Default Apps 2023

iPhone lying on MacBook and iPad with Apple Pencil
Photo by Brandon Romanchuk / Unsplash

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:  Mail
  • 📮 Mail Service: Gmail and Fastmail (referral link)
  • 📝 Notes: Obsidian, but also  Notes (for anything attachment heavy) and Notion (for highly structured data like reading/health logs)
  • ✅ To-Do: Things 3 and  Reminders (for shared tasks)
  • 📓 Scratchpad: Tot
  • 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting:  Camera or Halide
  • 🟦 Photo Management:  Photos
  • 📆 Calendar:  Calendar
  • 📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive
  • 📖 RSS: Readwise Reader
  • 🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts:  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  Reminders
  • 🍴 Meal Planning: Notion
  • 🎥 Media Tracking: Sequel (syncing to Trakt)
  • 🎵 Music:  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.