In 2019 I’ve decided to start a new tradition of posting my homescreen at the end of the year to look back and see what has changed and what didn’t.
Already in my first year I broke the “tradition” and posted my homescreen in September because it felt like iOS 14 would change so much bringing widgets. Turns out, it didn’t.
Well, it did at first, but after a couple of months, when the novelty wore off it returned to a more classic iOS look.
At first, I liked that I had just a couple of apps accessible with one tap and the rest in the folders right there on the first screen. But then I realised I use regularly just a few, so I started removing some. And then it occurred that those widgets shouldn’t be there — I can see my activity on the watch and Timery widget was not very informative throughout the evening and at most weekends. So, I moved it to the screen on the left, where it seats with Photo, Battery and Streaks widgets, which makes a nice one-page dashboard, ready with just a swipe.
Widgets
There are just two widgets in a stack on my homescreen — Fantastical and Carrot Weather. I love both. Fantastical shows a nice heat map for my calendar and upcoming events. Carrot Weather is actually a great widget which changes throughout the day — in the morning and during the day it shows weather for next couple of hours, but in the evening it changes to forecast for next couple of days. They rotate throughout the day and most of the time I see exactly what I want.
Stayed
The most consistent category on my homescreen is communications — Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram and Mail are right there in the top row.
Also, Photos and Lightroom are still here. Although as I mentioned I have Photos widget on the screen on the left, I still like to have easy access for my photos.
All of my usual suspects are the same — I still listen to audiobooks while walking, Overcast for podcast listening and Safari as a web browser.
I still use Books instead of Kindle app, mostly for aesthetics and try watching educational YouTube videos (but often am lured by entertainment).
Revolut is still my go to, and I am writing this post in Ulysses, although I am considering removing it from the homescreen as I don’t use it often on an iPhone.
I’ve upgraded to the latest version of Reeder, which is just a beautiful, simple and easy to use app.
I left Tot for the last because I don’t think it will be on my phone much longer as other apps take on its role.
Removed
There are a couple of apps removed from the homescreen and not only because of the limited space with widgets occupying 8 slots.
I’ve created a shortcut which activates by tapping the back of the iPhone to open Halide.
I don’t use the Phone app a lot, so when I need it, I just search for it.
Recently, I decided to cut on the social media, so deleted Twitter from my phone and removed Instagram from the homescreen (I left it for the messages, but will try to remove it in a near future). I also stopped using Morning for news. There are no Formula 1 races until March and I don’t think I will return the app to the homescreen as Siri is actually good when you open the same app at the same time regularly (like F1 on weekends).
I moved to Reeder from Pocket for the read-it-later service because I don’t need anything fancy and the number of ads for the Pocket premium service was too high. I still open Apollo from time to time, but I try to do it less, so I get to it from the App Library.
Right now I’m trying to focus and create some fundamentals, so some hobbies were cut due to priorities, one of them was learning how to code, so I removed Mimo from the homescreen.
Replaced
Spotify — Apple Music
I’m back. It was a nice summer with free Spotify, but my wife didn’t like it and I decided to try out Apple One with Apple Music built in, so far don’t regret the decision.
Asana — TickTick
Asana is amazing for work, but it is bad for personal stuff if you mainly use iPhone. TickTick is my to-do app of choice for now, but I’m still looking for something better.
CoinKeeper — MoneyWiz
I had a line in a previous post that I don’t see myself leaving CoinKeeper any time soon and here we are. I finally got to the point where I needed something with more features. To track mortgage, investments etc. After trying out a couple of different apps I went with MoneyWiz. Although it is all about syncing with all the banks, I use it manually.
Notes — Craft
I wanted to move Craft to Added section, but it did replace Notes app for me, but also did so much more. I moved some things from Ulysses, from Notes, I’m thinking of removing Tot because Craft filled this niche for me. It is a beautiful, fast, responsive and easy-to-use app, with the new features constantly added.
Added
I started to watch more Netflix on my phone, so it was promoted to the homescreen. Not sure for how long, but I do enjoy having it there.
