Slack
Slack Technologies, Inc.
Slack brings team communication and collaboration into one place so you can get more work done, whether you belong to a large enterprise or a small business. Communicate with your team and organize your conversations by topics, projects, or anything else that matters to your work. Message or call any person or group within your team. Share and edit documents and collaborate with the right people all in Slack.
User Sentiments
Top Likes
- Good messaging/chat/sharing app
- Useful features and integrations
- Saves time and makes work chat less boring
- Easy to use and set up
- Good for team communication and collaboration
Top Dislikes
- High CPU usage
- Lack of dark theme for main message area
- Can be slow and laggy
- Free plan has limited message history
- Notifications can be overwhelming
Popular Comments
Fitztacular - Mac App Store User
2017-09-15
Like this chat app a lot. Saves me a lot of time with its built-in features as well as the available integrations. Also a big fan of the styling, makes work chat less boring! However, noticed with recent update that the "Slack Helper" processes are chugging CPU time...
Mac App Store User - Good chat app, just a few annoying things
2025-02-24
Overall Slack is a good messaging/chat/sharing app. Plenty of useful things within the threads or PMs. Nice feature to delete messages and it archives shared images and docs automatically. One annoying bit is the lack of a dark theme for the main message area. Seriously, how hard is it to adjust the style sheet?
LeeHiggins - Mac App Store User
2019-04-09
Great app. Wish it was a bit faster. But its not bad. Feature request: In-slack Video and Voice messages. Sometimes I want to share screen and explain things not live. ATM I have to use an external tool and add a file, would be nice to use the same slack live video interface with the share screen features but be able to save it for on demand consumtion, it will save me time having to arrange live meetings.
benches - Mac App Store User
2020-11-14
Technical issues hinder the experience. As a collaborative app this is up there with the best. However there are some annoying bugs. One is that the app will sometimes utilise extremely high CPU usage, even when idle. Right before I wrote this review, Slack was using 90% of my 2015 MBP's i7 CPU! When I quit the app, the fans turned off entirely! Even Chrome doesn't do that unless I really push it.
Reddit User - nevotheless
2024-07-10
They are essentially the same since the desktop version is a repackaged web version. Since you probably already running the browser version the overhead from running the desktop version should be higher.
MacRumors Forum User - nutmac
2020-03-19
Is it still a crappy electron app? Yup, even with the update pushed to the App Store yesterday and this modest redesign being rolled out to customers, the app is still slow and feels more like a web page than a macOS app.
Detailed Review
Slack is a widely-used team communication and collaboration platform available as a desktop application for macOS. It aims to streamline workplace communication by organizing conversations into channels and direct messages, facilitating file sharing, and supporting voice and video calls. Slack integrates with numerous other services and apps, extending its functionality and making it a central hub for work. While praised for its ease of use and feature set, some users report performance issues, particularly regarding CPU usage, and limitations in the free plan.
Standout Features
- Channels: Organize conversations by topic, project, or team for focused communication.
- Direct Messaging: Private one-on-one and group conversations for quick communication.
- File Sharing: Easily share documents, images, and other files with team members.
- Voice and Video Calls: Conduct meetings and huddles directly within Slack.
- Integrations: Connect with a vast array of third-party apps and services to extend functionality.
- Search: Powerful search capabilities to find past conversations and files.
Conclusion
Slack for Mac is a robust communication tool suitable for teams of all sizes seeking to improve collaboration and organization. Its free version offers a good starting point, but paid plans unlock more features and message history. It's particularly beneficial for teams that need real-time communication, file sharing, and integration with other work tools. However, users with older Macs or those sensitive to resource usage might experience performance issues. The lack of a full dark mode and limitations on the free plan's message history are also drawbacks for some users.
