Last week I reflected on what I was writing about a year ago. I found myself thinking about how I was using my iPhone XR. The latest episode of the Cortex podcast inspired last week’s reflect and you can go back to that post and read it if you like.Since that post and finishing the podcast I have decided to experiment a little more with my setup. Taking a cue from CGP Grey, co-host of the Cortex podcast, I decided to take the 12 apps off of my Home screen and place them in one of the 4 folders I have. I kept one app in the doc as it looks a little weird without at least one. That app is Timery. It’s there for me when I need to add or revise a time entry. Here’s a pic of what it looks like...
I decided to use the “Earth” wallpaper that Apple provides in the hopes that it will remind me of my place in this world whenever I access that screen.I’ve also decided to try and use the Widget screen and/or Siri Suggestions as my main entry into my app usage. That entailed loading a few more widgets than I already was using...not a big deal. I also reordered the widgets based on daily usage...again...no big deal. Here’s a pic of part of the Widget screen...
As you can see I have Timery at the top with the 7 timers I use the most. This apps widget is amazingly fast and easy to use. Under that you see the Shortcuts widget. I customized it to only include the top 5 shortcuts I use daily. This widget is pretty reliable. I’ve experienced a few “hick-ups” here and there when I launch a shortcut which...according to other users is not out of the ordinary. The Overcast widget comes next then OmniFocus. There are 7 other widgets on my screen ordered according to daily usage.I have been pleasantly surprised as to how quickly it has taken me to become a Widget screen user. The “muscle memory” curve was not 1/2 as steep as I thought it would be. I was already using Siri Suggestions prior to taking apps off of the Home screen so it wasn’t a big leap to continue using that as a way to get to apps I do not have on the Widget screen. I’ll be interested to see what my usage ends up being this week when I get the weekly screen time report. Not, as I’ve stated previously because I am trying to use my phone less. My interest lies in whether this experiment provides me with information about how purposeful my usage is becoming.