Tagged with homescreen

• My Home Screen - March 2025

  I like to check in on my home screen periodically and see how things evolve. This is my third post containing a home screen, you can see past versions under the homescreen tag.

  Main Home Screen

  This is my daytime home screen. There are a few changes from last time.

  

  Dock

  Mostly my Dock is the same:

  • Web browser,
  • WhatsApp (the only messaging app that people I talk to actually use, sadly),
  • Todoist,
  • Obsidian.

  But I've got a new browser. I replaced Safari with Vivaldi. There are a few reasons, which I won't go too deeply into (I have another post in the works for that rabbit hole), but to sum it up, I'm trying to avoid giving money or data to big US companies, where I can. And Vivaldi is pretty good, so I've switched over to using it as my browser on all devices.

  Widget Changes

  • I've removed the Carrot Weather widget, as I found I didn't actually use it much. I would usually go into the app to look at more data, so I've just replaced the widget with the app icon.
  • In place of Carrot, I've moved the Albums widget up, as I still love seeing my favourite album covers decorating my home screen. And the top of the screen is harder to reach, so is better for less interactive widgets.
  • I've put the calendar widget up there too, although I've stopped paying the large amount of money for Fantastical and moved over to Google Calendar, which is fine as apps go. (I'd prefer to move my calendar to a service and company based in the UK or Europe, but it's a shared family calendar so it's harder to make that switch. Similar problem to WhatsApp, services that involve others are harder to change.)

  App Changes

  In removing the Carrot widget, I've got a lot more space for apps, so I added another row, then kept one more row free, to avoid visual overload. Notable changes that I've made in the app icons I keep around:

  • Music.app replaces Spotify. I'm using a local library, not streaming. I want to avoid giving Apple or Spotify money if I can help it. (I know Spotify is a Swedish company, but they also pay a lot of money to unsavoury podcast hosts.)
  • Reeder is still there, but it's actually something I've recently come back to. I used NetNewsWire for a while, but when I set up FreshRSS for hosting, I switched back to Reeder (Classic, as it is now) because the UI is just nicer to me. I don't know how long Reeder Classic will stick around, but it works best for me for now.
  • I've put Ivory on my home screen. I have used it for as long as it's been around, but I keep going through cycles of trying to cut back on social media and trying to be more social.
  • I have a shortcut to access the Sure Petcare app, because the app icon, in spite of having a white background, doesn't convert to a dark mode icon.
  • I've removed the Kindle app. As I've mentioned before, I want to give less money (and data) to US companies. I'm not a heavy reader, and the BorrowBox app for my local library works well enough for my liking. I'm also trying to read more physical books.
  • I've also removed Slack from my home screen, as I only use it for work and don't need or want to see it constantly.

  Fitness Apps

  The extra row of apps on my home screen is dedicated to fitness.

  • Apple Fitness is the hub of things. It's how I view my tracked activity from my Apple Watch. I don't really need quick access to it, but it brings it up to a 4th row of fitness apps.
  • Awesome Habits is a habit tracker that I use to try to build better habits, like drinking less coffee, eating more fruit and veg, writing in my journal, etc. I've had it for a few years now and keep going back and forward between using the widget (see night mode) and the app icon. (Strictly speaking it's not a fitness app, but I use it mostly to manage my fitness habits.)
  • Running Track is my app that I use to analyse my running data and I will definitely probably release to the public at some point some day.
  • I really like Headspace's guided meditations. I find they help me to be more present and more relaxed.
  • I don't use Fitbod any more, as I didn't have the time for the workouts, so didn't want to renew the subscription. It's still a great app, which I expect to come back to some day.

  Night Focus Home Screen

  

  My aim with my evening home screen is to try to make my phone calming, and less distracting. I want to use it less in the evenings, and do things like read or watch TV to wind down. When I do use my phone, I want to make it look less bright and vibrant. I love the new dark app icons and tinted icons for this.

  • There are some apps I use a lot in the evenings, and having quick access to them is useful. Those are the ones I've kept around.
  • Beyond that, I've tried to go to an all-black screen, to remove as much visual stimulation as I can. And anything I wasn't frequently using in the evenings, I've removed.
  • Later in the night, between 10pm and 6am, I've got the app icons and widgets tinted red, to make it even less interesting to look at, and to make sure my interactions with my phone are as intentional as they can be.
  • I've kept Running Track here to remind myself that I need to make a dark mode icon for it! It stands out here, in a bad way, and having the visual reminder there will nudge me to actually fix it.
  • At some point I've swapped the Awesome Habits and Batteries widgets around, I don't remember why!
  • I've stopped using Duolingo, as I felt like I hit my limit of learning French without actually using it in conversation. I do miss seeing the widget go completely unhinged when I reached the end of the day and hadn't completed a lesson.
  • I've also stopped using the Todoist widget, because, much like Carrot Weather, I found I mostly wanted to go into the app, and the preview of a list wasn't particularly useful to me.

  Watch Faces

  Daytime

  I try to keep my watch faces as useful as possible. I don't use it for a huge amount of stuff, so anything I do use it for should be accessible from the watch face rather than tapping into the app grid, where possible.

  

  • The main complications here are Activity, Vitals (to help me understand how badly I slept last night...), a glanceable date, the tall Carrot 5-hour forecast, Awesome Habits, Todoist, and to fill out the last slot, Carrot's rain prediction.
  • The two other uses I have for my watch are tracking runs, which I start from the action button on the left of my Apple Watch Ultra, and controlling music and podcasts, which happen from the app auto-launching when I start playing something on my phone.

  Night

  

  I have the same approach to night mode on my watch as on my phone.

  • I want as little content as possible, while still being useful, and as dark as possible. So it's set to night mode, making everything red (therefore dark).
  • I remove the Carrot and Vitals complications, and add the Watch's battery percentage so that I can see if I need to charge before bed.

  
  

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  7 March 2025

  • homescreen

• My Home Screen - January 2024

  I’ve written before about my home screens. Find all articles at the homescreen tag. (At the time of writing there’s only one other article there, but I intend to update it now and again, as I fiddle with it constantly.)

  Main Home Screen

  This is my default Home Screen. I also have one that I use at night time; I’ll come on to that in a bit.

  

  There are some visible differences from last time. For example, I’ve moved Obsidian and Todoist into the Dock, reflecting how I actually use my phone most often.

  Widget Changes

  • I’ve replaced the Awesome Habits widget with a bigger Carrot Weather one, because I get more value from that through the day. (Awesome Habits is still useful at night though, see later.)
  • I’ve replaced the Kindle widget with Albums, because I like the album covers being the full size of the widget, and I listen to a lot more music than I read books right now.

  App Changes

  • GoodLinks is an app I’ve used for a while, but I’m consolidating all my Read Later usage into it rather than using Safari Reading List.
  • Kindle is now an app icon because, although I don’t have space for the uninspiring widget, I still need encouragement to read more.
  • I’m trying Fitbod because I need to be more active. I like the app, but I need to know I can actually fit using it into my life enough to commit to the high subscription price.
  • Google Photos and Duolingo are still used, but are Night Focus apps now.
  • Huckleberry is much less useful now that my children have gone past the point where we need to track their sleep.

  General Usage

  I still use only one Home Screen, and then a combination of Spotlight search and the App Library for finding everything else. I find the suggestions in the App Library pretty decent, and search works way better for me than browsing deep through screens or folders.

  I tried again with Focus Modes and I like the setup I have now. Work mode, which I won’t share here, has my work calendar and work apps on the Home Screen, letting me get quicker access to apps that I use during work times.

  Night focus lets me change my phone to reflect how I use it at night time, once my kids are asleep. Or when I’m sitting up with the younger one when he won’t go into his cot…

  Night Focus Home Screen

  

  The Fantastical widget is replaced by Todoist, to let me glance at what I still have to do this evening.

  Night Focus is where Duolingo and Awesome Habits come back as widgets. I need the big visible reminders for the various habits I’m tracking, including learning French. But being realistic, I can only use them in the evening.

  Similarly, Mail and GoodLinks aren’t as useful as Fitbod, which I can use much more easily in the evening, or Disney+, which I watch a lot of at 3am.

  
  

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  2 January 2024

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• My Home Screen - May 2023

  I find it fascinating to read about home screens. How other people use their phones. And I love looking back at old screenshots of mine. I've kept them in Day One for years, but I think it's a cool thing to track in public too.

  So here's my Home Screen as of the 4th of May 2023.

  

  First off, I use only one Home Screen, and then a combination of Spotlight search and the App Library for finding everything else. I find the suggestions in the App Library pretty decent, and search works way better for me than browsing deep through screens or folders.

  I also don't change home screens for different focus modes. I tried it for work, but I found it off putting in a way I've not been able to put my finger on. Like it made my phone feel wrong.

  Widgets

  I like widgets. I find myself wishing for a bigger Home Screen so that I could fit more in.

  My widgets: - Fantastical to see what's happening next; - Awesome Habits to keep me on track, by seeing what I still need to do whenever I unlock my phone; - Todoist in a stack with Awesome Habits for the same reason; - Kindle because I like being able to see the cover of my current book, in lieu of actually having a physical book, and it's also a great reminder to me to read more; - and Carrot to keep track of the weather. I find this works really well because I only passively check it, but the key thing like "will it be warm, will it rain" gets into my head subconsciously.

  Apps

  If I have a widget, I don't also have the app icon. There's not enough space for that! And this isn't a full list of every app I use.

  For example, Ivory and Knotwords are missing. I keep them off my Home Screen because they're distracting.

  And Day One is one of my most used apps but I use it at a particular time of the day, and the Spotlight Suggestions always show me it, so I never need to go looking for it when it's time to write in my diary.

  Apps on my Home Screen: - Huckleberry is a parenting app, for tracking sleep among other things; - Duolingo because I'm now properly trying to learn French, after been doing it off and on for a decade; - Spotify because I'm listening to more music again these days; - Reeder for RSS, which never really went away for me; - Mail because it's like the cockroach of technology; - Slack for talking to work colleagues and friends; - Obsidian for writing things like this, along with most notes; - And a folder full of tools for projects like working on this site, or my run tracking app.

  Dock

  These are the apps I use most. I don’t think I need a Dock as such, because I only have one Home Screen. But it’s there, and I put my most important apps in it.

  I use Safari a lot. I think it might be the only app whose position has never changed since my first iPod Touch in 2008.

  WhatsApp is how I talk to people.

  Overcast is vital for listening to The Adventure Zone and Bring Back V10s.

  And Google Photos is how I share family photos, and it’s basically become my photos app now.

  Watch

  I wear my Apple Watch all day every day. The biggest features for me are time and notifications, but there's some glanceable info that's useful, and a couple of apps that I use quite heavily.

  

  The main two apps I use are Todoist and Waterminder.

  I use Waterminder almost exclusively on the watch. It's a full featured app. And it's accessible and quick to just add a drink without getting my phone out.

  And I use Todoist for much the same reason. I can jump in, check what's on my list, and quickly tick things off, without having to get my phone out. It's great.

  
  

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  If you liked this article, please consider buying me a coffee to support my writing.

  4 May 2023

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