The 10 apps I can’t live or work without – on Windows, Mac, and mobile

Each 5 years or so, I make a list of the apps I take advantage of most steadily. It is all the time fascinating to see how the record has modified over time, and it normally says one thing in regards to the computing panorama. Once I did that train this 12 months, I used to be astonished on the modifications.

Half of the apps I used 5 years in the past are now not on my record in any respect in 2025. They have been changed, usually, by apps which are tightly linked with web-based providers and cloud storage and may run on any desktop, laptop computer, or cellular system.

Additionally: A decade of Home windows 10: Chaos, Cortana, and conspiracy theories that by no means panned out

Seven of the ten apps I take advantage of each day supply absolutely purposeful free variations, typically with paid choices to unlock further options or to take away some utilization limits. Of the eight apps I pay for, none nonetheless supply a standard perpetual license, favoring a subscription mannequin as an alternative. I do know that is a hot-button challenge for some readers, who’re adamant about their distaste for paying month-to-month or annual charges. I favor the predictability of these preparations as an alternative of the large jolt to the finances that comes with main upgrades. And I am additionally completely happy to help unbiased builders.

The largest shock for me is how a lot much less I take advantage of the Microsoft 365 desktop apps (previously often known as Microsoft Workplace). If it weren’t for Excel, I am unsure that I might nonetheless be prepared to pay for my Microsoft 365 subscription. I’ve stopped utilizing OneNote fully, and I take advantage of Phrase so much lower than I used to. I lastly acquired bored with Quicken, Spotify, and Adobe Acrobat, all of which had straightforward replacements.

In fact, this choice displays my work habits and my private preferences. Your wants are undoubtedly completely different, so your record will not be the identical as mine. I encourage you to share your favorites within the feedback part beneath.

1. Microsoft Edge 

A contemporary browser has one job: to render webpages that work as they have been designed to work. Given the realities of the trendy internet, meaning a browser that is based mostly on the de facto normal, utilizing code from the open-source Chromium undertaking. For most individuals, the apparent selection is Google’s Chrome browser, however you can too select one other Chromium-based browser: Microsoft Edge, or Courageous, or Vivaldi, or one in all these much more obscure choices. I’ve used Microsoft’s model, Edge, for 5 years, and see no purpose to change now.

Additionally: I made Microsoft Edge my default browser due to these three killer options

The present iteration of the Microsoft Edge browser is, so far as most web sites are involved, simply one other occasion of Google Chrome, with help for all of the extensions written for that juggernaut. However three options which are constructed into Edge are sufficient to make me snug utilizing it as my default browser. An important is Monitoring Prevention (proven right here), which stops a good quantity of on-line surveillance and serves as an efficient advert blocker. I can not think about seeing this applied in Chrome.

The opposite two killer Edge options for me are vertical tabs, a characteristic that makes it attainable to tell apart what’s on every webpage even in case you have dozens of tabs open, and the immersive reader, which strips away muddle from a web page so you possibly can think about the content material. (For extra particulars, see “I made Microsoft Edge my default browser due to these three killer options.” )

I nonetheless make a copy of Chrome put in on my Home windows desktop, however I hardly ever run right into a web page that requires me to change. I additionally use Edge on my MacBook Professional and on iOS and Android, with historical past and favorites synced throughout all these platforms.

2. 1Password 

• Objective: Password administration
• Worth: Subscription-based. Particular person, $3 a month; Household (5 customers), $5 a month; Group and Enterprise plans accessible
• Data: 1Password

Once I arrange a brand new PC, Mac, or cellular system, the very first thing I set up, with out exception, is the 1Password app and its companion browser extension. (For a full evaluate, see: 1Password: My favourite password supervisor is a necessary safety software.) 

Additionally: I changed my Microsoft account password with a passkey – and you need to, too

It has each characteristic you count on from this class of software program, together with a sturdy password generator that may create and save actually random, unguessable credentials, help for two-factor authentication, and the flexibility to create and sync passkeys throughout a number of units. I’ve a household plan ($5 a month, billed yearly), which makes it straightforward for my spouse and me to maintain particular person credentials in addition to a shared vault for providers we entry with a single account.

1Password can also be accessible as an app for iOS, Android, MacOS, and Home windows and makes use of the identical synced, encrypted database for all platforms.

I am snug with permitting 1Password to retailer and sync my encrypted password information. As a result of it is a zero-knowledge structure, nobody on the firm has entry to the contents of these encrypted information; that information can solely be opened utilizing my distinctive native password, accompanied by the encryption key.)

3. Workona  

• Objective: Tab administration
• Worth: Subscription-based. Free, with limits; Professional plan $7 a month, Group and Enterprise plans accessible
• Data: Workona

By any cheap normal, I’ve too many browser tabs open proper now. However I do not care, as a result of I’ve a secret weapon that helps me preserve these tabs beneath management — a service referred to as Workona. I have been a paid subscriber for greater than 5 years, and it is grow to be an indispensable a part of my on-line toolkit (see “Too many browser tabs? This spectacular extension is my favourite answer.”) 

Workona permits me to prepare tabs, bookmarks, notes, and duties into teams referred to as areas that sync throughout units; I can share areas with workforce members, and join cloud-based productiveness providers (like Slack and GitHub) to increase the capabilities of an area. I apply it to Microsoft Edge, however it’s additionally accessible as an extension on Chrome and Firefox on all main desktop platforms.

Additionally: I take advantage of Edge as my default browser – however its new AI mode is unreliable and annoying

The free version of Workona limits the variety of areas and assets you possibly can create, however it may be adequate in case your wants are modest. I pay $7 a month for a Professional plan that offers me limitless areas for a single person and another helpful options, corresponding to Google Drive integration. Group and Enterprise editions are additionally accessible.

At any given time, I might need greater than a half-dozen areas open, every in its personal browser session. On Edge, these areas combine with tab teams, so I can shortly transfer tabs between areas. Better of all, if a browser crashes or I must restart my pc, I can reopen all these tabs shortly with out dropping any work. I can not think about working with out it.

4. Obsidian

• Objective: Textual content editor 
• Worth: Free, with subscription-based sync and publish choices accessible
• Data: Obsidian 

For a few years, Microsoft Phrase was my essential textual content editor. It was completely important within the days when not less than half of what I wrote was destined to be printed in e-book kind, with intensive formatting and a concentrate on web page structure. As of late, although, nearly every thing I write is printed on-line — as a webpage or a publication. For these makes use of, Phrase is overkill, and its formatting is usually as a lot of a hindrance as a assist.

Additionally: Microsoft at 50: Its unbelievable rise, 15 misplaced years, and beautiful comeback – in 4 charts

My longtime colleague Mary Jo Foley would little question counsel I take advantage of Notepad, however that is a bit too barebones for my style, even with latest characteristic additions. Which is why I now do most of my writing in Obsidian. This easy-to-use app, developed by a small workforce that began in 2020, makes use of the light-weight Markdown language to create structured paperwork with wealthy formatting that may be saved as textual content information. It is also a good way to seize and retailer interview notes and snippets of analysis — it is fully taken over that position from OneNote, one other Microsoft Workplace app I used for many years that I now not use commonly.

I’ve mapped Obsidian hotkeys to some acquainted Phrase shortcuts, and I’ve additionally put in a plugin that provides outlining capabilities to my paperwork. It is all remarkably straightforward. (The Obsidian neighborhood has created hundreds of plugins.)

Obsidian just isn’t open supply, however it has a sturdy plugin mannequin that permits third-party builders to increase its options. This system itself is free, with no limits. I pay $8 a month (billed yearly) for non-obligatory add-on providers that enable me to sync as much as 10 vaults and 10 GB of storage throughout units, with a revision historical past of 12 months. There’s additionally an choice to make use of Obsidian as a back-end for a easy web site.

5. deck.blue

• Objective: Bluesky feed administration 
• Worth: Free. Superior options accessible with membership, $2 a month
• Data: deck.blue

Earlier than Twitter modified its identify and have become a conceit undertaking for the political obsessions of the world’s richest man, it was a vital supply of data and a technique to construct communities. It was additionally a firehose of data, and the one smart technique to preserve monitor of that torrent of tweets and threads and lists was with the assistance of an app like TweetDeck, which grew to become a subscribers-only characteristic referred to as X Professional in 2023.

Additionally: How you can migrate from X to Bluesky with out dropping your followers

I’ve since changed Twitter with Bluesky, which follows lots of the identical person expertise conventions nearly as good ol’ Twitter and might be simply as overwhelming. To get essentially the most worth out of Bluesky, you have to comply with a whole lot or hundreds of accounts, which may flip your private home web page right into a river that flows so quick no human can sustain utilizing the web-based app.

The answer is a third-party web-based app referred to as deck.blue, which helps you to slice and cube your feed into completely different views, every contained in its personal column. Like TweetDeck, it lets you present lists in columns and has a sturdy set of choices for filtering undesirable content material. You possibly can run deck.blue in a browser or do as I do and set up it as a progressive internet app. It is free, however I pay $2 a month for a membership that unlocks help for a number of accounts; it additionally pays the developer, Gildásio Filho, for whom it is a full-time job.

6. NewsBlur

• Objective: RSS reader
• Worth: Free, open supply. Premium subscriptions, beginning at $36 a 12 months, unlock some superior options
• Data: NewsBlur

They instructed you RSS was lifeless. I’m right here to let you know that is not precisely true. The RSS feed may be very a lot alive, albeit not fairly as vigorous as in its heyday, earlier than the Google Reader app was abruptly discontinued. (When you’ve by no means heard old-timers discuss of Google Reader, here is my obituary from 2013: Embrace, prolong, extinguish: How Google crushed and deserted the RSS trade)

RSS is brief for Actually Easy Syndication, a normal that permits publishers to create “feeds” you can learn in an app that understands RSS. Amazingly, many massive web sites nonetheless help RSS, which makes cross-platform apps like NewsBlur extremely helpful. It is accessible as an online app on the desktop and as a local app on iOS and Android, and its characteristic record is genuinely spectacular.

I take advantage of NewsBlur to maintain monitor of all kinds of data. The RSS feed for Microsoft’s Home windows Weblog, for instance, makes it straightforward to trace new Home windows Insider builds. To remain in contact with Apple information, I comply with John Gruber’s Daring Fireball. The New York Instances and the Washington Put up have RSS feeds, and a few actually enlightened publishers like Speaking Factors Memo even have members-only feeds, so paying subscribers (like me) can learn posts in a local app as an alternative of subscribing to an e mail publication. That, to me, is the largest benefit of NewsBlur — serving to to maintain muddle out of my Inbox.

7. Microsoft Excel

• Objective: Charts, spreadsheets, and lists 
• Worth: Included with Microsoft 365 Private, Household, and Enterprise subscriptions: $100 a 12 months and up
• Data: Microsoft 365

For greater than 25 years, the 4 desktop apps that make up the core of what was Microsoft Workplace have been a completely important a part of my working day. (I even wrote a half-dozen books about them!) That has all modified prior to now few years.

Outlook (Traditional) remains to be the primary app I open within the morning, however Microsoft says I’m going to have to change to Outlook (New) ultimately, and with out gifting away my emotions in regards to the substitute, I can let you know I’m trying significantly at options. I open Phrase a few times every week, largely for experiences, letters, and invoices, and use Obsidian for every thing else text-related. I sometimes stumble by means of PowerPoint a few times a 12 months, at most.

Additionally: How you can create a drop-down record in Excel and save your self hours of time

However I take advantage of Excel each day. I take advantage of it to investigate information and create charts, like those on this article about why these “Home windows 11 market share” numbers aren’t dependable. I take advantage of it for lists, easy and sophisticated, and to match merchandise earlier than making main purchases. I lastly acquired bored with utilizing Quicken and found out how one can preserve monitor of my private and enterprise funds in a set of spreadsheets that may make my late father, a CPA, proud.

The net model of Excel is free, however I pay $12.50 a month for a Microsoft 365 Enterprise Normal subscription that features Excel and all the opposite desktop Workplace apps, plus an Change On-line license, and 1 TB of OneDrive for Enterprise storage.

8. VLC Media Participant

VLC Media Participant is a free, open supply software that may play almost any audio or video file, no matter its format. It has been round eternally, maintained by the nonprofit VideoLAN group, based mostly in France. I wrote about it almost a decade in the past, when it was the most effective free different DVD participant available on the market, and right this moment it handles each bodily and streaming codecs with aplomb. It would not require downloading dodgy codec packs to work, and it runs on each conceivable platform.

I have never touched a DVD or a Blu-ray disk in ages, however I nonetheless have a set of saved video information, that I often wish to watch, and that is the perfect software for the job.

On Home windows PCs, make certain to obtain and set up the full Home windows package deal. That model can also be accessible within the Microsoft Retailer; simply avoid the outdated, limited-feature VLC UWP app. The best technique to set up it’s with the built-in winget package deal supervisor. When you’re snug at a command line, simply kind this: winget set up videolan.vlc.

9. MediaMonkey 2024

• Objective: Music organizing and taking part in
• Worth: Free; $40 improve to Gold version unlocks premium options
• Data: MediaMonkey

Regardless of the convenience of streaming tunes from providers like Apple Music and YouTube Music, I nonetheless have a considerable private music assortment in digital format. A number of the tracks in that assortment are copies ripped from previous CDs that are not accessible on any business service. Others are dwell recordings, obtained instantly from the artist or from authorized on-line providers and likewise unavailable for streaming. With a little bit additional effort, I can add these information to the cloud, however I nonetheless should handle them regionally.

For these tunes, MediaMonkey 2024 (accessible on Home windows and Android, however not MacOS or iOS) is an indispensable software. Its built-in participant handles nearly any audio or video file, together with lossless music tracks in FLAC and ALAC codecs, in a style that is extra organized than the one-track-at-a-time VLC. It may possibly rip CDs, stream music to exterior units, mechanically tag MP3 information and add album artwork, and even sync tracks with my iPhone and Android units. The free Normal model is completely succesful, however I paid the $40 improve value to take pleasure in a wide range of very helpful superior options within the Gold version.

10. Snagit 2024

• Objective: Screenshots and display screen recordings
• Worth: Subscription-based, $39 per 12 months
• Data: Snagit

Truthfully, I’m not certain once I started utilizing TechSmith’s Snagit to seize, crop, and annotate screens for my books and on-line posts. It was undoubtedly on the insistence of my e-book writer within the earlier century (the corporate and its flagship product have been round since 1990), and it is without doubt one of the only a few survivors from these years.

The great of us at TechSmith have performed an amazing job of holding that software program related greater than three many years later. Each new model will get a couple of new options, like the flexibility to seize a fast display screen video for posting on-line. I am completely happy that I can save screenshots within the cloud service of my selection, so I can discover that good screenshot with a fast search.

Snagit switched to a subscription mannequin a couple of years in the past. The default value of $39 a 12 months, which permits a subscriber to run the software program on two units, is affordable. As a result of I purchased my licenses years in the past, I am locked right into a legacy plan that is a few third of that value. I will not swap.