Comparisons · Facts checked 3 September 2026
apple-mcp is archived. What should you use instead?
apple-mcp, the open-source server that first gave Claude your Mail, Notes, Messages, Contacts, Calendar and Reminders, was archived on 1 January 2026 and no longer receives fixes. The maintained replacements are iMCP (free, open source, no Mail or Notes), Macuse ($49, read-and-write with Computer Use), LMCP (free, 188+ tools) and Pomeroy ($19 once, 8 Apple apps, read-mostly). Which to pick depends on whether you want Claude to be able to send.
Free for 50 actions a week. No account, no card. Or visit apple-mcp.
Side by side
Pomeroy’s column is read from the same source as its pricing page. apple-mcp’s column was checked against the sources listed at the foot of this page on 3 September 2026; if something has changed since, tell us and it will be corrected.
| Facet | Pomeroy | apple-mcp |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once, no subscription. Free for 50 actions a week with no account or card. 14-day refund. | Free. MIT licence. |
| Apps | 8 Apple apps: Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Contacts, Messages, Maps and Shortcuts. | 7 Apple apps: Messages, Notes, Contacts, Mail, Reminders, Calendar and Maps. |
| Reading and writing | Read-mostly. Claude can create events, reminders and notes, and run Shortcuts you already made. It cannot send mail or a message, and it cannot edit or delete a contact. | Read and write, including sending iMessages and email. |
| Works with | Claude Desktop. | Any MCP client that can run a local command. |
| Requires | macOS 15 or later. | Any macOS that runs Bun or Node. |
| Setup | Open the app, switch on the apps you want, press one button. The Claude extension installs itself: no Terminal, no config file. | Add a bunx command to Claude Desktop's config file by hand, or run an npx installer; later a .dxt bundle. Permissions are granted to whichever process launched it, often the Terminal. |
| Updates | Signed automatic updates, which you can switch off. | None. The repository is archived. |
| Maintenance | Actively developed. Every release is listed on the changelog and reaches installed copies by itself. | Archived on 1 January 2026 and read-only: no fixes, no releases, no support for new macOS versions. |
| Source | Closed source. The privacy pledge is enforced by tests, not read. | Open source, MIT. About 3,100 GitHub stars. |
| Privacy | Your app data never leaves your Mac. The only requests are a licence check, an update check and four pseudonymous usage counts, all listed on the privacy page; a test fails if the code and that page disagree. | Runs locally as a plain script with no telemetry. Open source, so the behaviour is readable, but nobody is watching it now. |
What apple-mcp did well
- It was free and MIT-licensed, and 3,100 people starred it: for a year it was the default answer.
- It covered the right seven apps, including Mail and Notes.
- It ran anywhere Bun or Node runs, with no macOS floor.
- It could send iMessages and email, if that is what you wanted.
What Pomeroy does well
- It is maintained, signed and updates itself. apple-mcp is frozen at its last commit and will break with some future macOS release.
- A real app holds the permissions, so macOS attributes each grant to Pomeroy, not to your Terminal, and no Full Disk Access is needed.
- Setup is one button, with no config file and no runtime to install.
- Read-mostly: the misdirected-send bugs that dogged apple-mcp cannot happen in a tool with no send tool.
Look at iMCP, Macuse or LMCP if…
- You want it free and open source: iMCP, which lacks Mail and Notes.
- You relied on sending iMessages and email: Macuse ($49) or LMCP (free) both send.
- You are on macOS 13 or 14: Macuse and LMCP run there; Pomeroy and iMCP do not.
- You want Teams, Slack or Microsoft 365 alongside your Apple apps: LMCP.
Pomeroy is the closest fit if…
- You used apple-mcp for Mail, Notes, Messages, Calendar, Reminders and Contacts and want the same apps in one maintained app.
- You never wanted the send tools, or were uneasy that they existed.
- You want to stop editing Claude's config file and granting Full Disk Access to a terminal.
- You are on macOS 15 or later and would pay $19 once for something that keeps itself current.
What happened to apple-mcp?
Its GitHub repository was archived by its owner on 1 January 2026 and is read-only. The code still runs where it ran before, but there will be no fixes for new macOS releases, no security patches and no answers to issues. Its README points to supermemory's own hosted MCP product, which is a different thing.
Can I keep using apple-mcp?
For a while, yes, if you already have a working install. Nothing switches it off. But Mail, Messages and Notes scripting shifts with macOS, apple-mcp's own issue tracker was full of silent read failures even while it was maintained, and nobody will fix the next one. Plan the move before a macOS update forces it.
What should I use instead of apple-mcp?
One of four maintained tools that cover the same ground. iMCP is free and open source but has no Mail or Notes. Macuse is $49 once, read-and-write with Computer Use. LMCP is free and covers Apple, Microsoft and Google apps. Pomeroy is $19 once, covers Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Contacts, Messages, Maps and Shortcuts, and is read-mostly: it cannot send. If you used apple-mcp for Mail, Notes and Messages and never wanted the send tools, Pomeroy is the closest fit; each of the others has its own comparison page on this site.
Try Pomeroy free and decide for yourself.
Get 50 actions every week. No Pomeroy account or payment card required. Requires macOS 15 or later.