My Default Apps
My go-to applications
This has been all the rage since Hemispheric Views did an episode about it last week. Seemed like an interesting thought exercise, so here’s my list. Apps having the Apple logo () refer to the built-in Apple apps on Mac and/or iOS.
| Purpose | My (Primary) App | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 📨 Mail Client | Fastmail (web and iOS) | I love having calendar and mail in one app! |
| 📮 Mail Server | Fastmail | Family “team” collaboration system |
| 📝 Notes | Bear Pro | ★ Tried Apple Notes and Obsidian but came back to Bear. |
| 📝 Journal | Day One | I use this way more than I ever thought I would. |
| ✅ To-Do | Reminders | Kanban-like view not as fully featured as others, but it works |
| 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting | Halide Camera Mark II | ★ Process Zero 100%, and in iOS 18 I can easily pull it up in place of the default camera |
| 🟦 Photo Management | It’s complicated | Photos for casual use, Adobe Lightroom when I want to look cool |
| 📆 Calendar | Fastmail | Shared calendars, birthday reminders, nothing fancy it just works |
| 📁 Cloud File Storage | It’s complicated | It’s a mix of Microsoft OneDrive, iCloud, and S3 |
| 📖 RSS | NetNewsWire | Beat out Reeder in my blind taste test |
| 🙍🏻♂️ Contacts | It’s complicated | Contacts for most things, but also Fastmail (mainly for birthdays) |
| 🌐 Browser | Vivaldi | ★ Just switched, still in the evaulation phase |
| 💬 Chat | Messages | |
| 🔖 Bookmarks | Vivaldi | ★ |
| 📑 Read It Later | Vivaldi | ★ |
| 📜 Word Processing | Microsoft Word | |
| 📈 Spreadsheets | Microsoft Excel | |
| 📊 Presentations | Microsoft PowerPoint | |
| 🛒 Shopping Lists | AnyList | |
| 🍴 Meal Planning | N/A | |
| 💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance | GnuCash | |
| 📰 News | News | But it’s really terrible |
| 🎵 Music | Music | |
| 🎤 Podcasts | Podcasts | On those rare occasions when I listen to Podcasts |
| 🔐 Password Management | 1Password |
★ New/upated for November 2024