My 2015 Homescreen

Just as I did last year (and the year before), I thought I’d share the apps that are on my homescreen as of today, the first day of 2016. This is one of the questions I get asked most frequently, but to me the more interesting aspect is the trend of apps coming and going over time. This past year, there wasn’t a ton of movement from last year, but a few things worth pointing out.

First and foremost, the top and bottom rows of apps remain the exact same. That no new app has yet broken into my tray is not surprising, but interesting. Slack is by far the closest, and honestly, I think it would replace Safari — sounds crazy, but not that crazy — if it makes the jump in the next year.

In the second row (from the top), Apple’s own Notes app now makes an appearance, replacing Simplenote (which, if you squint, you can still see in the ‘More’ folder). The reasoning here was Apple’s upgrading of Notes across both iOS and OS X. I now like the product and find several features, namely share sheet integration, very useful. I mainly use it to jot down ideas for new posts.

Gone from this row is also Fantastical — which I still love and is on my second screen — but for work-related events, I use the default Calendar, so having Fantastical also on the homescreen felt superfluous.

In the third row, Music has replaced Clock. I’m still not 100% sold on Apple Music — though I really like Beats 1 — but with the death of Rdio, I moved it out of the folder and on to the homescreen. We’ll see.

In the fourth row is ESPN’s main app, which nearly made the homescreen cut last year, but now, with a few key app updates is worthy. Also new is Medium’s app, which also nearly made the homescreen cut last year, but now that you can publish/edit on the go, it’s a must-have for me.

The fifth row is the same, though, I’ll be honest, Tumblr is getting close to dropping off the homescreen. As I find myself posting more and more here, I’m posting less and less to my Tumblr (where ParisLemon resides).

The sixth row is interesting in that Twitter-owned Periscope has replaced Twitter-owned Vine and Snapchat has replaced Facebook’s Snapchat-clone Slingshot (which was in my “testing” slot at the time I published last year). Periscope was one of the apps I alluded to testing a year ago but wasn’t released yet. It has since taken the world by storm and Twitter was clearly very smart to snap it up when they did. Snapchat is now one of my most-used apps, solely for Stories, which I find a fascinating medium.

It’s worth noting that unlike last year, I’m not keeping a slot open to test out new apps. My homescreen space is just too valuable. Speaking of, I would still love to have Instagram on there, another of my most-used apps, but until they release that icon from iOS 6 stasis, I’m not budging :)

Last year, I went on too long about which apps didn’t make the cut. Rest-assured, there are many that are close. But also note that there are very few apps on or close to my homescreen that are actually brand-new — really, only Periscope qualifies. Such is the state of apps — particularly consumer apps — as we enter 2016.

Update: For those asking about my iPad homescreen…

Disclosure: I am or was an investor through GV in Medium, Periscope, Pocket, and Slack. Through CrunchFund, I was an investor in Tumblr and Vine. What can I say, I’m a sucker for investing in things that I actually use ;)