My Default Apps at the Start of 2026
| 2 min read
I couple of years ago, I did a post about my 'default' apps, and since it's been a little while I thought an update might be fun. I've pasted in my answers from the first round, and I'll update where needed.
Quick and dirty! Here's all the stuff I can think of...
Mail Client: Apple Mail and Thunderbird and I've been experimenting with Vivaldi's built in eMail reader.
Mail Server: Fastmail
Notes: Apple Notes
To-Do: Nothing
iPhone Photo Shooting: iOS Camera
iPhone Photo Backup: Nextcloud, but ramping up Immich. I may swap my uploader.
Photo Management: Apple Phones (on iPhone), On1 on MacOS
Calendar: Apple Calendar
Cloud File Storage: Nextcloud
RSS: TinyTinyRSS
Contacts: Apple Contacts
Browser: Firefox Dabbling with Vivaldi. I may swap back, but Mozilla has shown me that I need at least prep a backup browser.
Chat: iMessage
Bookmarks: Firefox Vivaldi
Homepage/News: Protopage
Music: Apple Music (The app, not the service) (Both the app, and recently the service too. We're F1 fans, and with Apple taking over the rights to that in the US, it made sense for us to get an Apple bundle so we don't lose access.)
Podcasts: Overcast
Password Management: KeePassXC 1Password
Other Default Apps and Devices:
Mastodon Client: Mono
eReader: Kindle Oasis
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): AVID Pro Tools (Though I have been exploring Ardour, Reaper, and Logic more these days)
Video Editing (NLE): Davinci Resolve
Linux Distribution: Debian (Bookworm) (Trixie)
Firewall: OpnSense (PC Engines APU4) Protectli VP2420
VPN Platform: Wireguard and Tailscale
Storage System: ZFS (on Debian)
Virtual Machines: KVM/qemu
Containers: Podman and Docker (Likely to fully move off of Podman this year)
Backup Service: Crashplan Pro
ZFS Data Replication: Syncoid (Sanoid)
Non-Web File Syncing: Syncthing
Home Automation: Home Assistant (Zigbee, zWave, and WiFi for devices, with MQTT)
Weather Station: WeeWx from an Ecowitt Wittboy
'Serious' Camera: OM Digital Solutions OM-1 (Micro Four Thirds)