I’ve been testing iOS 11 lately, and because of that, I’ve been erasing my iPad every week and starting from scratch. It sounds scary, but I’ve started to enjoy the process of starting over. It gives me a chance to curate what apps I actually need. Because of this process, I’ve learned how little I need all the apps that I considered important. What I considered necessities before, looking back now, were distractions, keeping me from the apps that I should be using.

Welcome to iPad

Welcome to iPad is the screen you see before seeing the home screen for the first time. The only apps on here are the ones that come on the device. It’s time to begin adding my essentials.

Ulysses

Ulysses is always the first app I download (there’s a 14-Day Trial if you want to check it out). It’s my mind. It’s my site. It’s where any thought, any lyric, any blog post, and any story, goes. It’s all synced with iCloud, so as soon as the app is downloaded, all of my words are there waiting for me.

Things

Things is my second app downloaded. It’s my task-manager. It’s where I game plan for the day, with current projects, as well as a big picture view of what’s coming up in the future.

1Password

1Password is my third app downloaded. It could’ve easily been my first, depending on what information I needed that day. It’s where every password I use is stored. It’s where I put any secure information that I don’t want anyone else knowing.

Tweetbot

Tweetbot is my fourth app downloaded. It’s where I get all of my information (news and things I’m interested in). It’s the app that gives me every idea to write about. It’s 7 years of hand selecting people and sites to follow. I’ve come to trust this list more than anything else on the internet. It’s critical to my day.

Fantastical

Fantastical is my fifth app downloaded. It’s my calendar, the only calendar app I’ve used for many years. The ease of use, aesthetics, and the powerful text recognition. Just typing “Lunch on Friday at 12 at Olive Garden” would turn into a calendar event titled Lunch, with the location being Olive Garden, date being this Friday, and time being noon. Type a sentence like you’re texting a friend, and it turns into a complete event.