App defaults
This "defaults" list is inspired by Robb Knight's collection of app defaults posts, where a huge number of bloggers share their default apps and services. I like how these lists make it easy to find and explore other personal blogs and setups, similarly to what happens with "now" or "uses" pages.
These unassuming and reliable everyday tools are deeply integrated into my habits/routine, and handle life's background tasks allowing me to focus on what actually matters. My approach is to stick with default apps until they can't do what I need, only switching when the built-in option genuinely can't handle my use case.
- Mail Client: Gmail web client on my laptop, Mail.app on my phone
- Mail Server: Gmail, iCloud with custom domain
- Notes: Apple Notes for personal notes, Simplenote for work
- To-Do: Reminders
- iPhone Photo Shooting: Camera.app
- Photo Management: Apple Photos
- Calendar: Google Calendar via Calendar.app on both my laptop and phone
- Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive, Google Drive
- RSS: NetNewsWire
- Contacts: Apple Contacts
- Browser: Brave and Firefox Developer Edition for work, DuckDuckGo for personal browsing
- Chat: Signal, WhatsApp, Messages
- Bookmarks: Browser's built-in tool
- Read It Later: Instapaper
- Word Processing: iA Writer, Google Docs
- Spreadsheets: Google Sheets
- Presentations: Remark, Google Slides
- Shopping Lists: pen and paper, Reminders
- Meal Planning: n/a
- Budgeting and Personal Finance: custom spreadsheet
- News: ABC News, The Guardian
- Music: Spotify
- Podcasts: Apple Podcasts
- Password Management: Bitwarden
Here's some extra categories I also wanted to include:
- Weather: BOM, Apple Weather
- Reading: Physical copies from local library, Kindle
- Book tracking: Goodreads
- Code editor: Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text
- Terminal: iTerm2
- Launcher: Raycast
- Clipboard manager: Raycast
- Screenshots: Xnip
- Social: Mastodon, BlueSky, Reddit
- Search engine: DuckDuckGo