// defaults

Defaults

The apps I actually open every day. Not a list of everything installed on my devices. Just the ones I'd notice if they disappeared.

browser (mobile)
Brave — I don't need much on my phone. Just something that blocks ads and lets me search.
browser (laptop)
Chrome for development (DevTools is hard to replace). Brave for normal browsing. Firefox strictly for university stuff — our LMS works better there, and I keep it logged in so it doesn't mix with everything else.
email
The Gmail app on my phone. The web version on my laptop. I keep meaning to try Thunderbird on Linux, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
notes
The default notes app on my phone. On my laptop, just a plain .txt file opened in the default text editor. Nothing fancy. No Notion, no Obsidian.
music
The default music player on my phone, mostly playing downloaded .mp3 files. On the laptop, YouTube if I need something, but I usually don't code with music on anyway.
calendar
The default calendar. I don't have a complicated system. Just something to remember important dates.
passwords
Bitwarden. Open source, free tier is enough, and I don't have to remember anything. If you're still using the same password everywhere, this is your sign to stop.
phone launcher
The default Samsung launcher, but customized. I turned off the app drawer and set it up so swiping up opens search instead. I just type the first letter of the app I want and hit enter. Faster than scrolling through pages of icons.
terminal
The default Ubuntu terminal. Sometimes the VS Code built-in terminal when I'm working in a Laravel project. I also use the terminal to push code via Git instead of GitHub Desktop — though I do have GitHub open in the browser most of the time anyway.
editor
VS Code for everything local. Nano when I'm SSH'd into the VPS and need to fix something fast.

what I don't use

  • Notion or Obsidian — I've tried them, but plain text is faster for me.
  • Spotify or Apple Music — I download .mp3 files and play them locally.
  • Any launcher from the Play Store — the default Samsung one is fine once you customize it.

Part of /slash.