Default Apps 2023
I’ve been enjoying the recent trend of default apps lists, inspired by a recent podcast episode from Hemispheric Views. The nature of the list has evolved a little on its journey around the internet, but here’s my contribution, with a few additional categories thrown in:
- 📨 Mail Client: Apple Mail
- 📮 Mail Service: Gmail and Fastmail (referral link)
- 📝 Notes: Obsidian, but also Apple Notes (for anything attachment heavy) and Notion (for highly structured data like reading/health logs)
- ✅ To-Do: Things 3 and Apple Reminders (for shared tasks)
- 📓 Scratchpad: Tot
- 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Apple Camera or Halide
- 🟦 Photo Management: Apple Photos
- 📆 Calendar: Apple Calendar
- 📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive
- 📖 RSS: Readwise Reader
- 🙍🏻♂️ Contacts: Apple Contacts
- 🌐 Browser: Safari, but I want to try Arc
- 💬 Chat: iMessage, Discord and WhatsApp
- 🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop.io
- 📑 Read It Later: Readwise Reader
- 📔 Journal: Day One
- 🛒 Shopping Lists: AnyList, with capture via Apple Reminders
- 🍴 Meal Planning: Notion
- 🎥 Media Tracking: Sequel (syncing to Trakt)
- 🎵 Music: Apple Music and Triode (for internet radio)
- 🎤 Podcasts: PocketCasts
- 🔐 Password Management: 1Password (mainly for family sharing)
- 🐘 Mastodon: Ivory
- ⌨️ Launcher: Raycast
- 🛤️ Habit etc. Tracking: Chronicling (full disclosure: I am the developer behind this app!)
- 🌤️ Weather: Mercury Weather
- 👨🏻💻 Terminal: iTerm2
- 🧮 Code Editor: Xcode and Visual Studio Code
You can find more of these posts (and likely some great new app ideas!) at Robb’s defaults site.