This could be fun. Could be useful too. What apps are on your home screen(s)? Android, or iOS, or both.
I’m going to post both a screen shot and and a fully typed out list with why I like or use each particular app, which is a lot of typing, but feel free to post as much or as little as you want.
Well, I don’t pay for data for my Android, so I only really use it around home on WiFi, which limits my need for too many apps. But I have Navigator (which is a free offline GPS based navigation program that uses Open Street Maps) and Textra (paid version, no ads, for SMS) as my two notable apps. I keep my home screen pretty clean I guess… I have pages of apps on 2nd and 3rd pages which are mostly full.
Here’s mine on my iPhone X. (I have an S8 that I use on MintMobile as well, but it’s much more utilitarian than my iOS home screen.)
Bear (I love the elegant minimalism with Markdown-ish syntax)
Better Notes (It was almost and still kinda is abandonware, but it’s super simple with one killer feature: tagging. I use it for quick stuff.)
Day One (I don’t use it much, but it’s on my home screen to try and encourage me to journal more often.)
Apple Notes (Because who doesn’t need three different places to put their notes?)
1Password (I’m transitioning away from 1Password, but it was my first password manager and still my most used.)
Bitwarden (My inbound password manager, because it’s $1 / month and open source.)
Fastmail (I’ve been non-Gmail for years now. I’m very pleased with Fastmail and their IMAP/CardDAV/CalDAV implementations. On Android, I use CardDAV-Sync to sync and use my Fastmail Contacts.)
Freshdesk (I’m only using the free tier, which is all I need to assign a ticket # and “to do” for when clients email my support address.)
Calendars 5 (By Readdle. Week view. Enough said.)
Clock (for turning my alarms on/off)
Maps (It’s only instructed me to drive off the side of a bridge once.)
Weather (I also use RadarScope and HelloWeather, but they’re on other pages. Just the basic Weather app on the homepage for quick temperature checks.)
Audible (No longer a member, but I re-join or buy outright occasionally.)
Olive Tree Bible Study (More than just a Bible app. It’s the best app for Bible study. I have about 13 different translations installed and usually prefer the ESV Study Bible, but lately I’m fond of the NET Bible with their full inline notes on how they chose their particular renderings in translation.)
Audio group (Most of these apps are less used because I have better choices on the home screen itself.
Amazon Music (I used to use it before they disabled uploading your own library.)
Anchor Podcasts
Blink (I’ll be renewing my subscription as a perk of Scribd pretty soon.)
Cesium (For local/purchased music, what Apple’s Music app should be, and used to be before Apple Music took over.)
A broadcastify web link to my local county’s scanner feed
Overcast (I stopped using it in and switched to Pocket Casts because Marco’s interface and using “delete” to really mean “mark as played” just doesn’t work for me.)
Google Play Music (I use the free tier to host my ripped/purchased music in the cloud. I rarely use it though.)
Soundhound (This app is really the only reason this group is even on the home screen. That and for parity with “Video” next to it.)
Stitcher (Don’t use it. Don’t even like it, really. But I feel like I have to know about it.)
Video group
CBS (for Big Brother live feeds)
FireTV remote
Netflix
Philo (our secondary TV service, mainly for the Viacom channels)
Amazon Prime Video
Roku (for the remote)
Twitch
YouTube
YouTube TV (our primary TV service, mostly for the DVR and locals. Was very unhappy with the price increase to $50 though.)
Kindle
Pocket Casts (my primary and preferred podcast app on all devices. I am concerned about NPR’s stewardship, however.)
Spotify (I use family premium, but if Spotify comes after me for my dad, at a different address, being part of my family, then Apple Music it is, even though Spotify has a much better recommendation engine.)
and newly added, a web link to this TWiT Community!
Camera
Phone
SMS/iMessage
Comms group
Hangouts
Messenger
Signal
Skype
GoDaddy SmartLine (I’ve used this as a business line for about a year, but because of price and the lack of a web interface, I’m dropping this in favor of a new Google Voice number.)
Snapchat
Telegram
Google Voice
Zello (for walkie talkie use. It integrates and operates with hardware PTT devices, including those Secret Service-esque earpieces, as well.)
I’ll come back and linkify everything here later. Probably. And, ps. in case anyone would wonder, the background is a photo of my wife, from when her aunt was trying to get her into modeling. Modeling is weird.
An additional suggestion, because I just realized it kind of counts as an app on my home screen… it’s a tool that automatically generates pretty cool backdrops, which are on all screens actually, not just the home screen
It’s called Tapet. There is a free version with limits, but the paid version isn’t that expensive, and gives many more possible designs.
I have no apps on my home screen. Same as my work and home laptops. I like the minimalistic look. Windows Key + Search and swipe up for the app drawer are just too quick for me to justify putting anything on my home screen.
Plus I really dig live wallpapers. I like seeing them move everytime I open my phone!
I dig these kinda threads. I follow a minimalist approach to my home screen and mostly utilize the right side of the screen for easy one-handed access.
Google Home (to control my lights and switches away from home)
YouVersion Bibe
Olive Tree Bible Reader
Through The Word
Google Maps
Google Photos
Photos
Brave
Chrome
Safari
Mail
GMail
Then I have a load of folders and here are are my most commonly used ones:
Audio
Google Play Music (have been a subscriber for years)
Podcasts (have started using this instead of Pocket Casts as there seems to be a long delay before feed updates in Pocket Casts, plus I can stream from Apple Watch)
Shazam
SoundCloud
TuneIn Pro (Got this years ago when Pro was going free)
YouTube Music
Books
Kindle
Libby
Google Play Books
Education
SEQTA Engage (for my kids’ school reports, schedule etc).
SkoolBag (communication from kids’ school)
Lynda.com (free sub with local library - great for info on how to use new applications at work)
Games
2048
Crossy Road
Flow
One More Line
Roblox (because of the kids… honest!)
Solitaire
Stack
Sudoku
Tetris
Network Tools
Fast
Speedtest
Terminus (used to SSH back to my home server, a 2006 Mac Mini running Ubuntu Linux)
Net Analyzer
Fing
1.1.1.1
News
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
BBC News
Feedly
Google News
Pocket
Productivity
Google Docs, Sheets, Slides
Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote, OfficeLens
Social
DiscourseHub
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Twitter,
Facebook Messenger
Skype
WhatsApp
Storage
Readdle Documents
Google Drive
Files
OneDrive
Utilities
Mr. Number (spam call blocker)
PCalc Lite
PushBullet
IFTTT
Info
PetrolSpy (get cheapest petrol stations in area)
BOM Weather (app from Australian Bureau of Meteorology)
AusPost (track my packages)
MetroMate (local transit app)
Video
Disney+
Kayo (Australian streaming service for sports)
Netflix
Google Play Movies
Plex
Prime Video
Twitch
VLC
YouTube
A load of Australian catch-up TV apps
Work
Outlook
Teams
Skype for Business
Power Automate
Power BI
Azure
Google Cloud Console
Plus some miscellaneous I find useful:
MyLocal (local government information - waste collection etc)
mySA (holds my digital driver’s licence)
I also have a load of others like my banking app which is no relevant and imaging editing apps that I rarely use.
And, ps. in case anyone would wonder, the background is a photo of my wife, from when her aunt was trying to get her into modeling. Modeling is weird.
