On Our Home Screens - Episode #237 of CloudFocus Weekly

Machine transcript generated in 2026 from the episode audio (Whisper speech-to-text with automatic speaker separation). Speaker labels are automatic and may be wrong in places. Timestamps shown every few minutes.

00:10 Jason Atwood: This is the 237th episode of CloudFocus Weekly for the second week of January 2016. This episode is titled On Our Home Screen. CloudFocus will get brought to you by Arkus, specializing in Salesforce implementations, consulting, and force.com development. search for Arkus, ARK US on the AppExchange and and read what our clients have to say about us. I'm your host Jason Atwood and joining me co-host ready to rock and roll on our very special beginning episode first of 2016 Justin Edelstein

Justin Edelstein: Hey, do we need to change our opening? Is it force.com development anymore? Is that a thing? Platform development? App, cloud development? I don't know what it's called anymore. Still not, still don't care. That's what the, hey. It's all about lightning. It's lightning development. That's what it says on the little index card that you read.

Jason Atwood: It's actually an index card, that's good. We don't do index-charge. So we are back. It more vacation. So we are back for 2016. But we thought we'd kick off. We have a bunch of spring 16 things to talk about next week. So I'll already say that's the piece that we're going to talk about next week because we have I posted a blog post. You have one coming up next week. So by next week, we will have at least two springs. So we can really spring into sprung.

Justin Edelstein: Sprung into spring. How about just spring into spring? Spring into spring. We do that next week.

Jason Atwood: And we can feel the power of lightning once again in the release notes in Search Arxism. But we actually got this as a leader. A reader listening.

Justin Edelstein: I'm gonna listener Wow listener listener people don't read blog Gotcha, you know, that's your your fumbling got me there read podcasts They read blog post they listen to pot. Yes, someone asked and I forgot who was it Paul?

Jason Atwood: It might have been Paul Walker. All right, so I said hey as a cool idea Skywalker ice golly hey as a cool idea Why don't you guys discuss like what's on your home screens? Because we're always picking apps. Right, we're always picking apps, but like how do we, what do we put on our home screens? What's important to us? I guess if this were a really big episode and we could talk about it, then we'd go back and we could do a. We could do it for the iPad. Or iPad, well my home screen on my iPad. Or your dock. I don't think dock would be the next one. All right. All right. So let's go, let's talk, let's start. So the idea is here we're going to hold up our phones. Yeah. On the other hand we're holding our mics because we're doing it from the other studio location with these travel mics.

Jason Atwood: Studio 22G. Yes. And so we're going to hold up our screens and we're going to kind of go back and forth and talk about what we have. Thanks for watching. Have a great day. on our home screens, on our phones. Like what we put there and why and maybe some reasons. And of course we won't make many picks. We're not, we're not gonna make any picks this week because there's no point, because we're basically gonna be talking about nothing but picks. So why don't you go first. And start by telling me what you,

03:25 Justin Edelstein: Like how you're rating why. I got a good way to start this off. So both of us. We should say both of us are holding iPhones. Yes. And we have both had an iPhone since the day that the first iPhone came out. Yes, because one of us waited in line. That would be you. And the other one just said, yeah, I'll take one. Sure, I had a ball game. I of meet you there. I'll meet you somewhere and I'll pay you. Thank you. So the first thing that I did when and this first thing that I did has remained this way. Since day one. Interesting.. I noticed that they put, I think at the time they called it SMS, it is now called Messages. They had it in the top left corner. And phone was in the bottom left corner.

Justin Edelstein: And the bottom is kind of the dock. If you don't have an iPhone, if you have an Android... I don't know, If you have an iPhone you know what I mean there's there's the four apps that stay when you scroll through your pages of apps So I noticed that like right away. I use text messaging Messages way more than I use this thing as a phone so I immediately flipped Messages and phone. So phone lives as its own icon in the top left hand corner on page one, homepage. And messages lives where phone originally lived, bottom left. Okay. Because I figured I use this more if I'm on another page, I still have it there. Phone, I kind of don't use so much with this phone. I don't really need it to be pervasive through within the dock of the phone itself.

Justin Edelstein: So that's, I guess, my first thing in reasoning. Do you want me to keep going? Do you want me to go through the dock at least and say what's in the dock? All right, so the other three apps, as you can fit four in the dock, are Mail, Safari, and overcast. content consumption on this device, more than music, more than anything is podcasting. And then Mail and Safari just holdover. Like that's where they came. They came as the two middle icons and I used Mail a ton on the phone, so I figured I'd keep it there. And I just never bothered to move Safari. and and and and and and apps that I open more I'm just used to it being there so I leave it there. All right.

06:33 Jason Atwood: Yeah, so I say first of all, I have a couple theories on. I've switched. I used to do more foldering on the home screen. Now I basically have two screens. I have my home screen and that's it because now with the You can now put as many things in a folder as you need so to me it's like I don't need to have more than two Screens I have the first screen. which is nothing but apps. It's basically because this thing's theory is the things that I get to and need the fastest and want to keep in front of me at all times. Kind of things that I look at a lot. And then everything else is in a series of folders on the second screen and super anal their alphabetical across the screen. So starting at business in the upper goes business, chat, dining, entertainment, files, finance, right.

Jason Atwood: So across my second screen is nothing but folders and then each folder is basically all the way down to video, which is the last one. That's the first thing. Second thing is all the apps on the front screen I touch to open because I'm constantly using them like 20 times a day. There's certain things I use 20 times a day. All apps on the second screen, I never go into these folders. They're just there to have a place to put them. I find them through search. So my navigation to anything on that second screen, I never go into the Office apps folder and look for stuff. Never, ever, ever, ever. The only reason I have them in folders is if I forgot, like, oh, you know, where was the name of that app that could do hotel stuff?

Jason Atwood: Then I know I can go to my second screen. go to travel, and then in it I have tons of tons of travel apps. I'm like, no, I'll find it. A, B, C to get there. Okay, so that's being said. So everything, and then the most used things are at the bottom of the screen, and then the least used things are at the top. So because I'm constantly, so the last three rows are just the. things that I use the most, and the first row So... The first non-doc row is the stuff that I use pretty much all the time. So in my bottom row, I do have phones. I use the phone a lot. Mail, messages, and then OmniFocus. OmniFocus obviously makes it onto my home, makes it onto my bar because it's constant.

Jason Atwood: And it's in what I would say the real estate spot, the boardwalk of your phone,

Justin Edelstein: So mine's organized slightly differently. It's a little more haphazard. I guess. Yeah, you should expect only that. I mean, I do have the top bar across the top are just apps. I use the bottom bar as things that I use. Not the actual instead of swiping down to search, So I use that a ton because they're kind of like apps I use because I use them a lot. So it's sort of a hidden little navigation of b the. a I like that's And it is smart. Of course, like I don't that actually always seems to that in my iPad is always just always there so it all goes down suit it,

11:42 Jason Atwood: Corner.. Okay well then let's now let's just do I'm going to do apps and what you have up there. Okay so top row phone, calendar, photos, camera. All out of folders. So I would say well I did say only folder on the second screen. I lied a little bit because I do

Justin Edelstein: And stuff in there and it just happens to be on the front page. That's not, that's not, that's not, let's just let it ring. Just be in the background.

Jason Atwood: In our offices because we will get constantly updated now. Now we'll work so it's all good. W W W W W W W W W and- the the Yeah, that's a podcast. Alright, so second row across I have settings, iTunes, iTunes Store. But that would be one of those things. So every once in a while, I'll go look and I'll be like, this is really something I really need iTunes Store. How often do I go to iTunes Store anymore because I use the music a ton. wallet, which again, I don't really get to my wallet from my home screen, but it's there, and the app store. So kind of the stuff at the top is that middle section is kind of just stuff that's there, but it's not the stuff I use the most.

Jason Atwood: Third for you?

Justin Edelstein: So, this is where I start using stuff. Okay. I have a SFDC folder. Okay, that's... It has a bunch of Salesforce apps in a Google folder, which has a bunch of Google apps in it. Yep. App Store, iTunes Store. That again is legacy. I don't think Apple is too keen on letting you like folder some of their apps. Yeah, I think some of the things you couldn't. I think they change that now. Some of them you can, like I know you can take like Keynote and their... app and they're, you know, we're pro. So that. That was your third row. That's my third row. Yeah. Third for me. Safari.

15:12 Jason Atwood: Oh, okay. Music, which now with Apple Music, I actually access more and more and more and more. Clock. And that's just because when I want to set an alarm, although the funny enough, I probably use Siri to set alarms now. I use SiriB more than to do that than anything else.

Justin Edelstein: And I have so many alarms for the same time. It's unbelievable.

Jason Atwood: Like it doesn't handle it very well. It's just putting for one for the next day, not for permanent. And then lastly, a good old friend of ours, Sense, the first... I don't know if it was a Kickstarter. Was it a kickstarter or something? Yeah, so I have sense is my first... And this is where I started to get into my theory that the things I have on my home screen kind of are drawing my attention. They're also things that are to remind me. So I put the sense up there because it reminds me to check my sleep score. Like, oh! Why would I sleep last night? So it kind of keeps it in front of my mind.

Justin Edelstein: This is like a very how how could be more than four Well, no, this is a row that I use quite a bit. Like ergonomically, for some reason, this is a good place. Oh, okay. For this. Well, for the fabulous, probably like you can't really get to it. Yeah, it's like a thumb level thing. So, one's called Productivity. This is where, like, my OmniFocus lives in Evernote. One's called Social. It has all the social apps in it. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, whatever. One called Sports, just to get sports scores and stuff, all the different apps that I have for that. And then not in a folder is Google Authenticator.

Jason Atwood: Ah, because you use it a lot. Use it a ton. I have a thing down there for that. OK, so my four, and these are ones that I kind of access a ton now. This is getting to stuff that I use. I used to stink. Dropbox, which again, couldn't live without it in my life. So my second brain, Evernote. So those are kind of very high powerful things. My home screen.

Justin Edelstein: That's four for me. All right. Five is finance. These are all the bank apps and credit card apps and things like that. A folder of things. that I... I can So all those games are in that one folder. I can't say I've opened that folder in a. Long time, probably need to rethink that one. Yep. Weather and health.

18:20 Jason Atwood: So it's funny because we have the same, like all those. Second screen I, have a productivity app folder. I have a help app folder. That's because it names it when you throw the things in there and you just kind of say, yeah, sure, that works. So my theory was just to bring one of anything that's important on a home screen and leave everything else unfolded on the second screen. But okay,

Justin Edelstein: So we're on fifth. You just did fifth. That was my fifth. So you're on your fifth. Now I'm into like stuff.

Jason Atwood: Now here's a couple of reasons. So I would just run keeper. So I go running twice, three times a week, so that needs to be on my home screen. Overcast, right? Listen to my podcast. Kindle. Now here's an interesting one. So Kindle is, that's a get me to think about it. So I struggle reading, I can read, but I struggle like keeping myself in the eye. reading books is something that I'm... I don't read books I read lots of stuff So this is a way of saying, hey, remember? Read a book book. So I leave Kindle there. Even though I have it when I read, I read on my Kindle Paperwhite, which I love but I just started Game of Thrones, Fire Rice Rice, which you apparently stopped in the middle of because you started like seven months ago.

Jason Atwood: It's not that long. It's such a long book. It's 829 pages. That is a long book. And then lastly, WeMo. So WeMo is an app that is for controlling WeMo devices. And I have them all around my house that control all sorts of things. So I need them home screen because I'm constantly going to it to turn on and off lights so I can go right. So I have one WeMo.

Justin Edelstein: So WeMo's stuck in a folder somewhere. And when I need it, I just. search wemo hey you just turned on the lights alright cool

Jason Atwood: Last row oh yeah last row so bottom left wallet okay I have lots of stuff does that mean getting any going that wallet off? that often?

Justin Edelstein: Yes cause you're going off in like everyday I wouldn't say everyday but like my favorite place to get coffee has their app but when you hold a

Jason Atwood: Wallet wallet Is it full to call wallet?

Justin Edelstein: No, it's called wallet. Yeah, no, wallet. Yeah, like the old passbook. Okay, yeah. So, well, to pay for things. Right. So like my favorite coffee place in the city where I go to get teaks and don't really drink coffee but anyway they... They have their own app. They have their own app but... they have the add to wallet. So the little QR code that if you were to go to, if you have the Dunkin' Donuts thing or whatever,

Jason Atwood: You can add it to your wallet. So you can add that stuff to your wallet. You can? Dunkin' Donuts, you can add to your wallet? I think you can.

Justin Edelstein: And I know that some of LevelUp's apps, Gregory's Coffee for example, you can add. to your wallet, chopped, you can't. So it's definitely a feature of whatever level up is giving you as their application. It's probably up to the individual store or franchise or whatever to say, yeah, I want to enable that feature on my app because I like having it all in one place and not having to think about, oh, I'm eating here, let me go to that folder and open up that app, right? Okay, so I like having it in my wallet. I also, we're flying today. I have my boarding pass in my wallet. Even though we primarily fly on one airline I do have I Have flown on many and I have you know Passenger numbers on all of them the other day I moved a lot of things away from like because I realized I don't fly I have not for another airline Well, I'm looking at it like there's one in here easy jet, which is like some thing to get me from like Naples to Paris.

22:21 Justin Edelstein: Easy Jet. I don't even know where they operate. So I had the app because I was like, oh, I may as well have that. Make my life easier, but I don't know if it helps me now. Anyway, and then the last one to the right is just called food. And this is where those individual like restaurant apps are seamless is in there as well. And I make sure that one in particular, it's like bottom right, it's easy to get to and I use seamless a lot. So seamless is on the first page within the folder, easy to get to as opposed to being in its own thing. If I thought about it, I should probably move to your model of just taking them, I'm sure that. I could take the most important things and just put them right up front and then just move the rest of the folders because I do tend to use search to get to things most of the time anyway.

Justin Edelstein: So that is a good way to do it. So I do for that. So I actually do for that.

Jason Atwood: Probably like two months ago, I was kind of thinking about it, I was like, I want.

Justin Edelstein: Yeah, that homepage just having one. App to click is definitely better than like having these I have you'll see just red scattered full of one app and folder And it's just a little I

Jason Atwood: Realize that folders were just we're burying things and it's like I wanted to bring things to my attention And keep them out so my last row most important row.

Justin Edelstein: I think the dock is the most important It sticks with you wherever you are, and it's right there at the bottom.

Jason Atwood: So I do Argus, so that the activity tracking app I still use. I use because it is better reporting than the Apple Watch or Activity one. There's a couple of things I like about it, so I still use it and like it. A lot actually, Argus. And then right next to it, Activity. Which is funny, I don't use the app so much. I use it on the Apple Watch. I look at the Apple Watch to see my activity. I don't really look at this, but sometimes I go in, I like the achievements and stuff like that. See if I got some special achievements. That's fun. One password. which I'm sure I've made is a pick of the week already, which is, you know, now they can support your authenticator. That's my authenticator and passwords and auto log into systems.

Jason Atwood: I'm finding stuff like this stuff all the time that I'm finding that one password can do. It's like one of those Merlin manisms. Like I think he told, he talked about Evernote like two years before I used it. Once I used it, I was like. Oh my God, why did I wait so long? This is one of those things. He's been talking about 1Password for years. And I was like, eh. But once it got the time-based token one, I've fallen for it. I then lastly Slack. But yeah, it's really based on. frequency of use, although I'm certain things and I'm like, clock, I don't really go into clock. Certainly not daily, because I never go into clock, especially now that I have the watch,

Justin Edelstein: So like timer, actually my watch face has the timer thing on it, so I just set a timer and I actually prefer that. because it's like buzzing my wrist instead of maybe my phone's over in the other room and I forgot that I said that timer and I don't hear it.

25:39 Jason Atwood: So clock to me is a Siri thing. Clock might move unless it's something that can't be folded but it might move off because I could see even though it's at the top. That's one of those things I could certainly see being, eh, I don't use that totally, whatever. I will say a couple of things just because we talked about the iPad. I try to mirror my iPad because good navigation and finding something is about knowing where it is. And if I look at my iPad, I want it to be relatively the same. So even though the numbers and rows are different, there's nothing more. But if you looked at my iPad, there's slight differences. But it's basically the same slacks in the right corner. OmniFocus is right there. So when I move from device to device, there's not a moment of, oh, I'm on a different device.

Jason Atwood: That's somewhere else. It's always, no, no, no. It's always there. Maps are up in the right-hand corner. So I kind of try to keep the same theory from one to one. It really just makes, when I pick up one device or another, I'm not having to think about where to go. If I had seven devices, I had seven iPads, I'd have them all be the same, just because it just makes it. Again, it's good, good design is to have I mean... I wanted to grow one. Well... Hahaha!

Justin Edelstein: There... I actually use far less apps on my iPad than I do on my iPhone. Like I know that as a fact. Cause you only use... On my iPad I probably use like six apps. Madden, mail, safari, Facebook, Twitter, Slack. That might be it. Right. in all seriousness. Calendar, calendar, right. I know. So, no, you don't watch movies. I don't watch Netflix and Hulu unless I'm like away. So I don't really use them, I aint, I'm talking like, on an everyday basis. Right.

Jason Atwood: Maybe five or six apps on my iPad. You definitely have more on the iPad. I have a, is it a bigger? I don't know if I had bigger, I think they are. I think they're like 128's. So I know I have like more stuff. I have like games that I don't. Yeah, my iPad, no, my iPad's a 64. So I have games like that are, that I don't play. I just don't play on my blade or but I don't even play any of these games I only play Madden but like I don't play any other game other than little tiny games like the little stupid games like just five second games, everything else five second games everything else is on my and so iPad has more folders and stuff but it does have a bigger real estate so it kind of works that way but yeah I just keep things the same, just makes it so when I go to one or the other it's just exactly the same, I don't have to worry about it alright well that, I hope that was the most fascinating other than my dog being here and the phone ringing the phone was certainly fascinating wanna hear him bark?

28:42 Jason Atwood: All right, all right. Oh! Oh! Oh!

Justin Edelstein: Super intimidating. This is riveting. Oh! All right, all right. For those that are still listening.

Jason Atwood: All right, now I've got them all worked up. Come here. All right, stop it.

Justin Edelstein: All right, well that's... This is great. It's the office manager.

Jason Atwood: Perfect way to end this one. Perfect way to end it. So we'll be back next week. We'll be back to more Salesforce-y, fun things. We'll go deep into spring and we'll do that. But I thought we'd do a weird episode out there. A very special episode. Until then, we will, as always, this is Justin and Jason and Murray. And enjoy those cloudy days.

Justin Edelstein: You