My home screen has had a few minor adjustments since my last post about it a year ago, including app changes and a new plain background. I’m currently on the iOS 12 beta, which is why I have a slightly different status bar, which includes the date which is a great tweak in iOS 12.
Row 1
On the first row, I have Photos as the first app – it allows me to access it quickly, and I use it a lot for things such as screenshots.
My calendar app of choice is still Fantastical – it works great, and the natural language input is incredibly helpful when I add an event.
Carrot Weather is still the app I use to get my forecasts, and it is constantly updated with new great features, such as the Premium subscription which allows you to use Weather Underground as a data source, which is much more accurate where I live.
I still use Workflow daily, and I look forward to Shortcuts, the updated version of Workflow. Workflow lets me do tedious tasks in a number of seconds, and I have written various posts about it.
Drafts 5 was recently released, however I still use Drafts 4. I have a few reasons for this – Drafts 4 still works perfectly for me, and I have many complex actions which would require editing if I wanted to move to Drafts 5. I also don’t want to purchase another subscription, as I have a lot already and I don’t think that it is worth it in this case as Drafts 4 works great for me.
Row 2
I work with a lot of Word and Excel documents, so a good docx. editor is essential to me. For this, I use OfficeSuite. It’s a great app that allows me to edit all files such as PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, and it includes many powerful features that the official Word app does not. It allows me to easily open files up from Dropbox and save them back to again, and works really well. If you want a good Word editor on iOS I really recommend OfficeSuite.
To access all of my GitHub repositories, and edit them, I use Working Copy. It allows me to make changes to the files in the repository, and then put in a pull request or commit the updates. You can change branch, and even resolve conflicts right in the app. Working Copy does have a built-in editor, but I love using another app to make changes, which is the next one.
As mentioned above, I use Textastic to make, write and change code. Textastic works great with Working Copy – I can add repositories from Working Copy into Textastic, which allows me to easily edit the code in my editing app of choice, and then push the changes to my repository through Working Copy. If you program a lot, I recommend looking at these two apps. I have previously written a post about using the two apps here.
Pythonista is what I use to work on Python on my iPad – it lets me easily run my scripts, and edit them on the go. Pythonista is a very powerful app, and even shows you error alerts so it’s easier to debug your code.
PDF Expert is an app I have been using for years to manage files on my iPad. It is great for anything I download, such as videos, books and anything I want to keep on my device and not on iCloud so I can access it without internet. It supports hundreds of file types, such as docx. and many more.
Row 3
YouTube is where I go when I want to relax and watch something, instead of playing a game.
Apple News is a good source for News, and I usually browse through it every now and then to see what is going on in the world.
To read my RSS feeds, I use Lire. The app looks good, and works well. The full text extraction is the main attraction to Lire, as it means that I don’t need to keep tapping links to read articles in the browser so I can see the whole thing – Lire just lets me read them easily and expands them automatically.
If I want to save something to read offline, such as a long article or a guide to a game, I often use Instapaper. It works well and it’s simple – I simply save something using the app extension, and I can easily read it when I am offline.
Messages is of course to send texts via my phone or use iMessage.
Row 4
On this row, I only have two apps – the App Store, and Settings. I usually use the App Store daily to check out new apps and update the ones on my iPad, and Settings is used often so I can tweak settings on my iPad.
The dock
This is where all my most used apps are – these apps I open at least twice a day, if not more.
First on the dock is Things 3, my go to task manager. The apps simple interface is great, and it allows to both schedule and set a deadline for a task, which is great and makes sure I rarely miss a deadline. New features are being added frequently, such as the Things linking system which allows me to get tasks into Things with even more speed.
Safari is my browser of choice – it works well for me, and iOS doesn’t let you set a default browser so I use it as it’s just easy. I use AdGuard to block ads on Safari. If I want to do something a little more complicated that Safari doesn’t let me do, I use iCab Mobile.
Spark is the email client I have been using since it’s release. The app works great and syncs my settings and signatures across to my iPhone, and it’s also the email client that always alerts me when I get a new email first. This means I’ve stuck with it since it’s launch, as I haven’t found anything better. Spark has always worked great for me.
Evernote is an app I’ve been using close to six years, and in it I have all my notes, research, and anything else that I need to write down and remember. Evernote has worked great for me over the years, and he app on iOS keeps improving after its rocky start.
Ulysses is what I’m writing this post with. The markdown is great, and the ability to publish to WordPress in a couple of taps in priceless. Inline images are a huge advantage as it lets me quickly add pictures to posts, and it’s by far the best editor I have used on any platform. You can check out an in-depth review of it here.
I’ve only been using 1Password for under a month, and I love it. 1Password allows me to generate secure passwords so it’s very hard for my accounts to get compromised. 1Password also allows you to store your 2FA codes right in the app, which is great, and it automatically copies them to your clipboard when you sign into a site which requires you to use two factor authentication. You can read my detailed review on it here.
Tweetbot is the client I use for Twitter – I don’t use Twitter as much anymore, partly due to the next app, but I prefer the look of Tweetbot, plus it isn’t crammed full of ads like the official Twitter app is.
Apollo is my Reddit client – I love Reddit, and I browse it for a considerable amount of time each day. Apollo looks great, and also has gif scrubbing, which lets you move back and forward on a gif. Plus, it works much better than the official Reddit app, and isn’t stuffed full of ads. You can read my review on it here, and I recommend that you get it if you are a Reddit user.
Files is what I use to work with files that I have in iCloud and Dropbox – the app is a little slow and buggy at times, but it works for what I need it to.
Spotify is my music player of choice, with the only reason being that Apple Music requires iTunes to work on Windows, and iTunes is a buggy mess. Plus, discovery on Spotify is a lot better than on Apple Music.
Yoink is an app I use when I want to drag a file to another app, or if I want to quickly dump something somewhere when I know I need it in a bit. I don’t use it often, but when I do it’s incredibly helpful.
So that’s my home screen – the three leftmost apps on the dock are the most recently used apps in case you are wondering.
If you would like to check out my previous iPad home screen post, you can do so here. You can also check out my iPhone home screen here.
