this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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I’ve been a iPhone user for ages and tried lots of different apps to replace the native iOS apps. As a casual user though I keep coming back to the native apps because they just work across all my devices. So I guess I’m curious what everyone uses instead from a casual point of view

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago
  • OneDrive instead iCloud Drive
  • Overcast for podcasts
  • AnyList, Scanner Pro, and NotebooksApp over notes
  • Carrot Weather
  • Spotify over Apple Music *Google Maps and Wave over Maps
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Accuweather, 2FAS for authentication, I tried switching from Mail, but iCloud has privacy features that far ahead of gmail so I dumped gmail but I have a Google Account. I use Parcel for package tracking and Calzy for calculator which eons ahead of what Apple calls a calculator.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Google Maps and Gmail in place of Apple Maps and Mail.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Most of the time the mail app is fine for me but gmail tends to be easier to use especially when I’ve got a big chain to go through

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Gboard. The haptics are more pronounced than the normal keyboard. Plus when you swipe type for profanities the keyboard doesn't stop you from doing so lol

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Telegram/Whatsapp

Google Maps

Google photos

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

CARROT weather because Apple weather sucks

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Carrot is a very good app. The live activities for when it rains was a nice touch. Apple could do with copying that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I use Haseba Calculator instead of the stock one

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Google Maps, Calculator, Mail

I just don't find the native calculator this convenient, so i use the first one i got on appstore search ☠️

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Been fine with Apple apps. I hate having duplicates, plus security, privacy are major concerns. Plus ecosystem.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

That’s mostly my logic too

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I use Gmail, mostly because the Mail app doesn't give me instant notifications.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah that’s a bug bear of mine too

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Check out Spark. Been a user for years and can't imagine using something else

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Spark for email, because the stock email app doesn't seem to play nice with Gmail.

Google Maps for cycling directions because Apple doesn't offer cycling directions where I live, and sometimes for driving directions because occasionally places I want to go don't exist in Apple Maps.

Overcast for podcasts because I find it to be a better experience in pretty much every way.

A local weather app because Apple's Weather is basically a coin toss where I live.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

ClevCalc. Stock calculator is just awful. No history, no unit converters, etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I enjoy most of Apple’s native apps. The only thing for me is that Apple Maps, although great for navigation, isn’t great for search. So, I use Google Maps for search and then Apple Maps for navigation.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I have chrome but I rarely use it, otherwise I use B&N Nook instead of Apple Books

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Gmail and Google’s Contacts because they are transportable between Android OS and iOS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Gmail, Google Maps, Spotify

TBH I like the Apple Music app better but Spotify works better for me for music discovery, play a track radio etc.

Google Maps. Maybe ingrained but I have a car with built in Google Maps now and if I search a route on my phone there it is on my car.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Reddit app. To respond to you right now

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
  • Marvis Pro in addition to Music
  • Fantastical in addition to Calendar & Reminders
  • MultiTimer instead of the timer function in the Clock app
  • Google Maps in addition to Maps

Most of Apple’s apps are lacking advanced tools and features. I have to look for those things somewhere else.

If I was a heavy or even moderate email user, I would be using something other than the Mail app. It handles attachments worse than any other app I have ever seen. It’s a disgrace that it can’t return to the inbox after deleting a message. The only reason I use it is because I can’t scroll the full length of an email from the lock screen notification banner without opening the app. No other mail app can do that. I delete 80% of my mail from the lock screen.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Fantastical all day long. Had to scroll a way to find this!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Waze for road trips and proton mail for my personal email because you can’t use the native one for a proton mail account.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Dexcom. Am diabetic

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Weatherzone (has a better widget than Weather), Firefox as opposed to Safari. Google Maps as opposed to Maps (as Maps suck bigtime unless your in the United States.)

Guess thats it - most of the other default apps do what they're supposed to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Apple Maps works really well in the UK. It’s on par with Google maps for me. I think it’ll be a while before it’s decent for everyone though

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Does it work for folks in the usa

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I never use the weather app from IOS

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I use ticktick instead of reminders/notes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Google maps, chrome, gmail

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Spark Mail!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Google maps. Hate hate hate Apple maps. And spotify instead of apple music.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just curious, what continent do you live in? Trying to understand where the Apple Maps hate stems from:)

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

What is it about Apple Maps that you hate so much?

It’s come a long way since it launched and I’ve found it quite good here in the UK

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I use google apps because they are there on my work windows pc too and we use those for work stuff.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Google Maps. My region Apple Maps sucks. And actually after fiddling it with Apple Maps, it’s not as accurate as Google Maps.

Outlook. Native Mail app just feel like a hassle, UI isn’t great as well.

YouTube music as I have YouTube premium.

Everything else is native tho.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Outlook and Google Maps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Keyboard. SwiftKey IMO is superior to the native apple keyboard

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

WhatsApp as iMessage users are less here and Google Maps for more realtime information which Apple Maps is lacking in India

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Google calendar & Google keep

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I’ve used Fantastical for years. The built in calendar app is fine, but not flexible enough for my needs.

Overcast for podcasts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Notes and reminders are okay, but the rest of their native apps are too limiting. They don’t even add simple functionality on most apps.

For instance, voice recorder doesn’t allow bookmarking or pause/ resume recording. Good luck finding important moments in a 60 minute recording.

The camera app doesn’t allow you to pause resume video recording. Every camera app on other phones allows you to pause video recording so don’t have to take long clips or many short clips (for example steps in preparing a recipe)

Clock app doesn’t allow you to choose the snooze time. For some reason Apple decided you can Snooze for 9 minutes and if you don’t like it, find another app, which wouldn’t be integrated into Siri, etc.

Oversimplification of apps with few options ruins many apps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think they’ve gone with the approach of will it work for the most number of people. Pausing video would a cool feature to have though

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Superhuman for email. I mainly use this app on desktop/macbook but the mobile version is good.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Any ideas how I can play gba games on my iPhone yet?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I use pretty much all of the Google apps in leu of the apple ones. Google Maps, Translate, Google Assistant, Google Calendar... You get it.

All my info transfers senselessly between Windows, Mac, and Android between those apps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah it’d be good if Apple offered support cross platform support as I prefer most of their apps to Google’s but that’s wishful thinking

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Firefox, to sync with my other devices. None of them are Apple, so Safari doesn’t make sense for me.

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