What replaces what: macOS and Windows apps in Omarchy

Two rules explain most of this page. First, Omarchy replaces whole categories of small utilities with things the system already does, so half your macOS menu bar has no counterpart because it has no job left. Second, what does not get replaced by the system gets replaced by one package that ships in the base install, and the base install is a fixed list you can read.

Everything below was checked against the 4.0.4 package list and the shipped keybindings, not against a forum post. When a row says an app ships, it means the package name is in the base install. When it says on demand, it means you pick it from the Omarchy menu and it installs then.

The macOS matrix

You reach for	In Omarchy	Ships?
Spotlight, Alfred, Raycast	Omarchy menu on Super + Space, apps only on Super + Alt + Space	yes
Rectangle, Magnet, Moom	Nothing. Hyprland tiles for you. Super + T floats one window	yes
Mission Control, Spaces	Workspaces on Super + 1/2/3/4	yes
Finder	Files (Nautilus) on Super + Shift + F, or Super + Shift + Alt + F in the terminal’s directory	yes
Quick Look	Space on any file in Nautilus	yes
Preview, images	imv, the default image handler	yes
Preview, PDFs	Document Viewer, with Xournal++ for signing and non form PDFs	yes
Time Machine	Btrfs snapshots on every update, restored from the Limine boot menu. Root only	yes
Keychain Access	1Password on Super + Shift + /, or Bitwarden	on demand
AirDrop	LocalSend on Super + Ctrl + S, or omarchy share file	yes
Cmd + Shift + 4	Print Screen, annotated in Tensaku	yes
QuickTime screen recording	Alt + Print Screen, MP4 into ~/Videos	yes
Paste, Maccy	Clipboard history on Super + Ctrl + V, text and images	yes
Notification Center	History on Super + Shift + Alt + ,, last notification on Super + Alt + ,	yes
System Settings	The Setup submenu, which edits plain files under ~/.config	yes
App Store	Install > Package or Install > AUR, or omarchy pkg add	yes
Parallels, VMware Fusion	Install > Windows, a Windows 11 Pro VM over RDP	on demand
Mail	The HEY web app is the default mailto: handler. No desktop mail client ships	yes
Calculator	Omacalc on Super + Ctrl + Q	yes
Notes	Obsidian on Super + Shift + O, or Omawrite on Super + Shift + W	yes
Pages, Numbers, Keynote	LibreOffice	yes
Photoshop	Pinta, which the manual calls basic. GIMP and Krita are not included	partly
Final Cut, iMovie	Kdenlive for editing, Omacut for trimming, OBS Studio for capture	yes
Messages	Signal on Super + Shift + G, plus WhatsApp and Google Messages web apps	on demand
Music, Spotify	Spotify on Super + Shift + M. Cliamp is the shipped terminal player	on demand
Activity Monitor	btop, called Activity, on Super + Ctrl + T	yes
Disk Utility	Disks from the launcher, plus Disk Usage for finding what filled the drive	yes
Touch ID	Setup > Security > Fingerprint for lock screen and sudo	yes

The Windows matrix

Most rows are the same. These are the ones where the Windows habit differs.

You reach for	In Omarchy	Ships?
Start menu, Win + S	Super + Space	yes
FancyZones, Win + Arrow snapping	Tiling, with nothing to configure	yes
Virtual desktops	Workspaces on Super + 1/2/3/4	yes
File Explorer	Nautilus on Super + Shift + F	yes
Win + V clipboard	Super + Ctrl + V	yes
Win + Shift + S	Print Screen	yes
Task Manager	Super + Ctrl + T	yes
File History, System Restore	Snapshots, root filesystem only	yes
Windows Hello	Fingerprint, or FIDO2 for sudo under Setup > Security > Fido2	yes
Credential Manager	1Password or Bitwarden	on demand
Nearby Share	LocalSend on Super + Ctrl + S	yes
Microsoft Office	LibreOffice, the Office web apps, or the Windows VM	yes
Notepad	Neovim is the default handler for plain text. Omawrite for prose	yes
Paint	Pinta	yes
Windows Terminal	The shipped terminal on Super + Return. Herdr on Super + Ctrl + Return keeps persistent sessions	yes
Edge	Chromium is the default. Edge, Chrome, Brave, Firefox and Zen are under Install > Browser	partly
WSL	Nothing to install. Docker is in the base install	yes

Where the match is not clean

Time Machine is the one to get right. Snapshots are a system rollback, not a backup. The manual says restoring brings back your root filesystem but not /home, so a snapshot will undo a bad update and will not bring back a deleted document. Nothing in the base install does file backup either. There is no restic, borg or timeshift in the 4.0.4 package list. Dropbox and Tailscale are available under Install > Service if sync is enough for you, otherwise pick your own backup tool on day one. See rollback with snapper and limine.

LocalSend is close to AirDrop, with three rough edges. Sharing the clipboard sends an empty file when the clipboard holds an image, because the share script calls wl-paste with no type and gets nothing back for a screenshot (issue #8340, still open, and the code is unchanged in 4.0.4). The shipped window rule does not match LocalSend’s actual window class org.localsend.localsend_app, so it can open tiled instead of floating, and clicks can stop registering until you float it with Super + T (issues #7482 and #8817, the second closed by its author as a duplicate; the rule in default/hypr/apps/localsend.lua is identical in 4.0.0 through 4.0.4). And the installer opens port 53317 to Anywhere on both IPv4 and IPv6 rather than to local ranges (issue #11560). See LUKS and ufw defaults.

Keychain has two layers. The password manager you actually use is 1Password or Bitwarden, both installed on demand. Underneath, the GNOME keyring holds browser and Docker secrets, and issue #9235 reports it being reset at login when two start paths race the same keyring file, which shows up as Chrome asking you to sign in again. The 1Password unlock popup from the browser extension is also clipped under fractional scaling, which is an upstream 1Password sizing bug rather than an Omarchy one (issue #9904). See fractional scaling and HiDPI apps.

Office works, the file dialog sometimes does not. LibreOffice ships and opens Word and Excel files. Issue #9393 reports its open and save dialog opening fullscreen and sliding under the top bar on 4.0.2. If you need the real thing, the Windows VM shares ~/Windows with the guest and passes your display scaling through, but it has no GPU passthrough, so treat it as an Office box and not a workstation.

Creative tools are the thinnest area. Pinta is the only image editor in the base install and the manual is upfront that it is not a Photoshop replacement. Figma has no Linux client at all, so it runs in Chromium or as a web app you add under Install > Web App. Anything heavier is an ordinary Arch package away, but nobody has tuned it for you.

What to watch for on newer versions

The shipped list changes between releases, so verify rather than trust this table after an upgrade. Omacalc, Omawrite, Omacut, Tensaku and Herdr are all 4.x additions and none of them exist in 3.8.4. The base terminal changed too: 3.x shipped Alacritty, 4.0.x ships foot, and both are selectable under Setup > Defaults > Terminal. Clipboard history moved from Walker in 3.x to the Quickshell based Omarchy shell in 4.0.0, and Walker is not in the 4.0.4 package list at all.

The next release is announced as Quattro RS 4.5. Nothing about the replacement list is confirmed for it yet, so check the preinstall list again after you update. The fastest way to see what your own machine actually has is Super + K for every binding. What Omarchy considers optional is the set that Remove > Preinstalls strips: LibreOffice, Xournal++, Pinta, Obsidian, OBS Studio, Kdenlive, Cliamp, Aether, Moonlight, lazydocker, Omacut, Omacalc and Omawrite, plus the shipped web apps and TUI launchers. Their keybindings are disabled along with them, and Install > Preinstalls only appears in the menu after you have removed them.

Related

• Coming from macOS
• Coming from Windows
• Day one checklist
• Tiling window manager survival
• Official manual: Coming From Mac or Windows