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 at all times fascinating to see how the checklist has modified over time, and it often says one thing in regards to the computing panorama. Once I did that train this yr, I used to be astonished on the modifications.

Half of the apps I used five years ago are not on my checklist in any respect in 2025. They have been changed, typically, by apps which are tightly linked with web-based providers and cloud storage and may run on any desktop, laptop computer, or cellular gadget.

Additionally: A decade of Windows 10: Chaos, Cortana, and conspiracy theories that never panned out

Seven of the ten apps I take advantage of each day supply absolutely practical free variations, usually 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 conventional perpetual license, favoring a subscription mannequin as a substitute. 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 desire the predictability of those arrangements as a substitute of the massive jolt to the price range that comes with main upgrades. And I am additionally pleased 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 called Microsoft Workplace). If it weren’t for Excel, I am unsure that I might nonetheless be keen to pay for my Microsoft 365 subscription. I’ve stopped utilizing OneNote fully, and I take advantage of Phrase lots lower than I used to. I lastly obtained uninterested in Quicken, Spotify, and Adobe Acrobat, all of which had straightforward replacements.

After all, this choice displays my work habits and my private preferences. Your wants are undoubtedly completely different, so your checklist 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 net, meaning a browser that is based mostly on the de facto commonplace, utilizing code from the open-source Chromium project. For most individuals, the plain selection is Google’s Chrome browser, however you too can select one other Chromium-based browser: Microsoft Edge, or Brave, or Vivaldi, or one of these even more obscure options. I’ve used Microsoft’s model, Edge, for 5 years, and see no purpose to modify now.

Additionally: I made Microsoft Edge my default browser because of these three killer features

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 carried out in Chrome.

The opposite two killer Edge options for me are vertical tabs, a function that makes it potential to differentiate what’s on every webpage even when you’ve got 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 because of these three killer features.” )

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 modify. 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
• Value: Subscription-based. Particular person, $3 a month; Household (5 customers), $5 a month; Crew and Enterprise plans accessible
• Information: 1Password

Once I arrange a brand new PC, Mac, or cellular gadget, the very first thing I set up, with out exception, is the 1Password app and its companion browser extension. (For a full assessment, see: 1Password: My favorite password manager is an essential security tool.) 

Additionally: I replaced my Microsoft account password with a passkey – and you should, too

It has each function you count on from this class of software program, together with a strong password generator that may create and save really 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 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 recordsdata. As a result of it is a zero-knowledge structure, nobody on the firm has entry to the contents of these encrypted recordsdata; that information can solely be opened utilizing my distinctive native password, accompanied by the encryption key.)

3. Workona  

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

By any affordable commonplace, 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 maintain these tabs underneath management — a service known as Workona. I have been a paid subscriber for greater than 5 years, and it is develop into an indispensable a part of my on-line toolkit (see “Too many browser tabs? This impressive extension is my favorite solution.”) 

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

Additionally: I use Edge as my default browser – but its new AI mode is unreliable and annoying

The free version of Workona limits the variety of areas and sources you possibly can create, nevertheless it is likely to be ok in case your wants are modest. I pay $7 a month for a Professional plan that provides me limitless areas for a single consumer and some other useful features, resembling Google Drive integration. Crew and Enterprise editions are additionally accessible.

At any given time, I may 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 rapidly transfer tabs between areas. Better of all, if a browser crashes or I must restart my laptop, I can reopen all these tabs rapidly with out dropping any work. I can not think about working with out it.

4. Obsidian

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

For a few years, Microsoft Phrase was my foremost textual content editor. It was completely important within the days when at the least half of what I wrote was destined to be revealed in e book type, with in depth formatting and a concentrate on web page format. Today, although, nearly the whole lot I write is revealed on-line — as a webpage or a e-newsletter. 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 incredible rise, 15 lost years, and stunning comeback – in 4 charts

My longtime colleague Mary Jo Foley would little doubt counsel I take advantage of Notepad, however that is a bit too barebones for my style, even with recent feature additions. Which is why I now do most of my writing in Obsidian. This easy-to-use app, developed by a small team 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 recordsdata. It is also an effective way to seize and retailer interview notes and snippets of analysis — it is fully taken over that function from OneNote, one other Microsoft Workplace app I used for many years that I not use often.

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 thousands of plugins.)

Obsidian isn’t open supply, nevertheless it has a strong 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 optional add-on services 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 possibility to make use of Obsidian as a back-end for a easy web site.

5. deck.blue

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

Earlier than Twitter modified its identify and have become an arrogance venture for the political obsessions of the world’s richest man, it was a vital supply of data and a approach to construct communities. It was additionally a firehose of data, and the one wise approach to maintain observe 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 function known as X Professional in 2023.

Additionally: How to migrate from X to Bluesky without losing your followers

I’ve since changed Twitter with Bluesky, which follows lots of the identical consumer expertise conventions nearly as good ol’ Twitter and could be simply as overwhelming. To get probably the most worth out of Bluesky, it’s worthwhile to observe lots of or hundreds of accounts, which might flip your property 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 known 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 means that you can present lists in columns and has a strong set of choices for filtering undesirable content material. You may run deck.blue in a browser or do as I do and set up it as a progressive net 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
• Value: Free, open supply. Premium subscriptions, beginning at $36 a yr, unlock some superior options
• Information: NewsBlur

They informed you RSS was lifeless. I’m right here to inform you 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. (In the event you’ve by no means heard old-timers discuss of Google Reader, this is my obituary from 2013: Embrace, extend, extinguish: How Google crushed and abandoned the RSS industry)

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

I take advantage of NewsBlur to maintain observe of all kinds of data. The RSS feed for Microsoft’s Windows Blog, for instance, makes it straightforward to trace new Home windows Insider builds. To remain in contact with Apple information, I observe John Gruber’s Daring Fireball. The New York Occasions and the Washington Put up have RSS feeds, and a few actually enlightened publishers like Talking Points Memo even have members-only feeds, so paying subscribers (like me) can learn posts in a local app as a substitute of subscribing to an e mail e-newsletter. 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 
• Value: Included with Microsoft 365 Private, Household, and Enterprise subscriptions: $100 a yr and up
• Information: Microsoft 365

For greater than 25 years, the 4 desktop apps that make up the core of what was once Microsoft Workplace have been a fully 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 (Basic) remains to be the primary app I open within the morning, however Microsoft says I’m going to have to modify to Outlook (New) ultimately, and with out giving freely my emotions in regards to the alternative, I can inform you I’m wanting severely at options. I open Phrase a few times per week, largely for experiences, letters, and invoices, and use Obsidian for the whole lot else text-related. I sometimes stumble by way of PowerPoint a few times a yr, at most.

Additionally: How to create a drop-down list in Excel and save yourself 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 those “Windows 11 market share” numbers aren’t reliable. I take advantage of it for lists, easy and complicated, and to match merchandise earlier than making main purchases. I lastly obtained uninterested in utilizing Quicken and discovered methods to maintain observe of my private and enterprise funds in a group of spreadsheets that will 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 Customary subscription that features Excel and all the opposite desktop Workplace apps, plus an Trade 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 practically any audio or video file, no matter its format. It has been round eternally, maintained by the nonprofit VideoLAN organization, based mostly in France. I wrote about it practically a decade in the past, when it was the very best free alternative DVD player 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 group of saved video recordsdata, that I sometimes wish to watch, and that is the best software for the job.

On Home windows PCs, make sure that to obtain and set up the full Windows package. That model can be available in the Microsoft Store; simply keep away from the outdated, limited-feature VLC UWP app. The best approach to set up it’s with the built-in winget bundle supervisor. In the event 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
• Value: Free; $40 improve to Gold version unlocks premium options
• Information: MediaMonkey

Regardless of the benefit of streaming tunes from providers like Apple Music and YouTube Music, I nonetheless have a considerable private music assortment in digital format. Among the tracks in that assortment are copies ripped from outdated CDs that are not accessible on any business service. Others are dwell recordings, obtained straight from the artist or from authorized on-line providers and likewise unavailable for streaming. With a bit additional effort, I can add these recordsdata to the cloud, however I nonetheless must handle them domestically.

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 trend 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 recordsdata and add album artwork, and even sync tracks with my iPhone and Android units. The free Customary model is completely succesful, however I paid the $40 improve worth to take pleasure in a wide range of very useful advanced features within the Gold version.

10. Snagit 2024

• Objective: Screenshots and display screen recordings
• Value: Subscription-based, $39 per yr
• Information: Snagit

Truthfully, I’m not certain after I started utilizing TechSmith’s Snagit to seize, crop, and annotate screens for my books and on-line posts. It was positively 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 among the only a few survivors from these years.

The nice of us at TechSmith have finished a fantastic job of maintaining that software program related greater than three a long time later. Each new model will get a number of new options, like the flexibility to seize a fast display screen video for posting on-line. I am pleased 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 number of years in the past. The default worth of $39 a yr, which permits a subscriber to run the software program on two units, is cheap. 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 worth. I will not swap.