Default Apps 2026
October 14, 2026
Here are my Default Apps 2026, which build on my Default Apps 2025, Default Apps 2024, and Default Apps 2023 posts.
🤖 AI Coding Assistant: Claude Code + Codex
🤖 AI Usage: CodexBar
⚙️ Automation: Hammerspoon
🎒 Backups: Backblaze
🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop.io
🌐 Browser: Vivaldi
📆 Calendar: Apple Calendar
💬 Chat: Apple Messages (family & friends), Discord (friends), Slack (work and community work), Telegram (weird bots)
📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive + Syncthing
🧑💻 Code Editor: Sublime Text + Zed
📦 Containers: OrbStack
✍️ Grammar: Grammarly
🚀 Launcher: Alfred 5
📨 Mail Client: Mimestream (Gmail only and not very often)
📮 Mail Server: Fastmail (I pay for it but still don't use it enough) + Gmail
👔 Menu Bar: Thaw
🎵 Music: Apple Music
📝 Notes: Obsidian
🔐 Password Management: 1Password
🎤 Podcasts: Apple Podcasts
📑 Read It Later: Raindrop.io
🔗 Remote Access: Tailscale
🔌 Remote Shell: Mosh (survives sleep, Wi-Fi changes, and dropped connections)
🗓️ Scheduling + Booking: Cal.com
🖼️ Screenshots: Xnapper
🔍 Search: Kagi
🐚 Terminal: Ghostty
🪟 Terminal Multiplexer: Herdr
🎙️ Transcription: MacWhisper
🗃️ Version Control: Tower
📹 Video Calls: Zoom + Meeter
✈️ VPN: Mullvad (only until Tailscale gets an integrated alternative)
Commentary
The biggest change for me this year is that my AI sessions became remote and persistent. Last year, I reached my terminal from any browser on my Tailnet with VibeTunnel. This year, my agents run on my servers, and I connect to them from anywhere.
It clicked for me on a Delta flight in May. Before takeoff, I gave Claude Code a task in a tmux session, then closed my laptop to board. An hour later, I opened the lid, Mosh reconnected right away, and the task was done.
Since then, the setup has settled on three tools, each solving a specific failure mode. Tailscale makes the network invisible. Mosh survives airplane Wi-Fi, IP changes, and laptop sleep. Herdr keeps the agent sessions alive on the server, and its sidebar shows which agents are working, blocked, or done.
I don't even need my laptop to check in. Moshi lets me connect to the same sessions from my iPhone and iPad, and I think it works on Android too. It's wonderful.
Changes from 2025
New Additions:
- AI Usage is a new category, and CodexBar fills it. It shows my AI coding limits and reset countdowns in the menu bar.
- Remote Shell is a new category, and Mosh fills it.
- Terminal Multiplexer is a new category, and Herdr fills it.
Apps Replaced:
- Herdr replaced VibeTunnel (goodbye, Terminal Proxy category) and mostly replaced tmux.
- Thaw replaced Ice, which replaced Bartender. Ice is no longer maintained, and Thaw is.
Apps Removed:
- I dropped Docker for OrbStack.
- I dropped Spotify (again).
- I dropped iTerm2 for Ghostty, spent most of the year in cmux, and came back to Ghostty. I wanted a multiplexer more than a tiling window manager.
Previously inspired by: "Apps I've been using regularly this year." Heavily inspired by Matt Stein and cataloged by Robb Knight's App Defaults