How I use MacOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android

My favorite apps and extensions

• Prelude: peripherals
• Mouse customization
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Shell
• Window switcher
• Clipboard manager
• Text expander
• Code and text editor
• Notes
• Web browser
• Password manager
• Screen capture
• Mobile apps
  • Cross-platform
  • iOS
  • Android

Over the past few years I’ve hopped across several devices and operating systems. Along the way, I’ve collected a list of my favorite apps and extensions for each OS. This post is that list.

This post is also a snapshot of how I use my computer and phone regardless of what OS happens to be on them. I still have my preferences, of course, but I’ve reached a point where I care less about which OS I’m using, thanks to this set of UI enhancements.

Here’s my timeline of computer OS changes:

• through 2022: Windows
• 2023: Linux Mint. I switched because I realized that the thing I liked best about Windows was WSL (see shell below), so why not go full Linux? Plus, I was having memory leaks in WSL that I couldn’t resolve.
• 2024 – present: MacOS. I switched because at work I’m required to use the company-issued MacBook Pro. Outside of work I’m rarely at a computer these days, with a young family, so my PC is mostly collecting dust 😢

And for phones:

• through 2024: Android (Samsung)
• 2025 – present: iOS (iPhone). I prefer Android, but it was worth switching to have phone notifications and mirroring on my MacBook. Or in other words, my computer > Android > iOS.
  • It looks like a similar phone-computer integration can be achieved with Linux + Android via scrcpy and Android 2 Linux Notifications. Someday I’ll give it a try, if I ever work somewhere that doesn’t mandate MacBooks.

Prelude: peripherals

The peripherals I use with my computer are important to me because a few years ago I suffered from RSI in my wrists. The pain went away after I got a better keyboard and pointing devices.

Another way I’m now kinder to my wrists is that I stay on the keyboard as much as possible. This need for more keyboard shortcuts was the impetus that led me to much of the software listed in this post.

Before we get to the software, here are my most important peripherals:

• I type on a Keyboardio Atreus, with a keyboard layout based on Colemak-DH.
• My pointing devices are a Logitech MS Master 3S mouse and a Kensington SlimBlade Pro trackball. I switch between them, even switching between my left and right hands.
• I also use a standing desk, actually just a riser that sits on top of a normal desk. Mainly because I have restless leg syndrome, but it actually does alleviate strain on my wrists as well.
• I use a 24-inch monitor—only one, because I prefer quickly switching between windows (see window switcher below) instead of managing multiple monitors or even the two sides of a larger/ultra-wide monitor.

Mouse customization

I like to speed up pointer and scroll speeds beyond what system preferences typically allow, using these tools:

MacOS: SteerMouse

Linux: dotfile scripts (1, 2)

Windows: none, because system preferences actually allowed fast enough speeds.

Keyboard shortcuts

MacOS:

BetterTouchTool is the easiest way I’ve found to remove the plethora of otherwise uneditable MacOS keyboard shortcuts that I don’t care about, and replace them with more useful shortcuts.

Shortcat allows keyboard-only UI navigation, like Vimium does in the browser (see below).

For more PC-like text editing shortcuts, I edited ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.Dict with the contents of this gist.

Linux:

I didn’t feel the need for an extra tool, thanks to the extensive keyboard settings in system preferences.

Windows:

AutoHotkey for keyboard shortcuts to launch apps, and pretty much anything else you can think of. AutoHotkey is the one thing from Windows that I miss in MacOS and Linux.

Shell

Fish with lots of aliases, mostly for Git.

Also:

Windows: WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

MacOS: iTerm2

Window switcher

MacOS: AltTab

Linux/Windows: built in

Clipboard manager

MacOS: PasteBot

Linux: Parcellite

Windows: Ditto

Text expander

Espanso. I use it for links, code snippets, emojis, and shell command “templates” that I often edit or fill in before entering.

Code and text editor

VS Code. See all of my extensions here, but these are a few of my favorites:

• Copy GitHub URL
• Error Lens for error visibility
• move-fast to move up/down by 5 lines with keyboard shortcuts
• Multiple cursor case preserve
• Rails Run Specs for running RSpec (whole file or single example) via keyboard shortcuts

Notes

A few long plain text files synced across devices with Dropbox.

For better readability and organization of notes, I use my own markup language that I’ve made syntax highlighting for.

Web browser

Firefox Developer Edition. My favorite extensions:

• uBlock Origin
• Vimium with keys remapped, because I don’t actually use Vim. SurfingKeys is a more flexible alternative that I discovered recently, but Vimium meets my needs.
• Bulk URL Opener for copying URLs from tabs, or opening tabs by pasting in URLs
• Library Extension for finding a book across libraries

Password manager

Bitwarden browser extension and mobile app.

Screen capture

MacOS: Zappy for screenshots and recordings. It produces large video files, so I use Handbrake to compress them.

Linux and Windows: I don’t recall finding a tool that I like as much as Zappy.

Mobile apps

Cross-platform

• Firefox, though on iOS it is sadly inferior. I can look past the missing UI conveniences that I’m used to from Firefox on Android, but I will forever mourn the fact that I can’t use uBlock Origin on any browser on iOS ༼;´༎ຶ ۝ ༎ຶ༽
• Gmail
• Spotify for podcasts
• Dropbox for plain-text notes
• Bitwarden
• Authy for 2FA
• Localsend for file transfer (like a cross-platform AirDrop)

iOS

• Yomu and PDF Viewer for ebooks
• BookPlayer for audiobooks
• foobar2000 for my local music library. I last used foobar2000 about 20 years ago in Windows, so it’s funny to run across it again in iOS.

Android

• Nova Launcher for a better home screen
• Moon+ Reader Pro for ebooks
• Smart Audiobook Player
• mMusic Mini Audio Player for my local music library
• Simple Text is better than Dropbox for text editing