What is Your Favorite App ... Ever

Software
186

Ok, I’ll jump in:

Apps can be useful, necessary, fun and delightful. Any app can be your favorite. Browsers are useful and necessary (Safari, Chrome, Firefox). Password managers are necessary (1Password). Project and checklist apps are useful (Things, Omnifocus, Todoist). Cloud storage apps are useful (Dropbox, Evernote). Text editors are useful (Drafts, Ulysses, Scrivener). Media players are useful and fun (Netflix, Plex, VLC, podcast apps, music apps). Email clients are useful and necessary (Mail, Spark, Airmail). IRC and VIOP apps are extremely useful (Messages, Skype, Slack, Signal). Productivity boosters are extremely useful (Keyboard Maestro, Launchbar, Text Expander, Bartender). I haven’t even mentioned any games or creative apps (your favorite game or music/drawing app goes here).

My favorite: GNU Emacs! (coupled with Drafts on iOS)

It is the one app that unifies all those useful and necessary apps into one coherent whole. Note taker, checklist-er, list manager, outliner, time tracker, media player, email client, IRC client… not to mention one of the (if not the most) powerful text editors on the planet. What it lacks in looks and polish it more than makes up for in power and features. Need a calculator like Soulver? Emacs has it. Need a full featured outliner and note taker? Need to link an email to a TODO item to a project? Need to track the time you spend on a task? Org-mode has it all covered. Need to export into PDF or docx or epub or html or slides? Emacs does it. Need to write and test some code? Emacs has a mode for it. Need a command line or some file manager-fu? Emacs shell and dired has you covered. Text expander? Check. Want to write a book? Check. Need to track all your file changes? Use magit (a super easy GIT interface).

Emacs has been around for more than 40 years which makes it a living dinosaur of an application. How has it survived this long? It is infinitely flexible and extendable. Don’t like the keyboard shortcuts? Change them. Don’t like the color theme? Change it. Missing a little feature you really need? Write your own and add it in. Need an feature extension? Add it in using a package manager.

Oh, and everything is in plain text. Every. Thing.

Emacs is a living dinosaur. Like a bird, soaring above all the rest of the earth-bound applications. As Neal Stephenson wrote: “Emacs outshines all other editing software in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars. It is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish.”

Gnu Emacs is my favorite app… ever. It won’t coddle you or dazzle you with icons - rather it will challenge you and make you stronger. You will never be it’s master; but you can be a zen-master of productivity. Forever free and always improving.

There. That was fun!

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187

My number one app that I must have on all my wireless devices is Drafts 5 by Agile Tortoise. It’s a extremely powerful text editor. It’s the starting point for everything I do with text.

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188

Just out of interest, why do you consider a password manager necessary? I use Keychain and cannot understand why they’re needed. I only use Macs, always use the suggested passwords, and have all my passwords and credit cards there. I can auto fill in all my apps on iOS and in Safari. What advantage would one bring for me?

189

There are many but I really love Curio, 1Password, BetterTouchTool, PopClip and Yoink. Those are the first ones I install on my Mac.

190

I would have to say 1Password and Hazel.

191

I just started with DEVONthink in April. Really loving it. Wish they’d update the UI though.

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192

You’re correct - if all you have are macs and iOS devices. However, I also use Windows machines at work and there’s no crossover for the keychain app there.

I’m waiting for the day when passwords are “old” technology. I’d rather use touch ID, face ID or SQRL technologies.

Oh, and I’ve just begun sharing certain passwords within my family using 1Password. That’s kind of nice.

193

Given that I have learned most of what I know about tech from MPU, my favourite app so far is Ulysses, followed closely by Omnifocus. Both simple at first sight but with so much power underneath.

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194

As a starter for some reasons there’s this Macworld article which has some suggestions.

In terms of a mono-system individual I think there are a few specifics that could be relevant. But it is always worth considering those around you (typically family) who might benefit from a shared password system with you.

I’d add the ability to access without a Mac (e.g. in case of a disaster where all devices were lost; such as a house fire).

1Password has the Watchtower service which checks your credentials against data breaches.

Additionally I think there’s more flexibility with the sorts of data sets 1Password would hold over keychain.

But at the end of the day it is a value proposition. If keychain does everything you need and the USPs for apps like 1Password hold no appreciable value for you, then you are fine as you are.

195

All time favorite would be Skitch on Mac (pre-Evernote purchase of it). It was simply brilliant and easy to use for screen capture and annotation.

Closely behind would be:

  • Keynote
  • OmniOutliner
  • Devonthink Pro
  • OmniGraffle
  • MindNode

A few years ago I would have put Scrivener, but my workflow changed and shifted to more markdown, while slowed my use and lack of iOS for so long did as well.

196

Hmmmm

If I count older computers I have to say the FORTRAN 77 compiler for the Cyber mainframe. It’s what got me into computers and was such an upgrade from the FORTRAN 4 stuff on the older machines.

For mid age things I have to say Director and Excel. I used both to do lots of work. Eudora comes in a close 3rd.

For current stuff Omnifocus, DEVONThink, Scrivener, 1Password and my own LambTracker program. I use all 5 multiple times a day and couldn’t mange my current life/work environment without all of them or something that performs those same functions.

197

Keyboard Maestro!

But TextExpander, MailMate, VSCode, iTerm, 1Password, Evernote, BusyCal and Logic Pro all come in a close second. I also have to add Clover/Clover Configurator, which makes hackintoshing so much easier!

198

I’ll second that! Been using if for many years … my every day app!

199

todoist subscriber here…but i’ve been using 2do since Macstories reviewed it years back. I currently use 2do for checklists but been thinking of moving my whole system to the app. I just lament the fact it doesn’t have a true web front end.

200

I felt the same about not having a web presence for 2Do. Whenever I quit my office job I finally got rid of Windows. I’m all in on iOS now that I’m finished with college, so I get to use the universal app :grin: I went ahead and moved everything over to 2Do, even from Trello. I wasn’t using Trello to its full potential so I decided to cut ties.

201

my favorite app ever is so simple but i love the late 90 glory days of IRC & clients with the cool skins & add-ons & my precious winamp…yes i was a windows girl :zipper_mouth_face:

favorite to do app of all time; anyone remember the app store handango? Pocket Informant was my favorite PIM of all time :laughing:

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202

IRC was wonderful. :green_heart: Usenet / IRC was where I met my partner.

So. Long. Ago.

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203

amazing!! :star_struck:

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204

I use OmniFocus more than any other app, but if I had to choose an app I love, it’d be Tinderbox. I’ve never seen a more powerful or versatile thinking and writing tool on any platform ever.

205

Discounting any software that I have actually writing, since that is like choosin between children.

My favourite app is Pro Presenter for Mac, it is ludicrously overpowered for what I use it for now, but years ago I invested in a licence and I have not regretted it. (Pro presenter is the sort of tool you use for concert multimedia), It’s sufficient to say that people tend to really enjoy when I give a presentation as it is unlike every other man and his boring PowerPoint