Last week my wife and I had a vacation and decided to go to the zoo in Borås, a town not far from here.
Visiting a zoo causes a few conflicting feelings, it’s kind of sad to see animals in captivity, but at the same time we know that they’re taken good care of here (compared to many other zoos worldwide). It is a great way to actually see exotic animals and learn more about them, but they really should roam free…
Anyway.
Due to the pandemic, we were nearly alone most of the time – really nice! Sure, there were a few families with (more or less noisy) children, but they were far apart for once.
Overall, it was a really good day!
Here are the photos I deemed good enough for publishing online. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!
(Sorry for no images here, I have since publishing this post set my Instagram to private.)
Oh… It has been roughly a thousand years since I wrote anything here. There’s been this crazy thing going on for a while, not sure you’ve heard of it? There’s a pandemic raging all over the world, which makes everyday life very different. I’ll not delve into details about it, since it’s basically all over the internet/news/whatnot.
So.
I had some outright fun writing about my homescreen back in November last year, hence me thinking about writing an update on the very same subject! Without further ado, here’s my lock and home screens as of today.
Let’s start with the wallpapers. As usual, I use such created by The Iconfactory – join their Patreon NOW unless you haven’t done so already. This one with Supergirl felt really nice, both in combination with my icons, and has a nice spring feeling to it.
Get ready! This will be even longer than the last one!
Since I said it quite well the last time, I quote myself:
The placement of individual app icons and the choice of wallpaper is the only options you have for customisation. This is why I’ve spent too many hours pondering the perfect layout and app selection for the first home screen. The fact that many apps nowadays allow the user to select among a set of icons made this job both easier and harder: Easier because I was able to find more matching icons, but harder since there simply are more choices.
A colleague of mine once asked me what would happen if an app only had e.g. a green icon – how would I accommodate that on my first home screen? Simply put, I wouldn’t, at least not without making a place for it by adjusting everything else. But probably that won’t happen.
Yes, I know it’s stupid but… I select apps not just based on function/need but also on what icon(s) the app has. If it’s an app I really want to use, I try to find some app in the same category that gives me an icon that fits, at least if it’s supposed to end up on the first home screen.
With that out of the way, let’s analyse the apps and their placement on my home screen.
First off, we have apps regarding maps in various ways: weather (I’m a weather geek) and flight tracking.
For weather, I both use Netatmo and Carrot Weather. I love being able to tell superlocalised weather, and thusly I have a Netatmo weather station at home. I also really like the super-snarky Carrot robot, so using both apps is absolutely mandatory. As long as I’m within a few kilometers from home, Carrot even uses the reported weather from Netatmo – super cool!
Closely related to weather is flight tracking, and I run a Raspberry Pi with Flightradar24‘s tracking software. Having the Flightradar24 app on my home screen feels great so I can check what planes are flying overhead.
Next to the map apps, we have different communication apps. I use my phone for communication, but almost only via text – I really don’t like talking on the phone.
I use Mattermost for different kinds of communications – chatting with friends, reading a few RSS feeds, and checking in on my servers and Git repos.
Also for keeping in touch with people, I use Signal – the most secure and private messenger app out there at the moment. Too bad not enough people use it, despite me nagging about it every now and then.
Email is also necessary (even though it’s mostly a necessary evil these days), and for that I use Spark. Previously, I used Airmail – but I really like Spark’s inbox management better.
The next section contains apps involved in image/picture management, both drawings and photos.
The top app here is Linea Sketch from the lovely people at The Iconfactory. I’m no master artist when it comes to drawing/sketching, but I really like using this app above all else in this category.
When it comes to photos, the icons are sorted from the bottom up according to my workflow: capturing, editing and viewing – but I will write about the apps in the pictured order.
For viewing pictures and photos, I use Apple’s built-in Photos app (Bilder in Swedish). Haven’t really found an app that can replace it (regardless of app icon even!). It does its job well enough. Please, don’t suggest me using Google Photos instead – I loathe Google’s products.
Image editing, I prefer doing in Darkroom, and if I’ve understood some online whispers, it will perhaps be able to replace Apple’s Photos app in a future update. It really is a powerful processing app for photos, and I always gives it a go before uploading photos to e.g.Instagram.
Finally, for photography, I use Camera-M at the moment. I’ve tried a bunch of different camera apps, and this one’s really good (not as good as Halide, but the icon fits better on my home screen). I wholeheartedly can recommend both!
I told you this blog post would be a long one, great job keeping up this far!
I’ve tested to not have a calculator app on my home screen for a while (between this and the last home screen update), but I always found myself struggling to find where I put it when I needed it. Hence, some sort of calculator app made its return to the home screen. I currently run Calcbot 2, mainly because that its icon fit the best. I have also sported PCalc quite a bit. I strongly recommend both, but if you are a RPN nerd as myself, you’d really like PCalc. Unfortunatelly, Calcbot lacks that (but I can cope).
1Password is my password manager (etc) of choice, and I’ll probably never swap to another one again – it’s that good.
Both Prompt and easyNag I use to keep my servers, Raspberry Pis (Pies?) etc running. Haven’t found a better Nagios-compatible app than easyNag, so I keep using it. I have had thoughts swapping out Prompt for either Panic’s Code Editor (formerly known as Coda) or Blink – but neither have icons that fit my home screen. If they add additional options with somethine that fits, I’ll consider them again.
Last in this section, we have Working Copy. This is a Git client, and it has several uses as such. I have most of my stuff managed via Git, e.g. my personal wiki (which runs Wiki.js). This means that I can update content directly from my phone instead of using the not-so-mobile-friendly wiki.js built-in editor. Also, can anyone survive today without Git?
Next, we have a softer section, listening and reading apps.
Mattermost we already covered above, but it fits in really well here since it serves a few RSS feeds for reading.
NetNetsWire is my current main RSS reader of choice. It has kicked out Reeder from my main screen, and at the moment of writing this I cannot see that one making a comeback anytime soon. Not that Reeder is bad per se, but I simply like NetNewsWire better.
For podcasts, I use Castro since a while back. For a long time I used Overcast, but I like the inbox-management for new episodes in Castro. And it has a blue icon!
Music is super-important to me, and since I’m mainly an Apple Music user I’ve placed the Music (musik in Swedish) app here. Someone once said that without music, life would be a mistake – and I agree! I enjoy using Spotify as well, but being knee-deep in the Apple ecosystem, Apple Music fits me better. I’ve also noticed that I find slightly more songs I’m searching for in the catalogue of Apple Music than on Spotify. Speaking of music, I use a dedicated DAP (Digital Audio Player) if I really want to enjoy my music, but utilising the phone is a great complement. I run the AirPods Pros as headphones. I have to write a blog post about that DAP some day, remind me!
I also enjoy audiobooks, and for this I run Storytel (a Swedish audiobook service). Currently, I’m rereading The Lord of the Rings trilogy for old times sake – and it’s available in English, so I’m happy. I really like the mix of books in Swedish and English that Storytel offers, so it ticks all my boxes.
The reading/listening section is rounded up by the largest encyclopaedia in the world – Wikipedia. I still use the beautiful V for Wiki app for this. Having tried a lot of different Wikipedia-based apps, this one crushes them all in a heartbeat.
The rightmost column contain the apps I use most often. Placing them on the right makes them easy to reach (I’m right-handed), so they definitely belong there.
We’ve already cleared Spark and Signal above, and they belong here for being used a lot. Can’t reiterate enough that more people should be using Signal instead of iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp, and DEFINITELY JUST STOP using SMS.
For managing my tasks and remembering stuff, I use Things. I have tried SO many todo apps, but Things is the one that suits my needs the best. The only downside of the app is that you cannot create collaborative tasks or lists. My wife and I use Apple Reminders for shared lists – it’s far from great but among the best I could find. If you wish, you can use apps such as Memento as a frontend for Reminders. I tried it, and ditched it though.
My calendar app of choice is by far Fantastical. It has a beautiful UI and the latest upgrade (to version 3) brought some fantastic new features. Can’t recommend it enough!
For banking, I use ICA Banken and its app. Not the most amazing banking app, but I’ve seen far worse – and using a banking app for a bank I don’t use would make less than zero sense.
Finally, one of the most-used apps on my phone: Firefox. This Internet browser is just great! I use it on my other devices as well, and Firefox Sync works really well. With all privacy features built in, it makes me feel slightly safer online. Also, the icon fits perfectly on the row where the icon resides.
This ends up the main icons on my home screen. What’s left is the dock.
I cannot live without my purple/pink dock! I’ve tried other variants, but I always come back to this setup, whether it’s with three or four icons.
Tot is a new app from The Iconfactory, and it’s mainly an app for capturing ideas, notes, tasks, and so on. I put stuff there that would otherwise end up on post-it notes etc. It’s superfast and really nice – give it a try!
Next, we have Firefox Focus. This tiny web browser lacks a lot of features from its bigger brother, but it’s great for looking up stuff quickly and then erase all history – you have to make it as hard as possible for websites to track you!
Next to it, we have the best Reddit client for iOS: Apollo. Using the Reddit website after spending some time with Apollo is basically horrible. This app is just fantastic. The amount of customisability offered by the app is really outstanding, so you can really make the app experience yours.
The last app is the most used one on my phone (both according to screentime in iOS and myself): Twitterrific. For those of you keeping count, yes – this is the third app from The Iconfactory making its way to my homescreen. It is without competition the best Twitter client for iOS. If you use any other client on your phone – give this one a go. I dare to bet that you will not be disappointed. Follow me!
Wow.
This got longer than I thought, even though I knew it’d be long. However, I have a few more remarks, so let’s keep going a bit longer.
Apart from the grouping of the icons described in detail above, each row on the home screen is colour coordinated, as follows:
First and second rows
The top two rows consist of apps with blue icons with white glyphs. This colour scheme seems to be quite the trend at the moment.
Third row
The third row has even more blue icons, but with white and black/dark gray added to the mix.
Fourth and fifth rows
The fourth and fifth rows collect apps with white background and mostly red glyphs and/or rainbow-coloured things on them.
Sixth row
The bottom row (not counting the dock) has icons with black backgrounds (or nearly black – looking at you, Firefox!). The glyphs on these contain red/orange and also other colours/rainbows.
The dock
Purple or pink icons with mainly white symbols on them.
There you have it. A complete analysis of the home screen, the placement of icons based on colour and function, and my thought surrounding this.
One might question my sanity putting this much thought into such a simple matter as a home screen, but I find it quite soothing. Some people tend their gardens to perfection, others collect stamps – and myself, I sort and arrange apps on my phone. Everyone’s different, and prioritise different things in their lives. I use my phone a lot, and want a sense of harmony when doing so.
And I promise, I’m not diagnosed with OCD. Really, I’m not.
Not yet, at least.
Thanks for reading this, hopefully it won’t take five months until my next blog update – but don’t hold your breath!
Nah, not likely a new me, but I have promised myself that I’ll try even harder to be my authentic self during the upcoming year as well as the next, and the one after that, and so on.
So I just want to wish you all a Happy New Year! And let us all make 2020 the best one yet, right?
Sorry for not writing in a while. The homescreen post was a blast to write and I have a few app reviews brewing. In the meantime, I added a few movie reviews I wrote for my really old blog. Since I’m crazy lazy I didn’t bother translating them to Englisht though (I bloggen in Swedish back then), but I wanted to keep them online for nostalgia’s sake.
I was chatting with a colleague about home screen layout and the thought process behind setting it up to ones liking. This notion gave rise to the creation of this new website. The problem with the iPhone home screen is that you only have the grid of icons, nothing else; no widgets, no option where to put the icons, nothing!
So.
The placement of individual app icons and the choice of wallpaper is the only options you have for customisation. This is why I’ve spent too many hours pondering the perfect layout and app selection for the first home screen. The fact that many apps nowadays allow the user to select among a set of icons made this job both easier and harder: Easier because I was able to find more matching icons, but harder since there simply are more choices.
Let’s start from the beginning, here is a screenshot of my current home screen:
The wallpaper is from IconFactory (support them on their Patreon page, they are a bunch of really nice people) and it fits the icons really well because of the colours. The illustration is from their celebration of the 40th anniversary of the movie Alien.
Each line of icons is colour coordinated – the layout is way more complex than that, but lets keep things simple to get us started:
First and second row – Blue icons with white details.
Third row – Blue icons with black and white details.
Fourth row – White icons with multiple colours, gradients, rainbow-ish.
Fifth row – White icons with red or orange details.
Sixth row – Rainbow-like icons, multiple colours but in matching hues.
Dock – Pink icons with white-ish details.
Now follows the more fun part, why the icons are arranged as they are. Brace yourself, this might get very detailed.
Dock – Icons I love seeing, they all make me smile. Furthermore, these apps I use really often, which means I always want them close at hand. Apollo is the best reddit client for iOS, Firefox Focus is great for looking up things quickly, and Twitterrific is simply the best Twitter client out there.
Rightmost column – The apps I use most often apart from those in the dock. Easiest to reach since I’m right-handed. Pinner is the best app for Pinboard bookmark management, I use Signal to communicate with my wife and friends, Things keep me organised, as does Fantastical. For banking I use ICA Banken and for my general Internet browsing needs, I run Firefox.
First row – Netatmo and Carrot are both weather apps and deal with maps. Flightradar24 also deals with maps, hence they fit together.
Second row – Signal and Mattermost are used for communication/chat. In Mattermost I have a RSS channel, and since Reeder is an RSS reader, it’s logical to put it next to Mattermost.
Third row – Airmail is also for communication (even though I read more emails than I send), therefore it fits well below Mattermost. Email often end up adding something to my todo list, so having Things next to Airmail fits perfectly.
Third and forth row – Scheduling tasks and events go hand in hand, why Things and Fantastical simply need to be near each other, but never on the same row due to very clashing icon colour schemes.
Forth and fifth row – Musik (Music in Swedish) and Storytel both pleases my ears with music and audiobooks, so they belong together. However, since they have different colour schemes, they cannot be on the same row. The same is true for Prompt and easyNag. With them, I managed my servers and Raspberry Pis, meaning they also should be close to one another, but not row-wise.
Fifth row – Both V for Wiki and Storytel allow for reading (Wikipedia and ebooks respectively), so they need to be next to one another.
Sixth row – Camera-focused apps (see what I did there?) – apart from Firefox, however Firefox fits in well because of the colour scheme of its icon. The photo apps go from right to left; capture (Camera+ 2), edit (Darkroom), and share (Instagram), which suits my hand better and also looks better. Reversing the order would make the row look worse.
The four remaining icons are all tools in one way or another, and they should therefore be close; Drafts, 1Password, PCalc, and Bilder (Pictures in Swedish).
Let us try to illustrate all these relations in one image:
Oh my, that’s a proper mess, isn’t it? But I guess that’s the way my mind works. And by the way, I don’t think that I have proper OCD, but this image points at the opposite.
Well done if you managed to follow my train of thought here, see you next time! By then I’ll probably start reviewing the apps on my home screen, one at a time.
Or something else totally random.
Joline, peace out!
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