Default applications I use

2023

Inspired by Hemispheric Views 097 - Duel of the Defaults!—and others—I decided to showcase the default applications. Omitted the categories that I don’t use (yet).

Gmail
Proton: It’s hard to switch to Proton because their Android app sucks. I use Gmail as of now, but I’m really hoping the guys at Proton pull their shit together
Gmail: When it comes to mail deliverability, Gmail beats all its competitors. I use ImprovMX to mask my email address
Fantastical 2: I don’t really use a calendar because I can’t seem to get it to fit into my workflow seamlessly. I paid for lifetime upgrades of Fantastical 2, and so I keep “using” it as of now
Google Drive: No solution is 100% reliable, so while I use Google Drive for cloud storage, I take frequent backups of important data manually and then back it up to an SFTP server using Borg and Rsync
NetNewsWire: It does one thing, and I think it does it well. No complaints so far
Android Contacts: I don’t use a personal CRM. If you matter enough to me, I have your details memorized. I can look everything else up. If I can’t, it’s like it doesn’t exist to me
Brave
Firefox: I use Brave with default shields up for maximum protection (yes, JavaScript is also disabled). If I cannot load your website without JavaScript, and I really need to access it, I open up Firefox. Otherwise I close the website altogether
Signal: Signal is not very reliable, and it is also not the most secure service either. But everything else implements privacy and security features so poorly, it keeps me from switching from Signal
Linkding: I self-host Linkding on Fly which currently satisfies my bookmark needs. I don’t use the Linkding extension, though
Google Docs
Overleaf (LaTeX): Most days I use Google Docs, but some documents just call for using L/KaTeX, which is where Overleaf comes in handy
Spotify: This app is straight-up awful. Everything else that can be looped in with Spotify, is far worse. So I’m stuck with Spotify (for now)
1Password: I’m still on 1Password 7. 1Password 8 is a fucking mess, to put it lightly