Below is the list of apps I use in various categories. I have excluded my strict work-usage-only applications.

• 📨 Mail Client: Mimestream (macOS/iOS) ✨

• 📮 Mail Server: Gmail, Fastmail, and some iCloud hosting with a custom domain

• 📝 Notes: Notes.app (ad-hoc/personal), Obsidian (work). ✨

• ✅ To-Do: Obsidian/Todoist - Late shift to Obsidian full-time using a single page method.

• 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: iOS Camera / !Boring Camera

• 🟦 Photo Management: Lightroom, Photos.app, Google Photos

• 📆 Calendar: Calendar.app, Outlook (macOS/iOS) ✨

• 📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive, Google Drive

• 📖 RSS: feedly + Reeder Classic (macOS), and Lire (iOS/iPadOS) ✨

• 🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Contacts.app, Cardhop (for birthdays)

• 🌐 Browser: Chrome / ChatGPT Atlas, Safari (iOS). I still bounce between these three evenly ✨

• 💬 Chat: iMessage, Telegram, Discord, Slack

• 🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop.io, Plinky (end of year testing out). Capture. I’m still deciding what to use full time, but bounce between these options. I also have dabbled with Totmark… which will require a post to explain how that works. ✨

• 📑 Read It Later: Matter but admittedly using RIL apps less and less.

• 📜 Word Processing: Drafts ✨

• 📈 Spreadsheets: Excel

• 📊 Presentations: PowerPoint (occasionally dabble with Keynote)

• 🛒 Shopping Lists: Instacart/Meijer app or Walmart direct

• 🍴 Meal Planning: N/A (I use shopping apps to plan)

• 💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance: Monarch Money

• 📰 News: Apple News, RSS

• 🎵 Music: Apple Music

• 🎤 Podcasts: Apple Podcasts

• 🔐 Password Management: Keychain/Passwords.app (1Password is only used for licenses and secured notes)

• 👨‍💻 Code Editor: Nova and Antigravity to finish the year.

• ✈️ VPN: Tailscale

• ✨ AI Platform: Gemini (post 3-Pro), ChatGPT, and Claude, with some dabbling in local LLMs

Other Apps I Rely On:

• Search/Utility: Raycast • Screenshots: CleanShot X • Clipboard Manager: Raycast ✨

Here is a link to my App Defaults 2024 post.

For background, I was inspired by Hemispheric Views 097 - Duel of the Defaults! and this post by Robb Knight.