My App Defaults, 2023 edition

In a similar fashion to uses.tech or the nownownow.com Rob Knight created a list of people's blog posts going over their default apps. I love this kind of repositories that encourages discovering other personal blog posts, so I figured I’d jump on the bandwagon.

You can find more details info on my Uses page but here is compact list of default apps as of now (the end of 2023):

• ✉️ Mail Client:  Mail
• 📬 Mail Server:  iCloud with custom domain, Gmail
• 📝 Notes:  Notes, Craft
• ✅ To-Do: Things
• 🤳🏻 iPhone Photo Shooting: iOS Camera
• 🌅 Photo Management:  Photos
• 📆 Calendar:  Calendar
• ☁️ Cloud file storage:  iCloud Drive
• 🖥️ Backups:  Time Machine
• 📰 RSS: Reeder 5
• 🗞️ RSS Service: Reeder iCloud Feeds
• 📇 Contacts:  Contacts
• 🧭 Browser: Safari and Chrome for
• 🗯️ Chat:  Message, WhatsApp, Discord
• 📖 Bookmarks:  Safari
• 📥 Read It Later:  Safari Reading List
• ⌨️ Word Processing: Craft, Bear
• 🧮 Spreadsheets: Google Sheets
• 🔀 Presentations: Figma, Google Slides
• 🛒 Shopping Lists:  Reminders
• 🍽️ Meal Planning: Foodnoms
• 💸 Budgeting & Personal Finance: Notion, Chronicle for Bills
• 📣 News: Mastodon, X
• 🎶 Music:  Music and Marvis Pro
• 🎙️ Podcasts: Pocket Casts
• 🔐 Password Management:  iCloud Keychain and Secrets for quick access for frequently used and Credit Cards

Now, here are a few categories I want to add myself:

• 🌤️ Weather: Apple Weather and Carrot for the widgets with Feels Like
• 📦 Package Tracking: Parcel
• 📺 TV/Movie tracking: Apple TV App, Sequel, TV Forecast
• 🏋️ Workout Tracker: Hevy
• 🐘 Mastodon: Mona
• 🖊️ Journal: Day One
• ⏲️ Countdowns: Countdowns (LOL)

Read more app default posts

As you see, I try to use Apple’s apps as much as possible, but there are some categories that 3rd party apps offer crucial functionality I need or I enjoy using more. Check my Uses page to check the apps I use in more detail.

Do you use similar apps as I do? Feel free to share your list!