I’ve been on a journey the last year or so with app-switching and not being able to settle on an app (this is particularly noticeable with workhorse productivity apps like notes, to-do, email etc).
Recently, I realised that I’ve become more productive with apps that are familiar to me, or ones that I abandoned for newer apps with promises of more features and increased productivity. Those promises never held (for me). There is something about a familiar app that I have used and loved for years that feels like a warm blanket.
Here’s my experience:
Raycast to Alfred
Raycast is slick and there’s no denying that its extensions are much better than the workflows in Alfred. I experimented with Raycast more than once and after about 3 to 6 months, returned to Alfred. I think I now understand why. Alfred is fast and lightweight. Raycast uses 386 mb of space compared to Alfred’s 34 mb (I didn’t test memory but my guess is that Raycast would use more). I can’t tell if it’s just me, but Raycast takes just fraction of a second longer to launch every time. Alfred is instant. What I do know for sure is that file searching is still better in Alfred. I don’t know which algorithms each app uses, but Alfred more often displays the results I want/need to see. Searching Apple Notes is better in Alfred too — Raycast only searches the note title whereas Alfred searches the note content.
Secrets to 1Password
This experiment didn’t last long. I tried Secrets to eliminate another subscription but I’ve come back to 1Password after a couple of months. It’s no contest for me. I know my way around 1Password, the autofill is more reliable, and it handles a variety of “secrets” better than other password managers I’ve tried. I also feel more secure when using it and I’m not sure why (perhaps the use of the password and secret key).
Craft / Obsidian to Apple Notes
My notes needs aren’t complicated. There’s something about AN that keeps me returning every time. I end up not creating many new notes in other apps because of the friction. AN has grown up a lot recently (while maintaining speed and simplicity) and with the macOS integration and upcoming linking in Sonoma, I can’t see much benefit in anything else. The ProNotes.app integration adds some additional niceties.
I’ve also (finally!) landed on a better system for notes vs files, which has frustrated me for years. All files, including pdfs, spreadsheets, presentations, docs, assets etc go into the file system. Notes, weblinks, screenshots, annotations and some temporary or transient files go into Notes app. Both are searchable with Spotlight/Alfred.
Spark and Fastmail to Mail and iCloud+
This was hard because I loved Spark (before the update) and Fastmail. But my mail needs aren’t complex and I already have the iCloud+ subscription, so I transferred my domains and set up with Apple Mail. I don’t love Mail, but it’s familiar and customisable enough.
Dropbox to iCloud
I returned to Dropbox in 2021 because of syncing issues with iCloud. However, with the recent changes to Dropbox and macOS (and not wanting another subscription), I moved back to iCloud a few months ago. Night and day from the last time I used it (knock on wood). Fast, reliable, no issues.
We’ll see how this familiarity goes for the next few months, but my initial reflections are very positive. It feels like a weight has been lifted.
Any others who have returned to what’s known and familiar to them?
) don’t transfer my stuff from the old to a new computer, this is a good moment to have a look at my apps again.
