Default Apps 2024

There've been some folks sharing their 2024 default apps; let me join the fun!

My daily driver remains Firefox. Not because it's the best or fastest browser but because I still want Mozilla to play a role in this world. It's not looking good, though (Firefox is currently down to 6% global desktop market share)... I tried the new Zen browser a few times (it's a Firefox with some UX sprinkles), but it still seems rough around the edges.

Because I'm such a bad tab hoarder, one browser isn't enough for me, and I also use Arc and Wavebox for project-specific "always open" bookmarks. None of them stands out in any particular way, but I like to divide things into different applications.

I usually switch to Chrome for gnarly CSS or JavaScript debugging, and Polypane is fantastic for handling complicated, responsive designs. Polypane comes with a ton of additional functionaliy, and I should use it more often.

I was a big fan of the Cron calendar because it could block entries across calendars. The built-in appointment scheduling was great, too. Unfortunately, it was acquired by Notion, and I have no interest in being soaked into the "Notionsphere". I know many people love Notion, but it's not for me.

Since then, the Rise calendar has been my daily driver and it's... fine. I'm just looking for a functioning calendar, after all. Unfortunately, all modern calendars are trying to become something bigger these days. I really only need a fast and good-looking calendar. 🤷

To handle TODOs, I use Todoist on and off. It's good, and most importantly, it doesn't try too hard to become something else. All I need are list items with a checkbox next to it...

Raycast is my command launcher, clipboard and window manager, LLM wrapper and overall Swiss army knife. It's a great tool that can do everything if you want, but it doesn't stand in the way if you just want to use the basic stuff.

In my day job, I produce videos (Checkly and Builder) using various tools.

Out of habit, I still record in Screenflow. It's a decent and easy-to-learn recording app. Unfortunately, the product is stagnating. There hasn't been a new feature in ages. I'm open to discovering new options; if you have a great recording workflow, let me know.

For polishing audio and subtitle generation, I use Descript. Descript allows you to edit videos by editing generated subtitles and captions (I'm not using this feature, though). It also has great animations and free-to-use stock sounds, and the built-in audio polishing is just great. I'm hesitant to make it my main video driver, but I'll probably give it a shot in 2025.

For quick social media recordings, I use Screen Studio. The app has a ton of potential, and I like that it's an indie hacker product! I wouldn't record anything longer than a couple of minutes in it, but for short videos, it's fantastic!

Now that Twitter is finally dead, I use Bluesky's PWA (works great!) and Ivory for Mastodon. Both give very welcome Twitter vibes from the past.

My development workflow is pretty unspectecular. I still rock standard VS Code and iTerm 2 (even though I'm trying Ghostty right now).

Regarding hosting, I'm randomly spreading my projects across Netlify and Vercel. For 2025, I plan to return to my Netlify roots because I'm no fan of some of the "2024 Vercel vibes"...

My primary news source is RSS (check these great blogs). On my MacBook, I'm rocking a Feedly account connected to Reeder. Similarly, Reeder does the trick, but I tend to open blog posts in a browser anyway, so I don't have strong requirements for an RSS reader.

To manage bookmarks, I use Raindrop.

And that's about it, I think! Let's see if some things change in 2025! ✌️