There are a lot of things that I am obsessive about. Without getting too intense, my desk is meticulously cleaned daily, my lights are set to the same brightness levels, my closet is organized by color, and every hanger is the same color. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that I similarly obsess over my phone. I spend an unhealthy amount of time making sure every app on my phone is being used and even more time designing my lock and Home Screen. I thought I’d show it off because I really like it.
When it comes to work, I like to have all of my necessary apps and information available at a glance. The Lock Screen is very much designed with this in mind. The Lock Screen is simple, with a thin clock and a minimally customized date. The other two widgets are for work-related reminders and weather information. Driving is a heavy part of my job, and knowing the remaining tasks I have for the day and the weather is vital. And yes, I’m using the stock Apple Reminders app (spoiler: it isn’t that bad!).
Once I go to use my phone when Work Focus is active, I’m greeted by a singular Home Screen, featuring widgets and two rows of applications along the bottom of the screen. Both widgets are medium-sized, but they ultimately serve two distinct purposes. The first widget is actually a widget stack, housing a Blank Spaces widget with the date, a Siri Shortcuts folder, my Opal Focus Mode, and Bit Buddy Stats. I’ll talk more about Opal in a bit, but the Siri Shortcuts folder is perhaps the most important widget on the screen. The folder consists of useful actions I find myself regularly doing, like entering a new reminder, checking documents, turning on the TV, and changing my Apple Music playlist. The last two are constantly changing and being swapped, but the top two never leave. These shortcuts let me quickly access or create documents without having to enter the app and search. Time is money, as they say.
The second widget is there solely to let me push my apps to the bottom of the screen. To achieve this, I needed to download two apps that are essentially nothing but clear widgets. The first app, Blank Spaces, provides multiple widgets to help simplify your device, but I’m only using one of the medium ones. I customized the appearance, adding the date and adjusting the font slightly. The second app, Clear Spaces, is what the second widget is. If I added another Blank Spaces widget, I’d have two date widgets, which no one needs. Having another app lets me keep the space clear of apps and clear of any other unwanted information.
The Home Screen
I obsess over which apps are available on my Home Screen and spend even more time working on their placement and relation to each other. It’s embarrassing. My thought process was simple: keep the important apps along the top and the less used but still important apps on the bottom. Apps like Capital One, Outlook, Paycom, and YT Studio are all used multiple times throughout the day, especially during the week. Where Outlook and Paycom are for my day job, Capital One helps me stay on top of what I’m spending and when, and YT Studio lets me check analytics for my YouTube channel(s). The apps in this row are placed in alphabetical order, as are the apps in the second row.
The second row of apps is for the applications that I use daily, but not ones essential to my workday. Bit Buddy, of course, is on the Home Screen in its White alternate icon, as is Apple’s App Store Connect, which lets me check app analytics and see reviews. The next app in the grid is Letterboxd, the only social media service that is accessible during the day. I’m a big movie fan, so a social media service dedicated to movies is a must-have. The last app in the grid is an app that has become indispensable to me when it comes to Bit Buddy and my video work. That app is Notion, and in it, I have several databases and workspaces that allow me to easily view what I’ve done, what I’m doing, and what I’m going to do. There is a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, everything just works.
As I said, my Work Focus is quite boring, but that’s by design. The app that helps power my Focus Mode is Opal, an alternative Screen Time app that provides more robust and secure app locking. Opal has a paid service, but I only use the free plan and haven’t run into any issues. My work schedule is fairly consistent, so I entered that into Opal and set up the apps I wanted blocked (Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat). Unlike the easy-to-bypass screens from Apple’s Screen Time, Opal actually makes it a nuisance to enter the app that’s blocked. Since installing it, Opal has helped me reduce my screen time from roughly 6.5 hours a day down to slightly above 3. I’m still addicted to Twitter, but my Instagram use is virtually zero.
Focus Modes are extremely powerful. Choosing between modes can significantly change the experience you have with your phone, provided you’ve taken advantage of the features. In my case, I have everything set to a series of automations, so things just happen and, for the most part, just work. My Work Focus is locked in, but another Focus Mode I have, Home, is constantly changing. But that’s a topic for another day.