Category - homescreen

As you can see from the screenshot, I’ve been procrastinating on writing this post for a while now. But to keep the ball rolling, after publishing in 2024, 2020, mid–2020, and 2019, I’ve decided to give it another go.
The main reason is that, at the end of 2025, my homescreen is a mess. I even thought about quickly rearranging apps to make this post look better, but after some consideration, I decided it would be more fair to publish it as is. This is a true representation of my screen at the end of 2025.
Last year I gave in and added a folder to the main homescreen. This year there are two – and I don’t like it.

Widgets

As you can see, last year’s large widget stack gave way to one medium and two small widgets instead. Both Fantastical and Things 3 stayed, but I separated them – having them in a stack eventually didn’t make sense. I would forget about one or the other even existing.
The third one is an AI stack. There are three widgets I manually scroll through: Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT. I mostly use Perplexity for product searches and comparisons, and Claude as my day-to-day AI agent. I’ve been a paying subscriber to ChatGPT for a long time, but recently cancelled. Somehow Claude works better for me, and I also really don’t like what OpenAI is doing as a company, nor do I trust Sam Altman with my data in the long run.

Stayed

It seems like every year starts with a couple of honorable mentions for apps that are on my homescreen no matter what – mainly Overcast, Photos, Apple Music, Revolut, and MoneyWiz, with Citadele potentially becoming a multi-year holder as well.
As mentioned previously, both ChatGPT and Perplexity have stayed on the homescreen, but as widgets, not merely app icons.
Two apps that stayed but were probably opened only a handful of times this year, unfortunately, are MasterClass and Day One. I really want to use them, but I can’t seem to build the habit.
After using Arc for all my browsing needs, last year I mentioned that I went back to Safari for personal browsing – and I’m happy to say I’ve stayed there.
I still read books in Kindle and make notes in Bear, although Bear will get mentioned a couple of times later.
Sequel is still my app of choice for tracking TV shows, although I can’t say I’m completely satisfied with it. Considering it’s a subscription, I might look for something simpler.
I’ve also started using Google Maps even more. I’ve been saving places I like all over the world for some time now, so the map has a lot of pins. Recently, I also started leaving ratings and reviews. I use those all the time myself to find good spots, so why not give back to the community in a small way?

Removed

Two of the apps that were added last year didn’t make it through the whole year. They’re still on my phone, but I reach for them less and less.
I would love for Apple Music Classical not to influence my actual Apple Music account – but it does. And I haven’t read the Bible as I hoped I would, though I still hope to.
The last removed app is my daughter’s kindergarten app. I’m using it less now, so I just find it via search or the App Library.

Replaced

I’ve been going back and forth with Ulysses for a long time. I loved how it integrated with my blog, allowing me to publish directly, and how it proofread my posts. But it came at a cost, and with subscription fatigue setting in, I decided to look for an alternative.
I found a solution in something I was already using: Bear. It’s also an amazing app for writing. I can export articles and share them with the WordPress app on iPad and iPhone, and I proofread my posts with AI anyway now. So far, so good. It’s a bit more manual, but with my current output, I just couldn’t justify the cost of Ulysses.
Another app that got replaced mostly due to cost is Matter. It’s a beautiful app, but paying almost €100 a year for a read-it-later service is madness – at least for me. So I gave GoodLinks another try. It’s a one-time purchase, and although I’d tried it before and it didn’t click, this time it worked. It’s simple but powerful: offline articles, highlights, and not much more – and I like that.
I also used Matter as an RSS reader. For that, I now use Lire. I did like having one app for both, but paying upfront for apps makes more sense to me.

Added

There are a couple of apps that have always been on my phone, but this year I added them to the homescreen. Communication apps are back: WhatsApp, Telegram, Phone, iMessage, and Mail. At one point they were on my homescreen, then I removed them and relied on notifications and the App Library. Now they’re back again. I’m still not sure which approach is better.
Another boring app I added for easier management is the app for climate control in our house. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support HomeKit, so I have to use a separate app.
Oura, which I previously accessed through the lockscreen, got a more prominent place in the dock. I used to open it only in the morning, but now I check it more and more throughout the day.
I added Trade Republic after I started using it because of the Saveback feature. There aren’t many cashback options in Europe – and especially in Latvia – so this is at least something.
As my recovery from surgery is still ongoing, MyFitness has become an app I visit often. Since entry to the gym is through their card in the app, it got promoted to the homescreen.
Previously, I removed Waze from the homescreen since I only use it in the car and both of our cars have CarPlay. But I still found myself reaching for it on the phone to type an address more quickly, so I moved it back where it belongs.
CleanMyPhone is on the homescreen purely to avoid an empty space in a folder. As much as I hate having folders on the homescreen, I hate empty spaces inside them even more.
Two of the biggest additions to the homescreen this year are Linx Camera and MyMind.
The first one is one of the main reasons my Instagram game has improved recently. It’s a photo app with built-in filters – and those filters just work for me. I love the aesthetics of many of them, and I’ve started taking more photos. Most importantly, I’ve started taking slightly different kinds of photos than usual, and I think that’s made me a better photographer.
MyMind got me with their discount. I’ve always been fascinated by a notes app that can do everything for you. I believe I should just dump my thoughts – quotes, articles, products, whatever – into a system, and the system should create structure, surface what I need, and serve my needs.
Unfortunately, what usually happens is that you end up maintaining Obsidian or Notion more than actually using them. I’m trying to use MyMind as my main notes app instead of Bear, but so far it’s been really hard to let go of manual structure. Even though this is what I wanted, the old way is so ingrained in me that it’s hard to let go.

Lockscreen

My lockscreen this year is even simpler. It’s just plain black, with a big clock added in iOS 26. The Oura widget is still above it.
I moved the other widgets down – I think this is a much better place for them. Pedometer++ is still there, as well as WaterMinder. I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking water all the time, so I barely track it anymore; it’s mostly there as a reminder.
I also replaced the Fantastical next event widget with a Flighty widget showing my next flight. Last year I flew more than in almost all previous years combined, so it came in really handy.
The two bottom controls stayed the same: creating a new note in Bear and ChatGPT. I’ve realized I don’t use the second one that much, so this might change this year.

Buttons

The two buttons iPhones now offer stayed the same for me. The Camera Control just opens the Camera – and I love it. It’s one of the best additions to the iPhone. Launching the Camera is incredibly easy, especially in winter with gloves on.
The Action Button still creates a new task in Things 3, and I use both all the time.

Conclusion

I’ve once again made my homescreen dull to encourage using it less. But this year, I’m really not happy with how things are. I might rethink it completely – or at least tweak it a bit. Either way, I expect a very different post next year.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been three years since my last homescreen post. It’s always fascinating to see how my homescreen evolves over the years. I first shared it back in 2019, then again in mid-2020, and finally at the end of 2020. Here’s hoping I can finally make this an annual tradition.

For a long time, I resisted using folders, but I’ve given in this year. I tried my best to stick with just 12 apps (including the Dock), but it’s just not feasible. While I don’t need every app in the folder, it looks better when full. Surprisingly, even with three years gone by, not much has changed.

Widgets

This time, I’ve settled on a stack of two large widgets—Fantastical and Things 3—replacing the two smaller widgets I used before. I experimented with multiple widgets of various sizes, but this setup has stuck with me the longest. It gives me a wealth of useful information at a glance. I still use the Photos widget, but it now lives on the Widget screen to the left of my main homescreen.

Stayed

Some apps are staples of my homescreen and haven’t budged: Photos, Overcast (even though the redesign was rough, the sound engine remains unparalleled), Music, MoneyWiz, and Revolut.

I briefly stopped using Ulysses when I tried replacing it with Notion, Craft, and later Obsidian. None of them worked for me. Recently, I returned to Ulysses, and as you might have noticed, my blog output has improved drastically. While the tool isn’t the only factor, it’s definitely helped.

One surprising change was my browser choice. For a while, I exclusively used Arc for personal and work browsing. However, after the team announced they are abandoning it (it will still get updates, but I wouldn’t hope for a lot), I tried several alternatives before returning to Safari. While it’s not perfect, it’s still better than most.

Removed

Only one app got completely removed from my phone — Audible. I’ve stopped listening to audiobooks altogether. My approach to reading has shifted—I now highlight extensively and take notes, which doesn’t work well with audiobooks.

Communication apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Mail (and previously Telegram) now stay in the App Library or are accessed via notifications. They no longer need a spot on my homescreen.

Oura got promoted to the Lock Screen, but more on that below. Duolingo has a widget on the Widget screen and also sends notifications at the end of the day in case I forget.

The Hue app is another casualty. I still use the lamps, but I control them through the Home page in the new Control Center.

Some features, like my Brain Dump shortcut, were replaced by new lock screen buttons and the Action Button. Similarly, I removed the Camera app from my screens entirely after upgrading to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. I now exclusively launch the camera using the dedicated Camera Control Don’t Call It A Button Button.

Replaced

There were a couple of significant changes this year, but let’s start with the smaller one — Books got changed by Kindle, but that is changing all the time depending on which book I’m reading.

I’ve also changed my RSS reader and read-it-later service. For about a year I was using Readwise Reader for both. It was also getting all the highlights from Kindle. But the way it looked and worked was always bad, and I decided that too much automation is missing the point. So found the most functional, but good-looking app — Matter.

Another big change was my to-do app. Things 3 won for me just because it’s more simple and beautiful, and doesn’t have a subscription. But lately, I’ve been thinking about going back, since Things 3 doesn’t support natural language in the task name field. This is just bonkers. And in some little things Things 3 doesn’t click for me.

The biggest one is the notes app. After leaving Craft for Notion and later going to Obsidian and staying for a year, I was still not completely happy — it looks horrendous, whatever you do. The way it works with files (especially images sucks) and search on mobile is unusable. So again started to look at different apps — Notes, Craft, Tana among them. But surprisingly chose the one, I completely forgot about — Bear. The easiest way to describe it is Obsidian, but thoughtfully designed. It’s much simpler, but that is why I love to use it. And it allows you to change fonts, which I loved in Obsidian.

I also tried Craft after the recent 3.0 update, and it’s still not it. Too bulky, still too document focused, and occasionally a bit slow in terms of navigation and animation.

Added

There are a couple of apps I’ve always used that got promoted to the homescreen, like Citadele for banking, an app for our daughter’s kindergarten. Day One which I want to use, but somehow don’t even when it’s on homescreen, but I’m trying. Google Maps where I started to save places I loved or want to go to. So my map quickly becoming filled with all the pins.

I’ve also finally changed an app to track the TV shows I watch to Sequel. It’s beautiful and syncs with Trakt, so moving data would be easy when needed.

Masterclass is the other app I want to use more. I got it together with my Revolut subscription and like some content in it, but want to watch more.

There is a side of me that changes and two apps reflect that a lot — first, I started to listen to classical music and Apple Music Classical, which is included in the subscription, is spectacular for that. I go through the Essentials albums for multiple composers. Second is the Bible app, which I’ve never read in full and want to change it.

The last two apps shouldn’t be surprising to anyone — ChatGPT and Perplexity. First is just a default for AI. At first, I changed it with Claude, which seemed like a better model, but ChatGPT has a better product overall, nicely integrating with iOS and macOS. And also, Revolut gave subscription to the Perplexity Pro, which became my second choice.

Lockscreen

My lockscreen is simple. It’s the photo I made at the Barcelona Grand Prix. With Oura widget at the top, hence removal from the homescreen. Fantastical widget below clock for the next appointment and Pedometer and WaterMinder small widgets.

At the bottom, where Apple finally gave us the ability to change controls, I have a new Bear note button and ChatGPT button.

Buttons

There were 2 physical buttons added recently to the iPhone. First, the Action button which quickly became task entry button for me, now opening a new task window in Things 3. The Camera button for me is just a launch button and rarely take a photo button because when you press it, it shakes the phone. And I’ve turned off all the features inside the camera, since it is too finicky to use as a touchpad.

Conclusion

You might’ve noticed that my Homescreen looks dull, which is completely on purpose. It is a part of my strategy to use the phone less. At first, I didn’t like how the new tinting feature worked because it didn’t look good in any of the screenshots I’ve seen, but recently, I’ve decided to use it to my advantage.

Below you can see how my homescreen looks in 3 different modes: tinted, light mode and dark mode.