I’ve been thinking about the lock in for Apple apps and how I could be choosing cross platform apps instead. This would make it easier to swap platforms should I want to try something different.

Only photos and notes on iOS are worth using in my opinion but iMessage lock in is definitely real. You can swap out both of these for Google photos and keep but there’s no message equivalent. I use signal with friends on Android but iOS is so integrated with messages, it’s a hard nut to crack.

Reminders is easy to swap out for something else like Todoist or TickTick. There are free tiers available for these apps.

Calendar is a little tricky if you have shared ones, I think checking this on the web would be the best way via a non Apple product.

Just some thoughts for now but I’m definitely more conscious of using an app that’s only on iOS or made by Apple.

I’ve been a user of Reeder for years but recently I found that the iCloud sync either failed or was slow a lot of the time. I was also looking for a good option for a Mac app rather than paying again.

I dipped into NetNewsWire on Mac and iOS and haven’t really looked back.

Sync is reliable and I like having the app everywhere. The team are doing a great job offering this free and open source RSS option and after using it for a week or so I see no reason to use anything else.

I know I’m late to the party with this app but I’m glad I at least arrived at it.

I’m trying to cut back on apps this year, especially on my iPhone. I know the apps that aren’t good for me, these make me feel worse or are massive time sucks.

I want to pair my iPhone down to just the apps that I need.

The main and first culprit to go is Apollo. I only discovered Reddit a couple of years ago but it’s become my biggest distraction. I get lost down rabbit holes and it’s become one of those apps that is stopping me from creating something.

That’s the first app to go.

How about you?

Dark sky is no more and whilst it’s features are now integrated into Apple weather, it’s presentation isn’t. For me dark sky was the most intuitive and accurate weather app. Apple weather just isn’t as good. Here in the UK I find that the data isn’t as good either. I don’t believe it’s using the same data completely.

I’m so glad that Glass have introduced a way get to inspiration from others with a new camera and lens search.

It’s been fun seeing what others are doing with the iPhone 13 Mini and Canon 70D.

I’ve been a fan of the interface and way of working of Things 3 by Cultured Code for years but enough is enough, I can‘t use or recommend it to anyone with any accessibility needs. For me that means that on both my iPhone 13 Mini and iPad Mini I have larger fonts enabled. Cultured Code haven’t addressed these needs since launch and I cannot understand why not. They do not respect the system font settings and continue to choose design over function.

This leaves me looking at other apps that require a subscription or using Apple’s own Reminders, the app that I am choosing for managing what I have to do.

With larger fonts enabled you can see above that whilst you might think it’s massive, for me it’s about right. The above screenshot is what it looks like on my iPad Mini.

In stark contrast the screenshot above is what it looks like in Things3, it’s tiny and doesn’t appear to have changed even after enabling larger font mode.

I’m happy to be corrected if I have missed a setting but would appreciate if someone at Cultured Code reads this to get in touch and help me understand why you can’t work with system font settings. I suspect the UI is so customised that it simply cannot be addressed or is on the list for Things 4.

A hard NO from me to playing this game.

I’ve been messing around with Mastodon and found that the best app (for me) is the official one. It looks great, it’s fast and will hopefully be frequently updated.

Which app are you using?

I’ve been predominantly using Apple apps in my time on iOS but when I switched to the Nothing Phone 1 I realised how stuck I was. Even when I wasn’t using an Apple app and using Things 3 for my task manager I was still using apps I could only use on iOS.

I’m in the process of thinking this through. Do I want to use apps that keep me on iOS? The more I look at the Pixel 7 Pro or when I used the Nothing I feel trapped on iOS. Don’t get me wrong I really like my iPhone 13 Mini but I’d like the choice of moving platform. With Apple needing to resort to tactics like gambling ads to please their shareholders I’m less and less an Apple enthusiast these days and feel the pull to try something new. Apple also aren’t always going to make the device that I want.

With no foldable in sight and the increasing weight of their flagship iPhone I’m less and less bothered by their devices and more becoming interested in cool new phones that aren’t made by Apple. I don’t want to be using a phone I find boring (as a tech enthusiast) just because of a notes or calendar app.

I overthink things really badly and an app shouldn’t play into my device decisions, switching platforms isn’t a big deal and I need to remember that.

I digress, I guess for me starting to look at cross platform apps is something I need to do. How do you feel about it?