My home screen has changed a lot since the last post on it I did a few months ago, and now it is a lot more unique and customised. I’ve used Pixelmator for iOS to create a custom home screen look, which works with the apps I use and makes my phone look a lot more unique. Read on to find out more about the apps I use every day.
One thing about my new home screen is that it is only on one page – the four folders at the top contain the bulk of the apps on my phone. The first page on the folders are for the apps and games I use the most.
First row
As said before, the first row is simply folders with all the apps that I don’t want on my home screen, as I only use them once or twice a day. In Utilities, I have Pillow which I use every night in the bottom right so it’s easy to get (I use the 3D Touch feature to quickly jump to sleep tracking). Above Pillow I have Dataman – I occasionally check the app, but I check the widget near constantly to see how much data I am using.
In Social, I have the social media apps that I use very now and then – I’m not a big Instagram user but I do use the messaging features, and I use Discord a lot. The ability to see a list of apps that have notifications when you 3D Touch on a folder comes in very useful here, as it lets me quickly get to the apps with notifications.
In the Productivity folder I have apps like Ulysses – I use my phone for work occasionally when I’m on the go, but I prefer to do work on my iPad with a physical keyboard. However, having FileBrowser on my phone comes in very handy to fix this site and other sites I use when I’m on the go, and Textastic is awesome for making small changes to a site and then uploading those changes to GitHub via Working Copy or directly to an FTP server via FileBrowser.
In the Games folder, I have games such as Arena of Valor, PUBG and Critical Ops, which are by far the most played games I have on iOS. When I’m offline, I like to play Death Road to Canada and Binding of Isaac.
Second row
On the second row, I have Photos and Camera next to each other. I use Photos a lot to view photos I’ve taken and screenshots, and obviously I like having quick access to the Camera. Fantastical is the calendar app that I use, and I love using Carrot Weather every day to get a forecast.
Third row
I use Tweetbot as my Twitter client – I prefer the interface, and I like the gesture swiping and the way the app shows no ads. I use Snapchat to talk to friends, and YouTube occasionally to watch videos – I usually do this on my PC or iPad though. Overcast is what I use to listen to podcasts when I’m commuting, and I really like the smart speed and the voice boost features that the app offers.
Fourth row
Of course, Evernote is on my home screen – I use it a lot on my phone to take quick notes, and also to look at notes I’ve already taken. Spark is the email client I use – I’ve tried loads of them, but none just worked like Spark does. With some I wasn’t receiving notifications for emails, some weren’t sending emails at all – but Spark has always worked flawlessly for me, and I don’t see the need to change. Whilst it doesn’t have advanced features such as read receipts like Airmail has, it works well for me.
I use Workflow a lot, and I’ve also written about it a lot on this site, so I won’t go too in depth on it. If you’re intrested in the Workflows I use, you can check out this post where I go into what my favourite and most used Workflows are.
A month or two ago I switched from using Todoist as my task manager to using Things 3 – I’ve certainly kept on top of my tasks a lot more and always met my deadlines, and this is due to Things’ ability to set both a deadline date and a when date, so I can have it show up in my Today tab days in advance from when I need to get it done. I really like using Things 3, and you can check out how I use it here.
Fifth row
Lire takes the place of Reeder, my previous RSS client. Whilst Reeder is a great RSS Reeder, it doesn’t get updated much anymore, and I prefer the look of Lire, as it fits in much more with iOS 11. The full text extraction is the best I’ve encountered, and completely makes the app worth it for me. I prefer Fiery Feeds look over Lire, however I don’t want to subscribe to my RSS client as well as to the service (Inoreader). The News app is where I go to get world news – RSS is catered towards my interests, and I don’t subscribe to News feeds as they would swarm my inbox, and the Apple News app is a great app that lets me keep up with what is going on in the world. I use the App Store daily to update apps and look at new ones, and I frequently use Settings to tweak my phone to my interests.
Dock
As I use Reddit a lot on my commute and in my free time, Apollo takes the first place on my dock. I really love Apollo – it looks and works great, and the swipe gestures are awesome. Next on my dock is Safari, the web app I use as Apple pretty much forces you to use it, and then Messages. Spotify is the music service I use as it’s available everywhere including on the web.
I’ve been using this setup for nearly a month now, and I prefer it a lot more than my old setup. Getting to the apps I use frequently is a lot easier, and it looks unique and different from what everyone else has.
If you are intrested in more of my home screen posts, you can check some more of them out here.
