You may have seen a bunch of nice people posting a list of their “default apps” on their respective blogs. I had meant to do a 2023 edition of this, but never got around it — my posting frequency in general on this blog was quite low in 2024. I’m determined to change that in 2025, so I plan to post a lot more frequently on Nuclear Bits starting today. Here’s my list of default apps that I used in 2024. A detailed write-up of the software and apps I use is available on the ‘Stuff I Use‘ page.
Adblocker — 1Blocker
Bookmarks — Raindrop.io
Browser — Safari
Calculator — Calzy + Soulver
Calendar — Notion Calendar + Calendars
Chat — Telegram, a bit of WhatsApp
Cloud Storage — Google Drive
CMS — WordPress (via the Classic Editor)
Currency Conversion — Currenzy (iOS), Calculate Anything (via Alfred Workflow on Mac)
Code Editor/IDE — Nova
Document Scanner — Scanner Pro
Fitness — Peak
Image Editing — Pixelmator Pro
Image Optimization — TinyPNG (via Alfred Workflow)
Journaling — Day One
Launcher — Alfred
Mail Client — Spark
Mail Server — Fastmail for personal use, Google Workspace for work
Maps & Navigation — Google Maps
Media Playback — Plex + Infuse
Meditation — Calm
Music — Apple Music
News — RSS (see above)
Notes — Apple Notes
Package Tracking — Parcel
Podcasts — Overcast
Password Management — 1Password
Photo Management — Photos.app + Google Photos on iOS, Manually (Files & Folders) on Mac
Photo Editing — Darkroom
Presentations — Google Slides
Reminders — Due
RSS — Reeder, via Feedbin (backend sync service)
Screenshots — CleanShot X
Social Media – General — Ivory (Mastodon)
Social Media – Photos — Pixelfed, Vernissage, Refrakt
Social Media – Movies — Letterboxd
Spreadsheets — Google Sheets
Tasks — Things (may be moving to Todoist)
Wallpapers — Backdrops
Window Management — Magnet
Word Processing — Google Docs
Sidenote: The App Defaults website that Robb has put up is turning into a really cool place to discover personal blogs of very interesting people. I’ve already added RSS feeds of over two dozen of them to my Reeder lists, and I urge you to go take a look.