---
layout: blog_post
title: Default Apps 2024
slug: Default-Apps-2024
date: 2025-01-07 20:00:00
tags: blog
permalink: /blog/2025/01/07/Default-Apps-2024/
blogtags:
- linux
- software
---

> *Copying [Tracy Durnell's](https://tracydurnell.com/) homework by way of [Matt C](https://mattcool.tech/posts/default-apps-2023/), [Chris Coyier](https://chriscoyier.net/2023/11/25/default-apps-2023/), and [drew dot shoes](https://drew.shoes/posts/default-apps-2024/). (Some fantastic RSS subscriptions, btw.)*

For a few years now, I've been trying to hone my free-as-in-freedom software garden. I really like to properly own my data and make it reside on my server(s), which is a bit of an edge case sometimes. I tweak this list a lot less frequently than I did even a year ago, but it's always fun to share and look back at past years.

Since a lot of this list is up for fine-tuning, I thought it'd be fun to include how happy I am with each solution:

* 👍 = pretty much set in stone
* ❓ = I have a solution, but it might change
* 😕 = I don't have a good solution


**📨** Mail Client - Thunderbird on both desktop and mobile (!!). I've been waiting for a "[Thunderbird on Android](https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/06/revealed-thunderbird-on-android-plans-k9/)" for a literal decade, and this year a polished version was finally ready. I was already using K-9 Mail, so the switch was seamless. (👍)


**📮** Mail Server - [iRedMail](https://www.iredmail.org/) running on a VPS. Cheap and easy to update. Probably worth its own post at some point. (👍)


**📝** Notes - For the last year or so I've been self-hosting [Outline](https://www.getoutline.com/). It's quite good, and supports a lot of polished features like publishing and real-time collab. Biggest con: No mobile app/offline access (though the web version is good on mobile). (❓)


**✅** To-Do - This year I started tracking my to-dos as normal calendar events, and it's worked really well. I put an item on my calendar the date it's due and set reminder notifications for, say a week before, a day before, and an hour before. (👍)


**📷** Photo Shooting - My Pixel 6a most of the time, sometimes my [Canon EOS Rebel XT](https://garrettmills.dev/blog/2024/05/15/Miscellaneous-Photos-from-Commencement-2024/). (👍)


**🎨** Photo Editing - Very occasionally, I use [darktable](https://www.darktable.org/) for grading and [GIMP](https://www.gimp.org/) for touch-ups. (👍)


**📆** Calendar/Contacts Server - [Radicale](https://radicale.org/). Another absolute champion that's easy to update. Simple, and I've never had any problems with it. (👍)


**📆** Calendar Client - [GNOME Calendar](https://apps.gnome.org/Calendar/) on desktop and Google Calendar on mobile. I use [DAVx5](https://www.davx5.com/) to sync my calendar/contacts on mobile. I'd love to get away from Google Calendar, but the UI is just by far the best option. (Desktop: 👍, Mobile: ❓)


**📁** Cloud File Storage - [Seafile](https://www.seafile.com/). I switched from NextCloud a few years ago and never looked back. It's simple, lightning fast, and reliable. I sync all of my xdg-home folders (Desktop, Documents, Pictures, &c.) no problem. My one gripe is that the mobile app is… okay. Sharing and integration w/ the Android filesystem never seem to work for me, but the core functionality (downloading/uploading files) works great. (👍)


**📖** RSS - [NewsFlash](https://apps.gnome.org/NewsFlash/) on desktop and [Feeder](https://github.com/spacecowboy/Feeder) on mobile. Currently I periodically sync my [OPML file](https://garrettmills.dev/blog/feeds) from my desktop to my phone, but I'd like to find a self-hosted solution to sync my feeds/saves/reads. I've used [CommaFeed](https://github.com/Athou/commafeed) in the past, and might return to it. (❓)


**🌐** Browser - [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/) on both desktop and mobile. As a professional software engineer, I still legitimately prefer Firefox's developer tools, multi-account containers, and overall UX, despite [Mozilla's best efforts](https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/10/mozillas-ceo-doubles-down-on-them-being-an-advertising-company-now/). (, though I'm watching [Ladybird](https://ladybird.org))


**💬** Chat - By volume, Android Messages, Rocket.Chat (professionally), and Discord. One of my intentions for 2025 is to start moving to E2EE for everything (hopefully the increasing adoption of RCS will help with that). (❓)


**🔖** Bookmarks - [MarkMark](https://garrettmills.dev/markmark) (shameless plug). I'm in the process of switching over from my Outline note full of random links. (**👍**)


**📑** Read It Later - Currently, the aforementioned Outline note full of random links. One of my intentions for 2025 is to build a Firefox extension to automatically add read-it-later articles to my MarkMark file. (❓)


**📜** Word Processing - Personal: I've been doing most of my drafts in Outline documents, which works pretty well (especially since I can download them as markdown). Professional: Google Docs. (**👍**)


**📈** Spreadsheets - Personal: LibreOffice Calc. Professional: Google Sheets. Both are fine, though the ever-encroaching Gemini features in Sheets are getting a bit old. (❓)


**📊** Presentations - Personal: none. Professional: Google Slides. Exceedingly infrequently. (:thumbs_up:)


**🍴** Meal Planning - A whiteboard on the fridge, and a folder full of saved recipes a text documents. Sometimes it's about knowing when to take it offline. :wink: (👍)


**🛒** Shopping Lists - We keep a running list on the fridge whiteboard, which I transfer to a physical piece of paper when I go to the store. Way easier to use in-situ. (👍)


**💰** Budgeting and Personal Finance - The venerable [GnuCash](https://gnucash.org/). It's not the greatest user experience, but I wanted something FOSS, offline that doesn't require a server, and that I can trust to be around in 5 years. It works. (👍)


📰 News - I get most of my news via RSS. I have a lot of thoughts about it (maybe another blog post at some point). I've been trying to seek out more local news when possible. For example, I read [WFYI Indianapolis](https://www.wfyi.org/) and [NUVO Indianapolis](https://www.nuvo.net/). (👍)


**🎵** Music - Spotify. I rely on Discover Weekly *a lot* to find new music, though I don't love supporting Spotify. I've been thinking about taking another page out of [Tracy Durnell's book](https://tracydurnell.com/2025/01/03/2024-in-music/) in 2025. (❓)


**🎤** Podcasts - Also Spotify :( I know it's not great, but the few times I do listen to podcasts, I want to make use of Android Auto. (😕)


**🔐** Password Management - [Vaultwarden](https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden). I recommend Bitwarden/Vaultwarden to anyone looking for a good password manager. The browser extensions and mobile apps are first class, fully-encrypted, and keep a local copy (read: backup) of your vault on every device in case the server is unavailable. (👍)


**🧑‍💻** Code Editor - [IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate](https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/). I've used JetBrains IDEs both personally and professionally for about a decade now. I still think they have the best Intellisense and code navigation of any editor. Lately, I worry JetBrains has a bit of a Mozilla thing going with Fleet, though. I have no interest in a "next-gen" VS Code clone, but I would like remote development (JetBrains Gateway) to have better latency and a file-bar that doesn't freeze every time I go more than 2 layers deep. This is something VS Code excels at. (❓)


**✈️** VPN - [Wireguard](https://www.wireguard.com/). I made the switch last year from OpenVPN and I wish I'd done it sooner. It's *fast*. And, once properly configured, it'll run for ages. For my personal setup, I use [wg-easy](https://github.com/wg-easy/wg-easy) to great effect. (👍)
