December 11, 2021
We use digital tools daily. For work, messaging friends and family, social networks, etc.
My only requirement for a digital tool is that it needs to be fast ⚡. I cannot use any software, unless there's no alternative, that makes me wait for it to launch or to do something... it has to be fast and, if possible, to be native.
With that I would like to share some of the tools that I use on a daily basis for both work & personal use.
Software Development
Xcode As an iOS developer, Xcode is mandatory. It is where you do most of the iOS development stuff and, even though it has a few flaws, it is getting better year after year.
Tower As you work in the Software Engineering area, you must to know Git. There is no way to work with a lot of developers, in the same project, without source control and that is where Tower enters. A super fast, native and intuitive Mac app (there's also a Windows version). I have tried other Git GUI clients and some were really good (Fork) and other got me disappointed (Kraken), but Tower is by far the best.
GitHub Regarding source control, I use GitHub for my personal project and at my company's we use GitLab. Both are pretty cool with some unique features, but I rather prefer GitHub for my own stuff... it just works... every single time. You also have Bitbucket which is an awesome alternative as well, that allows private repos for free accounts, which is awesome.
Sublime Text A Software Engineer needs a text editor. It can be used as a main development tool and as a side text editor. I use Sublime Text because it is powerful, customizable and it is, as well, blazzing fast. I have used VSCode for quite some time but the launch speed and some minor tweaks aren't as fast as Sublime Text.
Navicat for SQLite If you use SQLite as a database then you need Navicat's SQLite GUI. It is so good, intuitive, supports custom queries and multiple database connections.
Communication
Slack At work we use Slack as our main communication system. You've certainly heard of Slack and you've probably used it. It's a great app - one of the few Eletron apps that I like.
Discord Pretty similar to Slack, but more powerful imo. The sound quality of the voice rooms is way better than the huddle on slack. It is more customizable and I do like the Whitney font more than Lato 😅
Design
Sketch I do all my app designs in Sketch, for years. Nowadays I'm seeing an exponential grow of Figma, which is awesome as well, but I always fallback to Sketch. I am so used to it and it has been serving me so well throughout the years.
Writing / Note taking
iA Writer Where do I start!? Imagine Markdown on steroids. Got it? It's iA Writer. A super fast app for Markdown users, file linking, amazing fonts, distraction free interface and much more. If you like to write, then there’s no other way to go… iA Writer is the way.
Things An app that I cannot live without. Things is the best to-do app there is. It is a bit pricy, because the iPhone, iPad and Mac versions are sold separately, but once you start using it you can't go back. Clean UI, iCloud Sync, blazzing fast, awesome drag and drop gestures/features.
Tot Want a drop in text notes, that automatically sync between your iOS devices, made from a great company (Iconfactory)? Get Tot. I use it on all my devices and it's one of the few apps that I launch on startup on my Macs and have it on my iPhone's dock. The Mac version is free and the iOS version costs around $20.
Social
Tweetbot I use Tweetbot for Mac and iPhone for a few years now. I cannot use Twitter without Tweetbot. The latest versions are using the V2 of the Twitter API and it's getting powerful at each iteration.