Why I Was Wrong About Apple One

November 9, 2020
2 min read

When Apple first announced Apple One bundle during the September event, I was very skeptical to say the least. With Premier being available in a very limited set of countries and only 200 GB of iCloud storage in the Family plan it seemed like a non-starter for me. Together with my wife we use more than 300 GB right now, so I thought I would need to subscribe to the bundle and still pay for the 2 TB of iCloud storage.

What I didn’t realise at that moment is that iCloud storage expansion is in addition to the bundle, so I could downgrade my 2 TB plan and have 400 GB of iCloud storage in total. That completely changes the calculation.

Before I would have been paying:

  • Spotify — €8.99 (for Duo plan)
  • 2 TB of iCloud storage — €9.99
  • Apple TV+ — €4.17 (€49.99 a year divided by 12 months)

Total €23.15 a month.

With Apple One, I will be paying:

  • Bundle — €16.95
  • 200 GB of iCloud storage — €2.99

Total — €19.94

So, I will be paying €3.21 a month less and will have access to the Apple Arcade in addition, which I was considering renewing just last week.

Sure it is much less storage, but right now it is enough for our family without managing it at all, I could definitely delete about 50 GB from the cloud without any sacrifice.

There is only one question left and it is moving to Apple Music from Spotify. I was thinking about it before because of where Spotify is heading and I love having almost all the lyrics right there in the app. I was just hesitant to mention it to my wife because we would be changing our music streaming service for about a third time in a year, but turns out she hates Spotify and didn’t use it much. So win-win in our household.

If you were on the fence about using the Apple One subscription — reconsider, with the additional storage in mind, maybe it will be a good deal for you too.

Apple Event — October 13

October 13, 2020
5 min read

As other companies are trying to repeat the success of Apple presentation from June, they are going to the next level with the production of their events. This time the focus was even more on transitions and again, the event is much shorter, clocking at 1 hour and 10 minutes.

HomePod mini

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

The smallest announcement (no pun intended) was HomePod mini. Apple claims that it will have an amazing sound and for $99 it will be a very compelling device.

Two notable things — when talking about 3rd party services, Apple didn’t mention Spotify — the most popular music streaming service, but it will be supported in the new OS.

Second, Apple please stop showing HomePods without cords in the middle of the room, it’s misleading.

The Intercom feature could be potentially interesting, with the ability to ask Siri to communicate something to everyone in your family. What’s important it works not only on HomePods, but on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Macs and even CarPlay.

iPhone

Watching presentation, you could have missed that the main feature of the new iPhones is 5G (powered by Verizon). It is fast (in ideal conditions), reliable (in ideal conditions), has low latency (in ideal conditions). Oh, and did I mention? The new iPhones will have 5G (powered by Verizon).

The 5G was all over the presentation in partnership with, you guessed it, Verizon. Nobody knows how much Verizon paid Apple for that commercial inside the commercial, but it was bad. It was the worst presentation for a long time because of that. One would think Apple is above such things, but no, today was the very low point in the history of Apple events.

The one good thing in Apple implementation of 5G is Smart Data Mode, which will use LTE to preserve battery when the high speed is not essential.

iPhone 12

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

The main difference from the iPhone 11 is of course the new flat design, similar to the iPad Pro (and iPhone 4 and 5).

There are 5 colors — black, white, red, green and blue. And the screen is a bit bigger at 6.1”, but it has smaller borders, so the difference in the physical size is non-existent. The screen itself is OLED now, instead of LCD in the previous year model. It has a new technology which Apple calls Ceramic Shield, which is new material for the screen for dramatical improvement in toughness. Apple claims it has 4x better drop performance. We’ll have to wait and see if it will improve scratch resistance.

The new A14 Bionic chip is better and faster and will be faster than competition for years to come, that is everything you need to know.

The main camera is a bit better, the processor also allows for Night Mode on all cameras including front one. And you can also shoot Night Mode Time-lapses now.

MagSafe

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

There are magnets in the iPhone and it looks very interesting. You can attach wireless charger (similar to the Apple Watch), Apple cases will now have magnets to easily snap on and off.

And Apple introduced wireless charger for Apple Watch and iPhone.

Oh, and there won’t be a power adaptor and headphones in the box.

iPhone 12 mini

The smallest iPhone in the lineup. Physically it is even smaller than iPhone SE, but it has 5.4” display.

It is the same as the iPhone 12 except for the screen, so you won’t compromise on anything, just need to choose the size.

iPhone 12 Pro

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

Pro phones also feature a new design, although the band is from stainless steel and there are 4 colors — Silver, Graphite, Gold and Blue.

The displays got a bit bigger 6.1” (instead of 5.8”) for iPhone 12 Pro and 6.7” (instead of 6.5”) for iPhone 12 Pro Max. As with the iPhone 12, the bezels are smaller, so the physical size of the phone is just a bit bigger.

The biggest improvements are with the camera. Deep Fusion is now available on all 4 cameras (including front one).

There is LiDAR for depth data. The biggest improvement is in low light autofocus. The camera will find focus at night 6x faster. It also allows making portraits at night.

Apple will now support RAW photography right in app and what is more importantly there will API for Apple ProRAW, which will help 3rd party developers (like Halide) to improve their processing.

The iPhone Pro Max will have even better camera sensor. Starting with a bit better Telephoto sensor, which will allow using up to 2.5x optical zoom. And the main camera will have a Sensor Shift technology, which shifts the whole sensor instead of the lens for more precise image stabilization.

Prices for the Pro models will remain the same, but it will now start at 128 GB storage capacity. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro will be available in a week, while iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available in a month.

Apple Event – 15.09.2020

September 15, 2020
5 min read

Although it is strange to watch September Apple Event and not see new iPhones, we do live in different times, so here we go. The presentation itself was good, the same style as WWDC 2020 and I enjoyed watching it (in case you are wondering, I realize that it is an hour long ad by a trillion dollar company).

Apple tried to manage expectations when it announced the event (a lot of journalists covering Apple immediately said there won’t be new iPhones) and at the very start of the presentation Tim Cook said they will talk Apple Watch and iPad today.

Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 6

Same design as last year, although they’ve added three new colors – Gold, Blue and Red. I think they look good, especially the blue one (it will look great with the new blue iPhone).

There is a new sensor which will measure your blood oxygen levels. The manual measurement takes only 15 seconds and it does periodic background measurements, even at night if you sleep with your watch on. Although Apple didn’t say it, but it is helpful for the COVID-19.

The Always-On display got 2.5 times brighter outdoors.

Starting price remains the same at $399 in the US.

Apple Watch SE

The same display size and design as a Series 6, but without Always-On display and with an older S5 chip, which is 2x faster than Series 3. It is available both without and with cellular.

The price starts at $279 and Series 3 still remains in the lineup for $199.

Right now, if you are able to find discounted Series 5 it will be a much better deal – it has an always-on display, more health sensors and the same processor and design.

Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop

New bands for Apple Watches that don’t have a clasp or a buckle. That means you have to buy one that fits you, it has a lot of different sizes. What interesting, it says on the ordering page that it is not compatible with Series 3 and older watches, but I always thought the band connectors were identical.

Family Setup

You can now use your iPhone to set up an Apple Watch for someone in your family, who doesn’t have an iPhone. They will have a dedicated phone number and cellular connection. This is an amazing feature for kids or older family members and another step to the iPhone-less future for the Apple Watch.

Apple Fitness+

“First fitness service built around Apple Watch.”

Interesting how they presented it as something only possible with an Apple Watch. There will be 10 types of workouts, provided by world class trainers, with Apple Music (you don’t need a subscription for the service to work). New workouts will be added every week.

The new service is available on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It will show all the metrics during the workout on the screen and when a trainer will remind you to check your heart rate, the metric will get bigger.

When you start your workout on one of your devices, it will automatically start the workout on the Apple Watch.

There is an absolute beginner program, with all the basics covered and personalized recommendations in the app.

It will cost $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year (Family Sharing included) and you will get 3 months free with an Apple Watch purchase.
Unfortunately service is available only in handful of countries, so we will have to wait for it’s launch.

Other

There are a lot of new watch faces, including GMT which shows multiple time zones at once, typography with a lot of combinations, Chronograph Pro and a lot more.

Apple also announced that it will remove power adapter from the box, basically trying to present the cost-saving measure as an environmental thing.

Everything else that will be changed and added in watchOS7 got covered in the WWDC2020 presentation.

Apple One

The long rumored bundle from Apple is here, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. First, the name – Apple One. There are actually Three different bundles and only Two available everywhere.

First one – for $14.95 you get Apple Music, TV+, Arcade and 50GB of iCloud storage.

Second – for $19.95 you will get the same bundle, but with 200GB of storage.

And Premier – for $29.95 you will get 1TB of storage and News+ and Fitness+ as additional services.

The Premier one is available only in the countries where Apple News+ and Fitness+ are available and there are not a lot of those.

Because of the iCloud storage, the only one that makes sense for me is Premier, which will be unavailable. It is possible to add more storage to the first two, but at that point I’m not sure it will be a good deal. So no Apple One for me.

iPad

8th generation

This is the same plain iPad with a better processor (A12 Bionic), which means it will be more powerful. The design remains the same, with Touch ID button and screen bezels. It will still only support 1st generation Apple Pencil. But for the price of $329 it is an amazing value.

iPad Air

The iPad Air on the other hand got a complete redesign, it now looks the same as 11” iPad Pro, with rose gold, green and sky blue options available.

For the first time in a very long time, iPad gets new SoC before iPhone and iPad Air has A14 Bionic, which is industry leading 5 nanometer processor.

It also has a Touch ID sensor which is now in the Top Button (yeap, they’ve renamed Power Button in this one).

What is similar with the iPad Pro, except for design – it now has USB-C connector, support for 2nd generation Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.

What it lacks is Pro Motion (120Hz) display, FaceID, camera array and microphone and speaker system.

For $599 right now it looks like a much better purchase than 11” iPad Pro and Apple tablet lineup remains weird and complicated.

Sunday Endorsement – 21.06.2020

June 21, 2020
2 min read

📺 Dirty Money – Payday

Because this is a series of documentaries, I recommend starting from the second episode, because the first one was very bad. I will write about it another time.

This though is very interesting. I can’t judge the example itself, looks like they were really misleading. But looking at the payday loan scheme itself, I think the companies providing those are not the only ones to blame. I agree that the rules have to be clear, but customers have to assume some of the blame also.

Oh, and also – the same way, half of banking industry has to be in jail because of the 2007 mortgage crisis, but I didn’t hear about a lot of sentences given.

📱 ExpressVPN

I’ve been looking for a VPN service for a long time. I’ve tried a couple and realized – first, you can’t get a decent one for free, second they don’t work well with streaming apps. This one is a great exception. I’ve been using it for half a year already and love it.

Believe me when I say Netflix in different countries is like a completely different service all together. In Latvia, I can still watch Friends and have all but last season of Modern Family, as well as a lot of Marvel movies, some just two years old. In USA, on the other hand I have The Office, Flash (which I’ve stopped watching) and more.

The ExpressVPN works great, I have it on my phone and iPad, as well as on Apple TV. I’ve had an issue once with Apple TV and Netflix, but support was very fast, they’ve explained the reason and gave me a timeline, how they are fixing it. It is pricey, but you get the great service in return.

Sunday Endorsement – 31.05.2020

May 31, 2020
5 min read

📱 Tot Pocket

I was very skeptical at first. I mean, who wouldn’t be – €21.99 for a very limited note taking app. But after much consideration and keeping in mind the possibility to refund (yay Europe) I decided to give it a try. I’ve been trying to find an easy to use note app for a long time and nothing could come close to what I wanted. Notes.app was where I kept all my notes and didn’t feel like simple jotting app, I’ve tried Bear for a year, but it just replaced Notes and I never was a Markdown fan, I wanted something with rich text support. Drafts came close, but I always felt overwhelmed by it and after a week there would be tens of notes which I couldn’t remember what they were about.

Tot is light, colorful (it even changes the color of keyboard to match the dot and what surprised me most – even 3rd party keyboards get colored). I didn’t like icon at first, but recently they’ve added Mobius, which is now my favorite. I use all but one dots for something already and love it.

One disclaimer I have to add – I’ve had a data loss with the app. Just yesterday I was walking around town, listening to the audiobook and adding some notes, including citations I’ve transcribed myself. When I came home and opened an app – there was nothing. Just one word I’ve put as a placeholder when I created the note. And now I can’t shake the feeling of distrust. I hope it was a one time thing, but I’m not sure when I will be able to trust the application fully again.

I can’t recommend an app costing €21.99 to everyone, but if you look at screenshots and read the description you will know if the app is right for you. It is for me.

📺 Drive To Survive – Season 2

“Netflix are a bunch of cunts, aren’t they? I would love for them to play that.”

At the beginning of the season two they immediately let you know – this time it’s bigger, we have Mercedes and Ferrari now, but that somehow ruins it a bit. It became more pristine. The most controversial things were mostly when drivers and principals mentioned the documentary or Netflix.

But I still would recommend watching it. And I feel like it is much more interesting to those who have never watched F1, because otherwise you would already know what happened.

One additional note – I was the victim of advertising. After watching the show I went for a walk and had such a strong desire for a Red Bull I went to the store and bought one. Marketing works.

📜 Stratechery – The Google Squeeze

Half a year old article, but still very interesting. I never though how much advertising there is on Google. The screenshot which shows the results, where you have to scroll 3 pages in order to get to the organic results is worth the read alone.

I’ve compared the article with my own usage and it is the same in some instances and completely different in others. I hate the hotel module of Google. It always feels like some shitty websites want to give you a very bad deal. When I’m looking for a hotel I always go to booking.com. Always. And, as it turns out, that’s what they’ve tried to do – incentivize people to go straight to them. I guess it works.

⌚️ Pride California Watch Face

With the most recent update of the Apple Watch there are a couple of new Pride watch faces. One of them is California with Pride colors. It is my favorite watch face right now. I’ve been meaning to write about watch faces and how they all are bad for some reason or other. There are customizations, but it always feels like there could be more. But in terms of look – this one is just amazing.

One note – the process was a bit cumbersome. I had newest update on my Apple Watch, but new colors weren’t there. I updated my iPhone to iOS 13.5 and could choose a new California color, but it wouldn’t show up on my Watch. Only after restarting the watch did it work.

📚 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

I’ve laughed a couple of times while listening to the book. It is probably the best memoir by a businessman I have ever read. It is more about motivation and drive and less about the decisions themselves. I’m sure that in order to build such a monumental company there have to be more controversial stories, but this book is not the place for them.

Ending is just beautiful. The book itself is very personal, but ending takes it to the new level. I didn’t want for it to end. One of the strongest recommendations I can give. Everyone should read it.

Sincerely

April 21, 2020
1 min read

He is back. My favorite stand up comic, after two years of exile, is back and is better than ever (he even physically looks better). Religion, illnesses, travel, holocaust all the good stuff that are expecting from him. And yes, he faced the whole “thing” there as well, with humor, but not over the top.

Was this the best special? No, but it couldn’t be, considering the circumstances. But it was good as hell. It is the first one. It’s cautious. Can’t wait to see what he does next. 

On a more technological note. It’s not often in Latvia you see Apple Pay anywhere, so it was a blast using it. I’ve went to the website, clicked just one button and bought the special. The website thanked me by name and I got all the relevant links to my e-mail, never filling out any forms or registering. Just like that. Magic.

iPhone SE: It’s Not About The Price, It’s About Value

April 17, 2020
3 min read
Source: apple.com

When Apple announced iPhone SE earlier this week there was a lot of enthusiasm about the price, which in US starts at just $399. That is a lot of the phone for the price. Better still, as some pointed out – Apple announced the phone the same week OnePlus decided to go in the top tier price territory.

We live in a world where a brand new iPhone is undercutting every single phone OnePlus has released this year in price

Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD)

But what is even more amazing is the value you get buying 2nd generation iPhone SE. Sure you can choose from a lot of option in this price point in the world of Android. Huawei, LG, Motorola, Samsung will have you covered, but will you get the same amount of phone for the same amount of time?

For $399 you get the same processor as in iPhone 11 Pro, just think about that. This phone will get OS updates for at least 4-5 years and it won’t be slow. The best you can hope for with Android – it has the latest OS when you buy it. It also has a camera a bit better than last years iPhone XR. It has great battery life, wireless charging, it is spec-wise top of the line smartphone.

Before the phone was released, hearing all the rumors, I couldn’t have imagined that it would have A13. I was thinking that at best it would be last years processor, so it doesn’t look as capable as current top tier model, but Apple has outdone itself. I will be recommending this phone to a lot of people. I know a couple who already are waiting for it to be available. Some have 1st generation SE, others 6-8 types of phone.

The Perfect Coronavirus Phone

Final thought, it could be an exaggeration, but it is true. First of all because of the price. As many of us are not sure what the future will bring financially, if you need to buy a new phone, this is the strong contestant. Second – masks. Right now a lot of people wear masks, especially workers in fields that still have contact with people (medical workers, food delivery workers, etc.) and there is talk, that after quarantine is over, masks will be mandatory for going outside for some time. You know what doesn’t work with mask? FaceID. So iPhone SE with TouchID would be perfect for that scenario.

My 10 Years With iPad

April 3, 2020
2 min read

I wasn’t much of an Apple fan when the first iPad was introduced. The iPhone was still not as popular in Latvia and Mac hardware was well out of my price range as I was just starting college.

I’ve watched the introduction and was interested in the product, but not mesmerized by it. One of my classmates brought one to the university one day, not long after it went on sale. She was kind enough to give it to me for a couple of hours, unattended. I spent this time browsing the web and going on social media. I remember making a joke how this was a perfect Twitter client for $499. Little did I know what will it do in the future.

The first iPad I bought was 1st generation iPad Mini. I loved that device, even though it didn’t have Retina display, I loved the size. I liked reading on it, playing games and surfing the web. I even used it for a long time to take notes at classes – even though typing on a virtual keyboard wasn’t ideal I still liked it. But after a year or two it got really slow, so I passed it to my mom and didn’t buy myself a replacement for a couple of years. I’ve had Kindle for reading books, I was in the Plus sized phone club and had a MacBook Pro, I had everything covered, until Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro in 2018.

This iPad changed everything, just as I was taking photography more seriously, having the image right in my hands and making edits looked amazing. I was torn as to which model to buy and decided to go with the 12.9” and don’t regret making this choice.

It replaced a laptop for me, I still have a Max sized phone, but considering buying the smaller one next time. I read books, write, edit photos, watch TV shows and do everything computer related on it. My MacBook Pro is gathering dust somewhere in the apartment. I like the changes Apple made with the introduction of iPadOS and waiting for more improvements. I know there are a lot of problems still, but it looks more ready than ever to be the main computer for a lot of people.

Apple March Non-Event

March 19, 2020
4 min read

On March 18th Apple surprised everyone with the announcement of new and updated products.

It was rumored long ago that there was an Apple event planned for the end of March, but with the COVID-19 going around the globe everyone understood that it wouldn’t be possible to organize. So they’ve published the press release and it looks like either press only got the devices now or are still under embargo.

Let’s go through the products starting from the least important and moving to the most interesting one.

“Mac mini Also Updated Today”

The only update was the storage, it now starts at 256GB, which is the bare minimum today. As someone with the 256GB on all three of my Apple devices (iPhone, iPad and MacBook) I can’t understand how anyone would survive with less.

MacBook Air

Everyone was waiting for an updated keyboard making it’s way through the whole lineup and not just being in the 16” MacBook Pro, this day has come. With the new keyboard, 256GB storage as a base and a new (old) starting price of $999, this is again the best default computer there is. Except, we can’t be sure what a computer is right now…

iPad

Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro, of course it has a new chip, which is faster and more powerful. As a previous generation iPad Pro owner I can’t see how you would be able to see this, as the tablet is fast as hell still.

It has two cameras now, adding the 10MP Ultra Wide to the back, making it look like an iPhone 11. In a year, I am pretty sure that I didn’t take one photo with my iPad Pro. I know there are people who like to hold huge tablet in front of their face at schools and in touristy places, but I’m not one of them. I love editing photos on my 12.9” iPad Pro, but I would probably miss the shot before reaching for the iPad in my bag.

LiDAR Scanner is the weakest point in todays announcement, not from the technology point of view, but from the delivery. If you read everything Apple has provided, it just makes AR a bit better and promising a lot. Knowing Apple there should be a lot more information, either with the announcement of iOS 14 or more likely iPhone 12. It just made sense to include the hardware right now, but the software story is not yet ready.

Magic Keyboard and Trackpad Support

This is the biggest news, not only for me, but reading tweets for a was majority of potential or current iPad Pro users. Seeing videos, it looks like pointer support in iPadOS got much better. And the most interesting thing – it happened today, not in September with the release of iOS 14, but in March with iOS 13.4 (public release in a week).

The best news is that new keyboard with the trackpad is compatible with the now previous generation iPad. The worst news is the price – $299 for the 11-inch and $349 for the 12.9-inch. That is a lot of money, it is actually more than the price of the standard iPad itself. It looks nice, I’m sure the trackpad will be amazing, as Apple always excelled in making those and they now come in different colors. I’m not sure I would buy one yet, will try out pointer support first.

Pretty strong announcement from Apple, if they won’t surprise us again with the everyday announcements, I’m not sure this would be enough for the whole event, but it is more than enough for the press release.

I’m not in the market for a new iPad, as my previous generation 12.9-inch one is fast enough, screen and design didn’t change much and I don’t use cameras. Thankfully, Apple made the new Magic Keyboard for iPad compatible with the older models. Oh, and regarding the MacBook, I have one MacBook Pro already lying around not being used for months, so who need those, right?

My Homescreen At The End Of 2019

January 13, 2020
5 min read

It is nice to look back and see how my homescreen has changed. It shows the most used and important apps at that moment. I would like to start the tradition of going through the apps on my homescreen each year to see what has changed or stayed the same (took the idea from M.G. Siegler).

For a couple of years, my first rule of arranging the homescreen is no folders. Just the most used apps I can open in one tap. I’ve tried to put folders in the first row recently, as it is hardest to reach, but it didn’t work aesthetically for me.

The top row consists of the rarely used apps and Telegram, which I open mostly from the Notification Center. App Store stays here since the days I’ve manually updated all the apps.

The second row is all about photography. Instagram is where I post my photos almost exclusively, Photos app which I love. My two main editing apps – Lightroom, where I edit my real camera photos and VSCO where all the mobile editing is done. I’m not sure why I still keep Lightroom on the homescreen, I almost don’t use it on the phone, but it is one of the top apps on my iPad.

There is another photography app on this screen, although it is a bit lower for easier reach – Halide. I’ve been using it a lot less recently, now I either take photos with the built-in camera app or with my real camera, but sometimes it’s nice to have RAW capture capability (I open the built-in camera app from Lock Screen or Control Center).

CoinKeeper is the app for tracking expenses . I’ve been using it for a long time, there is a new version out, but I’m so used to this one, I’m hesitant to move, lucky for me they keep both of them in the App Store.

I’ve been using TweetBot for years, until the summer of 2019. I wanted to use Twitter less and also have all the features that the service offers, so I moved to the official Twitter client. At first it felt like I was using completely different service, but after some time I actually began to like it.

Almost everything I read on the internet goes through Pocket. I have a couple of IFTTT rules that save all the articles from select blogs, I also go through the Reeder (yes, RSS reeder in the 2019) and save the articles that seem interesting for reading later (that is why I didn’t update to Reeder 4 this year, for what I am using it for, the previous version is enough).

I’ve tried to watch more YouTube videos, but it is hard. Twitter and Instagram allow for a short bursts of usage, with YouTube you have to be in the right place and have a lot of time.

Although most of my reading is done on the iPad before going to bed, Kindle is one of the aspirational app placements – I wanted to read even more, so I’ve put it on the homescreen.

It is impossible to live in Europe without Waze and WhatsApp (in the case of the latter – unfortunately). Most of my work chats have moved to Slack (which I have somewhere in the folder and I have notifications turned off on my iPhone, it’s enough I get them on the computer), I chat in iMessage with my wife and in Telegram with most friends. But there are still couple of groups in WhatsApp (mostly family) which I can’t move anywhere else.

I use Apple Music mostly because of all the integrations. We have a family plan between me and my wife and I like using Siri when trying to play something.

Last two apps are temporary – I use Gemini in the short bursts, almost like using Twitter or Instagram, to go through all of the photos and delete similar ones. Once I go through all of them, I plan to remove it from the homescreen and do the cleaning periodically, probably using a reminder.

ExpressVPN is the app I literally installed on the December 31st. While at the hospital, I’ve had some time to kill, so I wanted to watch a couple of TV shows. Netflix in Latvia, as it turns out is so bad, it’s not even funny. So it is totally worth it to pay for the VPN service in order to get content I want.

Since iOS 13 came out, I’ve moved Reminders to my homescreen and use it as my one and only to do list app. The new design, integrations and simplicity is what keeps me using it. I’ve tried a lot of different apps for tasks, but my needs are very simple, so all those apps mostly drove me away from productivity.

In the dock there are Messages, Notes, Overcast and Safari – those are probably my most used apps. I listen to a lot of podcasts and the sound engine of Overcast is the best in class.

I’ve been using Bear for a year and moved back to Apple Notes. It works for me. I like to use rich text while editing and nothing can beat its price.

Because of syncing, battery life and privacy focused features I use Safari on all my devices.

So here it goes, my homescreen at the end of the year. I know that it’s far from perfect, I know a couple of improvements I want to make already (actually some of them are already made), so it will be fun to take a look at the same screen next year.