My App Defaults

So it seems there's a trend of bloggers telling other people what apps they use in their day to day. I decided to join in on the fun and explain my software decisions in the process.

Code Editor: Visual Studio Code. I have tried Sublime Text, Brackets, Atom, Notepad++, and Jetbrains IDEs. I would go to Jetbrain IDEs if coding wasn't a hobby for me but it is so I decided to go with the second best which is VS Code. I like Jetbrains' PyCharm because it contains a lot of helpful tools out of the box especially for Python which I find lacking in VS Code. Most of them can be solved by extensions but I'd rather have them natively installed.

Desktop Browser: Microsoft Edge. It's Chromium based already and so I didn't see a point with Google Chrome. I've tried Firefox but certain websites simply break and I end up having to use a Chromium browser. I would likely switch to a lighter Chromium-based browser if it wasn't the default.

Mobile Browser: Safari. There's simply no way around it in iOS since they all use the same engine. I don't see the point installing another browser if it's basically the same thing underneath.

Search Engine: DuckDuckGo. It's actually pretty decent but I sometimes use Bing for the points. But DuckDuckGo's results are actually pretty good though I still go to Google for ~10-15% of my queries. That might seem bad but I just think it's a way to get other type of results using a different algorithm.

Cloud Storage: OneDrive. I used to use Google Drive but then my school used Microsoft so I started using OneDrive more. I started preferring MS Office over Google products so it made more sense to me to use OneDrive so I did. There's not much difference between the two anyway so it's pretty much a random decision.

Maps: Google Maps. Nothing else comes close to the accuracy. I've tried Apple Maps before and it wasn't good enough for me. Waze is what I use though when driving because the traffic conditions are more accurate due to the community reports. However, if I need to check out where a place actually, I use Google Maps.

Email, Calendar and Contacts: Outlook. I've used Gmail before but I switched over recently for personal reasons. One is that I find Outlook's UI to be friendlier. Second, they use tags which makes it pretty wonky when using it with third party clients like Apple Mail. Third, Google Calendar stopped automatically putting flights in my Calendar at some point which was frustrating. I do miss the Spam filtering of Google because I find it to be much better than Outlook's.

DNS: 1.1.1.1. Have been using this since it launched in 2018. I've only had to disable it a few times to make it work on a few websites. Most of them is because the websites wouldn't allow me to use a different DNS (college exam software during the pandemic was fun). It is much more reliable than my internet provider's DNS and I usually install it on other people's phones with their permission because there is almost no downsides.

Password Manager: 1Password. I've tried Bitwarden before and it's still something I will recommend because it is still a great free password manager but the UI of 1Password is still superior for me. With this, I only know four passwords by heart: my phone password, my personal computer's password, 1Password, and my work computer's password. Everything else is in 1Password.

Notetaking: Craft Docs and Plain Text. I use Craft to consolidate my files but I use plain text for note taking and for intermittent thoughts. This is usually done in Notepad.

Tasks and Projects: Things 3. I love this app since it launched and I wish I could use it on my Windows computer. I've tried other apps but I always come back to this because it's just so good.

Music: Spotify. I tried twice to get away from Spotify. I failed twice. Their Discover Weekly algorithm is so good and I discovered many songs and artists through it.

Podcast Manager: Apple Podcasts. I've tried Overcast and it's good and so is Pocketcasts. Spotify is decent. But the extra features of Overcast and Pocketcasts weren't worth the price tag for me so back to Apple Podcasts for the default app.

RSS Reader: Reeder with Miniflux. I initially used the in-app RSS Reader of Reeder but I moved to Miniflux so I can fetch feeds while away.

Habit Tracker: Streaks. I purchased these around many years ago and I love the simple UI. It is very straightforward and there's not really much to say about it other than it works.

Read it Later: GoodLinks. I've been with Pocket before and I actually had been in their top 0.1% of readers before. However, after a few of their decisions in the UI, plans, and other things a few years ago, I went with many other read it later apps. Eventually, I settled with GoodLinks because it just works.

As you can see, most of my services are Microsoft or Apple based. I used to be a Google fan until they discontinued a few services I used a lot and did not offer a replacement or integrate them into their products like they said they would. Yes - their products are free (well, at least in terms of money) and I shouldn't expect them to continue offering them for nothing. However, I was willing to pay for a few products they discontinued (Google Reader for instance) and there are others whose features were never integrated into their product like Google Inbox.

I used to be an early adopter of many Google products but their shutdowns are just disappointing. I don't mind them if they clearly aren't working but Google seems to have a mindset of "If it ain't earning a billion dollars, it's not worth it." So I decided to switch to Microsoft who at least spends a few years and does invest in the new products before deciding to cut it.

As for private and self hosted services, I've tried. It's too clunky and too much work. Privacy and security should be easy and not a nuisance.