Apps I use in 2025
Apps I use in 2025
An updated list of the apps that I use to run my life.
Task Management
Things
This is the big one. If you have read my recent blog post, you will see that this became an easy decision to go back to. I won't elaborate a ton here, since that post covers it all. Suffice to say, I'm happy right where I am with Things! Also, their customer support is rock-solid, just like the app's sync service.
Calendar Events
Fantastical
This has been my standard since 2015. I have always looked back at Apple Calendar when updates arrived, but for running my business day-to-day, it doesn't get better than Fantastical. I wrote about this a few years back, too. In the intervening years since that post, Flexibits has added Openings, which I use regularly to allow a client to book a meeting with me on their schedule. The interface, speed, Watch app, voice input - all of it makes this the best calendaring service. I no longer use Calendly because of it.
Contact Management
Cardhop
Also by Flexibits, this allows me to collect a contact's info (something I do dozens of times per week), and act on it, too. I can make calls, email, message, propose events - all from Cardhop. It beats the built-in Contacts app hands-down.
Idea Generation
MindNode
I have used MindNode for 9 or 10 years now. It is a beautiful way to get those creative thoughts out of your head and shake them loose! It's a minimalist canvas, and a great example of the mind-mapping technique. What I also love about it is that it has an outline, so if you happen to be more of a linear thinker you can use that, too. It's like peanut butter and jelly - you don't have to choose which to use since you can use them both!
Podcasts
Castro Podcasts
This is a hard one only because currently this app is iPhone/Apple Watch/Carplay-only. I would prefer that it is on the Mac and iPad (those seem to be in the works, per the Bluck Apps company's blog, talking about sync coming soon), but for now we just get an awesome app on those platforms. It allows you to place the episodes that you want to listen to in a chronological queue (the most logical way, in my opinion). You can also have "Folders", which allow you to have favorite podcasts, or even frequently-updated ones added to your Queue automatically, and parsed out in their own section. The design is great. The wonderful Supertop team sold this years ago to Tiny, who let it languish and left it for dead. It was in horrible shape and I had abandoned it for Overcast (overrated), or Apple Podcasts (has gotten better). But once Dustin Bluck picked it up in lat 2023/early 2024 it has seen nothing but love and consistent updates. I would say you can feel good and frankly, confident, about the future of this podcast player. The discoverability is second only to Apple's own Apple Podcasts.
Note-taking
Apple Notes
Boring choice? Maybe. Wish I could generate links to place in Things easier? Yup. But this note taking app is still the king. You don't have to fiddle with settings to get the Apple Pencil to just start writing and can even write long-form with the Apple Pencil if you like (I am looking at you, Bear). The link integration where I can add a link to the last to-do or project that I viewed in Things is of particular help. This way, I can create a link to a note in Apple Notes, click the link to the to-do or project in Things, and paste the link there. Now I have bi-directional commuting between the Things item and the Apple note! I love that we now have section folding, too. Makes the notes look cleaner as you navigate their content.
News
The three choices below pretty much cover what I want to see. A broad spectrum of news, and for a U.S. resident like me, I get the BBC News perspective, which I love (they have a great design, by the way).
Apple News
NPR
BBC News
Navigation
Apple Maps
Some people rip on Apple Maps as not being accurate all of the time. True, about 1% of the time (it led my wife and I to the Disney cast parking lot recently, instead of Disney Hollywood Studios 🤣). But for the other 99%, it is stellar, and hey - it's built-in.
Music
Apple Music
Since we subscribe to Apple One as a family, I get Apple News+ and this. I feel that it has the largest selection, it is everywhere (Mac, iPad, iPhone, Watch, and web), and generally gets recommendations for me very right.
Reading
Apple Books
I actually love the presentation of Apple Books. The page turn effect is great on an iPad or iPhone. Plus the Paper theme is great on both of those devices, as it enlarges the typeface. Paper literally looks like paper.
Messaging
Messages
Secure, native, and I can now have a Genmoji of me wearing a NY Mets cap. Need I say more?
Writing
iA Writer
I have used Ulysses, and that app is stellar. But there is something about the obsessive typeface curation, minimalist aqua-blue blinking cursor against a blank background that gets me writing faster. Plus, iA Writer has native Markdown support, where Ulysses has their own "Markdown XL", which I am less of a fan of. Additionally, in iA Writer you are not locked in - your files are written in Markdown if you like, and you can open them in say, Obsidian, later. Their support is wonderful, and yes, you can write (and I am writing) a novel in there.
Book Formatting
Pages
I write in iA Writer, but for the finished prettiness I turn to Apple Pages to make a chunk of thousands of words of text look like a book. Still amazing after all of these years.
Data Management
Numbers
I use an Apple Shortcut that allows me to tap an icon on my home screen, and it creates a row in Numbers and sends a task to Things to act on that row. Great for data management, Numbers is the better version of Excel. My wife is a power user of Excel and says Numbers doesn't do enough, but for those of us who want to manage, well, numbers - or names, dates, etc - this is enough for us. Used it since 2009.
Presentations
iA Presenter
A cousin to iA Writer, this is a unique way to put presentations together. I use this when I have something that does not have to be labored over, and where I am using it as more of a live guide for a freeform conversation. You write in Markdown, using the # in front of the text that you want to appear on the slide. Anything else that you write on the slide is a note to yourself, and cannot be seen by the audience. The same thought that was put into the cleanliness of iA Writer was used here. Worth every penny.
Keynote
Once of Steve Jobs' favorite apps back in the day, this still does it for me for those presentations where you need to branch out and make every slide glisten.
Calculator
PCalc
Menu Bar access is just about the biggest reason that I bought the paid version, and I use the app everywhere. There is even an Apple TV app! James Thomson has made widgets, and great iPhone and iPad versions, too. Overkill for what I need daily, but it flows much better than Apple's built-in Calculator.
Health
Day One
I don't write nearly as much as I should in this journal, but have about 1,000 entries since 2011 when I began using it. That's about 6 entries/month, but you know what? It is worth the subscription. The other day I came upon a great memory of travel with my wife, and even a cut pic of my old dog, Bobby. The emotion that you can capture in Markdown here is worth it, and the fact that it has a great Apple Watch app, where the barrier to entry is lowest, is a win.
Lose It!
I have lost 18 pounds in the last 60 days. It's because of obsessing about what I put into my body, and this app is the recorder and auditor of it all.
Focus
Now this is something I never thought that I would need, but have used for about 8 years now. In essence a Pomodoro timer, the design has that classic German craftsmanship and care. Jan and Kerstin and the team at Meaningful Things have done a wonderful job of integrating a timer, a task list (I use this only to write down what I am using the timer for in the moment, not a full-featured task list like Things), and inspiring quotes. It is inspiring to use, a paired with a Focus mode to shut out the outside notifications and distractions of the world, an extremely powerful way to get things done that are important to you.
Zenitizer
Meditation made simple. I have never found a better, simpler, more straightforward and nice to look at app, all-in-one. Missing on the Mac, but hopefully that is developed sooner than later. For watchOS, iOS, iPadOS.
Quick Notes
Tot
The Iconfactory are excellent artists, and it shows in their development of this simple, post-it-notes style tool. For macOS, watchOS, iOS, iPadOS.
Drafts
This would normally be overkill for me, and since I use Tot I would normally not subscribe to it except for this simple, undeniable power: I can dictate with a tap of a button on my watch. I then open Drafts on any device. I then tap a "Send to iA Writer" button, and the text is now in my writing app. That's three taps, and the text is ready to be fleshed out. Not bad.
Internet Radio
Triode
Again from The Iconfactory. Since I used to work in radio (shout out to Eagle Broadcasting, NY!), I have always loved the medium. I still listen to my Ithaca hometown stations here in Florida, and I can get WNYC or the local NPR station, or rock out of L.A., or CNBC, or whatever. This app is used daily for my live audio news intake.
Drawing
Linea Sketch
Another hit from The Iconfactory, this app allows me, a terrible artist, to flesh out ideas. I have literally fleshed out scenes that I see in my head for a book, mapped out my office outlay, and planned a patio reconstruction project with this app. A beauty!
Social Media
Tapestry
You'll get tired of me talking about The Iconfactory, but here is the last one from them. This is a brand-new app. I had backed the Kickstarter about a year ago, and Tapestry is going to be something special: a timeline viewer and reader, without the pressure of social media engagement. I follow blogs, YouTube artists, Apple's Newsroom headlines...the list goes on. This is your social media and web digests coalesced into a timeline in this app. I hope it will be a hit!
Ivory
I was a Twitterrific user. But when spaceboy killed Twitter, I moved on to Mastodon, which I enjoy. This app is a third-party Mastodon app. The design is decent, and it is loaded with the features that you need. I do wish the support from Tapbots was better, as I have had a few questions unanswered by them. The design and functionality are really good.
Timeline Management
Aeon Timeline
A complicated app doing complicated things beautifully. This app allows me to weave major story arcs, character development, and sub-stories together. It is not intuitive, but with some YouTube support from their channel you can get the hang of it. You can actually use it for everything from project management to story planning. Decent.
Finances
Debit & Credit
Simple app to track bank and credit balances, and it is on watchOS, iPadOS, macOS, and iOS.
If you liked this list, of have any questions, let me know!