(originally posted on 13/04/20)

At the start of the year, I planned out that I was going to make a post around about April time – detailing a “What’s in my travel backpack” blog post. But, a crisis has struck, so it really didn’t feel like the right time to post something like that. My posts are not only created to entertain, but to also offer guidance. I doubt anyone is going to be looking into backpacking tips for a while.

But then I was looking at my phone, and that got me thinking. Now, more then ever are we all depending on technology. Whether it be our phones, tablets or laptops, they’re helping is stay in touch with the outside world and keeping us moving in a world that currently seems so still.

So it hit me – “I shall make a post about what’s on my iPhone!” I declared to myself… at 3AM this morning… (that’s when my good ideas hit me, okay…) I thought, with more people being dependent on technology now, I thought that this was the right time for a post like this, but never knew a meaningful time to make it.

When I first unlock my phone, this is what I am greeted with. I make it a top digital priority of mine to only have one page of apps, without using folders. Using folders on phones or laptops seems like to me, the digital version of shoving a load of junk you don’t want on show into a drawer in your home. The design of apps are made with intention, and should be displayed, in my opinion.

My first app is FaceTime; I never use to use this. I always would tell myself I “didn’t have time” to use it to video call my loved ones. Now, I use it to stay in touch with a few close people in my life and my family that don’t live in my household.

My calendar is probably my least-used app on my entire phone. A part of me thinks it’s worrying, I never have to remember any dates, because everything I do is very unplanned and spontaneous, apart from that- I don’t do anything. And another part of me is proud as when I do need to remember dates and times, they’ll stick in my brain like super glue. I have a memory of steel, I guess.

I don’t have many contacts, I only keep those that I love the most on my phone. But, it’s handy for when I need to quickly call one of my parents if for some reason I need a ride home or something…

This is my Photos app- I still don’t class it as the least used, because I do actually use it. I am an avid photographer, and I use my phone as my only tool. But I am at a stage in my minimalist journey where I have no distractions so as soon as I take the photographs, I swiftly and efficiently put them on whatever photography blog I need to put them on, then delete them from my library. And of course, the camera app goes hand in hand with this.

This is my mail app. And trust me, as a teen- I use to be subscribed to every newsletter and email subscription going. Around the beginning of high school, for some reason people made it a competition to see who could have the most unread emails. A girl from my class had 4,000 at one point… and everyone was JEALOUS. Yes, you heard me right.

But ever since I started my minimalist journey all those years ago, emails, after paper clutter, where on the top of my list. I maybe get one email a week these days. And that’s on a busy week.

This is the only alarm I use, which is tied to the Bedtime component. Awake at 9AM every morning, without fail. I use to set alarms for everything. I don’t know why I did this, because as I mentioned earlier, I have a good memory, I just liked feeling important and ‘busy’, I guess.

My maps is hardly used… until it REALLY needs to be used. Trust me, y’all don’t know how many times I’ve been on one of my solo adventures and the heavens open and I’m in the middle of nowhere. I rely on my Maps to get my back to the train station ASAP before my shoes become fish tanks for my feet.

The notes is something I don’t really use, I create daily lists on their if needs be. But sometimes when I am out with my parents or niece and I need to jot something down quickly- or when I wake up at 3AM with blog post ideas… *wink* then, yes, it comes in handy.

“JUST LOOK OUTSIDE, THATS THE WEATHER”

Though, I don’t think she understands that when I go on my daily adventures, I need to know what the weather is like for the entire day. Especially living in England. Like, sometimes I take a raincoat even on the sunniest of days. Picture this: you’re at the beach, sun is shining… then… drop, drop, DOWNPOUR FOR 10 HOURS.

I once had to explain to my American friend what the weather in Britain could be compared to. I was stuck for a comparison, so I told her that “British weather was like an episode on It Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant’ but instead of a baby popping out the womb, it was a rainstorm popping out the sky”, me and her still chuckle about that. So- to summarise, the weather app is very handy yes.

Okay. I change my mind, Find My iPhone is my least used app. Like, now that I have sold my MacBook, how am I meant to use it? The only devise I have it on is my phone, and I can’t exactly use it when I’ve lost me phone… *eye roll* and I can’t even delete it!

Ah. The Wallet app. This is a life saver. It’s the reason why I can go to McDonald’s with nothing other then my phone. Beep beep and my nuggies are on their way! Seriously though, having a bank card on my phone might seem dangerous or risky to some, but to me, is just eliminates so much clutter from my pockets on short outings.

The App Store is very self explanatory. I don’t use it that much. But sometimes I go on there just to look at the games on there. Not to play or download, I just like reading about all the updates and seeing all about the games designs etc. Yes, I have far too much fine on my hands sometimes.

I don’t really track my health with the Health app, but I do use it to access the amount of steps I do each day. This is really important to me as I like to try and beat my steps most days, so that I can become healthier overall and become more mindful of my health.

Snapchat: I don’t use this as much as I use to, I always fell like I don’t have anything exciting to post. And the very few important people in my life are usually iMessaging me or texting me. But, I keep it, maybe one day I will use it properly again.

I don’t have Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter etc. All of them I have used in the past, but each one was just lacking something, and for that, they would always lose the spark. I don’t like to keep social medias that I don’t use and that I don’t feel and happy comfortable using.

NatWest is an app that really does put my mind to rest. I like to know what is coming and going fro my bank, as we all do. And now during the lockdown, I am ordering more stuff online; food, a new pen after mine broke, etc. So I like to get the notifications when the money for those comes out of my account.

Ah, my new baby. My Disney Plus. In the UK, unless we had some kind of DVD, we couldn’t watch the Simpsons… there was probably dodgy ways to go about it, but I’m not about that life. Now, finally, I can watch every episode! It brings me so much happiness. It is really helping me during the lockdown, it eases my anxiety a lot.

Pocket Camp is the only game on my phone. This is because I’m not much of a ‘gamer’. I like to focus my time on more proactive things, sure, games can be productive and can really help people, but for me, they’re not my number one favourite. But, saying that. I am a HUGE fan of Animal Crossing. It is so relaxing and there’s no weapons or violence and it always feel like you’re getting important stuff done on that games and makes me feel really good about myself.

YouTube is that one app I go to no matter what. When I’m sad, you’ll see me on YouTube watching cat videos to cheer me up, when I’m angry, you’ll see me watching Storytimes, listening to other people go through life so I feel less alone in my thoughts. When I am heartbroken, you’ll see me crying to sad songs from 2010.

When I’m feeling creative, you’ll see me watching art tutorials or tips on photography, when I’m feeling happy, you’ll see me singing along to a lyric video of High School Musical songs posted in 2008. When I’m anxious, it’s that tool that makes me less lonely when no one else is available.

Ah, gotta love me some Netflix. I actually don’t use this much anymore, not that Disney Plus has come out. But some of my favourite shows are in it, and when I’m sat at a train station it’s always fun to watch an episode of something or other.

Amino is probably the most used app on my phone. It has all my 9 communities. All which I love and use with great intentionality. It’s where most of my photos go, and it’s where all my writings live. Almost all that I create, do or go, goes onto Amino.

Docs is where I have stored and written my poetry for years now. I am slowly putting them all into a writing amino, then I’ll be able to delete docs, and use my notes in my phone to jot down my poems instead.

PayPal is a easy way for me to lend my loved ones money. I think it’s a very mindful app for me to have as it saves me a lot of stress and time. Otherwise I would have to give people physical money, and I really don’t trust doing that while the world is in the way it is, it just wouldn’t be very considerate of me.

My settings. This is my storage in my iPhone. For those wondering, it says I have photos because this was the last thing I screenshotted, so my phone was recognising they other photos that I had to temporarily save on my phone for this blog post.

The Phone app – very self explanatory. What’s a phone without a phone? I wonder…

Safari is the only way I can browse the Internet. I don’t like using third party apps like google or chrome, I am an apple nerd and like to use the default stuff where possible.

Messages, the thing that I text my mother and the love of my life on. and because of that, it is one of the most important apps on my phone.

Apple Music is the only music app I have. Personally, I do prefer Spotify. But, can I get that with a student discount? No I cannot, so Apple Music it has to be.

This was a very detailed look into my phone. I use it with intention and everything on here has a purpose, and I’m very happy with the way it is. It did take a long time for me to get it like this, and considering it’s the main hub for everything I do, I am very proud of myself for keeping it this clutter-free.