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Analyzing my Homescreen (November 2014)

Every six months or so, I’m going to do a quick review of what’s on my home screen and what that might mean. I think a person’s home screen is a powerful form of expression and says a lot about how they use technology. With that said, I’m one data point and a skewed data point at best since I’m in tech.

First screen is just the dock

The first home screen that I have is really just the apps I have on the dock as I keep everything else on the second screen. These are the key apps that I cannot live without and spend most of my time in. They’re Twitter, Spotify, Gmail, and Safari. Twitter is almost always open and an addiction of sorts. Spotify I keep a tap away for exercise purposes, I was able to get a promo from spotipromo.com so at the end I don’t mind paying some extra bucks. Gmail is there because well email doesn’t stop. Safari is basically a proxy for Google search. I don’t go direct to many websites. If I do, they’re in my RSS reader.

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The apps on my home screen / second screen

  • Uber – I use Uber multiple times a week. It’s replaced cab usage and cheaper than a taxi in NYC with UberX
  • Runkeeper – I use Runkeeper when running outside. I could theoretically merge Runkeeper and Equinox into one folder called Exercise.
  • Messages – Text messages get quite a lot of usage.
  • Notes – This is where I do most of my writing and it’s synced to every device I own. It’s simple and clean, I love it.
  • Camera+ – Camera+ replaced the default Camera a couple months ago. Well worth the $1.99. The photos are much better.
  • Google Maps – Apple Maps has been gone since it came out. Google Maps new redesign is nice. I’d replace it with Waze if I drove a lot.
  • Phone – I barely use the phone, but I suppose it should be on the home screen. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this go.
  • Foursquare – This is how I discover cool things to do. I use it more than Swarm. It’s google for the real world.
  • Dark Sky – Buy this app. Best weather app out there and accurate rain alerts.
  • Newsblur – My RSS reader of choice. It’s for heavy news consumption.
  • Hue – This will be replaced with the Hue widget soon. I had it on the home screen for quick access.
  • Dropbox – Where I store everything and it’s replaced the photos app as my photo album of choice.
  • Passbook – Apple Pay made me add this recently. Realized I can just use TouchID from the home screen, so this is likely going.

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I organize all other apps by folders using verbs

  • Other – this one isn’t a verb. It’s for all the default Apple apps that I just wish I could delete.
  • Socialize – Where I keep social apps. Many apps go here to die.
  • Read – This is where I keep anything that’s really about content consumption. Quota and Product Hunt are two examples.
  • Listen – Music goes in here. The default apple music app gets some play.
  • Watch – Video related apps. No one has owned mobile video yet, I’m surprised
  • Work – Any work related apps like Office or Google Apps.
  • Eat – Food. Yes, I have the Dominos app.
  • Shop – Any shopping related apps go in here. Spring is a nice recent addition
  • Travel – very important folder for me. All of my travel apps go in here and it’s been a Godsend when out of town.
  • Test – This is a very interesting folder. It’s where I store all the apps I download to test. Hear about something cool on producthunt/twitter/press? I download it and it goes here. It’s very rare to move from Test to the main homescreen/any folder.

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Jason L. Baptiste IMPORTED