App Defaults (2025)

RSS updates from Robb Knight's App Defaults post list are always a fun read. Below is my contribution to the group focusing on Mac OS and a bias towards Google services thanks to a Google One subscription.

• 📨 Mail Client: Gmail PWA
  I tried other clients like Mimestream, Superhuman or even Apple Mail but Gmail's PWA works well enough. I can reference it from Shortcuts or Aerospace to enable automation scripts, extend its keyboard shortcuts and even play with extensions like Inboxy.
  
  
• 📮 Mail Server: Gmail / Google Workspace
  No need to look into other services as of now.
  
  
• 📝 Notes: Analog: Hobonichi Weeks / Digital: Obsidian
  I use a mix of analog and digital note taking. Most of my free form thinking happens on my notebook but Obsidian helps me to put together notes I can use with GenAI tools for different purposes.
  
  
• ✅ To-Do: Analog: Hobonichi Weeks / Digital: Inbox
  I use a combination of the bullet journal method and a ritual similar to that of Ugmonk's Analog system for my To-Do's. The Weeks is great for that: portable, fountain pen friendly and easy to track things with its pages formatting.
  
  For digital lists I tried the whole gamut: Things 3, Todoist, Obsidian plugins, etc. but I realised that since I follow a very strict Inbox Zero method tracking my tasks through my email inbox works well and even more after adding mail filters and using methods like the qq trick to quickly classify them.
  
  
• 📷 Photo Shooting: Pixel Camera App
  The default app provides enough control over exposure details, file formats and helps to quickly jump into Google Photos for quick edits.
  
  
• 🟦 Photo Management: Google Photos
  Works across devices, provides a really good search functionality and the AI-powered edit functionality is something I use all the time.
  
  
• 📆 Calendar: Google Calendar (PWA)
  I used Fantastical for a bit, but I couldn't justify the price of a subscription to manage my calendar.
  
  
• 📁 Cloud File Storage: Google Drive
  I've been looking into a home NAS but until that happens I'm OK with Drive and its TBs of space.
  
  
• 📖 RSS: Feedly
  Many, many years later I still mourn the loss of Google Reader (RIP). Feedly works OK across devices and even though I read my feeds daily I don't need any advanced feature from the alternatives.
  
  
• 🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Phone
  
  
• 🌐 Browser: Chrome for now.
  I was really enjoying Arc but after The Browser Company announced they were discontinuing its development I stopped using it. I've been trying Zen and other options but nothing that I'd call my default just yet.
  
  
• 💬 Chat: WhatsApp
  The default on every single community I'm part of.
  
  
• 🔖 Bookmarks: Nothing.
  
  
• 📑 Read It Later: Instapaper
  I was using Pocket (RIP x2) so I'm defaulting to Instapaper for now. I used to pay for Push To Kindle because their conversion was much better than other options but eventually got tired of juggling articles as books on my Kindle.
  
  
• 📜 Word Processing: iA Writer
  Sublime writing experience.
  
  
• 📈 Spreadsheets: Google Sheets
  Accessible and free.
  
  
• 📊 Presentations: iA Presenter / Google Slides
  There are other options like Marp to create slides with Markdown but they are not even close to the level of polish iA Presenter has. The focus on writing the story first and letting the app do all the formatting for you is really attractive and fun.
  
  Having said that, it doesn't always work, either because of the company tech stack, the need to collaborate with others or simply because we need to use a specific Slides template.
  
  
• 🛒 Shopping Lists: Google Keep if I need one.
  
  
• 🍴 Meal Planning: Mealie
  Great self-hosting app to save web recipes and plan meals.
  
  
• 💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance: Actual Budget
  Another great self-hosting app. It is a great (and free!) alternative to YNAB if you follow their tips and methods.
  
  
• 📰 News: None
  
  
• 🎵 Music: Spotify
  Get a family plan!
  
  
• 🎤 Podcasts: Spotify + AntennaPod
  Spotify for the ease of use and availability. AntennaPod for the additional power features and the great interface to play local files.
  
  
• 🔐 Password Management: Proton Pass
  It's easy to setup, works well and works everywhere.
  
  
• 🪟 Tiling Window Manager: Aerospace
  I find it more robust than Amethyst, doesn't ask you to touch SIP like Yabai and its text based config is great. The i3 inspiration also helps me a lot to have a consistent config with my Linux box running Sway.
  
  
• 🧑🏻‍💻 Code Editor: Neovim
  I do use Neovim, btw.
  
  
• 💻 Terminal: Kitty
  I really like Ghostty but it has issues with tiling WM. Since I want to keep my setup consistent across machines I decided to use Kitty everywhere for the time being.