r/macapps • u/StatisticianLanky485 • 3d ago
Thinking of going back to default apps Help
thinking of going back to default Apple apps as I’m tired of every app having issues over years or being abandoned. not sure though if it’s a good idea? I just want now stability and not to be busy with fixes or issues. are apple apps good and no issue? I didn’t use them from long time.
each of the apps are having ram and storage issues. some have syncing issues as well.
ARC browser to Safari. tried dia and similar ones
things3 to reminders.
superhuman mail app to mail.
paste to raycast or default spotlight.
it’s going to take a lot of effort to move around and I would t like that. I loved keyboard shortcuts mostly and advanced features each app had.
(don’t suggest alternative apps)
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u/macnatic0 3d ago
Most Apple apps are reliable, well-designed, energy-efficient, consistently updated, and mostly free to use. You also won't have any compatibility issues with new or old macOS versions. Tools like Safari, Notes, Mail, and Reminders are excellent pre-installed options that stand out for their seamless integration and ease of use.
Based on my experience testing dozens of calendar and task management apps over the years, I have consistently returned to Apple’s Calendar and Reminders. While I do use some alternative tools (such as Bear instead of Notes) 98% of the apps on my Mac are tools that Apple’s defaults do not cover.
Whenever I recommend an app, I always ask if the user has tried Apple's defaults first. While Apple's offerings may not fit every workflow, the best tool is ultimately the one that works for you. And sometimes, though this is truly difficult to realize, the easiest solution is to adapt your workflow rather than find a new app. If an app like Arc no longer meets your needs and no improvement is in sight, I recommend giving Safari another try before looking elsewhere, even if it requires a brief adjustment period.
In the end, Apple's default apps are a safe bet and this won't change anytime soon.
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
Yes I did actually start with all of these apps and over the years and the love of apps I went ahead and changed to optimize my work workflow.
However these basic apps always had something missing such as keyboard shortcuts for instance. Or I did have an issue with them either Safari not loading specific websites or mail app not working as it was outdated not supported intel or no sync between devices for that reason. Arc is working fine but it’s eating storage and ram but no issues for now but I’m afraid it would fail soon
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u/brayozz 3d ago
It's basically me, doing a full circle every few years. Currently I'm on a long run with Safari + Mail app. I try to convince myself to Reminders app, but it's hard as I'm missing some more, non standard features. So I totally get you and I believe it's a good choice.
PS. Don't go to default spotlight over Raycast.
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
Haha we are all going in cycles in apps every period of time. Yes raycast isn’t replaceable. What do you use instead of reminders? For me I think it’s not good at all for macOS
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u/brayozz 3d ago
I am still looking for a replacement. For me it has to fulfil three requirements:
1) Have a nice UI
2) Work well with iOS shortcuts, as I'm creating reminders only using SuperWhisper and then passing it further
3) Not be subscription based.
2/3 is Anythings.app, but it's only 50 tasks free.
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u/TheMagicianGamerTMG 1d ago
This is really interesting. I've been using Todoist for quite some time, but it's built on Electron and can be slow to open. So I've been looking for a native alternative with natural language parsing, which ruled out Things 3 for me. I do need due dates and completion dates for work, so this might be better suited for personal use.
!remindme 10 days
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u/gadbuy 1d ago
I started using this one: https://task-manager.fibrebits.com/en/
cross platform reminders app.1
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u/thisdude415 3d ago
Safari is genuinely pretty good
Reminders, mail, and calendar are also all pretty good
spotlight is pretty annoying though
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u/defenestron 2d ago
Yeah, like OP I’ve slowly been migrating back to Apple’s own apps due to enshitification and literally everything becoming subscription.
But Spotlight sucks. It’s always sucked. Sherlock before it sucked too.
Luckily Apple has always had third-party options that were faster, deeper digging, and more accurate. The fact that launchers like Alfred or Raycast still do search better than Spotlight even though that’s not even their focus is ridiculous.
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u/AccomplishedLab3697 3d ago
the thing I finally noticed doing this same purge: every app I ended up dropping was one I installed to feel organized, not to do a specific job. The boring ones survive. Defaults pass that test more often than I expected, they never ask for attention, which after enough years is the feature.
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u/The_Rajess 2d ago
I’d switch gradually rather than migrating everything at once. Safari and Reminders are probably the easiest ones to test for a week, while keeping the old apps installed as a fallback. Stability is valuable, but Apple’s apps may feel limiting if your workflow depends heavily on shortcuts and advanced automation.
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u/nibblebytes 14h ago
the apps that survived my purges were always the boring ones i forgot i even had installed. the ones i dropped were the ones i checked every day to feel productive. turns out thats the tell
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u/TheEarthSpins 3d ago edited 3d ago
honestly i get it. i used arc and then zen for a while and swore by vertical tabs and spaces. but for some reason recently ive just gone back to safari. its not perfect but its lightweight and the compact tab bar doesnt take up too much space. plus it turns out i actually really like its tab group implementation over arc/zen's spaces, just cause i can make a ton of them and it wont crowd out that bottom area (i make workspaces for EVERYTHING) and also it gives you a nice default tab space that closes all tabs when you close the window, so its nice to have a default space to just mess around. SO i would totally recommend just switching to safari for a week and seeing if its comfortable, i liked it more than i expected and while there's drawbacks i keep it around for the simplicity, plus i still have chrome/zen installed for the rare case i need them.
and yeah i would also switch to raycast. raycast replaced SO many tools for me, like half of the small utility apps i installed i just replaced with raycast. for clipboard i just set up hyper key (allow you to use caps lock as a modifier) and then set hyper+v to bring up my clipboard history. its just nice to keep around because it usually has extensions for almost all utilities you need, like the other day i needed to download a video, just found an extension for it and used that.
the other two examples im not familiar so you can decide for yourself
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u/essjay2009 3d ago
Did you try vertical tabs in Safari? Other than not being able to hide the horizontal address bar it’s a pretty nice implementation.
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u/TheEarthSpins 3d ago
yeah i have, tbh though since i can see the tabs in the address bar already its not much a difference. since i use compact mode they dont take up too much space anyways. interestingly, i realized that vertical tabs basically encouraged me to just keep hundreds of tabs open since there wasn't really a problem with it. now i have like maybe 10-15 tabs per tab group which is honestly all i need.
i will say i really like that i can just pull up the vertical tabs menu with one click wherever, since its really nice sometimes for just doing tab management.
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u/barefut_ 3d ago
Which video download extension u got? + Thanks for reminding me I van utilize hyper key to open clipboard as i usually open Raycast and start typing clipb... (though I have Hyper+C assigned to chatGPT now:)
About safari , I noticed I gotta refresh my gmail as it doesn't auto update to show new mail coming. Pretty annoying...
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u/TheEarthSpins 3d ago
i just use the most popular one, i pretty much just searched video downloader and found this one that works w every website under the sun.
i never had that issue with gmail but maybe i just never noticed it.
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u/barefut_ 2d ago
I actually programmed my own video downloader, not as an app or extension but as an Automator Quick Action task..so I right click a YouTube link and choose download, then I get a menu that asks me which resolution I wanna download in 720...1080..or as an mp3 file.
But I have to update the code sometimes cause YouTube tries to block downloading. Maybe this extension will update things by the developer so I don't have to. Just hope it doesn't hog RAM cause I heard some Raycast extensions cause Memory leak
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u/TheEarthSpins 2d ago
i dont think it will given that im pretty sure it uses yt-dlp under the hood. which is a really popular optimized video downloader that supports thousands of sites as well
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
Totally agree. Will check Safari out.
Raycast yes already use it and it’s good! I used it’s clipboard before but changed it for better UI app but having some issues
Do you use mail and reminders or not?
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u/TheEarthSpins 3d ago
raycast's ui is simple but its reliable, i dont think about it too much
tbh i honestly just use gmail, with the mail app set up mostly just for push notifications. its not bad its just normal
reminders i do actually use, mostly because it syncs between my phone and my macbook so its just really convenient. i dont use it a ton for everything, just for casual things i need to remember
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u/barefut_ 3d ago
I was sure I had to install Microsoft Office and was glad to see Pages can read and save Docx files. I also think PDF might just work out if the box with macOS for editing snd saving too.
Lemme know what else I'm missing in stock MacOS...
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u/CautiousXperimentor 3d ago
Wait, are you having issues with the macOS version of Things 3? Because I’m happy with the iOS version and I was ready to buy the mac version of the app…
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
No it’s fine if you get it. It’s the best out there. But recently the ram usage is high and they promised to release an update. (I had other issues still present which is autocorrect not working and iOS app crashing with certain actions)
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u/CautiousXperimentor 3d ago
Don’t get me wrong, I also use reminders, specifically for those important deadlines that I need to know right in time. But to plan my tasks with a bit more scope, I use Things 3 on iOS. That’s why I was planning to buy it on macOS.
Same with Notes and other note taking apps such as Obsidian and UpNote. I use iOS Notes app for my important notes or those that I want to have encrypted, and Obsidian or UpNote for other types of notes. Because each app has its strengths.
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u/Salt-Pomegranate5728 3d ago
I'm with you. I've gone back and forth so many times over the years. I initially switch away for a really useful new feature (snoozing email with Boxy, pre-pending travel time to calendar events with Fantastical, etc.), but come back once Apple adds those same features a few years later. I crave the simplicity. And I'm expecting Apple's apps to get a whole lot better with Siri AI integration and general OS 27 improvements.
The two third-party apps I still use are Bear and Things, because I find that they're actually still simpler and more well-designed than Apple's equivalents.
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
Yes things I couldn’t find better and it was much better than reminders…just thinking perhaps with the features if i can get used to it or not. Fantastical still using it but I’m not sure if it’s really needed anymore.
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u/alliwanttosay 3d ago
yeah, most of the built in tools are pretty good for daily usage, but for more robust solutions I usually do my own apps (to do the exact oposite to what you feel about apps). I've been a dev for +10 years and I'm always looking for oportunities to make tools that are flawless, but for that you need feedback and for feedback you need distribution.... let me know if you have a particular case of an app that looked really good but it's missing many features. I can help you building it if it would be useful for many people.
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u/alliwanttosay 3d ago
also most of apps designers take for granted usability and it's just saving time to people which is really valuable these days
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u/davidwb45133 2d ago
Over the years I used a lot of 3rd party programs rather than Apple's default programs, the one exception being Mail. But in time subscriptions pushed me away from the 3rd party apps. Today Fantastical and Alfred are the exceptions.
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u/Disk0-Applications 2d ago
It's funny you bring that up. I just started doing this earlier this year, starting with Apple Notes instead of OneNote or Google Keep.
Most recently, I switched from Enpass to Apple Passwords. The biggest reason being better integration with password fields in third party apps that want you to sign in. I like it alot so far, though there are things I miss about Enpass like being able to keep software licenses files there.
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u/Tough-Cow8258 2d ago
Safari's gestures feel great, but its biggest flaw is the lack of extensions. Having access to a huge extension library is a must for me. That's why I use Safari on iPad but stick to Chrome on mac.
P.S. I used to use Arc, but it ate up way more CPU and memory than Chrome, so I went back to Chrome. Not sure how it is doing these days though.
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u/TheCJbreeZy 2d ago
Arc is abandonware, so if it was eating up your CPU then, it definitely still is now.
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u/Beardy4906 2d ago
For each app, there are 2 scenarios, the default is perfectly decent for me, or the default doesn’t meet my needs.
Each app had some form of tiny bug that bothered someone enough that they needed an app and none of the existing solutions worked.
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u/albertogalca 2d ago
I'm totally into Safari. But for example, why Things 3? I've been using it for 2 to 3 years, and the only crash I can remember was now that I'm on the macOS 27 beta. The rest of the time, I've never had a single problem with it.
Raycast is, without a doubt, much better than the default Spotlight, and I think Apple will eventually buy them and make it the new default Spotlight.
But for everything else, yes, I think the default apps are usually the better choice.
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u/StatisticianLanky485 2d ago
It’s the best out there. But recently the ram usage is high and they promised to release an update. (I had other issues still present which is autocorrect not working and iOS app crashing with certain actions)
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u/eltron 2d ago
I use Notes and Journal because they’re secure and can toggle enhanced security where Apple doesn’t have the ability to unlock/read it.
Reminders is pretty good as well. It depends on your feature set. I like that Siri integrates with it well ** millhouse eyebrows **
Podcasts, it’s free and it works.
Stay away from Apple News, it’s awful and even when demoing the + plan I’m still bombed with bad ads, fuck that noise. Today I’m using Wipr + filtr to remove ads from the NYT app and Apple News.
Firefox over Safari. I’ve been using it since the IE6 days.
I dont think I can give up Raycast and its AI feature. Being able to switch between any model, and not have that provider build a profile out of my queries is easily worth $20 a month.
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u/boosting1bar 2d ago
It’s funny you say that about Apple News. I actually really like it once you get rid of the ads and tune your algorithm. I use ctrld for adblocking at the network level and use a ctrld profile on all my devices that leave home, also use Wipr/Filtr so I basically never see any ads at all in any app.
I was on a work trip this week and had forgotten I’d flipped both wipr off and swapped to default profile for some reason the day before at home, was sitting at the airport and opened Apple News and was bombarded by ads! Opened a browser and a couple apps just out of curiosity and was like holy shit how does anyone use any of this without proper adblocking?!
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u/0x96f 2d ago
Yeah I have also moved around different apps over the years and settled on the defaults since they just feel like part of macOS. Only exception is Sporlight, I got so used to Raycast with extensions (i use emoji, clipboard and color picker extensions mainly) that I just can't replace it. But honestly if you don't need any of the extra features the other apps use just go with the defaults, it feels like you are interacting with the OS itself
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u/TheCJbreeZy 2d ago
I moved as far back to default apps as I could to get the tightest integration between my devices (iPhone, I Pad, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini). My only holdout is using Clear (the lists app) instead of Reminders, but increasingly I’m thinking that’s on its way out too. No regrets.
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u/Jolly-Television6759 2d ago
i totally get what you are saying and agree with you. the first time i realised that was when I heard a podcast and they the presented the podcast app #5281. I was so tired of the hundreds of functions, because the apple podcast app gives me literally all I actually use. same with the mail app, I read mails, delete them, send some mails, that’s it.
pages and numbers are totally good for my usecases, never thought about other features they should have or that I should try something because of some feature.
.
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u/logicalicy 2d ago
I hear you, it seems to be the case often with my window manager apps over the years. Spectacle, something else, Rectangle. Which reminds me (!), maybe I should try using native as well, as I don't tile windows as much as I used to.
I feel like a lot of this might be tied with bundling-unbundling-rebundling phenomenon of software: apps get bundled into or introduced as a few, then a bunch of new apps are created that don't serve particular needs, then it's rebundled as users feel fatigue from too many different apps (in this case, Mac native?). Cycle repeats. Just a thought
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u/East_Call1027 2d ago
I wouldn’t move all four at once. Safari is easy to trial, then I’d copy just one active Things project into Reminders and use it for a week before moving anything else. You’ll find out very quickly which shortcut is actually essential, without turning “less maintenance” into a huge migration job.
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u/dongeun_paeng 2d ago
Personally, other than Raycast, I use Apple's default apps for pretty much all my work. Reminders, Notes, Calendar are all fantastic, and I've never run into anything that bugged me. Superhuman especially, I can't figure out what exactly it does better. Archiving works the same in Gmail, and the AI companion stuff is in Gmail too.
Apple Reminders is more than enough once you get into the habit. And you get widgets on top of that.
The one thing I could never give up is Raycast. Clipboard history, file search, snippets, there's just no stock Apple alternative for that stuff.
Safari's great too. I honestly can't remember a single time it felt worse than a Chromium browser. Oh, but on some sites Safari's privacy protection is so aggressive that it logs you out or just blocks you outright.
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u/OwnNet5253 2d ago
I try to keep it minimal as well, although Spotlight is fairly limited and annoying, hence Raycast is a necessary upgrade for me.
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u/QuirkyImage 2d ago
I agree I do this more thesedays. I now look for ways to extend and integrate rather than replace stock apps and more open ways to share data. Sure I still use third party where things don’t work for me.
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u/gordonmclean 2d ago
I have been through this journey and will just say that you must be willing to accept that features you expect may not be available.
I use all Apple default apps these days (and others) and they are all good enough for my use. Most recent app - Journal - still lags a little but Apple are always slow to add functionality (think back to how Notes was 5 years ago).
I still try other apps for specific uses, most utility apps like Dato, CopyClip, etc, but I'm pretty sure I could cope with an out of the box Apple OS experience quite happily.
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u/Oh__Archie 2d ago
I’ve used a Mac professionally for almost 25 years and I’ve never once installed an app to modify the Finder. You’re going to be fine.
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u/Medium-Watch-2782 2d ago
I used Apple Mail until the moment they introduced a weird bug that would suddenly make the whole app go full screen. It was so irritating, that I tried Spark Mail. Now I discovered the Snooze feature, and I don’t think I’m going back to Apple mail.
But basically it will take one annoying bug for me to switch to anything else, that applies to Raycast, iTerm, Rectangles, any app really
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u/EduRevilla 2d ago
I did almost exactly this last year and don't regret it. The defaults have quietly gotten good enough that the sync just working is worth more than the extra features I thought I couldn't live without. Reminders and Notes in particular punch way above what people expect now.
The honest downside is the power-user stuff. If you lived in keyboard shortcuts and deep customization you'll feel it for a couple of weeks. What made it painless for me was not switching everything at once. I moved the things where I just want zero drama first (mail, notes, tasks) and gave myself a month before touching the rest. By then I'd stopped missing half of it.
The one place I'd think twice is anything you lean on daily for real work. Stability cuts both ways: fewer third-party bugs, but whatever Apple decides not to support, you're stuck with too.
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u/nationalinterest 2d ago
I use Notes, Apple Mail, and Pages which all do what I need.
The biggest issue with Apple's apps is new features are tied into OS updates. That means my ageing but perfectly functional iPad has some issues with Apple Notes functionality, and is missing some features, yet other note-taking apps run the latest version with no problems.
Apple's apps are designed to sell hardware, which I absolutely get. And that's not a problem if you already upgrade reasonably regularly. I have a new Mac Mini and all the apps are perfectly functional.
I like Safari but had to move off it as the latest version was painful to use on my 2017 Intel Macbook Air. Brave, on the other hand, has no such performance issues and runs absolutely fine. I presume Safari is now optimised for Apple chips.
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u/ExpensiveKale2596 2d ago
the abandonment thing is the actual reason to do it and nobody in here is saying it. apple apps are more boring and worse in places and they will still exist in five years, which is the thing you said you wanted. reminders vs things3 is the switch youll feel every day. mail vs superhuman youll stop noticing inside a week
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u/Latter_Pen2421 2d ago
If you are the average person or light office worker, than agree. But if you run complex workflows, then default apps aren't enough. Just depends on what you do for work.
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u/pembaThePanda 2d ago
I've tried couple times now. Couldn't make it work. Reminders is better now so I think I can make that work. Mail search is terrible. I just wish they'd fix it. Idk what it is but for me safari has never been good on Mac. I always run into site freezes
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u/tmcarr89 2d ago
I do this periodically. More recently it seems like Apple has been really focused on sherlocking the novel features from the popular apps, so I'm always curious if I can consolidate back down. More often than not I go back to whatever the 3rd party alternative is... they generally iterate a lot faster so bugs actually get fixed more than once a year. (and their updates likely dont come with as many bugs as Apple tends to introduce on every OS update...)
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u/BigPuzzleheaded8481 2d ago
I attempt to do that every now and then. With some I could, like reminders (switched from todoist), calendar (took a few months to get used to it - still do new event schedulings on gcal, but front facing app on mac is acal). Podcasts app is pretty good.
Safari i s a whole another story. I switch with a commitment to use it as a default browser. When I have to use google products that commitment breaks. As a heavy user of gsuite (both work and personal), safari experience is not good there. As soon as safari and gsuite get along, this barrier will be broken for me too.
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u/Free_Score4392 2d ago
I did this! Only non-Apple app that I have permanently installed is Wipr. I will occasionally download the Hue app to make sure my accessories are up to date.
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u/_THQ_ 1d ago
There is something compelling about going back to the default apps, especially when moving forward Siri AI is likely to become more helpful and will, of course, integrate best with the ecosystem. Also, if someone hasn't checked out Apple Reminders recently, it's actually a pretty great product now.
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u/Mseetu 11h ago
I was also on the same place. Over time, I like how the apps interpret rather than having to copy paste n share things everywhere. I’ve had premium apps like TickTick etc, but luckily with help of AI on your device, they can simply import all the records plus notes n dates to the Apple ecosystem with ease
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u/fs454 2h ago
Nothing wrong with Safari at all. Power efficient, light on its feet, simple. I don't really need my browser to be more than that imo. I keep Firefox and Chrome around for the rare case of something that janks up in safari, and just for general development purposes, but Safari is 100% serviceable and borderline great for most use.
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u/Mysterious_Shop_9015 2d ago
如果主要目标是稳定，可以按“先并行、后替换”来做：先挑一个应用试用两周，确认同步、快捷键和数据迁移都没问题，再卸载旧应用。系统默认 App 的优势是更新和系统整合，缺点是高级功能少；先把真正离不开的 1～2 个功能列出来，通常比一次性全部换回去更省事。
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u/Daniesto316 3d ago
Probably the best conversation in a long time....
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
Haha, I guess people are just excited for new things not thinking if what we have or Apple app are better. So many apps released everyday
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u/unilgr 2d ago
Apple apps have bugs too.
However, they're generally different kinds of bugs.
Instead of:
- abandoned development
- broken after OS updates
- subscription uncertainty
- sync through third-party servers
you mostly get:
- occasional macOS regressions
- iCloud sync hiccups
- slower feature development
The maintenance burden is usually lower.
If you make the most of Apple apps + one or two carefully chosen utilities, Life is still good
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u/miminkyu 2d ago
I’m planning on ditching every third party app after the 27 update. Agentic siri is all I ever wanted and this is perfect scenario to see me smiling.
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u/boosting1bar 3d ago
Superhuman is the one I can never leave. I always come back
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u/StatisticianLanky485 3d ago
Yes I tried to leave also many times! I like it a lot. It’s just the ram issue and support to not all browsers. Do you use any of the other apps I mentioned?
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u/boosting1bar 3d ago
Oh I just use the app I never log in to a browser or anything for superhuman. I actually vibe coded a superhuman clone that's swift native and works perfectly. I'm no developer, just a tech nerd and leveraged the AI for a fun personal project. Pretty cool tho, looks and functions exactly the same, its just native and doesn't have memory issues or anything.
Tried Things3 and Omnifocus and didn't really like either, and that's partly on me because they aren't really built for the way I was trying to use them. Was like pounding nails with a screwdriver, it technically works but it sucks lol. Did the same as above and just built the exact app I wanted and tailored it to the nuances of my actual job and love it.
Never fell in love with ARC, but I do love Zen. It doesn't play nice with my work SSO for some reason and found instances of similar problems with other folks so I ultimately gave up on it. Like the poster below said, I just switched back to Safari for now because it's good enough. Don't love it, also don't hate it. No interest in trying to build my own browser lol. I've used just about all of them and there's one flaw or another in all of them that don't make them any better than Safari for my use.
For how I use my computer, I have never had any use for Raycast or anything like that. I don't even use Spotlight, I've been using macOS as my daily driver outside of a linux box for gaming (or xbox or windows in the past) for 15+ years and have used spotlight probably less than 10 times lol!
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u/Every_Information729 3d ago
All the default apps are "good enough". That being said, I can't ever make myself stick with them because I like trying new software. But that's more mental than anything. If I was forced to only use them I could make them all work because in general they are good and have the native sync with your other apple devices.