Default Apps 2026

Last year, I wrote a piece called Web App Parity and Why I Don't Use Apple Apps. As of 2026, not too much has changed in this regard. While Apple's apps are decent and while they fully integrate with Siri AI (which Apple has vastly improved thanks to Google's technology), as an iPhone user who does not have an iPad or a Mac as a secondary device, I prefer that the apps I rely on be platform agnostic. Google currently does a great job of this.

As you can see, my home screen is a bit different from the way it was in 2024, now with a few useful widgets, along with my most used apps in the doc and my second most used apps on the home screen. I prefer the clear icon look, especially now that Apple has changed the Apple Music icon. I prefer the large Apple clock widget (Clock III), and I use this widget to quickly access my alarms. I know it's duplicative, since the time is also at the top left in the status bar, but I like the analog look. The Weather widget is also a default Apple widget. While I prefer The Weather Channel for forecast data, Apple's widget does a great job of letting me know what is going on outside at the moment. Lastly, I prefer the Google Calendar widget. Our family uses Google's calendar (family sharing), and I like that this widget shows me what events are coming up next, as well as the fact that it integrates with Google Tasks.

From a hardware perspective, I'm currently using an iPhone 16 Plus (running the iOS 27.2 public beta), and my laptop (for personal use) is a hand-me-down Surface Laptop 3 (running Windows 11 version 26H2 with WSL2 (vanilla Debian) enabled). I have retired the iMac. I also have a Kindle Paperwhite (7th Generation). It's old but it still works great. In terms of peripherals, I have a pair of AirPods Pro 3s, as well as a pair of CMF Buds Neos. We have lots of Google/Nest devices around the house, including a display, speakers, a Nest thermostat, and a Nest doorbell.

As it was last time, unless otherwise noted, the list below is mainly representative of the apps and services I use on mobile. My iPhone is my most used “computer”, and on my laptop, I mostly use the browser. App/service changes are indicated with a ✨.

My Updated Defaults

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