tools-resources
The Apps That Survived My Annual Purge
February 13, 2026
Every year I delete ruthlessly. Here's what made the cut—the nine apps that actually earned their place on my phone and laptop.
I deleted 47 apps this month. Forty-seven. Some of them I’d paid for. Most of them I’d installed with genuine hope, used twice, and then forgot existed until my phone choked during an update.
This is my annual purge. The ritual where I audit everything installed, ask “What does this actually do that nothing else does?” and if the answer is nothing, it gets nuked. What’s left is always a surprise—not because I have some genius roster of tools, but because the survivors are weirdly consistent. They’re the same nine things that made it through last year’s cut. Maybe that’s the point.
Here’s what stayed.
Reeder (RSS reader)
The internet got worse when we killed RSS. Reeder brought it back. Flat subscription model, syncs across devices, doesn’t shove engagement metrics down your throat—it just hands you headlines and gets out of the way.
What separates it: most RSS apps feel like they’re fighting you. Reeder feels like it’s on your side. The read/unread states stick. The keyboard shortcuts work. I’m not batted between three different sync services wondering why my reading list got corrupted.
1Password (Password manager)
I used to use the built-in password manager. Then I used LastPass (nightmare). Then Bitwarden (solid but janky). 1Password cost me money, and it was worth it.
What it does better: it actually integrates with every app I use without breaking. The browser extension doesn’t flake out. The emergency access feature means my wife can actually get into my stuff if I die. I’ve paid $100 in subscription and I’d pay another $100 without thinking about it.
Tot (Quick notes)
Obsidian is powerful. Notion is flexible. Tot is a thought—a single place to grab a quick idea before it evaporates. One file per dot. Shockingly minimal. $19.99, once.
It replaced: the seventeen half-finished notes scattered across Apple Notes. The scratch pads in Bear that I’d never organize. The random text files on my desktop. Now it’s just Tot—six dots for different thought streams, nothing else.
Espresso (Time tracking)
I watched myself waste time for three months before installing a time tracker. Espresso shows me exactly what I’m doing and for how long. No gamification, no leaderboards, no AI insights—just the raw numbers.
What survived from the rant pile: I deleted Toggl because it was too complex. Deleted Timing because it felt invasive. Deleted Clockify because I didn’t understand why I needed it. Espresso is simple enough that I actually use it instead of forgetting to start a timer.
Spark (Email)
Most email clients are either too simple or drowning in features nobody asked for. Spark reads your email like a person and lets you handle the urgent stuff without drowning in newsletters.
Why it stayed: I tried Superhuman. The speed was nice but the price made me want to throw my laptop out the window. Spark does 80% of what I needed from Superhuman for 2% of the cost. The smart inbox rules are aggressively good.
Craft (Writing and notes)
This replaced Notion for me—mostly because Notion became bloated and slow. Craft is for people who write. It’s got documents, databases, backlinks, all of it, but it doesn’t feel like you’re piloting a spreadsheet.
The one thing: syncing works. Relationships between documents don’t break. It’s not free, but the annual subscription is low enough that you stop thinking about it.
Transmit 5 (FTP/SFTP)
I host content in weird places. Transmit keeps those connections organized and makes uploading files less painful than command line (most days).
I can’t believe I used Cyberduck for so long. The interface made me want to rage-quit every single time. Transmit is $45. Worth every cent on principle alone.
Simulator (Camera roll organizer)
This is the weird one. It sorts my camera roll by date, lets me batch delete, search, and organize with actual speed. Every other photo app on the Mac tries to turn your pictures into a “memory journey” or whatever. Simulator just moves files.
What got cut: Google Photos (data mining). Photos app (can’t actually delete stuff fast). Flickr (why are we doing this). Simulator ($6) does one job and does it well.
Prompt 3 (SSH client)
When you SSH into servers regularly, the built-in terminal gets thin. Prompt syncs your connections across devices, handles key management that doesn’t make you want to scream, and the interface doesn’t look like something from 2005.
It replaced: Termius (good but overpriced), Remo (abandoned), and six different open terminal windows that I’d lose track of. Prompt is $20 on the App Store. Worth it.
The pattern here isn’t that these are the best apps in the world. It’s that they’re the best apps for me, because I’m the only one rating them. They stayed because they do one or two things, do them reliably, and don’t waste my time with features I didn’t ask for.
The 47 apps that died? They all broke one of those rules. They were trying to be everything. They charged too much for too little. They changed their UI twice a year. They synced things that shouldn’t exist. They crashed.
If you’re drowning in app subscriptions and half of them you forgot about, start there. Stop installing. Start deleting. Let your tools earn their place instead of renting shelf space.
See also: I’ve written before about apps that actually replace five other apps and the hidden cost of free tools—both of which are worth revisiting when you’re cutting your roster down.