43 Default apps (2024)

This fun collection came to me from Matt Stein who in turn got it from various people tracing a route back to Robb Knight.

But why? I have no idea for certain. Sometimes we like to know what others are using and it’s nice to share what you use because someone might find it interesting or useful. There are always things to discover about how and why people do things; there are new workflows to discover and new approaches to consider that we might not have considered before.

Here is my list:

• Mail Client: Apple Mail
• Mail Server: Own/iCloud/Gmail
• Notes: Apple Notes/iA Writer
• To-Do: Reminders
• Photo Shooting: Sony A7 IV/Fujifilm X100V/iPhone 15 Pro
• Photo Management: Lightroom
• Calendar: Apple calendar
• Cloud File Storage: iCloud
• RSS: Reeder 5
• Contacts: iCloud
• Browser: Safari/Firefox
• Chat: iMessage/WhatsApp
• Bookmarks: Safari
• Read It Later: Safari reading list/Apple Notes/Instapaper
• Word Processing: Pages (Word under duress)
• Spreadsheets: Not regularly
• Presentations: Keynote
• Shopping Lists: Reminders
• Meal Planning: Nope
• Budgeting and Personal Finance: YNAB
• News: The Economist/NYT/Guardian/New Indian Express
• Music: Apple Music
• Podcasts: Apple Podcasts
• Password Management: 1Password

And some bonus apps not on the main list:

• Code editor: VS Code
• Gaming: Xbox
• Sleep tracking: Sleep Cycle
• Reading: Kindle Signature
• Academic/long-term notes: Emacs and org-mode (e.g. some notes about my use of this set-up can be found here and here)

If you want to know what other, more interesting people are using these days, the main list is with Robb.