JPR started out as an occasionally helpful tool in college, when I wanted to record some thoughts and easily transcribe them later, but it’s become essential in the past two years for my work as a teacher. I depend on a bunch of apps that I call “infrastructure apps” (Hazel and Keyboard Maestro come to mind immediately), but in terms of iOS/iPadOS specifically, the two apps that help me the most in literally “producing” work are Just Press Record (JPR) and Ferrite. I can still search for the app in Spotlight, and still have a rotation of podcasts I follow, but that move out of the dock has been a big help, and I’ve also been establishing other time boundaries (e.g., no listening on weekday mornings before I go teach) and building other habits to replace and complement podcasts (music, reading, audiobooks). So I’m trying to cut down on podcast listening, and one of the big ways I’ve done that is by removing Overcast from my dock, where it used to have a prime position. But within the past year or so, I’ve realized that I spend so much time listening to other people on podcasts (I’m actually afraid to look at Screen Time stats) that I’ve stopped taking as much time to reflect on my own thoughts and make my own things. I love podcasts, especially because, like probably a lot of people, I view them as a medium that I can engage with to stay informed about topics that interest me while still being having my hands free to be productive in other ways (cooking, folding clothes, grocery shopping, those kinds of things). This is a tough one for me, and may sound odd, but even though I love using it, Overcast is the app that best fits this category for me. Personal Reading School Which app is your guilty pleasure? I try to accomplish a similar effect by setting the color of my Apple Watch face to as close a match as I can get with Apple’s standard color watch faces. That’s partly why I’ve dedicated the top left portion of my iPhone and iPad Home Screens to a color-coded Widgetsmith text widget with the name of whatever Focus Mode/context I’m in.Įven though that widget arguably isn’t as “functional” as an app icon or other more interactive widget type, the benefit I derive from having that textual reminder really drives home the reason that I’m using the device and how I’d like my intention directed at that time. I also like using color as a general reminder of context, and it’s part of how I set up my Calendar app and something I think about when assigning colors to tasks, lists, and backgrounds. Using that feature, I’ve been able to construct an individual Home Screen for each of the major parts of my life, and the three most common: Personal, Reading, and School. Relatedly, Focus Modes have become a major part of my Home Screen philosophy this past year year, especially since Apple started allowing users to tie specific Home Screens to specific Focuses (Foci?) in iOS and iPadOS. Now, I search for and launch most apps with Spotlight on my iPhone and iPad, and because of that, I’ve set up my Home Screens to give glanceable information, offer quick access to essential apps, and to help nudge me into a certain mode. I used to fill my Home Screens with folders and icons and utilize it as a launchpad for all my apps. Right off the bat, when making this post, I realized that the way I’ve used my Home Screen has substantially changed over the past couple of years. He is a teacher, he host of the podcast Creative Consumption, and he’s a swell guy.
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