Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer<\/em> No. 3, your guide to the best and Verge<\/em>-iest stuff in the world. Thanks to everyone who sent stuff in this week \u2014 we\u2019re starting to get the hang of how this all works, and I really hope it\u2019s fun and useful! I know I\u2019ve already downloaded a terrifying number of new apps thanks to y\u2019all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Only one housekeeping thing today: Installer<\/em> now has an RSS feed<\/a>! You can add this link to any RSS reader, and it should work (let me know if you run into issues). Also, Installer<\/em>\u2019s new homepage<\/a> has every edition ever \u2014\u00a0all two of them so far. We\u2019re still working on some cool new ways you can subscribe and contribute to Installer<\/em>, but hopefully, we\u2019ve got all the basics covered now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This week, I\u2019ve been watching season 3 of Only Murders in the Building<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, <\/em>poring over those huge New Yorker<\/em> profiles of David Zaslav<\/strong><\/a> and Elon Musk<\/strong><\/a>, testing the new Google<\/strong> NotebookLM<\/strong><\/a> note-taking app, horrifying myself by training a Voicify.AI model<\/strong><\/a> with my singing voice, redesigning all my homescreens with these Ruffsnap icons<\/strong><\/a>, and rediscovering The Earliest Show<\/strong><\/em><\/a> on YouTube for about the 868th time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Oh, and before I forget: I just got five invites to the all-in-one messaging app Beeper, which I love, so the first five people to click the link<\/strong><\/a> can have at it. This week, I also have a new organizing app to tell you about, an infuriating but fascinating new doc you should watch, a better way to plan parties, and the new desk of your battlestation dreams. Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n (As always, the best part of Installer<\/em> is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com<\/a>. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer<\/em>, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Way back when, Clear<\/strong><\/a> was my favorite to-do list app for the iPhone. Maybe my favorite app, period. It had such a fun design, used gestures in really clever ways, and made making and checking off lists fun. <\/em>Clear eventually sort of petered out, but now, it\u2019s making a comeback \u2014 the app is in beta testing for iOS users now, and I\u2019ve been using it and digging it for a while. And it\u2019s actually about way more than to-do lists this time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you want in the beta, by the way, here\u2019s a Clear TestFlight link<\/strong><\/a>. Tell \u2019em I sent ya.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Anyway, I asked Phill Ryu, one of the brains behind Clear (and other apps like Heads Up!<\/a>), to give us some tips both on how to use Clear and how to make better lists in general. Here\u2019s what he sent back:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mishaal Rahman<\/strong><\/a> is one of my absolute favorite people to follow around the internet<\/a>. Nobody does a better job of unearthing cool new features of Android, explaining how the platform works, and turning even teeny-tiny point updates into actual information that helps you use your phone better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I figured there can\u2019t be many people who have thought about their phone setup more than Mishaal, so I hit him up and asked him to share his homescreen with us. He\u2019s the first person in Installer<\/em> history to have a two-screenshot homescreen! Big day. Here it is, folded and then unfolded, plus some info on which apps he uses and why:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The phone: <\/strong>Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The widget(s): <\/strong>When unfolded, I have four widgets placed in a widget stack at the top of the homescreen. I swipe left or right to change widgets. (Samsung\u2019s launcher also contextually changes the widget shown here, though you can only see one of the four widgets in this screenshot anyway.) The widgets are: Weather, Battery (of the phone and connected accessories), App Timers (gotta limit my Reddit \/ Twitter [X] usage!), and YouTube Music. And of course, at the bottom is a Google Search widget with shortcuts for Assistant \/ Lens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When folded, my homescreen doesn\u2019t show any apps but, rather, a widget stack up top with two instead of four widgets (this time, only Weather and Alarms), a Direct Dial widget to quickly call my family members, and a dedicated Google Maps widget. The reason being that the Z Fold 5\u2019s cover screen is so narrow that I prefer to use it only for quick actions or glanceable information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The apps: <\/strong>(When unfolded) I organize nearly every app I install into pertinent folders. It\u2019s a pain to set up, but it helps me keep track of what apps I actually use and also find them more quickly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The apps I find most useful on mobile include Elisi (a digital bullet journal), Feedly, and Rview (a Gerrit client app to view \/ track contributions to the Android Open Source Project and Chromium Gerrits). I\u2019m also terminally online, so of course, I also use Reddit and Twitter \/ X a bunch as well as… Lemmy, Hacker News (via the Materialistic app), Mastodon, Threads. I also swap between a bunch of different messaging apps like Google Chat (mainly family), Discord, Element (for Matrix), Signal, Slack, Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp. Please send help.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The wallpaper: <\/strong>It\u2019s the default live wallpaper on the Z Fold 5. I stuck with it because it reacts to me folding \/ unfolding the device. I\u2019m personally hoping Google\u2019s AI wallpaper (whenever that\u2019s out) generator can save me from my boring wallpaper choices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As always, I also asked Mishaal to share a few things he\u2019s into right now. Here\u2019s what he picked:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s what the <\/em>Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you\u2019re into right now as well! Email <\/em>installer@theverge.com<\/em><\/a> with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we\u2019ll feature some of our favorites here every week.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI think I\u2019m kind of a weather app guy, so I wanted to suggest my favorite weather app, Flux<\/strong><\/a>. 1) It looks gorgeous, and the animations are nice. 2) There are a lot of useful settings. For example, you can add, remove, and reorder all the info cards, and it lets you choose from about 10 weather data sources. 3) The widgets are extremely<\/em> customizable: you can change the icons, colors, text size, and even what to do when you click the widget!\u201d \u2013\u00a0FaviFake<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOne of my favorite installs lately has been Petey<\/strong><\/a>, a ChatGPT companion for Apple Watch. It\u2019s thoughtfully designed, easy to use, and surprisingly useful \u2014 being able to submit a query that pops into your head without having to go grab your phone or open a laptop is awesome.\u201d \u2013 Nick<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMemorigi<\/strong><\/a>: the best to-do list app I\u2019ve ever used. The interface is both beautiful and highly functional, it leans on gestures which make it quick and easy to move through the app. The free version is really full-featured, but I paid for the upgrade simply to support the developers because it\u2019s become a crucial part of my daily workflow. \u2013 Jacob<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe best iOS (and other Apple devices) app anyone can download for the kitchen is Crouton<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s an app from a single dev team (support small developers). You can organize recipes into folders and tag groups, add recipe ingredients to a connected Groceries list in Reminders, scale your recipe servings up or down (and it saves that recipe\u2019s scaling even if the app is closed), set multiple native timers (we truly live in an age of wonders), and share your recipes in a household or once as a PDF \/ text \/ Crouton recipe.\u201d \u2013\u00a0JB<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to recommend Raindrop<\/strong><\/a>. I use multiple browsers on both my phone and laptop, I use Raindrop to manage bookmarks across these devices. It has folders and tags for organization. It\u2019s also cross-platform.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Chethan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou mentioned that Keen knife, and while it does look appealing, I can\u2019t imagine ever parting with my $10 <\/strong>Screwpop keychain utility knife<\/strong><\/a>. Magnetic, no-tool blade swap, bottle opener, and it\u2019s keychain-able. These days, my keychain has two house keys, a mustache comb, and the Screwpop knife. You also forgot to mention one of my favorite selling points for \u201cutility knife as a pocket knife,\u201d which is cheap, disposable blades. Security checkpoint > dispose of blade > keep spares in the car.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Andrew<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been using this awesome little web app (this is the future!) developed by this one dude Prijan, and I love it. It\u2019s called Kinopio<\/strong><\/a> (pronounced like Pinocchio but with a k). I love using this web app to take notes, make mood boards, or jot stuff down. Using it is just fun and playful and exploratory. I can\u2019t believe people like Milanote better than this bad boy.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Garrett<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMy recommendation: TidyCal<\/strong><\/a>. Been loving using this. It\u2019s like a simpler, more affordable Calendly. Pay $29 one time and get access forever. No more monthly fees. Really enjoying it.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Dave<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A few days ago, for no particular reason, my TikTok feed became overrun by the TV show Taskmaster<\/em>. It\u2019s totally possible that I\u2019m the last person on earth to know about Taskmaster<\/em> \u2014\u00a0in which a very funny host gives a bunch of very funny people a series of very funny tasks to accomplish, and it\u2019s all very funny \u2014\u00a0but I\u2019ve been watching it nonstop all week. There are full seasons of the show on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>but I especially love the Taskmaster<\/em> TikTok page<\/strong><\/a> that is just an endless stream of the show\u2019s funniest moments. I\u2019ve never subscribed or followed so fast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Drop<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
\n
Pro tips<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
\n
Screen share<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
\n
Crowdsourced<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Signing off<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n