Defaults 2026

• Mail Client
  • Gmail app and Zoho app
• Mail Server
  • Gmail for personal email
  • Zoho for professional email: I've tried other providers for @seanmcp.com but keep coming back to Zoho. It's cheap, customizable, and provides all the features that I want.
• Notes
  • A private repo with shell scripts. Mobile notes are written in Google Keep and manually backed up.
• To-Do
  • Todoist: I don't use most of the features, but I love the keyboard shortcut on Mac to quickly add a TODO.
• Phone Photo Shooting:
  • Default Android app
• Photo Management
  • Google Photos (though I'm sad they removed the free tier for photo storage)
• Calendar
  • Google Calendar: My wife and I have personal calendars and then a shared family calendar.
• Cloud File Storage
  • Google Drive and Git
• RSS
  • Feedbin: I could probably get by on the free tier of another service, but Feedbin is so nice and simple. I don't have to think about it when reading, and I'm not being upsold at every opportunity.
• Contacts
  • Google Contacts: It recently added a new feature to add birthdays to the calendar and give you a notification ahead of time. I almost built an app that would do the same, and I'm glad it's now a feature.
• Browser
  • Microsoft Edge: Chromium-based with vertical tabs and the ability to remove most features.
• Chat
  • Text or WhatsApp
• Bookmarks
  • A private repo with shell scripts. I migrated from Raindrop last Fall, and it has been smooth enough.
• Read It Later:
  • I leave things unread in Feedbin
• Word Processing
  • Google Docs and VS Code
• Spreadsheets
  • Google Sheets
• Presentations
  • Google Slides: I've tried code-based solutions, but it generally leads to more tinkering and less preparation. I use all the default layouts and then tweak the design once I'm finished.
• Shopping Lists
  • Google Keep: A note for groceries and another for shopping that are shared with my wife
• Meal Planning
  • Google Keep (though this is mostly handled by my wife)
• Budgeting and Personal Finance
  • A Google Sheet that is updated 1-2 times per year.
• News
  • National: AllSides, the Atlantic
  • Local: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PublicSource, and Spotlight PA
• Music
  • YouTube Music: It's included with a YouTube Premium subscription and has access to the all the music I want.
• Podcasts
  • Pocket Casts: I like that it is focused on being a podcast player. I've tried other all-in-one options and keep going back to Pocket Casts. I've listened to 94 days and 22 hours since 2016.
• Password Management
  • Bitwarden
• Code
  • VS Code: I've tried Zed and Cursor as potential replacements, but neither of them provide the right features with the right form.
• Terminal
  • Terminal (Ubuntu): Not bad enough to look for alternatives
  • iTerm2 (Mac): I like that it isn't trying to be anything other than a terminal. I used Warp for a while but it became clear that their product roadmap was not in the terminal space.
• Search
  • DuckDuckGo: I'm skeptical of AI summaries, and DDG is the only provider I've found that allows you to disable them. That said: the results aren't great. If you have an alternative, please let me know.

Sean McPherson works as a software engineer at Khan Academy, and enjoys playing games and watching soccer. He lives with family in Pittsburgh, PA.