My Default Apps: 2025

Following the end-of-year tradition, here is an updated list of the apps I choose to use for the vast majority of my daily activities on my Mac and iPhone.

Other years: 2024, 2023.

Apps that are new compared to last year are marked with the ✨ emoji.

• 📧 Mail service: Fastmail
• 📬 Mail client: Fastmail✨
  • I used to use Apple Mail but got tired of its unreliability. Fastmail's iOS app and web client on desktop are close to perfect, really.
• 📆 Calendar: BusyCal✨
  • More reliable than Apple Calendar and I love the "Current & Upcoming" widget on iOS. I don't use a lot of the features, but since it's included in Setapp, it's a no-brainer.
• ✅ Tasks: TickTick
• 📝 Notes: Obsidian
• 🌐 Web browser: Vivaldi✨ on Mac, a mix of Vivaldi✨ and Orion✨ on iPhone
  • I wrote extensively about my migration from Arc to Vivaldi on the desktop. On mobile, Vivaldi is not as appealing. Orion scratches my need for simpler navigation when I just need to do a quick search.
• 📰 RSS Reader: Reeder✨
  • Readwise Reader was great but too expensive. Reeder works pretty well and it's a one-time purchase that I'm pretty happy with.
• 🧮 Code Editor: Windsurf✨
  • It's VS Code, but with better integrated AI features. It's very powerful if used correctly, which I like to believe I'm doing.
• 👨🏻‍💻 Terminal: iTerm 2
• 🔎 Search: Kagi
• ⌨️ Launcher: Raycast
• ☁️ Cloud storage: iCloud
• 🌅 Photo library: iCloud
• 🌤️ Weather: Apple Weather
• 🎙️ Podcasts: Apple Podcasts / YouTube
• 🎶 Music: Apple Music
• 🛹 Clipboard manager: Maccy
• 🔐 Passwords: 1Password
• 💸 Budgeting: YNAB
• 💁🏻‍♂️ Social: Mastodon
• 🐘 Mastodon: Phanpy✨
  • Simply the best social media client ever. Everything is so thoughtfully put together. It's a web app which is great on desktop, slightly less so on mobile (mainly Apple's fault). I made an iOS version of it, which should be launched somewhere soon (just maybe not the App Store).
• 🎮 Gaming: PS5 and Switch
• 🖼️ Screenshots: CleanShot X