Previously I wrote about my top 10 desktop tools. Here’s what I would say are the top 20 tools (apps) I use on my iPhone. I use far more apps than I do desktop tools these days. I suspect others are like that too.

1. NYTimes: Every day I wake up and check the news. And while I might use apps for CBC News, the BBC, or The Star (Toronto news), the NYTimes is the one I depend on. Besides its great content, I believe it is the one of the best apps out there.
2. Instagram and Bluesky: besides the news, these are the two social media sites I check when I wake up now. I gave up Facebook ages ago. Twitter died to me when Musk took over. And Threads I lost interest in. But Instagram allows me to keep up with what my friends and favorites are up to, and Bluesky lets me track the news in a different way. Also I use Bluesky as a logging journal in a way. Often when I don’t know what to blog about, I’ll use my posts on Bluesky as inspiration.
3. Slack: another app I check first thing. It’s indispensable for work communication, especially when I am on the go. Email still lives, but Slack has taken over much of its functionality I find.
4. Simplenote and Joplin: I mainly create and update notes using these two tools on my desktop and limit my use of the apps for reading only, but occasionally I will take notes on my phone.
5. Workflowy: what is true for Simplenote and Joplin is also true for Workflowy. I refer to it often on my phone. In addition, when I am doing my todo list in the Workflowy app, I will cross off todos there.
6. Google Drive: this app gets me the information I need that isn’t in the note taking apps like Simplenote. I hit it up frequently throughout the week.
7. Jetpack: each day I like to check on how this blog is doing and Jetpack is the app that lets me do that. I can also use it to do an occasional post on this or other WordPress blogs I have, or approve people’s comments on a post.
8. Airline Apps: if I am flying somewhere, airline apps are a must. They just make travel easier, from providing my itinerary, to guiding me through the airport, to alerting me when it is time to board. Travelling without airline apps would be that much harder without the apps.
9. Fitbit and Wyze: if you have scales from these two companies as I have, then the apps that go with the scale are a must. Same is true for other devices that they make, like the Fitbit fitness trackers.
10. Habit List: a great app to track your habits. It’s simple to use but it provides many good features. Recommended.
11. TOwaste: it’s easy to lose track of what goes on the curb when. This app helps me with that. (Yes I do have many tracking apps! Maybe too many!)
12. Spotify: Spotify is my radio. What can I say? I like music and Spotify is my source of music these days, even though I have a ton of CDs around the house.
13. Libby: one of my favorite apps. I still read physical books, but I do much of my reading of library books using Libby. I especially love reading magazines with Libby on my iPad. It is fantastic for that.
14. Instacart: I joke that Instacart is my favorite app. I really use it many times a week. I use it when I can’t sleep. I get it to help me find the best deals on groceries. I use it to find rare products. I should write a separate post on just all the ways I use it. It’s the best.
15. Hue: my own personal light switch. I have around a dozen Hue devices from Philips in my house and the Hue app controls them all. It’s excellent.
16. Scotiabank: my banking app. I can’t say if there are better banking apps. I will say I use it daily.
17. Feedly: there are other ways of keeping track of other people’s blogs and RSS feeds, but I find Feedly the best. And there are still plenty of good RSS feeds to read, so I try and use this one at least once a week.
18. Authenticator apps: I make an effort to use two factor authentication whenever I can. Authenticator apps make that happen.
19. Pushover: I have remote devices I want to send me notifications occasionally. I use Pushover as a service to manage those notifications. For instance my Ubuntu server sends out an “alive and well” message every day by calling the Pushover api. The message in that api call gets transmitted to the Pushover app on my phone. If I set up a VM in the cloud, I will sometimes use pushover to get updates on that VM. It’s a fine service and a fine app.
20. Apple apps: Almost too many to mention. They aren’t necessarily fun, but they are all highly functional and important. I’d be lost without default Apple apps like Maps, Calendar, Clock, Message, Mail, Photos, Health, Fitness, and Books.