free or from $0.99 a month on the web

Krita

Krita does digital art as well as photo editing. Credit: Lifehacker

Krita is more in the vein of Adobe Illustrator than Adobe Photoshop, though it includes so many excellent features that we're including it here—and there's plenty in the way of photo editing as well as digital painting. You get a host of selection, painting, and image tweaking tools to play around with, all wrapped up in an elegant and intuitive interface.

What's also impressive is just how fast Krita runs, so you're not slowed down waiting for panels to open or for one tool to switch to another. There's full layer management here for your images, plenty of filters and effects to make use of, and lots of flexibility in terms of how you want the program's elements to be laid out on screen and how the app behaves.

• Krita, free for Windows and macOS

Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo costs a one-off fee. Credit: Affinity Photo

We're going to mention one paid option here, which is Affinity Photo: At the time of writing It's available for $34.99, which crucially is a one-off fee and not a subscription. There's no free trial, unfortunately, but you get an awful lot back for your money, including hundreds of tools and enough features to create just about any kind of digital photo effect you need.

With fully stacked layer support, the ability to create custom brushes (on top of the extensive library of built-in ones), and comprehensive RAW format handling in addition to all the usual features you would expect to find, this is a choice that would suit advanced users and professionals who want to extricate themselves from the Adobe ecosystem.

• Affinity Photo, $34.99 for Windows and macOS

(Follow Lifehacker's ongoing coverage of WWDC 2024 here.)

It's been a busy WWDC 2024 keynote, and among the announcements Apple has confirmed that macOS 15 is arriving this year: It's called macOS Sequoia, and it comes with a host of new features across window layouts, device syncing, and Mac gaming.

One of the more notable features is the ability to snap windows to the side or the corner of the screen. This has previously been an option in third-party apps, such as Magnet, but this will be the first time it's been available as a native feature: Just drag an open app window toward an edge or corner to see a guide. (Yes, you can already do this in Windows.)

You'll soon be able to mirror your iPhone to your Mac. Credit: Apple

Also of note is a new iPhone mirroring feature, an extension of Apple's existing Continuity features, and it does exactly what it sounds like: As long as your iPhone is nearby, you can mirror its screen to macOS and even interact with apps and notifications, leaving your handset in your pocket or your bag. Your actual iPhone remains locked while you interact with it on your Mac screen.

Apple also demoed other features, including the ability to replace backgrounds while using FaceTime, a brand new password management app (which is also coming to iPhones and iPads), and numerous improvements to Safari, including website summaries and smart links out to other resources (like TV shows or music).

Gaming upgrades

macOS Sequoia will also get some substantial gaming upgrades on the developer side, Apple says. A new Game Porting Toolkit 2 will make it easier to transfer Windows games to Mac, with improved compatibility and additional debugging tools to iron out any problems along the way.

A bunch of new games are heading to macOS to take advantage of these features, Apple says, including Control, Sniper Elite 4, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and Assassin's Creed Shadows—some of these titles have been widely available on other platforms for some time, of course, but now they're coming to the Mac too.

A host of new games are coming to macOS. Credit: Apple

In addition, the next macOS is getting some of the same features as iOS 18: curated hikes and walking routes in Apple Maps, for example, and text effects in Messages that help you be even more expressive in conversations.

No doubt more details of the desktop operating system will emerge in the days and weeks ahead: a developer beta for macOS Sequoia is available now, with a public beta coming in July. The full release is scheduled for "the fall," so it should be around September time, if Apple sticks to its usual schedule.

This is a developing story. Apple's WWDC keynote is currently ongoing, with the WWDC conference set to last through June 14. Lifehacker will update this story with relevant information as it is announced.

SIM swapping (or SIM jacking) is one of the nastier hacks you can fall victim too. It essentially reroutes your cell number to another SIM, and another phone. Not only does it mean all of your texts and calls are going somewhere else, it also means your two-factor codes—often essential for logging into online accounts like your email and bank—are being redirected too.

The scam is pulled in the same way that you yourself would register a new SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) if you were changing carriers but wanted to keep your number, or if you had somehow misplaced your original SIM and needed a new one—only it's not you requesting the change, it's someone pretending to be you.

As potentially dangerous as a SIM-swap attack can be, there are ways to protect against it—and ways to try and recover access to your phone number and your accounts if you think you've been targeted by this specific form of hack.

How a SIM-swap attack works

The key to a SIM-swap attack is tricking your cellular service provider into swapping your existing cell number to a new SIM. Different carriers have different security checks in place to prevent this, but essentially, a scammer will need access to some sensitive information so that they can impersonate you. It could be an address, a password, or an answer to a security question.

There are a variety of ways hackers can get hold of this information—and all the usual strategies might be involved: You could be sent a phishing link over email or social media, your details might be exposed in a data breach that there's little you can do about, or someone might spot them while looking over your shoulder in a coffee shop.

Scammers will try and move your number to a new phone. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt / Lifehacker

Sometimes the swap might be attempted in a physical store, sometimes over the phone via a call center, and sometimes online—it really depends on the information the scammer has managed to obtain, and how the phone company operates. Per the FBI, it can even be done by bribing someone on the inside to transfer your details.

Not every SIM-swap hack is successful, so you might find you notice suspicious behavior even though nothing has happened, such as an email from your phone carrier asking you to confirm that you want your number transferred somewhere else. Even if the scam hasn't been fully successful, you should still take precautions in case there's a subsequent attempt (perhaps after more data has been stolen).

How to protect against a SIM-swap attack

The techniques used to obtain personal data for a SIM-swap attack are fairly conventional, which means so are the precautions you can take to guard against it. Just being aware SIM swapping is a potential threat (and what it involves) is a good start in terms of keeping yourself safe and minimizing the risk of your own number getting stolen.

As always, to protect your data, be wary of following any links you get over email, social media, or messenger apps—double-check with the source, and where possible, head directly to a site (such as your bank's website) to log in rather than following a link. Keep your web browser and other software up to date to get the latest security protections, and make sure your passwords are long, complex, and impossible to guess.

Use an authenticator app rather than relying on SMS codes. Credit: Google

It's also worth checking with your cell service provider about the precautions they have in place to stop a SIM swap. Most are now well set up to block fraudulent attempts to switch numbers. Doing an audit on the security steps needed to get into your bank account can help too. If you know the sort of details and security information needed to get into your accounts, you're better able to spot when someone is trying to steal this data.

To make it harder for a scammer to access your digital accounts, you should have two-factor verification enabled wherever possible. As we've explained before, if you get the option, you should always use an authentication app for this, rather than your phone number—that way, you'll still be able to control access to your accounts even if someone manages to steal your cell number.

Signs you're the victim of a SIM sap attack

There are some tell-tale signs that a SIM swap has happened: Calls and texts not reaching you, you have no cell signal, and you receive alerts about suspicious activity in your accounts (for example, your bank account or your email account). It can be scary when all of these problems start to mount up, but it's important not to panic, and to work methodically to retake control of your number.

What to do next

The sooner you start to take action after a suspected SIM-swap attack, the better. For any accounts you are still able to access, change the passwords where possible, and follow the steps for logging all other devices out of your accounts (here's how to do that for your Apple account, for example).

Check the devices you're currently logged into. Credit: Lifehacker

Get in touch with your cell carrier as soon as you can—though you may have to borrow someone else's phone to do it. As you are in fact you, you should be able to prove your identity and get something done about what's happened. Getting in touch with your bank makes sense too; focus on recovering and securing the most important accounts first, before turning your attention to the others.

The good news is that the more widespread use of biometrics and passkeys is making it more difficult for other people to pretend to be you—though it's by no means impossible. If you have other verified devices besides your phone, such as tablets or laptops, get these up and running as quickly as possible to report breaches and recover access to your accounts.

It's difficult to avoid artificial intelligence at the moment—it's currently being touted as the next big revolution in tech—and Google is trying its best to lead the way in this time of AI plenty. Its AI efforts are broadly collected under the name Gemini, but Google Gemini actually comes in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Gemini is the name Google is giving to both its AI models (the underlying tech), and its AI apps (accessed on the web and your phone), which means it's not always easy to work out what's being talked about or what you're using. Prior to February 2024, the Gemini apps were called Google Bard, adding to the confusion.

With new products and features arriving all the time, most recently at Google I/O 2024, we felt it was time to lay out exactly what the different Gemini terms mean, to help you understand and get the most out of these AI tools.

If you're interested, Google chose the Gemini name to reflect the "twin" AI projects that were being developed within the company. It was also picked because of its space connotations: It's a constellation (and a zodiac sign), and the name of a 1960s NASA project, and Google wanted to reflect the ambition of space exploration as well as the multimodal aspect of Gemini (text, images, and video).

Google Gemini apps and plans

The Gemini app for Android. Credit: Google

To begin with, there's the Gemini app from Google, which you can download for Android and access on the web. At the time of writing, there's no Gemini app for iOS, but you can load up the main Google app for iOS and access Gemini by tapping on the Gemini symbol (the blue-purple star) at the top of the home tab.

You can think of Gemini as being the equivalent of ChatGPT from OpenAI, or Copilot from Microsoft. Type in your prompts, and you get responses through the power of generative AI: You can get poetry and essays, travel ideas, help with decisions, and advice on just about any topic you like (just watch out for hallucinations).

Within the Google Gemini app, there are two different plans you can choose from: the basic Gemini plan available to everyone for free, and the paid plan that gives you access to the more advanced Gemini models (more on these shortly). In simple terms, the more advanced models are smarter, faster, and more versatile.

Right now there's a single Gemini subscription plan called Gemini Advanced, which crosses over to some extent with the Google One plans. It'll set you back $19.99 every month, and it comes with a few extra AI tricks besides the smarter models: the ability to upload documents and run Python code, and access to Gemini through Google apps such as Gmail and Google Docs.

You also get 2TB of storage across your Google apps, which is where there's overlap with Google One. The other Google One benefits are included too, such as 10 percent off when shopping in the Google Store. The regular 2TB Google One plan, without all the added AI functionality, costs $9.99 a month.

Google Gemini models

There are four Gemini models in total. Credit: Google

Google has also named its AI models Gemini: These are the engines that do the grunt work of generative AI, including the Large Language Models (LLMs) that handle text parsing and output. There are currently three models under the Gemini umbrella, and they're all being developed and upgraded regularly.

The three main models are Gemini Ultra (the largest and most capable), Gemini Pro (the best "for scaling across a wide range of tasks"), and Gemini Nano (for on-device tasks). These models also have version numbers attached as they become more capable and advanced. In addition, there's also Gemini Flash (a more lightweight Gemini Pro), and Project Astra, an effort to create an all-encompassing AI agent using the Gemini models that's still in its early stages.

Gemini Pro is the one powering the free Gemini app, for example. If you pay for Gemini Advanced, you're either using a more advanced version of Gemini Pro (at the time of writing, Gemini Pro 1.5 is powering Gemini Advanced), or Gemini Ultra—Google seems to switch between them over time.

These models handle vast amounts of information, which is why they typically run in the cloud on Google's data servers. There's also Gemini Nano, small enough to fit on phones such as the Pixel 8: Because of its reduced size, it's less capable than Pro and Ultra, but as it runs locally on your device, it's faster and more private.

These models are continuing to evolve at a fast clip. Check out the Google DeepMind hub for the model types to see the latest information on them, and how they're being used across Google products (including the Gemini app). Hopefully, you should now have a better idea of which Google Gemini AI you're dealing with, and when.

If you've got an Amazon Echo, Google Nest, or Apple HomePod speaker, it comes with a safety feature that you might not be aware of: the ability to listen out for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms, and ping your phone if there's a problem.

To be clear, your speakers aren't detecting the smoke or the carbon monoxide themselves—they're just listening out for the sounds of alarms. If you're away from home and aren't going to hear the alarms themselves, it's a helpful extra layer of protection that can protect your property as well as the people (and pets) inside it.

It's also worth noting that this is a paid-for feature if you're using Amazon or Google hardware. Nevertheless, you might consider it worth the expense (you get other features for your money, too). Here's how it works on the different models.

Amazon Echo

While Echo speakers used to be able to tell you about smoke and CO alarms for free, the feature is now bundled in the Alexa Emergency Assist package, which is going to set you back $5.99 per month or $59 for a year at a time. It also gives you quick access through Alexa to first responders and the emergency services.

The alarm detection feature, which is called Smart Alerts, will work with every official Echo device from Amazon with Alexa on board—so smart displays or smart speakers—as long as you have an active Alexa Emergency Assist subscription. It's not enabled by default—you'll need to turn it on to start using it.

You can listen to alarm sounds through the Alexa app. Credit: Amazon

From inside the Alexa app for Android or iOS, open the More panel, then tap Emergency Assist. Tap the gear icon to access the settings for the feature, then pick Smart Alerts to enable or disable smart alarm detection. It's also worth reviewing the information included on your profile to make sure Amazon can contact you in an emergency.

If a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm is detected, it will trigger two actions: First, the Echo devices in your home will announce the potential danger and encourage occupants to get out. Second, you'll get an alert sent to the Alexa app on your phone, together with a recording of the alarm sound so you can take a listen.

Google Nest

If you want your Nest cameras and speakers to listen out for the sounds of a smoke alarm or a carbon monoxide alarm, then you need to be a paying member of the Nest Aware club. At the time of writing, that's going to cost you from $8 a month or $80 a year, and you get features like 24/7 video history and familiar face detection included as well.

All Google Nest devices can work with these intelligent alerts: cameras, doorbells, speakers, and smart displays. The alerts aren't enabled by default, so you need to turn them on manually: From the Google Home app for Android or iOS, tap the Settings icon on the navigation bar, then choose Subscriptions.

Enabling sound detection in the Google Home app. Credit: Google

Under Nest Aware, you can select Sound detection to turn on the alerts. The app will ask you which types of sound you want your devices to listen out for, and which Google Nest devices in your home you want to do the listening (it doesn't have to be all of them). You're able to review your settings at the end.

Once the intelligent alerts feature is turned on, you'll get notifications in the Google Home app about any suspicious sounds, just as you would if someone walked past your video doorbell. You can go to the Activity page in the app to see recorded events, and to listen in to clips for any detected sounds.

Apple HomePod

The smoke and CO alarm sound detection features in the HomePod are available free of charge—you don't need to sign up for an additional subscription; you only need any of the HomePod or HomePod mini speakers that Apple has sold.

Double-check that you're running the latest software on your devices before you get started. From the Home app on your iPhone, tap the HomePod you want to check, then the gear icon (lower right) to see if an update is pending. Once you're up to date, you can enable sound detection.

Sound recognition settings for an Apple HomePod mini. Credit: Lifehacker

From the Home tab in the Home app, tap the three dots (top right), then choose Home Settings. Select Safety & Security and then Sound Recognition to turn on the feature—you can set which sounds the speakers should warn you about, and which speakers in your home should be constantly listening.

The other settings on the Safety & Security screen let you set which speakers are allowed to send you notifications, and which users can "check in" to a HomePod. Those designated users can listen in to sounds when they get warning notifications, and even talk through the speaker to alert people who might be at home.

It's not a great feeling, realizing you've accidentally deleted an important photo or document on your phone. Maybe you've picked the wrong file, or you've tapped the wrong button, but it's easily done—and it's not the kind of mistake you're always going to notice right away, either.

The good news is that Android, iOS, and the apps that run on top of them now come with safety nets built in. There's a decent chance you're going to be able to get that deleted data back—it's just a question of knowing where to look, and that depends on the app you used to do the deleting.

If you can't get your files back using the methods we've described below, then you're going to have to dig deeper—perhaps into your phone backups (which you should have set up, in case your phone gets lost or stolen).

Google Photos (Android and iOS)

If you use Google Photos to manage photos and videos on your phone, open the Library tab, then tap the Trash folder. Tap on a file then Restore to undelete it; or, press and hold on one file, then select multiple items, then tap Restore. Google Photos will keep deleted photos and videos in the Trash folder for 60 days before erasing them completely.

Apple Photos (iOS)

Over on the default photos and videos app for the iPhone, deleted files can be found by going to Albums then Recently Deleted. Here, deleted files are kept around for 40 days (you can see the days remaining on each item). Tap a photo or video then choose Recover to bring it back, or use the Select button to pick multiple items to restore at once.

Samsung Gallery (Android)

If you're using the Samsung Gallery app found on its Galaxy phones to manage your photos and videos, open the app and tap the three horizontal lines (bottom right), then pick Recycle bin to view and restore files. You might also see photos and videos deleted by third-party apps here too, depending on how you've set up integrations on your phone.

Restoring files in Files by Google. Credit: Lifehacker

Files by Google (Android)

In the default file manager on Android, tap the three horizontal lines (top left), then Trash. Any files that have been sent here will be kept for 30 days before being erased completely, and they're listed in groups based on when they were originally deleted. To bring any of the deleted files back to their original locations, select them and tap on Restore.

My Files (Android)

If you're on a Samsung Galaxy phone, you might be using My Files rather than Files by Google to manage locally stored data. Open up the app and you'll see a Recycle bin link on the front screen for viewing and restoring files—as with the Gallery app, you'll possibly see files deleted by other apps in here, depending on the file type and syncing options.

Files (iOS)

If you've deleted something from your iPhone, you might find it inside the iOS Files app, up to 30 days afterwards: Open the Browse tab, then tap Recently Deleted to view and restore files. Note that the Files app can also manage your various cloud storage accounts (like iCloud), so there may be some crossover with the other options mentioned here.

Restoring files in Files on iOS. Credit: Lifehacker

Google Drive (Android and iOS)

Any file deleted from inside Google Drive or synced to it is recoverable for 30 days afterwards: From inside the mobile app, tap the three horizontal lines (top left), then Trash. You can browse through the files just like any other Google Drive folder, and if you tap the three dots to the right of any of the files listed, there's a Restore option.

iCloud Drive (iOS)

If you're using iCloud Drive in addition to the Files app on iOS, you've got an extra layer of protection when it comes to accidentally erasing your stuff. You can either get at your deleted files from the Browse tab in the Files app as described above, or through iCloud Drive on the web—just click on Recently Deleted in the side panel on the left.

Other apps (Android and iOS)

If you're using some kind of cloud-based storage alongside your phone, you should have an undelete feature to fall back on. Dropbox, for example, keeps deleted files for 30 days (or longer on paid plans), but you need to go to the desktop web interface to find them: Click Deleted files in the left-hand pane to see a list of files and bring them back if needed.

Microsoft OneDrive has a built-in safety net to make use of as well, and it's called—you guessed it—the recycle bin. From the mobile app, tap Me and then Recycle bin to see files that have recently been wiped from your OneDrive account. To restore any of them back to their original locations, tap the three dots (on the right-hand side), then Restore.

Google Calendar falls into that category of apps that you probably just load up and use without too much thought. It's designed to be clean, lightweight, and functional by default, and that's perfect when you need to quickly check up on your schedule.

However, you've got more options for changing the look of Google Calendar on the web than you might have realized. Dig a little deeper into the settings, and you'll find you're able to tweak what's on screen in a variety of ways, from the number of days you can see at once, to how recurring and past events are handled in the interface.

If Google Calendar is a key tool you rely on, it makes sense to get it set up in the way that will be most useful to you—providing less clutter, quicker access to the info you need, and less time wasted clicking through to additional screens. Here are all the different settings worth adjsuting.

Custom views

Whatever view you're currently using for Google Calendar on the web, you can change it by clicking on the drop-down menu in the top right corner, to the right of the gear button. It'll be labeled with the name of the current view, like Month or Week. The same drop-down menu features some basic view options, such as whether or not declined events and weekends are shown on screen.

To really take control over what you can see, you can create a custom view. Click the gear button (top right), then Settings and View options. In the Set custom view drop-down menu, you'll see you can choose everything from 2 days to 4 weeks as the time period displayed when you load up Google Calendar in your web browser.

Get Google Calendar to show a specific number of days on screen. Credit: Lifehacker

The setting is saved automatically, and will appear as the last option in the drop-down menu on the main Google Calendar screen (with the Month and Week options in it). Unfortunately, the same custom view option doesn't sync to the mobile Google Calendar apps—you have to make do with the default ones

Back on the View options page, there's another drop-down menu that lets you control what day the week should start on—Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. This changes the layout of any view where you're looking at more than seven days together at once. Last but not least, there's a keyboard shortcut you can make use of in the Google Calendar web app to quickly jump to your custom view: Just tap the X key.

Other view options

Click the gear icon (top right), choose Settings and View options, and you'll see there are several other ways to configure the look of Google Calendar, besides creating your own custom view. Use Reduce the brightness of past events to have older calendar entries look more faded on screen, for example—a handy way of helping you see where you're up to in your current schedule.

There are check boxes for showing or hiding weekends, showing or hiding events you've declined invitations to, and showing or hiding completed tasks. Getting some of these details off screen can reduce the clutter in Google Calendar, making your timetable easier on the eye. Number labels for the weeks can be shown or hidden too.

You can change the density of the layout and the color choices too. Credit: Lifehacker

Open up the Time zone tab on the Settings page, and you're able to get a secondary time zone displayed on the day and week views—this makes it easier to see how events are scheduled across different parts of the world. You can also enable several time zone clocks in the side panel on the left, via the World clock tab: You can see at a glance what time it is in a city (and what the weather's currently doing, too).

Then you've got the settings you can edit on the actual Google Calendar view itself. Click the three horizontal lines (top left) to show or hide the left-hand side panel, and in that panel use the check boxes to show and hide individual calendars—a quick way of focusing on what you really need to see. You can also click the gear icon (top right) then Density and color to tweak the text size and label colors used.

Getting the Windows experience on a Mac computer has become more difficult with the arrival of Apple's own chipsets: The Boot Camp Assistant developed by Apple that allowed dual-booting doesn't work at all with Apple silicon computers, while emulators like Parallels aren't quite as straightforward to use on these newer systems either.

With that in mind, if you do need to get a Windows program running on macOS, it's easier to just focus on that one app—rather than emulating the entire operating system. There are a couple of user-friendly tools for macOS that can help here, so you can bring over your favorite Windows apps to your Mac without too much trouble.

Wineskin

Wineskin is the free option here, and it uses the Homebrew package manager. You need to open up Terminal on macOS, type the following command, then hit Enter:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Once the Homebrew installation process completes, you'll see instructions to run the following commands to complete the setup, with your account name listed where is (hit Enter after each one):

(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users//.zprofile

eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

With Homebrew set up successfully, you're ready to install Wineskin. At the Terminal prompt, enter the following text and press Enter:

brew install --cask --no-quarantine gcenx/wine/unofficial-wineskin

When you see the message telling you that Wineskin has been installed, you can close down the Terminal and open Wineskin from the Applications folder in Finder, or by looking for it in Spotlight.

Setting up Wineskin on macOS. Credit: Lifehacker

First up, you need to install an engine by clicking on the + (plus) icon—it's fine to select the default one that pops up, but sometimes different Windows apps need different engines, so you may need to swap if you're experiencing problems. Then, click Update Wrapper to get the latest master wrapper, which packages your app of choice in a way that means it can run on macOS.

With that done, click Create New Blank Wrapper. At this point you need to give your new wrapper a name to identify it and the program it's running. Your wrapper will be set up in Finder, in the Wineskin folder in your user applications list (you'll be asked if you want to jump straight to it when the initial setup process has been completed).

You'll need to point Wineskin to a Windows executable. Credit: Lifehacker

Launch this wrapper, and you're then ready to choose the Windows executable you want to run. Try Install Software first, as this is the easiest option: You can point Wineskin to a setup file, or a folder of files (for portable apps). Wineskin should handle the process of getting everything configured, and you can then run the wrapper whenever you like to use the Windows application.

If this doesn't work for the program you're using, click Advanced on the main Wineskin dialog to access more options—you can point the tool towards specific executables, change how Windows keys are remapped to macOS keys, and customize various other aspects of the way Wineskin tries to run this particular program.

CrossOver

CrossOver offers a library of Windows software to install. Credit: Lifehacker

CrossOver is the paid option: It'll set you back $74, but there is a free 14-day trial available so you can see if it's worth your while before parting with any cash. It's a little more user-friendly than Wineskin and gives you more help along the way, so some people will find it the better choice even with the cost attached.

Get the software installed and set up, then simply search for the Windows program you want to run—like Steam, for example, if you want to do some gaming. You'll see each app title is accompanied by a star rating that tells you how well the program works through CrossOver on macOS (which can save you some money buying apps and games that aren't going to work great).

Setting up a Windows app on macOS with CrossOver. Credit: Lifehacker

When you've got the program you want, click Install, and everything is handled for you. CrossOver gets the Windows application set up, and within a few minutes you should be enjoying your Windows software on macOS. CrossOver keeps a list of your installed programs as "bottles" in its main interface, and you can select them from there to run them and configure various aspects of how they're deployed on macOS.

If the program you want to run isn't listed in the Install screen in CrossOver, click the Install an unlisted application option on the right. The process here is a little bit more involved, but not overly so—you'll need to give CrossOver more details about the application that you're trying to install, and where the setup executable is.