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 regularly. It is all the time fascinating to see how the checklist has modified over time, and it normally says one thing in regards to the computing panorama. After I did that train this yr, I used to be astonished on the adjustments.

Half of the apps I used five years ago are not on my checklist in any respect in 2025. They have been changed, usually, by apps which can be tightly linked with web-based companies and cloud storage and might run on any desktop, laptop computer, or cell system.

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

Seven of the ten apps I take advantage of day-after-day supply absolutely useful 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 conventional perpetual license, favoring a subscription mannequin as an alternative. I do know that is a hot-button subject for some readers, who’re adamant about their distaste for paying month-to-month or annual charges. I favor the predictability of those arrangements as an alternative of the large jolt to the finances that comes with main upgrades. And I am additionally blissful to assist impartial 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 rather a lot lower than I used to. I lastly received bored with 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 under.

1. Microsoft Edge 

A contemporary browser has one job: to render webpages that work as they had been designed to work. Given the realities of the trendy net, which means a browser that is based mostly on the de facto normal, utilizing code from the open-source Chromium project. For most individuals, the apparent selection is Google’s Chrome browser, however you may also 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 change 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 assist for all of the extensions written for that juggernaut. However three options which can be constructed into Edge are sufficient to make me snug utilizing it as my default browser. Crucial 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 function that makes it doable 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 may 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 not often 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 

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

After I arrange a brand new PC, Mac, or cell system, the very first thing I set up, with out exception, is the 1Password app and its companion browser extension. (For a full evaluation, 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 anticipate from this class of software program, together with a strong password generator that may create and save really random, unguessable credentials, assist for two-factor authentication, and the power to create and sync passkeys throughout a number of gadgets. 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 companies 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 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 knowledge can solely be opened utilizing my distinctive native password, accompanied by the encryption key.)

3. Workona  

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

By any affordable 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 below management — a service referred to as Workona. I have been a paid subscriber for greater than 5 years, and it is turn out to be 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 referred to as areas that sync throughout gadgets; I can share areas with crew members, and join cloud-based productiveness companies (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 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 may create, however it is perhaps adequate in case your wants are modest. I pay $7 a month for a Professional plan that offers 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 have to 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

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

For a few years, Microsoft Phrase was my major textual content editor. It was completely important within the days when a minimum of half of what I wrote was destined to be revealed in ebook type, with in depth formatting and a give attention to web page structure. Today, although, nearly all the pieces I write is revealed on-line — as a webpage or a publication. For these makes use of, Phrase is overkill, and its formatting is commonly 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 question 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 frequently.

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 just isn’t open supply, however 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 gadgets, 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

• Function: 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 a conceit challenge 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 smart approach to preserve observe of that torrent of tweets and threads and lists was with the assistance of an app like TweetDeck, which turned a subscribers-only function referred to 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 most of the identical consumer expertise conventions nearly as good ol’ Twitter and will be simply as overwhelming. To get essentially the most worth out of Bluesky, you could comply with tons of or 1000’s of accounts, which may flip your house 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 permits you to present lists in columns and has a strong set of choices for filtering undesirable content material. You’ll be able to 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 assist for a number of accounts; it additionally pays the developer, Gildásio Filho, for whom this can be a full-time job.

6. NewsBlur

• Function: RSS reader
• Value: Free, open supply. Premium subscriptions, beginning at $36 a yr, unlock some superior options
• Information: NewsBlur

They advised you RSS was useless. I’m right here to inform you that is not precisely true. The RSS feed could be very a lot alive, albeit not fairly as vigorous as in its heyday, earlier than the Google Reader app was abruptly discontinued. (In case you’ve by no means heard old-timers discuss of Google Reader, here is my obituary from 2013: Embrace, extend, extinguish: How Google crushed and abandoned the RSS industry)

RSS is brief for Actually Easy Syndication, a typical that permits publishers to create “feeds” you could learn in an app that understands RSS. Amazingly, many giant web sites nonetheless assist 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 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 comply with John Gruber’s Daring Fireball. The New York Occasions and the Washington Publish 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 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

• Function: 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 had been a fully important a part of my working day. (I even wrote a half-dozen books about them!) That has all modified previously few years.

Outlook (Basic) remains to be the primary app I open within the morning, however Microsoft says I’m going to have to change to Outlook (New) in the end, and with out gifting away my emotions in regards to the alternative, I can inform you I’m wanting severely at alternate options. I open Phrase a few times per week, largely for stories, letters, and invoices, and use Obsidian for all the pieces 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 day-after-day. I take advantage of it to research knowledge 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 received bored with utilizing Quicken and discovered find out how to preserve observe of my private and enterprise funds in a set of spreadsheets that may make my late father, a CPA, proud.

The web model of Excel is free, however I pay $12.50 a month for a Microsoft 365 Enterprise Commonplace 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 instrument 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 in the marketplace, and immediately it handles each bodily and streaming codecs with aplomb. It does 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 recordsdata, that I often wish to watch, and that is the perfect instrument for the job.

On Home windows PCs, make sure that to obtain and set up the full Windows package. That model can also be available in the Microsoft Store; simply avoid the outdated, limited-feature VLC UWP app. The best approach to set up it’s with the built-in winget bundle supervisor. In case you’re snug at a command line, simply kind this: winget set up videolan.vlc.

9. MediaMonkey 2024

• Function: Music organizing and taking part in
• Value: Free; $40 improve to Gold version unlocks premium options
• Information: MediaMonkey

Regardless of the convenience of streaming tunes from companies 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 reside recordings, obtained immediately from the artist or from authorized on-line companies and in addition unavailable for streaming. With a bit of additional effort, I can add these recordsdata 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 instrument. 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 will possibly rip CDs, stream music to exterior gadgets, mechanically tag MP3 recordsdata and add album artwork, and even sync tracks with my iPhone and Android gadgets. The free Commonplace 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

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

Truthfully, I’m not positive after 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 ebook 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 nice people at TechSmith have finished an awesome job of retaining that software program related greater than three many years later. Each new model will get a couple of new options, like the power to seize a fast display video for posting on-line. I am blissful that I can save screenshots within the cloud service of my selection, so I can discover that excellent screenshot with a fast search.

Snagit switched to a subscription mannequin a couple of years in the past. The default worth of $39 a yr, which permits a subscriber to run the software program on two gadgets, 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 worth. I will not swap.