The much simpler way to keep track of everything

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 55, your usher to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, get acceptable to ruin your phone’s storage, and besides you tin work each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.) 

I besides person for you a useful caller mode to way your stuff, a large app for posting to societal media, a astute caller mode to negociate your beingness connected Apple devices, a caller anime worthy watching connected Netflix, a caller mentation of the champion astute ring, and overmuch more. Let’s excavation in.

(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into close now? What should everyone other beryllium playing/reading / watching / eating / 3D printing / gathering from Legos this week? Tell maine everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you cognize idiosyncratic other who mightiness bask Installer, archer them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Screen share

I emotion erstwhile I inquire idiosyncratic to stock their homescreen with america and recognize I person perfectly nary thought what it mightiness look like. Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, was 1 of those people: he’s a tinkerer and a builder and an evident tech fiend, truthful I thought helium mightiness person a cardinal apps and widgets and everything customized conscionable so. But he’s besides a large believer successful close to repair and keeping your gadgets moving forever, truthful possibly he’d have, like, a BlackBerry from 2004 that was inactive someway up and running? 

Turns out, it was determination successful the middle. Here’s Kyle’s homescreen, positive immoderate info connected the apps helium uses and why:

The phone: I person a Pixel 6A, which eked done iFixit’s interior purchasing support with a 5/10 connected our repairability scorecard. Unlike the 5A, it doesn’t person a headphone jack, which is simply a regular frustration. I usage my headphones truthful much! I’ve astir worn retired the USB-C larboard from utilizing it each day, each day, with a headphone adapter. A mates pins are worn retired truthful USB cables lone complaint erstwhile inserted 1 absorption close now. I request to unfastened it up to hole it! Unfortunately, the USB larboard is soldered to the main board, making this either a main committee swap oregon a microsoldering repair. The occupation with swapping the main board, speech from the expense, is that you suffer your data.

Repairability matters. Phones should past at slightest 10 years, but this telephone is going to conflict to past five. Google has travel a agelong mode but inactive has a ways to go. Modularity is longevity.

And eSIMs enactment large now! This telephone has a SIM paper slot, which would service maine overmuch amended arsenic a microSD enlargement bay.

The wallpaper: First of all, acheronian mode for lyfe. I walk truthful overmuch clip looking astatine screens, the slightest they tin bash is not blast maine with each pixel acceptable to maximum achromatic airy output! 

The wallpaper is the Pixel’s Nature Swept, successful orange. This seems similar a beauteous bully simulacrum of what my aboriginal viewport connected Mars volition look like. Come connected Elon, spell faster! The adjacent transportation model is lone 2 years out.

The apps: Audible, Pocket Casts, Google Maps, Google Photos, Slack, Settings, Phone, Messages, Gmail, Opera, Google Calendar.

I’m addicted to audiobooks. I work 2–4 a week, connected astir 1.5x (faster for immoderate readers, slower for others). Audible’s app keeps getting buggier implicit time. It truly feels similar they’re trying to thrust their customers away. Using the app successful a mediocre web country is rather frustrating — adjacent erstwhile you’ve already got books downloaded, Amazon’s DRM likes to telephone location mode excessively often. OpenAudible is rather good, and I’m beauteous tempted to leap vessel to a DRM-free alternate similar Downpour.

The Google Podcasts app was great, and I’m bittersweet they killed it — but that’s what I get for relying connected Google for thing useful. Pocket Casts is simply a fantastic replacement. Relatedly, RIP Google Reader and Feedburner. With however bully the text-to-voice tools are getting now, however large would that instrumentality person been to autocreate a podcast from your RSS feed?

One of our close to repair conjugation members conscionable made this synthetic podcast from Aaron Perzanowski’s seminal publication connected the topic. It’s amazing! The “podcast” is precise adjacent to the root material, and I didn’t announcement immoderate peculiar mistakes. 

I besides asked Kyle to stock a fewer things he’s into close now. Here’s what helium sent back:

I mostly hatred apps. But sometimes you request one, truthful let’s speech apps!

Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer assemblage is into this week. I privation to cognize what you’re into close present arsenic well! Email installer@theverge.com oregon connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for thing and everything, and we’ll diagnostic immoderate of our favorites present each week. If you privation adjacent much large recommendations than I could acceptable here, cheque retired the replies to this station connected Threads.

“Zing Coach. I’ve spent years looking for workout apps due to the fact that I’m not bully astatine conscionable committing to exercising without a afloat program earlier I start. Zing takes into relationship your age, gender, and adjacent injuries to constitute the champion workout docket for you — utilizing AI (huh!). It costs a bit, but seriously, for those who are perpetually switching betwixt workout apps, this is the 1 for you.” – Calvin

“I’m loving my SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K. Combined with Plex Pass, it is easy the astir intuitive and feature-rich OTT viewing experience.” – Joseph

“Imagining Arc by The Browser Company is simply a newish (and ongoing) podcast with CEO Josh Miller astir the company’s enactment connected the 2.0 mentation of the Arc web browser. The amusement is highly honorable astir the difficulties the squad has faced and the ideas they’re struggling with, and it’s highly Verge-y successful the mode it dives into however browsers and exertion marque america feel. Anyone who’s funny successful tech and plan — oregon is conscionable funny astir wherever Arc is headed — should decidedly springiness it a try.” – Kaiden

“In my never-ending quest to find a bully task manager, I came crossed this dead-simple to-do app called Daily. It’s been cleanable for my regular standups and is the cleanable spot to dump a ton of tasks you request to get done for the day.” – Eddy

“​​I precocious stumbled upon a rubric called Outlanders 2, an updated and enhanced mentation of the archetypal Outlanders, and it’s wonderful. You instrumentality attraction of a fewer outlanders, with the nonsubjective to survive, physique houses, turn the population, hunt for food, and prosper. The visuals are amazing, the mechanics are casual to learn, and the animations and details are conscionable perfect. Combined with the soundtrack, it’s a truly cozy acquisition that volition drawback you and astir apt ne'er fto go.” – Vojta

“I americium speechmaking It’s Lonely astatine the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood. She precocious mislaid her brother. New profits for the astonishing graphic caller from the time her member near till the extremity of the twelvemonth are being donated to intelligence wellness charities.” – Daniel

“I’m by nary means an audiophile, but the Qudelix-5K has fixed caller beingness to my workplace headphones. Super-quick Bluetooth pairing, and I person excavation clipped straight connected the headphones, truthful nary dangling cords!” – Jack

“I’m a precise organized person, particularly erstwhile it comes to traveling. Tripsy for iOS is hands-down the champion question planner app I’ve ever tried. It’s truly good designed and casual to use. They adjacent springiness you formation alerts akin to Flighty, truthful I’ve stopped paying for Flighty altogether. I’ve tried Tripit before, but that app feels similar a dinosaur compared to Tripsy.” – Daniel

“If you’re a instrumentality of newsletters, hoarding bookmarks, and collecting endless net wisdom, you should effort retired Pincone. I enactment successful marketing, truthful my email gets truly cluttered with newsletters — I’ve present added each of them to Pincone, and it has freed my inbox loads! It besides doubles arsenic a bookmarking tool, and I similar however I tin prevention everything into files and adhd tags, it makes it truthful overmuch easier to find worldly later.” – Lea

“I’m relistening to a bid of audiobooks: the Bobiverse. It’s ace nerdy and truly bully fun!” – Wenzel

Signing off

The “What’s connected your desk” bid is 1 of my favourite things we bash present astatine The Verge, and I had the pleasance of sharing my ain table this week. If you’ve ever wondered astir my setup, the cogwheel I use, oregon wherever I’m sitting penning this precise newsletter close now, this should person everything you request to know.

And if I could permission you with 2 thoughts, it’s these: you tin ne'er person excessively galore charging cables; and actually, being a messiness is conscionable fine.

See you adjacent week!