2025 Apps

WWDC is next week, which will bring a new beta of iOS. I’ll install it on day one, but likely shouldn’t share my homescreen for it until the official release in fall. I wanted to capture my current apps and the delta from the last 2024 post before that.

The homescreen

I have two stacks within easy thumb reach with the iOS calendar app and Carrot Weather on top, and Things and Albums below. I chose to use the large icon display in dark mode after some disastrous results with color theming during my beta testing. I like how the larger icons look, but especially how they hide the names of the apps. Maybe someone needs to be reminded which app is which, but I would suggest that person has entirely too many things on their phone.

The apps

iOS Calendar is basic, but now that my work phone has all my work appointments and my personal only has my personal ones I don’t need anything fancier. Siri finds appointments in Mail, and adding things manually is easy enough.

Hello Weather took the place of Carrot Weather. I don’t have to turn anything off, and it looks nice.

Things is the best todo app out there. The keyboard shortcuts, easy search, and simple gestures are how I get everything done. I’m even tempted lately to write more into the app, as the notes sections support markdown. If you need a simple, fast, and very well-designed app, look no further.

Finally, Albums is the best way to access Apple Music on an iPhone, particularly if you listen to entire albums.

The home row has Messages, iAWriter (where I’m writing this), Reeder (classic, I guess), and Slack. These are the apps I use the most to talk to friends (Slack and Messages), read RSS feeds (Reeder and Reeder Classic), and write or take notes. Reeder and iA Writer are as fast and simple as Things, with great shortcut support and clean design. Slack is where I work, and despite being an app aimed squarely at the enterprise user, I talk to friends on it more than anywhere else.

Widgets

From the top, left-to-right is Wallet, Whoop, Hello Weather hourly, Parcel, and PocketCast. I use this screen to keep track of my spending, health, and the hourly weather for cycling. The Parcel app is how I know what is shipping to my house, and when to expect it, but I wish it had smart detection from my mail. PocketCast is the best app I’ve found for podcasts as a former Overcast user. It has smart speed, good organization, and isn’t obsessed with the color orange.

As a bonus to widgets, the lock screen can now be customized with new apps on the bottom right and left—I’m using Flashlight and Halide.

New phone

Other than replacing both the front and back glass, I have enjoyed my iPhone 16. I’m not sure if the iPhone 17 or 17 Pro will be my next phone later this year, but I do hope there’s a 120hz screen on both phones.

Until next time

If you have any cool app suggestions, or a neat homescreen to share, hit me up on Bluesky or Mastodon (@brook@xoxo.zone).