About AppAudit
AppAudit started with a Mac problem I had wanted to solve for years
AppAudit is a HighTechDad product, but more personally, it is a product I built because I had run into the same frustrating Mac app review problem myself and never found a tool that handled it the way I wanted.
Built by Michael Sheehan
A HighTechDad product
Created from a real Mac workflow pain point
It began when I got a new Mac and didn’t want to migrate years of app clutter
Several years ago, I got a new Mac and made a very intentional decision: I did not want to use Apple’s migration tools to blindly move every application from my old Mac onto the new one.
Like a lot of long-time Mac users, I had accumulated years of utilities, experiments, duplicate installs, one-off tools, older apps, and things I probably did not need anymore. What I wanted was pretty simple. I wanted a clean way to see what was installed so I could make thoughtful decisions about what to move, what to reinstall, and what to leave behind.
I went looking for a tool that would do that well and never really found one.
Apple’s System Report does expose a lot of application information, but it is not built for this kind of workflow. You can inspect the list, but you can’t really work with it in a practical way. It is hard to turn that information into a useful review process, and even basic things like copying, exporting, or organizing the list are not especially helpful.
So I did what a lot of people do when the right tool does not exist: I stitched together my own process: screenshots, manual notes, and typed-out lists. It was a lot harder and more time-consuming than it should have been.
That problem stuck with me for a long time.
Why I built it
Eventually I had both the pain point and the ability to finally build the answer
Fast forward to 2026. I had started vibe coding a number of projects, including AIVA (AI Visibility Analyst), QuoteKit, Prompt Fingerprint, AI Launcher, and a handful of others. That process gave me a new way to explore ideas quickly, but one goal kept sitting in the back of my mind: I really wanted to build a native macOS app.
AppAudit became the obvious project because the original problem had never gone away. I still wanted a better answer to a question I think a lot of Mac users eventually ask:
What is actually installed on this Mac, and what should I do about it?
That is why AppAudit matters to me. It did not start as a generic software concept or a market opportunity spreadsheet. It started as a workflow problem I had personally run into and never fully let go of.
AppAudit moved from idea to live product site in about a month
June 2026 to July 2026
I started the AppAudit build at the beginning of June 2026. TryAppAudit.com (this site) and AppAudit Free/Pro launched at the beginning of July 2026.
That month was not just coding. It was ideation, product design, testing, retesting, refining the interface, adding features, documenting behavior, thinking through launch strategy, building the website, and writing all of the supporting content that turns an app into an actual product launch.
At the same time, I was still doing my regular HighTechDad work. So AppAudit was very much a focused maker sprint: take a problem I knew well, build a native Mac app around it, keep refining, and ship something real.
It is still early, and I already know there is more I want to do with AppAudit and the site, including exploring channels like Setapp and the Mac App Store down the road. But getting AppAudit from long-standing pain point to real product was the important first step.
Bio
I’m Michael Sheehan, the founder of HighTechDad. For more than two decades, I have been writing about technology, testing products, troubleshooting problems, and building practical resources for people trying to make sense of the tools they use every day. AppAudit is a natural extension of that work, except this time I did not just want to write about the workflow. I wanted to build the tool I wished I had.
Who built it
HighTechDad is not a team behind a curtain. It's me.
I’m Michael Sheehan, founder of HighTechDad, and AppAudit is a HighTechDad product.
That said, I think it is worth being very clear about what that means.
HighTechDad is not a company with a hidden staff, outsourced product team, or outside development shop doing the real work in the background. It is me. I built the brand, I create the content, I test the tools, I run the sites, I manage the products, and I conceptualized and built AppAudit myself (ok…with a bit of AI help).
That has been true for more than 20 years.
So when you see “A HighTechDad Product,” that is not meant to sound larger or more corporate than it really is. It is simply the brand home for the work I do.
AppAudit came out of that same long-running hands-on mindset: find a real problem, understand it deeply, and build something practical that helps solve it.
Try it yourself
Start with AppAudit Free and see what’s really installed on your Mac
If you have ever wanted a clearer way to review the apps on your Mac before cleanup, migration, or reinstall decisions, AppAudit was built for exactly that kind of workflow.