Third-party apps and services I use on my devices, 2024 edition
I like first-party software. To be more exact, I like using good first-party software. It feels faster, better integrated, truly native, and purposefully designed to work with the hardware. This feeling may not be based in reality: some third-party apps can be better, and some preinstalled apps can suck.
On my Apple devices (don’t get me started on first-party software on Windows), I continue to use Safari for now, I love Apple Mail, and frequently use Maps, Notes, and Reminders. Other than these precious few, my overall computing revolves around a few third-party apps listed below.
Mac (personal)
Let’s start with the simplest setup of all: my dear MacBook Air. Uninstalling apps is one of my favourite things to do when it comes to organising my digital life, and, now that most of them have been uninstalled already, I am left with the essence of the software I need for my daily activities: four glorious apps.
MarkEdit・I’ve mentioned this app many times now, and it’s just great: pure, fast, with the ideal set of features and refinements.
Maestral・Easy to forget that it’s there: light, reliable, and the only GUI I interact with does its job well: indicating the status of the Dropbox sync in the menu bar (the way i publish on Blot).
NetNewsWire・I’ve tried many other good apps for RSS over the last couple of years: Unread, Lire, Readwise Reader, the old Reeder, the new Reeder, Readkit, and for me, none of them come close to the “barebones-iness” of NetNewsWire, which I’ve grown to love.
GoodLinks・Without the recently-added highlight feature, it was already one of my four main third-party Mac apps, so, with it, it will be a tough one to uninstall.
Mac (work)
Below are only listed the apps that I chose to install myself, not the few that are managed by the IT department.
Things・If you’ve read this blog for more than five minutes, you are probably aware that Things is one of my favourite apps around. The word I want to use the most when describing this app is “delightful” but this app is so much more than that.
MeetingBar・When you work from home 95% of the time, being able to quickly glance at your menu bar and know exactly when your next online meeting starts is great, but having a hotkey shortcut to join that same meeting is precious.
Pastebot・I’m pretty certain that there are better clipboard manager apps around, but this one has proven to be very reliable and efficient. I may only use about 20% of its features but it’s been working great for me in the past couple of years.
ChatGPT・In my line of work, it’s very handy to have an assistant like that able to provide me with good-enough translations, quick feedback on an outline or an idea, or help me find synonyms or different formulations for a sentence or title. The Mac app is decent, justified mostly by the quick access shortcut feature.
MacWhisper・I barely use this very good app, but when I do, I want it to run smoothly. That’s why it lives on the M1-powered MacBook Air from work and not on my personal Intel-powered MacBook Air. I’d appreciate it even more if it didn’t seemingly need an update every time I launch the app, though.
BBEdit・Yep. I’m surprised by this too. While I don’t plan to adopt it as my main app, it’s just a great powerhouse of a tool to have around. If you work with text, any kind, BBEdit surely will help. Straightening and educating quotes? Sure. Removing blank lines or line breaks? No problem. Advanced finding and replacing? You bet. This app can do so many things, while also being pretty darn good as a simple scratchpad or writing app: safe, trustworthy, and it has that intriguing je ne sais quoi that makes me want to use it more (Things has that too). It doesn’t suck® indeed, but what feels like hours needs to be spent in the settings and menu options for it to be efficient enough, which I find overwhelming. I use the free version, but once or twice a year I subscribe for a month while I need to use a few specific premium features.
iPhone
I won’t list all the necessary banking and local transport apps here because I don’t really see any value in sharing them (Trainline is good though), so I’m just going to focus on apps that might interest you or may be useful to someone you know.
1Writer・From the same developer who is already behind GoodLinks, this app is one of the best Markdown editors for the iPhone. It recently replaced Apple Notes for my personal notes because I wanted to use text files instead of the Notes database. These files are now synced via Dropbox (which this app can conveniently connect to) because the iCloud Drive syncing was acting up.
WhatsApp・Hard to not use WhatsApp if one cares about staying in touch with friends and family in Europe. The app itself is actually pretty good: fast, well made, and most of its features make a lot of sense in a messaging app.
RAW Power・My app of choice when it comes to photo editing. I edit all the photos taken with my beloved Ricoh GRIIIx on my iPhone, using the RAW format. I find it much more responsive and efficient at managing large photos than my aging non-ARM-powered Mac. The app needs some time and effort to get used to, but it works well and does everything you need. I prefer it to the great Photomator because the pricing model works better for me: one-time buy, and you’re good to go.
Image Sync・The app I need to use to download pictures from my camera wirelessly. I wish it could connect faster to the camera, but it’s fine. I’ve also been very happy with the USB-C port of the iPhone 15 to import photos en masse to the phone directly in the Files or Photos apps via an SD card reader.
NetNewsWire・Just like GoodLinks, this app is also on my phone: I find the iOS version of the app to be just as good as the Mac app, if not better.
Web and browser extensions
The Sequoia update pushed me to try the new Video Viewer Safari feature so the great Vinegar is not listed below. It may come back in a couple of days, but as I’m writing this, Vinegar is not in use. I want this list to be as accurate as possible. You’re welcome.
Wipr・The only Safari extension you need, I think. I only use the three content blocker parts and have disabled the “Extra” add-on to make my life easier when it comes to managing which website gets which content blocker activated or not (and potentially make Safari less sluggish?). The Wipr 2 release appears to be just around the corner, so I’ll keep an eye out for that.
Feedbin・The backend for my RSS syncing needs. The web app is great too, and although it’s rather on the expensive side, there is not a single thing to complain about in terms of its software.
EditGPT・My proofreading tool of choice. It is based on ChatGPT, but the UI makes a lot of sense for me and for my needs regarding grammar, spelling, and style checks. It will be interesting to see how this compares to Apple’s upcoming Writing Tools.
Special mentions
Many apps I love are sadly not installed on any device right now, because I don’t have a use for them, despite being great and lovable. Drafts, iA Writer, Tot, The Archive, StopTheMadness, StopTheScript, Piezo, Kino, etc. All great apps that I can only recommend.
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