# Defaults

> My 'default apps'.

The Hemispheric Views podcast that [I was on](https://listen.hemisphericviews.com/096) the other week had a fun [Duel of the Defaults](https://listen.hemisphericviews.com/097) episode last week.

Do you use the default stuff that comes with the computer, or something else?

I definitely feel like mine has tended more to the default over the last five years. Here it is.

- Mail Client: Mail.app.

- Mail Server: [Migadu](https://migadu.com). Love Migadu, 💯

- Notes: [Bear](https://bear.app), sorry @canion.

- To-Do: Scrap of paper and pencil; Reminders for longer-term, remind-me-on-a-day.
  - Though I never use Reminders.app: stuff gets in there via Siri or Fantastical, and Fantastical tells me it's due.

- iPhone Photo Shooting: Camera, from the Home Screen button.
  - I wish I could turn off the swipe, I only do it by accident and I realise when my phone sets on fire in my pocket.

- Photo Management: Photos.
  - It's just a decade of chaos in there worth 200GB of my iCloud storage. Mostly photos of whiteboards.

- Calendar: Fantastical/iCloud.

- Cloud file storage: iCloud, and the Synology under the desk.

- RSS: NetNewsWire sync'd with iCloud.

- Contacts: Contacts.
  - Which I brought to the first iPhone from my Nokia, and have never deleted a single one, and they're all immaculately tagged with the label and the international number format, and I have 1,690 – the vast, vast majority of which I have _no idea_ who they are any more; but if I've ever met you, you're in there.

- Browser: Safari, even for development; I switched to its dev tools last year, they're terrific.

- Chat: iMessage/Discord.

- Bookmarks: Safari, although I don't really keep bookmarks.
  - The trick is to set your history to never expire (_Safari > Settings > General > Remove history items: Manually_), and then every site you've ever visited will autocomplete, so why bother with bookmarks?

- Read It Later: `null`, don't use; is that -1 points, @canion?

- Word Processing: Pages, or VSCode because I need Vim keybindings.

- Spreadsheets: Excel.
  - Sorry Numbers but nah.

- Presentations: [iA Presenter](https://ia.net/presenter). Lush OMG.
  - Worth downloading for the video that plays when it launches; the only video in all of history that I ask to play again the next time.

<div id="pencil" />

- Shopping Lists: A [Field Notes](https://fieldnotesbrand.com) notebook and a [Mitsubishi 9850](https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2022/11/21/mitsubishi-9850-hb-pencil-review) pencil.

- Meal Planning: I keep recipes in [Mela.app](https://mela.recipes) which is _amazing_.

- Budgeting & Personal Finance: `null` unless you count my bank's iPhone app?

- News: after doom-scrolling Covid for the entirety of 2020 I stopped reading all news as of 2021. I haven't been to a news site since then. It's one of the best things I've ever done for my mental health.
  - Of course, I get news. I see Lucy's screen; she tells me things; people send me links; we put the radio on. This isn't a religious thing ... I just don't browse it, myself.

- Music: Apple Music.
  - Typing this listening to Texas' 1989 (?!!?!) - album 'Southside' because it was suggested.

- Podcasts: Overcast.

- Passwords: 1Password.

There's now ~~98~~ 99 of these that [Robb Knight has collected here](https://defaults.rknight.me).