My Everyday Apps – January 2024
There are some fantastic apps out there! Here are the ones I use daily…
I’ve written a few everyday carry articles on my blog, but I don’t think I’ve written one about the apps I use on a daily basis, not for a while anyway, so thanks for the suggestion The Sukha Company!
After being the proud owner of a Google Pixel 7 Pro for a year (and a Pixel 6 Pro the previous year), I decided to switch things up a little bit and move my main sim into an iPhone 14 Pro Max which based on my experience so far, also is a pretty good phone.
With that in mind, my everyday apps haven’t changed that much, especially as I try to prioritise apps that are available across multiple platforms to allow me to easily switch between iOS and Android.
With that out of the way, here are my everyday apps…
Email App: Spark
Managing emails can be a lengthy process, to the extent that it frequently led me to procrastination.
With the help of Spark, I was able to turn a task that would usually take me anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to complete to under 10 minutes. Here’s How…
Spark automatically organises my emails into categories such as Notifications and Newsletters leaving what it sees as important out, that way I can prioritise and respond to actual emails.
Once I’m done, I can simply mark the email as done and it will get archived. When it comes to the emails that are listed in the categories I can mark the entire category as done without opening the email which can save a huge amount of time.
This proves to be extremely useful for notification emails, where I scan through the subjects and if I don’t deem any of the emails to be useful to me, I simply press done and that will archive them all and help me achieve Inbox Zero.
On top of that, the premium version has AI built in which helps me write and respond to emails, which I think works extremely well.
Overall, Spark is easily my favourite email app, I even pay for the premium subscription!
Calendar: Google Calendar
My go-to calendar app for a long time has been Google Calendar, I use it on my phone, I use it on my desktop, I use it on my iPad and I use it for both personal and business use.
I’ve used many calendar solutions in the past including Outlook Calendar and the iCloud one, but in terms of features, I think Google Calendar is simply one of the best.
Google Calendar is the main calendar service I use, but I also tend to use other apps to manage my calendar. For example, I’ve recently been trying out Apple’s Calendar app for managing my Google Calendar on my MacBook, iPad and iPhone and I think that the and is pretty good. I’ve also been trying out Cron and Fantastical, both of which are great apps.
In terms of Android, I always stuck to the Google Calendar app as it’s incredibly well-built and I love that they finally released a version for WearOS.
To-Do List: TickTick and Galarm
After ditching the Apple ecosystem around 2-years ago, I found it really difficult to find a To-Do list app that was a good enough substitute for Things (My all-time favourite To-Do list App). I kept switching between the apps and it wasn’t a great experience.
The app that I used the most happens to be TickTick, which is actually a really good app and it has some great features built in such as a Pomodoro timer, a habit tracker and the Eisenhower matrix.
I still consider my main to-do list app to be TickTick, but now that I’m back in the Apple Ecosystem, I decided to temporarily go back to Things to see if I enjoy it in the same way I remember and you know what, I don’t think I do.
Somehow, I seem to prefer TickTick now that I built a task management system that works for me.
Speaking about To-do lists, when it comes to the tasks I have to do at a certain time, I use an app called Galarm as it rings an alarm to remind me to do that particular task, which is great for people who live busy lifestyles.
Browser: Chrome, Safari and Edge
When it comes to web browsers, I’ve primarily been using Google Chrome on Android, Mac, Linux and iOS. However, I am slowly making the transition to Safari and Edge.
I find that Safari works really well on my iPhone and iPad, but for some reason, I still prefer to use Chrome on my MacBook.
In terms of my work phone and laptop, I tend to use Edge, and I definitely think that it’s an underrated browser, it just works so well!
Speaking of which, I am also planning to give Edge a go on the Mac to see how good it is.
But like with the Do-list apps, I find that I’m in the same boat with web browsers, I keep switching them around. Last year alone, I tried daily driving Brave, Opera, Firefox, Vivaldi, and Edge, but for some reason, I always returned to Chrome in the end.
I’m not sure why that is and I actually find it kind of strange.
Audio: Spotify, Audible, PocketCasts and Endel
My go-to app for music is Spotify, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite option, that title goes to YouTube Music.
As much as I like YouTube Music, it simply wouldn’t work out in my smart home ecosystem. The main reason for that is Alexa. Most of my smart home runs off Alexa and at the time of writing this article, there is no way to set YouTube Music as my default music provider.
The main reason I like YouTube Music is that I listen to a lot of indie artists, which are widely available on YouTube, but not Spotify.
With that in mind, I don’t think that Spotify is a bad app, in fact, I quite like Spotify, especially due to the fact that it has a nice app and that it is available across multiple devices including Alexa and the web.
Moving on to audiobooks, I tend to listen to them on Audible, although I have used other apps in the past such as Apple Books and Google Play Books.
I find that audiobooks are a great way of getting use out of books without actually having to sit down and read a book. This works perfectly for people with busy lifestyles like me and it allows me to get through a lot more books than I usually would be able to.
At the time of writing this article, I pay £7.99 per month for an audible subscription and I think it really is worth it if you are into books. If you are interested in giving them a go, use this link to get the first 30 days free.
I tend to listen to audiobooks when I’m commuting to and from work and if I’m out on a walk. Put it this way, I would even go as far as saying that audiobooks, changed my life and here’s why.
I also tend to listen to podcasts and my favourite app tends to be PocketCasts as I like the interface and it just works really well, especially on Android.
The last app I wanted to mention in this section is Endel, which is an app I’ve been using more and more, especially when trying to focus on a particular task.
Notes: Google Keep and Apple Notes
I currently tend to use 2 apps for taking notes. I use Google Keep for noting down ideas and Apple Notes as my main notebook app.
I’ve been a huge fan of Google Keep over the years, I think that it is perfect for anyone who wants to note down an idea quickly before they forget it. Best of all, Google Keep is available in the browser as well as iOS and Android.
One of my favourite features of Google Keep is that I can note down ideas using my voice and my watch. This works on both WearOS and Apple Watch.
I find that sometimes ideas come during the most unexpected times and being able to quickly note them down before you forget is essential. I’ve written some of my best articles from a note I made on a watch and I used it heavily when writing both of my university dissertations.
I use Apple Notes as more of a notebook app where I store things permanently and work on projects. In the past, I used OneNote for this sort of thing, but somehow I prefer Apple Notes. I still tend to use OneNote at work though.
Final Thoughts
If I were to list all the apps that I use on a daily basis, we may end up with a book, so I only mentioned some of the main apps I use as well as the ones that have really made a difference in my life.
The truth of the matter is that there are many great apps out there, it’s one of the reasons why I keep switching between some of them!
What are your daily apps? I am genuinely interested to see what apps you use on a daily basis, let us know in the comments!
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