My default tools & applications (2026 edition)
I stumbled on Jedda's post about default apps and kind of liked the idea! However, mine will be a bit different, because I split my life across digital and analog tools.
Why do I do this? Part of it is reducing the multi-tool aspect of devices like my phone, part of it is the tangible benefits I get from doing things "manually," and part of it is probably the pendulum swinging away from the time when I was very into digital things back to analog things. But I won't split these up between analog and digital; instead, take in the mix as it is.
Also just to say: I've excluded most of my uses of Obsidian, because I use it for notes, media tracking, collection tracking, poetry/prose, TTRPG session tracking, travel planning...I could probably keep going.
- 📮 Mail: Proton
- 🗒️ Notes: Obsidian
- ✅ To-do: Hobonichi Weeks (Amenimo Makezu edition)
- 📷 Photos: an old Nikon D50, default iOS camera app
- 🗓️ Calendar: Hobonichi Techo Planner, A6 size with Pine Forest by Hasegawa Tohaku cover
- 🍲 Meal planning: a whiteboard on the fridge
- 📖 RSS: alcove.tools, fetching on my Kobo Libra 2
- 🌏 Browser: Zen (desktop) and Firefox (mobile)
- 🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop.io
- 📰 Read it later: Instapaper on my Kobo
- 💴 Budget: Actual Budget, self-hosted
- 🎧 Music: Doppler, a bunch of my own MP3s on a Snowsky Echo mini, the occasional vinyl or CD through a small web of Sonos speakers
- 🔒 Passwords: Bitwarden
If you try one of these out and like it, I'd love to know!