This post is part of a tradition I started 10 years ago! Every now and then, I make a list of the apps and services I use on a daily basis and share them in these posts. Discovering new apps is something I love, so I can help someone who has the same taste for new things.
Interestingly, some apps I've been using since 2014, like iA Writer (which I'm using to write this post) and Buffer. I'll talk about both of them in a moment, but first, I want to talk about another tool that's crucial to my setup: SetApp (horrible pun, but I couldn't resist).
I've been using Setapp since 2017 and am still a huge fan. Its monthly subscription gives you access to over 250 apps, some for macOS and some for iOS and iPadOS.
PS: if you sign up through the link, you and I will receive some benefits (which may change depending on the subscription date).
PS2: Since I use several Setapp apps, I'll mark them in italics for easy identification.
Without further ado, let's get to my list, separated into some categories, as I did in the last post (in portuguese) in this series.
Software development
- iTerm + fish. I wrote a post explaining my environment settings.
- Visual Studio Code. No introduction is needed, right? I use it mainly for development in Go.
- Zed is my second editor. I use it as much as I can because it's a very lightweight and well-built tool. VSCode wins when I need to debug in Go because it's better prepared for that.
- OrbStack is a fast and free Docker Desktop replacement for personal use. It comes with a configured K8s cluster, which is useful for local testing.
- OpenLens. Although I like using kubectl to manage the local k8s cluster, OpenLens is helpful, especially when I want to show something in a lecture because it is more visual.
Productivity
- 1Password. Password and secret vault. It's a subscription I'd pay for without thinking twice.
- CleanMyMac. Cleans up macOS and optimizes several performance settings.
- Paste. This very useful clipboard manager app was a recent addition to my list.
- Soulver. Note-taking tool that automatically performs calculations based on the text. Very useful for quick calculations.
- Lungo. For those times when I don't want macOS to go into sleep mode.
- Spark. Email client with superb usability and some handy features. I'm curious to try Notion Mail, and maybe Spark is in danger of being dropped from my list by 2025
- Bartender. Helps organize the clutter of icons in your macOS menu bar.
- Notion. My second brain, I write everything down in it.
- Notion Calendar. I've been using it since Notion bought the company when it was called Cron.
- Todoist. I adopted it this year after using paper notebooks for years and Apple's Reminders for a while. It's a great tool and well worth the subscription.
- Google Workspace. I pay for the plan for one user with my own domain. With this, I have an email and access to Drive, Docs, and other tools.
- Safari is my main browser, but I still have Google Chrome for some emergencies, like using Google Meet, which is faster in Google's browser.
- Freeform. I use this native Apple app to take notes on iPad and MacOS.
- Readwise. I recently subscribed to it to centralize the notes I take in e-books and blog posts. It's still too early to know if I'll renew the subscription in 2025.
Posts and Lectures
- iA Writer. I've been a fan of the product and company for over 10 years. It's my favorite Markdown editor.
- Buffer. This is another tool I've been using for a decade to schedule social media posts.
- Grammarly is another tool that I happily renew every year. I use it to help me proofread my English posts.
- Google Slides. I have used the excellent Deckset for years, but recently, I started using Google Slides to produce slides for my presentations. The advantage is that it is easy to share presentations, but I still miss the practicality of Deckset. Maybe I will rethink this decision at some point.
- For my personal site, I use Hugo, and I host the markdown files on GitHub. Publishing is done whenever I push to the repository using Netlify.
- To manage the newsletters A Semana Go and Mais que Senior, I use Substack.
Of course, I always have Apple Music open while I work because I can't live without music. Another must-have category is communication apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, which are always open to chatting with friends and family.
You may have noticed the absence of AI tools like ChatGPT, right? Although I installed the tool, it has yet to become part of my daily usage flow. However, the vast majority of tools I use have AI features, so I can say that I use technology in the best way I can imagine: without even realizing it.
If you have any suggestions, you can share them here in the comments.
If you find it useful for me to make a similar list of the apps I use on the iPad, use the comments to give me this feedback.
Originally published at https://eltonminetto.dev on November 4, 2024.
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