As I get more into RSS and following developer blogs, I’ve noticed a trend to share app defaults. We often don’t stop and think about the apps we use everyday, so this is a good chance to stop and learn from other developers. As an Android and Linux user, I’ve avoided the Apple default apps over the past few years, despite using a Macbook everyday. I also don’t want to get trapped in the Apple ecosystem, so most of the services I use are open-source (except Google services) or easy to migrate from (e.g. Todoist). I’m also interested in seeing how the apps I use change over time. Here are mine in summer 2024:

• 📮 Mail Server: Protonmail, Riseup and Gmail
• 📨 Mail Client: Webclients of the above
• 📝 Notes: Obsidian (Android), VSCode (Mac)
• ✅ To-Do: Todoist
• 📷 Camera: Pixel 6a Camera app
• 🟦 Photo Management: Photoprism (Docker)
• 📆 Calendar: Google Calendar
• 📁 Cloud Storage: Google Drive
• 📖 RSS: FreshRSS (Docker) and Fluent Reader (Android)
• 🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Google
• 🌐 Browser: Firefox (Nightly on Android, Developer Edition on Mac), Orion (Mac)
• 💬 Chat: WhatsApp and Signal
• 🔖 Bookmarks: N/A
• 📑 Read It Later: Pocket
• 📜 Word Processing: LibreOffice or VSCode
• 📈 Spreadsheets: Google Sheets
• 📊 Presentations: N/A
• 🛒 Shopping Lists: Todoist
• 🍴 Meal Planning: Mealie (Docker)
• 💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance: Starling
• 📰 News: RSS (above)
• 🎵 Music: Symfonium (Android) and Plex (Docker)
• 🎤 Podcasts: PocketCasts
• 🔐 Password Management: Bitwarden

Extras

• 💻 Code Editor: VSCode
• 🖥 Terminal: iTerm2
• 🪟 Window Manager: Amethyst and Magnet
• 🚀 Launcher: Raycast
• 🔎 Search: Startpage
• ⌨️ Keyboard sounds: Klack
• 🥡 Font manager: Fontbase
• 📦 Package Manager: Homebrew
• 📹 Video editor: Final Cut Pro
• 🖌️ Design tools: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Bridge), Affinity Designer, Pixelmator
• 🎨 Colour Picker: Sip
• 📸 Screenshot manager: Shottr
• ◻️ Default Colour Theme: Dracula