In April 2009, I started a podcast with Katie Floyd (blog) (twitter) and over the past (nearly) four years it's been nothing but fun. This week I asked Katie to come back to share her updated home screen.

What are some of your favorite Apps?

The Replacements:

I’ve replaced many of the default Apple Apps with third party replacements. For example, Fantastical has become my Calendar replacement, Evernote my notes replacement and Calcbot my Calculator replacement. I feel all these apps offer benefits far above and beyond the built-in Apps. As I’ve spoken about several times on Mac Power Users, Evernote has become my paperless filing cabinet, my pin-board and so much more. I love Fantastical so much on my Mac, it was a natural fit for the iPhone, the ability to enter (or dictate) appointments using natural language is like magic. Although I originally bought Calcbot for the iPad, it was such a great calculator, I figured why not use it as my default on the iPhone?

Favorites:

Lose It! - Keeping with the theme of our Geek Fitness show - Lose It! has become an essential part of my nutrition and exercise program. Logging my food intake is the difference between having an on-track week and a wasted week. This App has to be on my home screen where it stares at me each time I unlock the phone and reminds me to log my food.

1Password - How many more good things can I say about 1Password? I have no idea what any of my passwords are to any services because they’re all in 1Password. It’s absolutely essential to my workflow. Version 4.0 is fantastic, I especially love the additions of being able to generate passwords within the App and the improvements to the web browser.

Day One - Day one has become my professional journal that I use for logging my work activities, meeting notes, conferences etc. I’ve never really gotten into the idea of a personal diary, but a professional one has stuck. It’s helped me keep better track of all the random notes at the office, improved my billing by keeping a log of my activities and helped communication with my staff because I can export and send them a day or an entry. Day One on the iPhone means I can log tasks when I’m out and I don’t have to remember to enter them when I’m back in the office.

OmniFocus/Reminders - I’m not sure what else I can add here that hasn’t already been said other than I think there’s a place for both. I use Reminders as a place for quick lists I don’t want cluttering up OmniFocus (grocery lists and the like) and OmniFocus for managing life tasks and projects.

Drafts - This is probably the App I want to integrate more fully with my workflow. Right now I’m just using it as a quick entry point to send information to other places like Dropbox, Evernote or Day One. But I know it’s capable of so much more. I really want to dig further into this App and the possibilities. For now, it’s enough to earn a spot on my home screen.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I’ve never been into gaming, you won’t find a single game on my iPhone. But I love Twitter and of all the Apps I’ve tried Tweetbot is by far my favorite. While I don’t post much to Facebook, I do use it to keep up with whats going on in the lives of friends and family. So both apps have earned a spot on my home screen.

I do have an “Entertainment” category of Apps on my second screen which primarily include audio and video apps like ABC Player, NBC, 5by5 Radio, Songza, Pandora and Amazon Instant Video.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

Constantly. It’s in my pocket, my purse, my briefcase or sitting on the desk next to me. If I get more than a few feet away from my iPhone I start to go through withdraw. That’s not a problem, right?

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Having my life in my pocket. It’s my communication device, my research assistant, my secretary and entertainment hub all in one. It’s only been six years and I can’t imagine my life without it.

Anything else you would like to add?

When I sit with my Muggle friends and family I’m shocked to see how many aren’t using some of the basic features of the iPhone and are putting their data at risk. MacSparky readers understand the importance of activating services like iCloud backup, automatic passcode lock, Find My iPhone, Photostream and sync with cloud services. The general population just doesn’t get this, so do a good deed and educate them. Or, do what I do sometimes and just turn these services on when they aren’t looking. They’ll thank you later.

Thanks Katie